New Parishes Come To Life July 1

Five new parishes come to life today (July 1, 2016) as part of the Diocese of Evansville’s parish reorganization plan. As of today, the diocese now has 46 parishes in four deaneries with 69 worship sites. These mergers complete the two rounds of mergers and links announced in 2013 and 2014.

The mergers taking effect July 1 include:

• Divine Mercy Parish, involving the previously announced merger of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in St. Anthony and Sacred Heart Parish in Schnellville;

• Good Shepherd Parish, involving the previously announced merger of Good Shepherd Parish and St. Theresa Parish, both in Evansville;

• Holy Rosary Parish, involving the previously announced merger of Holy Rosary Parish and Nativity Parish, both in Evansville;

• St. Isidore the Farmer Parish, involving the previously announced merger of St. Peter Celestine Parish in St. Celestine and St. Raphael Parish in Dubois;

• St. Francis Xavier Parish, involving the previously announced merger of St. Francis Xavier Parish with St. John the Baptist, St. Thomas the Apostle, Sacred Heart of Jesus and St. Vincent de Paul Parishes, all in Vincennes.

Throughout the reorganization process, Bishop Thompson noted that merging parishes could request a change in the name of the new parish. Formal decrees announcing mergers include the name of the newly created parish. Diocesan decrees announcing mergers over the past two years have been issued in the name of the best-suited of the merging parishes.
Parishioners indicated their desire to have new names for the parishes created by two of the mergers, and Bishop Thompson approved the requests that St. Isidore the Farmer and Divine Mercy be the names of those new parishes.