To our St. George family & community:
As we shared with you in May, workers for the Bishop have been dismantling parts of
St. George Church over the past months. It appears that the work was done at a
very considerable cost. Thanks to faithful parishioners, we now have some additional
photos to share with you since our last message and also a review.
We are very heartbroken and disappointed that this has happened, especially in
knowing that since 2015, when our group of parishioners formed our non-profit, SGCPS, we have submitted numerous viable and detailed proposals to care for the church at no cost to the Diocese.
These proposals were copied from successful organizations similar to SGCPS in other
Dioceses that care for and preserve their Catholic churches under arrangements that
were approved of or even initiated by their Bishops.
Unfortunately our proposals were rejected by our Bishop who had issued orders in
2016 to close and dismantle the church. When that happened, SGCPS moved forward
with the Vatican appeal process to try to revoke those orders. This put a hold on most
of the dismantling work. During the long appeal process that was extended by the
COVID epidemic, SGCPS used the time to make contact with over 1400 Parishioners,
Alumni, the Allentown community, the preservationist community, the German ethnic
community, and other non-profit organizations in other Dioceses who care for their
former parish churches at no cost to their parish or Diocese. We also held many social
events to keep our community together and raise funds and pledges that would be
needed to start any needed repairs of the church.
Unfortunately, our appeals were rejected at each level of the process at the Vatican.
When that happened, we presented an additional viable proposal to the Bishop and it
was again rejected without the opportunity for SGCPS to try to preserve the church.
When the recent work began, our Pittsburgh City Councilman's office inquired
about the plans for the dismantled church. This was a reply from the Diocese
lawyer:
Thank you for your inquiry to the Most Reverend Mark A. Eckman, Bishop of the
Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, concerning the former St. John Vainney Church
Building. On behalf of the Bishop, I can respond that the former church building
has been fully and properly closed pursuant to the Canon law of the Roman
Catholic Church.
Currently, there has been no decision made as to the future of the building.
Thank you for your inquiry.
Christopher Ponticello
In 2024, with the consent of our major donors, SGCPS used a part of the restoration
funds to construct the St. George WWII Monument at the cemetery. More recently, we
had the statue of St. George from Schramm Hall restored and placed in Allentown.
We now continue to search for a public space where we can display our artifacts,
trophies, yearbooks, etc. for public viewing. If you have any suggestions, please notify us.
Below are some additional heartbreaking photos that have been submitted by some
faithful parishioners.
Take care,
The Leadership Team at SGCPS |
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