Church of St John

St. John's is a 125-year old Catholic parish that plans to continue teaching traditional Catholic values for as long as possible.

St John's Catholic Church (officially the Church of Saint John of St. Paul) has been serving the people on the east side of St. Paul, Minnesota since 1886.  There have been many changes in the world, the Roman Catholic Church and our neighborhood over the past 125 years but our mission has remained the same: to bring traditional Catholic values to those who seek them.

The past decade has been challenging for St. John's from a financial standpoint.  Changing demographics have seen many of our longstanding families leave the inner city.  Many who remain are aging and/or on fixed incomes. Our school building, which hasn't  housed a Catholic school since the 1970s, is now empty as the continuing recession has made it difficult to find new tenants. 

In October 2010 it was announced that St. John's would be merging with another parish by July 1, 2013.  This has led many people to believe St. John's was already closed.  We want the world to know that St. John's is definitely not closed. However the parish must stay financially solvent to continue until next  July and possibly beyond, God willing. 

In July of this year (2012) it became obvious that our financial situation was such that we might have to close our doors forever around Christmas. 

The parishioners rallied and decided they would not let this happen.  A number of fundraising plans were immediately discussed and put into action.  One of them was to reach out to our friends, grade school alumni, past parishioners and anyone else who doesn't want to see yet another Catholic parish close before its time. 

Please help us keep St. John's open. A donation of any amount will be greatly appreciated.