Parish History

Prior to 1960, St. Charles was viewed as a small river town to the northwest of St. Louis. It was a closely-knit community. Many St. Louisians saw it as a place to visit on a weekend to get away form the noise and pollution of the big city. Because it was semi-rural and in close proximity to St. Louis, St. Charles became more and more attractive to the residents of St. Louis. Consequently, St. Charles experienced a tremendous growth in its population in the 1960’s and this growth has continued through the 1990’s. Many former residents of St. Louis and its suburbs along with out-of-state residents have made St. Charles their home and the vital community it is today.

As people flocked to St. Charles, many needs had to be addressed. One of those needs was the building of new churches and schools for the expanding Catholic population. To meet this growing need, Archbishop Ritter founded St. Cletus parish in 1965. It was established at a site near Elm and Duchesne within the city of St. Charles. Rev. Omar Brauner, the first pastor, celebrated Sunday Mass in the gymnasium of Duchesne High School on September 5, 1965.

Fr. Brauner immediately made plans for the construction of St. Cletus parish. In less than two years, St. Cletus parishioners had a place to call their own. Sunday Masses were celebrated in a “transformed gymnasium” which was adjacent to the new school building. The huge lot adjoining the school was earmarked for a church which was to be built at a later time. The school building only had room for the seventh and eighth grades. St. Cletus and St. Peter, the neighboring parish, shared school facilities. This sharing of school building and resources between two parishes was one of the first attempts by the Archdiocese to plan on a regional level.

As the Catholic population “exploded” in St. Charles, the Archdiocese realized that St. Cletus, due to its close proximity to St. Charles Borromeo and St. Peter parishes, was not adequately meeting the needs of the Catholic population. Consequently, Archbishop May had all of the parishes in St. Charles redistricted. Ironically, St. Cletus church and school were now located within the boundaries of St. Peter parish!

Thus in 1981, a site for the “new” St. Cletus had to be found. It was also in this year that St. Cletus received a new pastor, Fr. John Kerber. So the task of finding a suitable place to build a new church, rectory and school had begun. The site chosen was a good Lutheran farmer’s field near the northwest intersection of Droste and Zumbehl Road. In December of 1981, Archbishop John L. May granted permission to begin building at 2705 Zumbehl Road. First the rectory was constructed. The priests moved into their new rectory in August 1982. Groundbreaking for St. Cletus Church and School was held on May 16, 1982. The dream of St. Cletus Parish became a reality on April 17,1983 when the new church and school were dedicated by Archbishop May. In the fall of 1983, St. Cletus School opened its doors to students from kindergarten through eighth grade.

Over a period of sixteen years at its new location, St. Cletus has grown from 400 families to over 1400 families. With construction of new subdivisions in the parish, St. Cletus will continue to grow in numbers and vitality.

In November of 1994, Rev. James P. Callahan was appointed the third pastor of St. Cletus by Archbishop Justin Rigali. Under Fr. Callahan’s guidance, a new parish center was constructed in the church basement to provide much needed office and meeting space for parish life and activity.

In July of 2004, Rev. James J. Benz was appointed as the fourth pastor of St. Cletus by Archbishop Raymond Burke. He looks forward to building upon the fine tradition of this most active and creative parish which is now numbers almost 1600 families.