Legacy Of Jesuits In Kansas City Comes To An End

St. Aloysius parishioners welcomed to new community
By Jack SmithCatholic Key Editor

St. Aloysius parishioners process behind the Eucharist from The Concourse to St. Anthony Church. Father Joseph Cisetti, pastor of St. Anthony, welcomed them saying, 'You are all welcome here. This is your new home.'

KANSAS CITY - The community at St. Aloysius Parish in northeast Kansas City celebrated their final Sunday Masses April 27 before the parish is merged into nearby St. Anthony. "I would ask you what you felt about that," said Benedictine Father Brendan Helbing at the beginning of the 8:30 a.m. Mass, "but I can already tell. I see the tears in the eyes of the young, the middle-aged and the old." In his homily, Fater Helbing told a story which ended with God's declaration that "Where people meet in love, there my presence shall dwell." Father Helbing said the people at St. Aloysius formed a "generous and loving" community held together by "Jesus love for us, our love for him and our love for one another." He reflected that in the weeks leading up to the closure of St. Aloysius, parishioners had "wisely" expressed their feelings about the future of the community. Among other feelings, "You've expressed feelings of anger," Father Helbing said. "Where there is anger, there is always a deeper emotion underneath that sparks the anger, namely fear." He also said there are feelings of sadness, "which is an emotion expressed when our fears are materialized."

After seven years of service at St. Aloysius, Father Helbing said that he was at home with the people and "at home with the buildings. ... But I remind myself that a church, in one sense, is only a building - albeit a sacred building ... with a lot of fond memories attached to it."

However, Father Helbing explained, "A church in its most basic sense is a people - a people gathered by Christ and with Christ; Christ who is the head and heart of our church. "It is Christ I love," he said, "not a building. It is you I love, not a building." Father Helbing told the congregation of his hope that the move to St. Anthony would be "an occasion for renewed life for yourselves personally and for the community where you are going. "You are a brave people equal to this challenge," he said, "You are a generous and self-sacrificing people ... who have so many gifts to share ... with your new community." Father Helbing explained that the measure of a truly loving parish family is that its members "reach out not just to one another . . . but to everyone we can bringing and being the Good News of God's love for them by the love we have for them." At the end of Mass, Fr. Helbing carried the Eucharist from the church to a van leading a vehicle procession to The Concourse near St. Anthony.

From there parishioners followed Fr. Helbing in procession as the priest carried the Eucharist in Monstrance to the steps of St. Anthony Church.

The St. Aloysius community stood below a huge welcome banner outside the church and sang hymns as they waited for the morning Mass to end at St. Anthony. From there, they processed into church where the community and the Eucharist from St. Aloysius was received by St. Anthony pastor Father Joseph Cisetti and the entire congregation. Following Benediction, Fr. Cisetti offered words of welcome to his new parishioners saying, "We face the future with hope. We face the future with faith, with faith in God, in the Eucharist we remain united," he explained, "Your history is now part of ours and our history is now part of yours . . . and we move forward in faith." To great applause, Fr. Cisetti declared, "You are all welcome here. This is your new home." A welcome reception was held following Mass and similar celebrations are receptions were held following the 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 a.m. Masses at St. Aloysius.

St. Aloysius parish was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1885 and remained in the Society's care until 1945 when the parish was transferred to the care of the diocese.

Following a year long study of the needs of the Catholic community in northeast Kansas City, it was determined that due to the saturation of churches in the neighborhood, the shortage of priests and the difficult situation of area church finances, that St. Aloysius parish would be merged into nearby St. Anthony. The assets of the closed parish, minus any debt, will become part of the patrimony of the merged parish.
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