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Our Lady of Lourdes observes 100 years of faith

BURGETTSTOWN — Our Lady of Lourdes Parish is celebrating 100 years of faith in the community, including a dinner celebration Sept. 18.

In 1915, the Catholic community in Burgettstown sent a petition to the Bishop of the Pittsburgh Diocese asking that a parish be established. An assistant to the pastor was sent to St. Alphonsus with instructions to organize a parish in Burgettstown. From July 1915 to May 1916, this priest traveled to Burgettstown once a week to celebrate Mass. In May 1916, the parish was formally established.

The parish began meeting in an upper room at Valek’s Hall in Erie Mine, in schoolrooms and in Miner’s Hall for Mass beginning in 1916, and when Burgettstown became large enough, Bishop John Francis Regis Canevin of the Diocese of Pittsburgh assigned a permanent pastor, the Rev. William J. McCashin.

McCashin often traveled by horse and buggy to small towns throughout the greater Burgettstown area, including Slovan, Bulger, Cherry Valley and Langeloth, to celebrate Mass. A small mission church sponsored by Sts. Peter and Paul became Our Lady of Lourdes’ home. The building still stands and is being converted into a private home.

A cornerstone for a one-story church was laid in 1918. On Dec. 8, 1918, the basement church was dedicated, and an additional two floors were added in 1923 in the hope that the parish could open a Catholic elementary school. The school opened in 1942 with the Sisters of Mercy teaching. The Sisters of Mercy continued to teach at Our Lady of Lourdes until 1971, when there weren’t enough nuns to staff the school, at which point the school was staffed with lay teachers — the first Catholic school in the area to do so.

The current church’s construction began in 1956 as the congregation continued to expand. In December 1955, ground was broken for a new church, and a cornerstone was laid directly across Main Street from the church/school in 1956. This church was dedicated Feb. 11, 1957. The old combined church and school building remained in use as a school until 2006 and continues to serve as a Religious Education Center.

Volunteers are preparing a historical directory which will be available at the conclusion of the church’s September celebration, which already includes a “back to school” dinner, veterans’ commemoration, children’s T-shirt contest, church tours focusing on the unique stained-glass windows and a “Nativit-TEA” for the women and fish frys.

Eight pastors have celebrated the sacraments at Our Lady of Lourdes, including McCashin, the Rev. John Boslet, the Rev. Edward Trzeciakowski, the Rev. Francis Pucci, the Rev. Rudolph Smoley, the Rev. Richard Tuskey, the Rev. Robert Connolly and the Rev. George Moncek, who is the current pastor.

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