Halbur St. Augustine appeal rejected

Bishop Walker Nickless received notification from the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura court regarding the latest appeal of a former parishioner of St. Augustine Church, Halbur. The Signatura advised that the latest petition was rejected.

Bishop Nickless promulgated a decree May 17, 2021, extinguishing St. Augustine and Our lady of Mount Carmel in Mount Carmel, uniting them into the newly-erected Good Shepherd Parish, with administration in Breda.

The other churches within the Good Shepherd Parish include St. John the Baptist in Arcadia, St. Bernard in Breda and Sacred Heart in Templeton.

The Vatican Dicastery for Clergy and the Signatura both upheld the bishop’s decree in response to the petition for recourse they received from St. Augustine parishioners beginning in 2021.

Father David Esquiliano, diocesan judicial vicar and canon lawyer, explained the St. Augustine petitioners have exhausted all opportunities to appeal to the Vatican courts and the May 2021 decree is upheld.