An Anchor on South Grand Boulevard
St. Pius V Catholic Church sits at the corner of South Grand Boulevard and Utah Street in the heart of South St. Louis City, where it has anchored the surrounding neighborhoods and the thriving South Grand business district for more than a century. Founded over one hundred years ago to serve Irish immigrants, the parish today is home to nearly three hundred diverse Catholic households. Worshippers include young and old, families and single adults, immigrants and longtime city residents, longtime neighbors and new urban pioneers, those who walk to church and those who drive in from across the region. The parish's mission states plainly that it is "an urban faith community composed of diverse people" with "doors open to all," gathered to praise God, proclaim the Gospel, foster spiritual growth, teach the children, and love one another. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the community works for peace and justice in the city and the wider world.
The church sits at 3310 S. Grand Boulevard, and the food pantry entrance on Utah Street, beneath a red awning, opens into Singler Hall in the basement. The adjacent parish convent at 3522 Utah Street, once home to the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of O'Fallon, has been converted into Assisi House, a residence for formerly unhoused men. Together the buildings form a small campus where worship, hospitality, education, and outreach meet on a single block.
Mass in the Main Church and the Rectory Chapel
Sunday Mass is celebrated at 10:00 a.m. in the main church in English. Weekday Mass is offered at 8:00 a.m. in the rectory chapel, also in English, Monday through Friday. On Holy Days of Obligation, Mass is offered at 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. in the main church (excluding the Easter Triduum and Christmas). The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available by appointment.
Wednesday evenings are set aside for prayer in the rectory chapel from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. The hour begins with the rosary and continues with individual prayer and Eucharistic Adoration. Outside the chapel, the parish community gathers in Singler Hall for the weekly Short Fiction Reading Group, which meets from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. and is moderated by parishioner Paul Lynch. Each week the group reads and discusses a single short story; recent selections have included fiction by Kristen Valdez Quade, Shusaku Endo, J. F. Powers, and Alice McDermott. Electronic copies are sent in advance, and there is no cost to participate.
The Sacraments and the Journey of Faith
St. Pius V walks with parishioners through every sacrament of the Catholic Church. Families seeking infant baptism meet with the pastor to discuss the blessing of beginning a child's faith formation, with baptism preparation meetings covering the rite and the role of parents and godparents. Marriage preparation begins at least six months before the wedding and includes spiritual preparation, liturgy planning, and event coordination, following the parish's published marriage guidelines.
Children preparing for first reconciliation and first Eucharist typically do so in second grade, either through classes at the parish school, St. Frances Cabrini Academy, or through evening classes at the South City Deanery Parish School of Religion. Confirmation is celebrated every other year at one of the sponsoring parishes of Cabrini Academy, with seventh and eighth graders prepared through their school or the PSR. The Anointing of the Sick is offered to those who are seriously ill, facing surgery, or in poor health due to age or disability. Adults who wish to be received into the Catholic Church find accompaniment through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, a year-round process of prayer, faith sharing, Scripture study, and formation. A simple online Sacrament Inquiry form opens the door for anyone considering any of these steps.
The Immigrant and Refugee Ministry
The most prominent of St. Pius V's outreach ministries is the Immigrant and Refugee Ministry (IRM), which the parish hosts in the rectory. Described as a "grassroots effort" that connects volunteers with immigrants and refugees making their homes in St. Louis, IRM supplements the work of sponsoring agencies and augments city, state, and community services. Its work is twofold: to welcome, assist, empower, and advocate on behalf of immigrants and refugees regardless of status, and to build bridges of solidarity among participating churches, volunteers, and the immigrant and refugee community itself. Services are offered without regard to parish boundaries, religious preference, or ethnic or national background.
IRM is a collaborative ministry of seven parishes in the city: St. Anthony of Padua, St. Cronan, St. Margaret of Scotland, St. Pius V, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Stephen Protomartyr, and Holy Redeemer. The program operates three core areas. Outreach representatives are available at the St. Pius V Food Pantry twice a week to discuss how the program might help with food, clothing, shelter, and other basic needs. The Accompaniment Program matches volunteers with immigrant neighbors to provide transportation, translation, and community support as they attend required check-ins with immigration enforcement. Building Bridges cultivates community through Intercultural Community events, home visits, and the annual Migration Mass.
The IRM Coordinator is Kevin Kuehl, and Annie Aeschbacher serves as Accompaniment Coordinator. The office sits in the rectory at 3310 S. Grand Boulevard. A dedicated giving fund supports the work, and the IRM publishes an annual report describing the year's accomplishments alongside a video about the program and the Archdiocese of St. Louis's Immigration Task Force.
The Food Pantry: A Century of Service
The St. Vincent de Paul conference at St. Pius V has been assisting neighbors in need since the 1920s. Its food pantry, located in Singler Hall and entered from Utah Street, distributes fresh and shelf-stable food every week and offers special programs at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Beyond groceries, the conference provides rent and utility assistance, sewer and water bill assistance, mortgage assistance, prescription payments, and vouchers for furniture, housewares, and clothing at St. Vincent de Paul thrift stores. The pantry also distributes gun locks to promote safe storage.
The pantry is open every Tuesday from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. and every Saturday from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. Keeping it running requires a small army of volunteers: morning pickups of donated produce from grocery stores and the food bank, sorting and organizing food, distributing supplies during open hours, and on Fridays unloading and sorting large pallets from the St. Louis Area Food Bank. The Holiday Meals ministry adds to this work, delivering hot meals on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Easter to elderly, sick, and homebound parishioners and neighbors within the parish boundary.
Winter Outreach and Assisi House
On Sunday nights during the coldest months, St. Pius V opens Singler Hall as an emergency shelter through its Winter Outreach program. The shelter activates when the temperature drops to 20 degrees (or 25 degrees with precipitation), offering guests a warm safe space, hygiene supplies, a hot dinner, and breakfast. Volunteers set up beds, cook or purchase meals, greet guests, spend overnight shifts, and handle cleanup and laundry the next morning. The parish keeps a running list of needed donations, including coats, hoodies, long pants, warm shoes, hats, gloves, thick socks, underwear, leggings, scarves, and new toiletries.
Two doors down at 3522 Utah Street, the former convent has become Assisi House, the parish's contribution to a citywide effort to provide permanent supportive housing. Since November 2018, thirteen men who were formerly unhoused have shared the building, each in their own lockable bedroom, paying roughly $200 to $250 per month in rent and sharing common areas and household responsibilities. Assisi House, entirely funded by non-governmental sources, grew out of the St. Louis Winter Outreach effort launched in 2005 and formally incorporated in 2014. Two of the city's Assisi Houses now serve women and two serve men.
St. Frances Cabrini Academy: The Parish School
St. Pius V is a sponsoring parish of St. Frances Cabrini Academy, a Catholic K-8 school that educates by nurturing the growth of each child's mind, body, and spirit. Cabrini celebrates diversity while acting together to proclaim the Gospel, with a commitment to justice, the value of a quality education for all, and the vibrancy of St. Louis. The school is supported by six parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Louis: St. Wenceslaus, St. Pius V, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Anthony of Padua, Sts. Peter and Paul, and St. Agatha.
Cabrini recently marked its twentieth anniversary, and the parish's annual dinner and auction fundraiser is the school's largest source of tuition assistance. Over 93 percent of Cabrini families receive financial aid, and more than 75 percent of ticket sales at the auction go directly to that assistance. The school fields athletic teams in soccer, track, basketball, and volleyball, and recent league championships have come from the seventh-grade boys' basketball team and the boys' soccer team. Each year, fifteen to twenty students make their first communions, with confirmations in alternating years, and one or two students join the Church each spring through the RCIA. Children not attending Catholic school receive faith formation through the South City Deanery Parish School of Religion, with classes held on Monday evenings at St. John the Baptist School on Delor Street.
Children's Ministries and Faith Formation
A robust set of children's ministries gathers the parish's youngest members. Children's Liturgy of the Word is offered on the second and fourth Sunday of each month during the 10:00 a.m. Mass, when school-age children are dismissed with catechists after the first reading and spend time in Singler Hall in prayer, discussion, and activities suited to their growing faith. Family Faith Formation, Youth Sundays, and a Youth Group round out the programming for school-age children and teenagers, with catechists and small-group leaders in continual need.
The Faith Formation Commission coordinates these efforts, cultivating opportunities for spiritual growth for parishioners of every age. It supports small faith communities, Bible studies, presentations, series of talks on a particular topic, retreats, and Family Faith Formation, on the conviction that faith formation is a lifelong process. The commission meets on the third Thursday of each month at 6:00 p.m.
Music, Lectors, and the Migration Mass
Music at the 10:00 a.m. Sunday Mass is led by a choir that welcomes singers, cantors, and instrumentalists from the fifth grade and up. There are no auditions, and the ability to read music is not required. Lectors proclaim the Word at Mass and at other liturgical events on a rotating schedule of every four to six weeks; the readings are spoken in English and in other languages, currently French, Zomi, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Eucharistic Ministers distribute Holy Communion at Mass and carry the Eucharist to the homebound and hospitalized.
The annual Migration Mass, held during National Migration Week in September, is a celebration of the diversity that is the fabric of the parish. The 10:00 a.m. Mass incorporates readings and songs in multiple languages and invites everyone to celebrate their country and culture of origin, often wearing the traditional dress of their heritage. A potluck lunch in Singler Hall follows, with members contributing dishes from the nations represented in the community.
Justice, Anti-Racism, and the Jubilee Year
Faith formation at St. Pius V is paired with a deep commitment to justice and service. The Justice and Service Commission supports, encourages, and challenges the parish to respond to the gospel mandate to serve those in need and to work for justice that addresses the root causes of need. Its three committees (Education, Service, and Justice) keep parishioners informed about local, state, and national policies, evaluate the success of the parish's ministries, and welcome new members to its work. The Commission meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 5:30 p.m., rotating among parishes.
The Anti-Racism and Equity Committee is committed to eliminating racism and achieving greater equity in the parish, the wider church, and the world. Its work includes acknowledging systems and behaviors that marginalize people based on race, reconciling the role of individuals and the Church in personal and structural racism, and pursuing racial inclusion through education, reflection, spiritual formation, liturgical transformation, civic organizing, and collaborative partnerships. The committee meets the third Sunday of each month after the 10:00 a.m. Mass. The Respect for Life Apostolate fosters the Catholic precept of respect for life from conception to natural death and offers parishioners a way to speak out and act against threats to life.
The parish marked a 2025 Justice Jubilee Year with a series of essays on topics including the baptismal call to justice, immigration, racial inequality in St. Louis, housing inequities, food insecurity, and women's inequality, written by parishioners and community experts. A Blood Drive is hosted in Singler Hall each spring and fall in partnership with Impact Life.
Community Life: Coffee, Reading, and Hospitality
Every Sunday after the 10:00 a.m. Mass, Coffee and Conversation fills Singler Hall with parishioners, friends, neighbors, and guests sharing donuts, coffee, and fellowship. Individuals, families, and groups take turns hosting the morning approximately once every two months, picking up pre-ordered donuts, setting up tables and chairs, brewing coffee, serving, and cleaning up. The Ambassadors, Ministry of Welcome team greets people at the door, distributes bulletins and music books, and offers general assistance at Mass.
Other annual traditions bring the parish together around food and music. The Lenten Fish Fry is the parish's biggest fundraiser of the year, drawing the community together on the Fridays of Lent to serve fish dinners, sides, and desserts in Singler Hall. Oktoberfest, held each fall, features food, music, raffles, and fun for all ages. Spiritual Retreats are offered to men and women throughout the year at the White House Jesuit Retreat Center in South County and at other locations in St. Louis, with details posted in the weekly bulletin. Bible Study groups for men, women, and co-ed meet throughout the year, with announcements in the bulletin.
Leadership and Parish Structure
St. Pius V is served by Pastor Fr. John Rogers Vien, who also pastors St. Margaret of Scotland while the two parishes remain separate and independent, sharing a pastor. Fr. Carl Scheble, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, lives at St. Pius V as Priest in Residence. Deacon Patrick McCruden assists with liturgy and pastoral care. Kevin Kuehl coordinates the Immigrant and Refugee Ministry, and Annie Aeschbacher coordinates the Accompaniment Program.
The parish is governed by a Parish Council chaired by Maureen Fox, with Melody Gee as secretary, James Skinner overseeing finance, and members Vince Estrada, Chris Lloyd, Katrina Orlet, and Tom Sanger. The Liturgy and Worship Commission plans all aspects of worship throughout the church year and meets on the first Tuesday of each month. The Community Life Commission works to make the parish a welcoming place of inclusion and engagement, and the Finance Council supports the pastor in the stewardship of parish resources and meets on the fourth Monday of each month. All of these commissions welcome new members from across the parish.
For children not attending Catholic school, the South City Deanery Parish School of Religion provides education in the Catholic faith for students in grades K through 12, with classes on Monday evenings during the school year at St. John the Baptist School, 4200 Delor Street. The parish registers new members through an online form and welcomes anyone interested in receiving the sacraments through the Sacrament Inquiry form. Online giving supports the general fund, the school, and specific ministries, including the Immigration and Refugee Ministry, and donations to the parish support the wider work of the Archdiocese of St. Louis through the Annual Catholic Appeal.