St. Elizabeth’s Hospital donates office building and other property to Belleville Diocese
St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon is giving the Catholic Diocese of Belleville an office building with a parking lot in downtown Belleville, as well as three other pieces of property near its chancery.
The diocese plans to move offices that are now at its Pastoral Center in Shiloh into the two-story brick building at 224 W. Garfield St. in Belleville, at the corner of Garfield and Third Street, just south of the Cathedral of St. Peter.
“This generous gift of properties will allow our dedicated staff to be more centralized around the Chancery and St. Peter’s Cathedral, the heart of the diocese,” Vicar General Steven Beatty stated in a news release Thursday.
“Our team will be able to work together more closely, and the decreased overhead costs will free up resources for ministries to our faithful, our parishes, and the whole community.”
The Pastoral Center now shares property with the Hinke-Sense Home for Retired Priests, off Lebanon Avenue in Shiloh.
Diocesan leaders haven’t yet decided what will be done with vacated office space at the Pastoral Center, according to Monsignor John Myler, diocesan spokesman.
“The bishop has been very straightforward in that the retirement home for priests will continue,” he said.
The building on Garfield Avenue has housed a convent, day care center and most recently offices for the Southern Illinois Division of Hospital Sisters Health System, which owns the hospital.
The system consolidated and created a new Illinois Division, based mainly in Springfield, according to spokeswoman Kelly Barbeau.
“The building has been vacant since April 2020,” she said.
The hospital’s donation to the diocese consists of eight parcels with five addresses, totaling about one acre. That includes a grassy area where the old Cathedral High School used to be.
The donation doesn’t include the former St. Elizabeth’s Hospital site, which is made up of eight parcels, ranging from .3 acres to 10.5 acres.
“We still own that land, and it is for sale,” Barbeau said.
St. Elizabeth’s Hospital operated in downtown Belleville for 142 years before it moved into a new complex along Interstate 64 in O’Fallon in 2017. The former complex was later demolished.
The hospital still owns two physician office buildings in downtown Belleville.
St. Elizabeth’s President and CEO Chris Klay and Bishop Michael McGovern, who leads the diocese, announced the hospital’s donation on Thursday.
“The hospital and the Diocese have long worked together in serving our community, and this is another way St. Elizabeth’s Hospital can support their Catholic ministry,” Klay stated in the news release.
“Going forward, the building and land would be best utilized by the Bishop and his team.”
