Photo of Old Saint Agnes Church

The former Saint Agnes Church, in Saint Louis, Missouri. From the Archdiocesan archives:

St. Agnes Church (St Louis City) was established in 1891. Its pastor, formerly pastor of Assumption (St. Louis City) wanted to move his community away from the breweries. It was built at Sidney and Salena. Its school (1905) was staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph. In 1983 the school merged with Notre Dame Consolidated Elementary at the St. Francis de Sales site. The Girls’ Club of St. Louis bought the school. St. Agnes parish merged with St Francis de Sales parish in June 1993.

It is completely legitimate, and even laudatory, to have sorrow over things lost, such as this one of the many closed parishes in the City of Saint Louis. The closure of the churches is due to many factors, but population loss is primary, although loss of the Faith is more crucial in the wider view of things. Local urbanists often decry the fact that the City has less than half the population it did a century ago — but those were also the days when awful and squalid living conditions were the norm. However, the case can be made that people were generally happier back in those days, due to the graces that flowed from churches like this.