KASKASKIA PARISH SAVED WHEN PRIEST IS FOUND

KASKASKIA, Ill. -- Members of the Roman Catholic church on Kaskaskia Island apparently have saved their flood-stricken parish by finding a priest to say weekly Masses.

Bishop Wilton Gregory of the Belleville Diocese had told members of the Immaculate Conception Church after last summer's floods that there weren't enough people to justify assigning a priest there.

Gregory told the 319-year-old parish it would have to find its own priest if it wanted to function.

Parish supporters have found the Rev. Leo Figge, a missionary with the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the religious order that runs Our Lady of the Snows shrine in Belleville. He will begin holding services Sept. 10.

"This seems to be working out more easily than we expected," said Emily Lyons, secretary of the church's cemetery foundation. "Everyone is real excited."