History of St Peter the Apostle Parish
In August of 2006, after a one year study, five parishes of the Archdiocese of Louisville along the Southwest corridor of lower Dixie Highway submitted their proposal of reorganization for the Archdiocesan Planning Process. The five parishes of St Clement, Our Lady Help of Christians, Our Lady of Consolation, St Polycarp and St Timothy were granted permission to work toward merging into one single parish.
By June of 2007, a Pastoral Core Merger Team was formed from selected parishioners of the five parishes and worked to bring all the church ministries together and create one Administrative Staff. After parish involvement and prayer, the name of St Peter the Apostle was submitted to Archbishop Joseph Kurtz. On April 8, 2008, Archbishop Kurtz officially proclaimed the new Parish of St Peter the Apostle Parish and designated Father Ron Domhoff as its first pastor.
Our brief history is rooted in the strong, rich traditions of the five former parishes.
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St. Clement Parish, under the direction of its first pastor, Fr. Henry Stuecker, dedicated its church and school in 1957. |
Our Lady Help of Christians Parish began in September, 1957 with its founding pastor Fr. Lawrence Boone. |
Our Lady of Consolation Parish was created in 1959 and served by the Conventual Franciscans with Fr George Schroeder, OFM.Conv., as the founding pastor. |
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St Polycarp Parish began in July of 1960 under the leadership of Fr. AJ Schwabenton. |
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St Timothy Parish was established on July, 1963 and Fr Hubert Hagan was given the task of building a church, school and rectory. |
With needed changes, St. Timothy was clustered in June of 1995 with Our Lady Help of Christians and its mission, St Patrick in West Point. In the fall of 2005 the parish schools of St Clement, St Polycarp and Our Lady of Consolation joined to form the regional school of St Andrew Academy.
St Peter the Apostle Catholic Church is the first five-church merger for the Archdiocese of Louisville and is one of a handful of mergers this size in the country. This parish creation came out of the sacrifice of its people to unite into one parish for the resourceful management of assets and a new spiritual direction for an already strongly established community of believers. At the present there are about 1750 registered families. These 4,670 parishioners are worshipping at two sites, the former Our Lady of Consolation Church and St Polycarp Church. The current offices are operating out of the former St Clement site. At this Johnsontown Road site, a newly designed 1200 seat church and parish facility are scheduled for ground-breaking in the spring of 2010. Our regional school of St Andrew Academy, located on the former St Polycarp site is a commitment of this parish to the education of our children. These faith-filled people are proud of their civic communities of Pleasure Ridge Park and Valley Station and the sharing of their Christian Catholic heritage reflects a true blessing of fellowship.
The mission statement of St Peter the Apostle Parish says it clearly. We are “committed to announcing the Good News of Jesus Christ and thus forming its members into a community of disciples who make God’s love known.” Our four goals are to Generate parish unity, Live our faith joyfully, Nourish our faith continually, and Proclaim our faith through action.
