PETITION TO REINSTATE FATHER HAGER TO PROVIDE FOR THE DAILY SACRAMENTAL NEEDS OF MEMBERS OF THE ST. BARNABAS COMMUNITY

Whereas, when Fr. Hager was made pastor of St. Barnabas in 2013, he was told by then-Archbishop Robert Carlson that the parish would be closed in about 5 years unless Fr. Hager could prove it worthy of remaining open;

Whereas, in January 2015, Fr. Hager began celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass on Sundays with an average attendance of 99 and, by 2021, had grown that attendance to 165;

Whereas, by November 2016, Fr. Hager was celebrating all Novus Ordo Masses ad orientem, thereby instilling deepened reverence for the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass;
 
Whereas, donations from St. Barnabas parishoners steadily increased during Fr. Hager's time as pastor and were at an all-time-high when he was removed from his position;  
 
Whereas, in 2021, St. Barnabas received new people into the Church for the first time in five years, all of whom had regularly attended Fr. Hager's Traditional Latin Mass and, therefore, received their Sacraments of Initiation according to the 1962 Roman Missal;

Whereas, Fr. Hager has proven that St. Barnabas parish is growing and thriving, and his removal has devastated the future of the parish, which is now limited to one weekly TLM Mass, celebrated by a rotation of priests who do not provide full-time pastoral care, and no Sacrament of Penance;  

Now, therefore, we, the spiritual beneficiaries of Reverend Raymond Hager's devotion to pastoral duty and responsibility, respectfully petition His Excellency, Archbishop Rozanski, of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, to return Father Hager to the St.  Barnabas pastorate.