WEST ALLIS, Wis. — As Jeff Stanisławski walks between the pews at St. Rita Catholic Church in West Allis, he gazes at some of the iconic features that have defined this sacred space for decades — from the stained glass windows to the organ to the altar.
These are all things that Stanisławski, a longtime and active parishioner, will deeply miss when the church closes its doors for the final time.
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"We've had the luxury of worshiping in a very beautiful building," Stanisławski said.
St. Rita recently merged with Holy Assumption and St. Augustine to become St. Barnabas Catholic Congregation. But with dwindling attendance numbers and high costs to maintain the buildings on the property, difficult decisions had to be made.
"We sat down and we looked at the financials, we looked at the maintenance requirements of each of the buildings. We looked at the ability to sell the properties and which ones would be more valuable than others, and we came to a very difficult decision, that this site would be probably the one we would first try to sell," Stanisławski said.
Father Gerardo Carcar told TMJ4 this decision did not come lightly, after lengthy conversations over four and a half years with numerous parties involved.
"We're going to sell the school first, and as we get the authorization from Vatican, we're going to sell the rest of the property to the same people," Fr. Carcar said.
While nothing is official yet for the property St. Rita sits on, Carcar said an agreement has been reached with an institution that would like to keep the property as is.
"We hope that they use this building for worship, for prayer, but we cannot make this decision. It's not ours anymore," Fr. Carcar said.
The church building was constructed in 1963, but the first Mass at St. Rita took place all the way back in 1924 under a tent rented from State Fair Park.
While both Carcar and Stanisławski are sad to see it go, they remain optimistic about worshiping at the other two sites.
"They're smaller in size, which will allow us to be more together and to be seated together, and also to allow us to truly be gathered at the table," Stanisławski said.
"The church are not the buildings. The church is a community of believers in Jesus Christ, who are disciples and missionaries. This is the church," Carcar said.
A final Mass will take place on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. with Archbishop Jeffrey Grob. A reception will follow.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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