Timeline: History of Washington County parishes closed by Diocese

Parishioners of two Washington County churches took the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh to court Thursday over the closure of their churches.

The diocese closed St. Anthony Church, located in Monongahela, in 2014. Here is a timeline of how the church began and what led up to its closure.

ST ANTHONY PARISH, Monongahela

MAY 1904

St. Anthony was established in 1904 as an Italian parish. The first Mass of the new mission was celebrated in the Anton Building in May of 1904. Work began on building a new church.

DECEMBER 17, 1905

The church was dedicated on December 17, 1905.

FEBRUARY 2, 1913

The church was destroyed in a fire. While the church was being rebuilt, Mass was celebrated in a rented storeroom.

December 10, 1915

A new pastor was assigned to the church and they started to rebuild the church.

APRIL 1917

The new church was dedicated and served the congregation for 30 years.

May 2, 1949

The parish outgrew the church and ground was broken on a new church.

May 14, 1950

The newly-rebuilt church was dedicated.

OCTOBER 2007

Population decline in the area prompted the Diocese to do a two-year study on the churches in three communities, Monongahela, Charleroi and Donora. The study looked at the financial and spiritual needs of the area.

AUGUST 15, 2011

The study found that two churches, St. Anthony and Transfiguration Church, needed to merge to create a new parish, St. Damien of Molokai. Both churches stayed open until the conclusion of another two-year study to determine if both could remain open.

APRIL 27, 2014

The study found that it wasn’t possible to keep both church buildings open. The parishes could not come to a decision on which church building to close. The bishop decided to keep the Transfiguration Church open and close St. Anthony.

The final Mass at the church was celebrated and the building was formally closed the next day.

TRENDING NOW:

The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh merged St. Agnes Parish, located in Richeyville, into the new St. Katharine Drexel Parish in January 2017. Here is everything we know about the history of St. Agnes.

ST. AGNES PARISH, Richeyville

DECEMBER 4, 1929

First mass celebrated in town in the J & L Dressing Station.

1939

The parish purchased a church building

1960

St. Agnes became an independent parish.

1994

St. Mary and Assumption parishes became a part of St. Agnes parish. Assumption Church closed and St. Mary remained open.

SEPTEMBER 1995

St. Agnes Church closed due to poor conditions. The building was razed. The parish found a temporary home at a converted movie theater and roller rink.

OCTOBER 14, 2001

Ground was broken on a new church

MAY 31, 2003

St. Agnes Church was dedicated.

SEPTEMBER 8, 2007

The parish closed St. Mary Church.

2015

The Diocese of Pittsburgh did a study to look at the financial and spiritual needs of the area.

2016

The study concluded that St. Agnes should merge with four other parishes.

JANUARY 8, 2017

St. Agnes Parish joined the new St. Katharine Drexel Parish.