Welcome to Ascension Catholic Church's website. We're so glad you're here!

Our Mission
Love God, love others, make disciples.

Our Vision
Making church matter by growing Ascension parishioners into disciples who in turn invite others to the Catholic Church in Chesterfield and assisting other Catholic Churches to do the same.

Our Strategy
Pay attention to those churches that are intentionally growing by a best practices approach. The fastest growing churches in the country all follow some formula that includes the following:

• A high level strategy to meet people exactly where they are and encourage them to grow more like Christ
  Members who pray daily and grow as volunteer ministers in service and giving
• An excellent weekend worship experience that relies on uplifting music, a relevant homily, and simultaneous ministries for children.
• Engaging discipleship through small groups and exceptional ministries
  A focus on people not currently attending the Church or people who have left the Church in our community.
  Please explore our website to learn more about who we are and what we believe.

We would love to hear from you so please make sure to contact us with any questions!

God Bless!

Our History

Ascension's "The Little Church" (this served as the main church until 1977) was built in 1923-24. At this time, Ascension served as a mission parish for immigrant workers in Chesterfield Valley. There was no permanent pastor until Father John Godfrey was assigned by the archbishop just after World War II.

Before the original Ascension Church was built, the sole designated parish for this vast area of West St. Louis County, which encompassed small communities such as "Bonhomme," "Orville," "Centaur," "Hilltop," "Hog Hollow," and "Chesterfield," was St. Anthony's on Centaur Road (which was west of the present location of the Spirit of St. Louis Airport). Father V. J. McCartney, the pastor at St. Anthony's, would travel to Ascension for a Sunday liturgy after having Mass at St. Anthony's early in the morning.

As for the simplistic yet beautiful interior of "The Little Church," the arches over the pews, plus the arches over the statues of the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph, and the detailed window frames and surrounding mini-arches and all interior carpentry trim work, were installed in 1966. Four carpenters from the parish (Ted Jansen, Leonard Ruby, Fred Ruby, and Joseph Ruby) completely remodeled "The Little Church."

To bring things up-to-date after Vatican II, the communion rail was removed. The original altar, which was up against the back wall (from the days when the priest did the consecration with his back to the congregation) was also removed and replaced with the simple table-style altar which is about 10 feet from the back wall.

In addition to the aforementioned skilled trim work, these four parishioners upgraded and built supports to the choir loft, built a staircase to access the basement from the upper church, and installed carpeting and new pews. Another parishioner, Stan Porzienski, upgraded the church's entire electrical system. It may seem unusual in this age when church communities such as Ascension take bids from contractors and the parish pays them to provide such services, in the past era, generous and talented men donated their time and skills for their parish.

Donna Bosch

Bookkeeper/Secretary

Become Catholic

RCIA (RITE OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION OF ADULTS)
Main Contact: Parish Office (636-532-3304) or parishoffice@asc.church

Ascension’s RCIA is for anyone who desires a journey of faith and an investigation into the truths of the Catholic Christian tradition and for anyone seriously considering joining the Catholic Church.  This includes anyone previously baptized in other Christian denominational churches and wishing to complete their initiation into the Catholic Church through Confirmation and First Eucharist; or for anyone not baptized and interested in learning about the Catholic faith and possibly joining the Catholic Church.

The RCIA is presented by a team of experienced presenters, including all the parish priests and permanent deacons.  We also have a support team that offers welcoming hospitality and prayerful support.  We usually meet once a week beginning in September and conclude two weeks following Easter. 

Some of the topics we cover during this journey include: Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity, The Resurrection of the Body and Life Everlasting, Catholic Morality (Understanding the 10 Commandments in our lives today), The Seven Sacraments with special focus on the Eucharist and the Mass.  We talk about how Christ is truly present in a sacramental marriage and how forgiveness and reconciliation are part of the plan for eternal life. There are many other engaging topics that we discuss.  Each night we welcome questions and dialogue.

Why be Catholic?

The Catholic Church is the Church that Jesus Christ founded (Mt 16:18-19) as Fr. Mike Schmitz explains below.  This Church has a visible structure that started with the Apostles (Eph 2:20) who then were succeeded by the bishops (Acts 1:20, 25-26). 

The Church of the New Testament is hierarchical (Eph 4:11) and has bishops, priests, and deacons (1 Tim 3:1, 8; 5:17; and Acts14:23), who were entrusted with the teaching of Jesus Christ (2 Tim 2:2). The Church has the authority to teach on behalf of Christ (Lk 10:16) because Jesus delegated this power to His Church (Mt 28:18-20), which also has the authority to legislate and discipline the faithful followers of Christ (Mt 18:17-18).

The Church is necessary to settle disagreements about what Jesus taught in order to preserve Christian Unity (Eph 4:3-6; 1 Cor 1:10; Jn 17:17-23; and Rom 12:5) and the truths that were revealed to us by Jesus Christ (1 Tim 3:15), which affects our salvation.

What We Believe

"Those who belong to Christ through faith and Baptism must confess their baptismal faith before men. (Mt 10:32 & Rom 10:9)... The profession of faith summarizes the gifts that God gives man: as the Author of all that is good; as Redeemer; and as Sanctifier. It develops these in the three [parts] on our baptismal faith in the one God: the almighty Father, the Creator; his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior; and the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, in the Holy Church."
---the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 14

Catholic belief is succinctly expressed in the profession of faith called the Nicene Creed:

The word "creed" comes from the Latin word, credo, which means "I believe," and it is how the Nicene Creed begins.  This set of principle truths of the faith unites the entire Catholic world.

The Nicene Creed is actually the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, which gets its name from the First Council of Nicea (325 A.D.) and the first Council of Constantinople (381 A.D.) where it was adopted. It is a formulation of what the Church has always and everywhere believed.

"For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate, He suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in according to the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory, to judge the living and the dead and His kingdom will have no end."

His death was His perfect and total gift of Himself to God the Father.  A gift so pleasing that it more than makes up for all the sin in all the world for all time.  A gift that needed to be made by a human on be half of all humans since humans were the ones to sin, and yet, a gift that only an infinite and all loving Divine Person can give since it was an infinite and all love God who was offended by our sins.  After rising from the dead He took His place in Heaven, which is important because it means that His Sacred Humanity entered into heaven.

"I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets."