Mon-Yough Catholic Parishes Face Sweeping Realignment

By Jason Togyer
The Tube City Almanac
September 19, 2017
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

• Editor's Note: We would appreciate hearing from Mon-Yough area Catholics about their opinions on these proposed church groupings. Opinions can be kept anonymous, upon request. Email tubecitytiger@gmail.com.

Roman Catholic churches in East McKeesport, Elizabeth, Glassport, Liberty, McKeesport and White Oak could be put into a single "parish grouping" as the Diocese of Pittsburgh works to address a shortage of priests.

The realignment of the seven parishes --- many of which were created after church mergers in the 1980s, '90s and 2000s --- are being recommended to Bishop David Zubik by a commission as part of an ongoing initiative called "On Mission for The Church Alive!"

The diocese said no immediate church mergers are planned, and said no church buildings are closing at this time.

The groupings were announced this weekend in the diocesan newspaper, the Pittsburgh Catholic.

A "parish grouping" is "a collection of individual parishes in a common geographic area proposed to become one new parish over time," according to a statement posted on the diocese website.

Recommended for "grouping" into a single "South Allegheny" parish are St. Angela Merici in White Oak; Corpus Christi in McKeesport; St. Mark in Liberty and Port Vue; St. Michael in Elizabeth Twp.; St. Patrick in Christy Park; Queen of the Rosary in Glassport; and St. Robert Bellarmine in East McKeesport.

A Duquesne Area grouping would include St. Agnes in West Mifflin; Christ the Light of the World in Duquesne; Holy Trinity in West Mifflin; and St. Joseph in Duquesne.

A proposed Homestead, Munhall, West Mifflin and Whitaker grouping would include St. Maximilian Kolbe in Munhall; Resurrection in West Mifflin; St. Rita in Whitaker; and St. Therese of Lisieux in Munhall.

A Route 51 area grouping would include St. Clare of Assisi in Clairton; St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Baldwin; Holy Spirit in West Mifflin; and St. Thomas A Becket in Jefferson Hills; while Woodland Hills area parishes to be grouped together would be St. Colman in Turtle Creek; Good Shepherd in Braddock; St. John Fisher in Churchill; St. Jude the Apostle in Wilmerding; Madonna del Castello in Swissvale; St. Maurice in Forest Hills; and Word of God in Swissvale.

The On Mission! commission, chaired by Kathy Buechel, presented its recommendations to Zubik in a meeting on Sept. 7, the diocese said. The recommendations are based on what they consider to be "the most effective groupings of parishes."

The parish groupings are the product of two years' work, the diocese said.

Buechel told the Pittsburgh Catholic that the work was "spirit-filled" and not "a rubber stamp process."

“All of the groupings were informed by what we learned at the district and parish meetings throughout the diocese,” she said. “This work was far more discerning, nuanced and responsive to feedback and concerns than we might have ever imagined at the beginning."

The recommendations are not final decisions, the statement said. Zubik will meet with his Priest Council to review the recommendations and seek feedback, according to the diocese.

The final groupings will be announced in April 2018, the diocese said, and take effect that fall.

Originally published September 19, 2017.

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