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Chapter 10 :: 2016-2022
On July 1, 2016, Father Don Farnan was assigned as the tenth pastor of Saint Charles Borromeo. Upon his arrival he faced many challenges. The parish was without debt but in an unsustainable financial condition. The aging buildings on campus needed significant repair; parish population was shrinking; and the school, after experiencing a 75% decrease in enrollment, was threatened with closure.

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One of the buildings in need of major repairs was the rectory. In the summer of 2016, friends and former parishioners of Father Farnan from outside the parish donated funds and materials to begin the renovations. Saint Charles parishioners and Father Farnan’s friends furnished the labor to provide a beautiful, comfortable, safe place for parish priests to live. This project gave rise to the phrase “parish without borders” as Saint Charles gained new friends throughout the metro area. In the fall of 2016, Saint Charles parish hosted the first “Friendraiser” event, an evening of food, entertainment and fellowship for parishioners, supporters, and alumni.
In 2016, a three-year revitalization program began with goals to repopulate and rebrand the school, fund badly needed repairs, renovations and new construction, and reinvigorate the faith community to return and rejoice. Father
Farnan invited parishioners interested in parish revitalization to gather and study the book, “Rebuilt: Awakening the Faithful, Reaching the Lost, and Making Church Matter”. A new Saint Charles Borromeo ministry, “Team Rebuilt”, emerged with a mission “To support Saint Charles Borromeo Parish and Academy in building community spirt and to gain and grow disciples.” The team promotes, organizes, and aids with community events.
Father Farnan enjoyed writing, and in 2017 began sharing his thoughts and inviting comment about parish challenges and other matters in the form of a blog titled, “Charged with Saint Charles”. A link to the blog was on the parish website during his pastorate. In the spring of 2017, remodeling was done in the school guest lobby and entrance hall. This was followed by replacement of the east wing school windows, construction of a new principal’s office and installation of additional security measures. In the summer of 2017, roofs and skylights were replaced on the sanctuary building, the Commons, and lower school.
In May 2017, Saint Charles Catholic School closed its doors for the last time. The school reopened in August of 2017 as Borromeo Academy, based on the classical model of education. The facelift to the school facilities that took place over the spring and summer made the school campus better able to support the new teaching model. Bishop Johnston attended the reopening and cut the ribbon on the rebranded facility along with members of the Gladstone Chamber of Commerce. In December, the first annual ‘Prayer Breakfast’ fundraiser was held in the school gym to pray for the success of the Academy and the future of Catholic education. Guests were introduced to the principles of the classical model through speakers and a special performance by the scholars.
In 2018, The Saint Charles Retreat House opened in the renovated rectory. In addition to housing clergy and providing space for spiritual direction, the rectory was now available to host retreats. Some of the early retreats facilitated by Father Farnan were the Busy Person’s Retreat, Six Days of Scriptural Reflection, Catholic Social Teachings and an RCIA pre-Easter retreat.
This year also saw the completion of two newly constructed buildings on the campus. A long-awaited Gathering Space, which included an outdoor terrace and fountain, was added on the front of the worship space. Parishioners now had a bright and welcoming space to connect with each other before and after Mass. The space could also be set up for meetings and visitation services prior to funerals. A new parish office building was constructed north of the rectory to replace the deteriorating office space in the old convent building.
In 2018, the convent, built in 1951 and home over the years to 114 Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, was determined to be in irreparable condition and was demolished in the summer of 2019. On the land where the convent had stood, Mary’s Garden emerged. This beautiful, peaceful garden was funded, designed, created, and is now tended by the Schneider and Ross families in honor of Karl and Mary Schneider and the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. The garden was dedicated in the fall of 2020.
Eight new stained-glass windows honoring the Blessed Virgin and 6 female saints (from left to right, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Saint Elizabeth Seton, Saint Brigid, Saint Maria Faustina, Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Saint Maria Goretti, Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and the Virgin Mary, Mother of God) were installed in 2019 on the west side of the worship space to complement the existing windows on the east side dedicated to male saints. These windows were provided through the generosity of parish families. In 2021, two additional stainedglass windows were installed – the Saint Charles Borromeo window adjacent to the Saint Charles Chapel and the Saint Joseph window in the confessional, dedicated on his feast day, March 19, 2021.
Several clergy changes occurred during the Farnan era. Victor Quiason was ordained as a Permanent Deacon in 2018 and was assigned to Saint Charles Borromeo. Deacon Jim Olshefski was reassigned to serve at the Cathedral, Father Garry Richmeier, C.PP.S., accepted the role of Provincial Director of the C.PP.S. community and ended his official relationship with Saint Charles Parish. Father Garry served Saint Charles from 1994 to 2019 in a variety of roles while maintaining a counseling office on the parish grounds. He was on staff as Director of Counseling for many years and remained in-residence for several more years. While in-residence, Father Garry presided at daily and weekend Masses and facilitated bible study sessions in addition to continuing to provide counseling services.
In 2020, along with the rest of world, Saint Charles was challenged to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. With public gatherings of more than 10 individuals prohibited, Saint Charles suspended public celebration of the Mass in March. The Sunday Mass liturgy, celebrated during the week with only the presider, cantor, organist, and lectors in attendance, was recorded and posted to the parish website by Saturday for weekend viewing by parishioners. During the COVID-19 shutdown of 2020, the parish organized a group of callers to check in on isolated parishioners.
2016-2022


When larger gatherings were permitted, the church reopened with a limit to the number of individuals that could attend each Mass. Each week, parishioners who wished to attend in person were required to sign up in advance for a specific Mass and were required to provide contact tracing information upon arrival at the church. The masked parishioners were guided to seating that conformed to socialdistancing requirements by blue tape that blocked every other pew and segmented available pews into 3 sections. As communal singing had been identified by public health experts as a potential superspreader activity, hymnals were removed from the pews and only a single cantor was allowed to sing. To maintain social distancing and minimize contact, entrance, communion, and recessional processions were halted. The presider was assisted by a single deacon, no altar servers, and communion was distributed as the people remained in the pews and the masked presider and deacon moved through the assembly, using the empty pew rows to reach the faithful.
During this time the parish continued to upgrade technology and was soon able to provide livestreaming of one Mass each weekend and funeral Masses. The virtual Masses that were such a blessing to all parishioners during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic remain a welcome option for many shut-in parishioners and have reached a broader audience beyond the parish community.
As we entered our Diamond Jubilee year of 2022, we continued to emerge from the COVID-19 restrictions. Celebration of the Mass was slowly returning to normal with the return of the communion processions, altar servers, unrestricted seating, hymnals, a Christmas choir, and coffee and donuts in the Gathering Space.
Throughout this period, Borromeo Academy cycled through times of remote learning and on-site learning with precautions such as masks, social distancing, and in-classroom dining. Classes were quarantined and moved to virtual learning as new COVID-19 cases emerged in individual classrooms. The community of parents, scholars, teachers, and administrators banded together to maintain school operations as normally as possible during the most difficult of circumstances. Through government programs such as PPP and EANS, the full staff was maintained, and funding enabled facility improvements. The PPP program allowed the parish to maintain all the staff and faculty with full pay throughout the close-down period. Through EANS, school rooms were refurnished, replacing furniture that was in some cases more than 40 years old. Most of the technology was updated/ upgraded throughout the facility and iPads were provided to all students from the 3rd – 8th grades.
Another significant change came to Borromeo Academy in 2020, with the resignation of its first principal, Ann Lachowitzer. Following an extensive search process, Karen Hopson, EdD, became the second principal.
In the fall of 2021, through Father Farman’s leadership and vision to build upon our three pillars of ministry (Worship, Education and Outreach), Saint Charles looked to the future with the “Diamond Jubilee Capital Campaign”. Listening sessions early in the campaign sought input from parishioners to prioritize the projects to be undertaken. In the spring of 2022, work began on several projects identified during the campaign. The Early Childhood Center improvements will include the addition of new doors directly to the playground from classrooms and the addition of a new activity deck. Parish operations will be improved by the long-awaited expansion and upgrade of the Borromeo Hall kitchen and the addition of a new storage facility on the north side of the gym.

The parish support for the permanent deaconate program continued with the acceptance of Mark Trujillo into deaconate formation in 2022.
Our 75th Anniversary Jubilee year brought our community out of a COVID-induced shutdown to the renewal of long-awaited community events. Anticipation for the upcoming jubilee built with distribution of the Saint Charles Parish 75th Anniversary Cookbook in the fall of 2021.
In December of 2021, a special “Lighting the Way to Our 75th Year” gathering kicked off the year-long celebration. During the 4 pm Mass, the community was surrounded by the 26 large archive panels depicting the history of the parish. Following the Mass, an outdoor lighting ceremony, complete with ringing of church bells, illuminated the campus for the Advent and Christmas seasons. Parishioners then moved inside to continue the celebration with wine and hors d’oeuvres in the Gathering Space for adults, a Saint Joseph’s Table Christmas Bazaar in the Commons, and activities such as gingerbread house decorating and inflatables for children in the gym.
Two Anniversary events were held in April of 2022 in honor of the first Mass celebrated by the new Saint Charles Parish on Easter Sunday 1947. The Girl Scouts, assisted by the 75th Anniversary Committee, sponsored a special 75th Anniversary Easter Egg Hunt for children on Holy Saturday morning.

On April 30th, adults of the parish, along with former parishioners and former pastors and associate pastors, gathered at Saint Pius X High School for a Spring Gala celebration. A catered dinner with live music from a string trio was followed by entertainment from a magician and then dancing. Ticket price for the event was set at $19.47 in honor of the 1947 founding of the parish. Generous parishioners contributed additional funds in memory of deceased parishioners and in thanksgiving for many years of blessings.
With our 75th Anniversary came significant leadership changes. Karen Hopson, EdD, accepted a new position as an associate superintendent with the Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph schools and Candace Stracener was hired as the new principal for Borromeo Academy.
In July 2022, Father Don Farnan was reassigned to assume a new leadership role at Rockhurst University and to assist in sacramental ministry in inner-city parishes. His pastorate was marked by spiritual and physical revitalization within Saint Charles parish, positioning the parish to move forward with confidence and hope.




