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St. Joseph-St. Thomas parish on Staten Island will merge with the parish of St. John Neumann July 1.
The parish church of St. Thomas will be designated the main parish church, St. Joseph Church will maintain a regular schedule of Masses and sacraments, and St. John Neumann, while remaining a church, will be used only on special, rare occasions. Mass and sacraments will no longer be celebrated there on a regular basis.
Father Robert Dillon, who has been serving as pastor of both St. Joseph-St. Thomas and St. John Neumann parishes, will continue in this role for the newly created parish.
As part of Making All Things New, the ongoing pastoral planning initiative of the archdiocese, the merger was discussed and considered in 2014 and 2015.
A significant factor in making the decision at this time is the pending retirement of Father John Kostek, who has been serving as administrator of St. John Neumann.
Letters were sent to the parishioners of the two parishes by Auxiliary Bishop John O’Hara, archdiocesan vicar for planning, informing them of the decision. The upcoming merger was also acknowledged at the conclusion of weekend Masses April 29-30 at St. John Neumann, where Bishop O’Hara and Eileen Mulcahy, director of the Office of Pastoral Planning, were available to discuss the decision with parishioners.
