Tornado tears roof from Pennsylvania church

April 8, 2020 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

CNA Staff, Apr 8, 2020 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- A Catholic church in the Diocese of Greensburg was among the buildings heavily damaged by a tornado in western Pennsylvania early Wednesday morning. 

Much of the roof of St. Mary of Czestochowa church was blown off during strong winds and heavy rains as a tornado touched down in New Kensington at 1:19 in the morning, according to the National Weather Service. About 15 minutes before the tornado, at 1:06 a.m., the Pittsburgh International Airport recorded winds at 75mph, which is the highest-ever recorded thunderstorm wind gust at that location. 

Fr. Michael Begolly, the pastor of St. Mary’s and its partner parish St. Joseph, said he was “devastated” upon seeing the damaged roof on Wednesday morning. 

Begolly told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he thought the winds “really sounded like a train” and that he was praying for the safety of everyone in New Kensington. 

“And then when I came down here seeing the devastation, it’s just heart-breaking,” he said. 

New Kensington is located about 18 miles northeast of the city of Pittsburgh, in the Diocese of Greensburg. 

An aerial photographs show that nearly half of the church’s roof had been destroyed by the winds. Only the framework of the roof survived. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a>: St Mary of Częstochowa Catholic Church in New Kensington heavily damaged by storms overnight. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NewsChopper2?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NewsChopper2</a> over the scene showing major roof and steeple damage. Other nearby buildings also damaged from storm. <a href="https://twitter.com/KDKA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KDKA</a> <a href="https://t.co/ZUn6UWnuoC">pic.twitter.com/ZUn6UWnuoC</a></p>&mdash; Ian Smith (@ismithKDKA) <a href="https://twitter.com/ismithKDKA/status/1247861380537110528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“Please pray for parishioners of this New Kensington parish, who suffered devastating news during Holy Week,” tweeted Catholic Accent, a publication of the Diocese of Greensburg, on Wednesday afternoon. “A severe storm early Wednesday morning caused major damage to the roof at St. Mary of Czestochowa Church in New Kensington.”

The full extent of the damage is currently unclear. 

St. Mary of Czestochowa was founded in 1892 by a group of Polish immigrants who sought to attend Mass in Polish. With the assistance of a Polish priest in Pittsburgh, who advocated for them to the bishop of Pittsburgh, they founded the Society of Our Lady of Czestochowa that same year. 

Construction on the first church building began in 1893, and the parish received their first pastor in residence that year. The existing building was completed in 1912, and underwent several renovations in the 1970s and 1990s, including the expansion of the parish’s organ. St. Mary of Czestochowa was partnered with St. Joseph Parish in 2008 as part of a restructuring of the Diocese of Greensburg. 

In addition to the damage at St. Mary’s, the storm also damaged an airplane hangar and uprooted numerous trees.

If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!

Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.

Related Articles

No Picture
News Briefs

Metuchen diocese holds 9-mile walking pilgrimage for spiritual renewal

September 25, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Metuchen, N.J., Sep 25, 2019 / 02:48 pm (CNA).- More than 700 people participated in a nine-mile pilgrimage through the streets of New Jersey’s Hunterdon County on Saturday in order to call for a spiritual awakening and increased discipleship in the Diocese of Metuchen.

The Sept. 21 pilgrimage was part of the diocese’s preparation for consecration to Christ through Our Lady of Guadalupe, which will take place on her feast, Dec. 12.

The journey was a loop that began and ended at Immaculate Conception Parish in Annandale, about 30 miles west of Metuchen.

During the pilgrimage the participants, among whom were 23 priests, prayed the rosary in both English and Spanish, and sang Marian hymns. The priests were available to hear confessions during the walk, and there was Eucharistic Adoration and a Holy Hour at the six-mile point of the pilgrimage.

Those who couldn’t join the procession, the parish held day-long Eucharistic adoration.

The choice of a nine-mile pilgrimage was significant to the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s apparition in Mexico.

“Deep in our spiritual tradition ‘pilgrimages’ signify and make present our ultimate journey home to heaven, recalling the truth that ‘as Christians, we have no earthly home,’” said Fr. Timothy Christy, vicar general and moderator of the curia for the Diocese of Metuchen. “Our pilgrimage commemorated the miles that St. Juan Diego regularly walked from his home to attend his catechesis to become Catholic in 1524.”

Christy hopes that the people of the diocese will be moved to imitate St. Juan Diego’s spirituality in their own lives, and be centered on Christ and the Church.

“St. Juan Diego’s heart was so moved by the love of Jesus and His Church and love of the Virgin Mary, no obstacle was too much to keep him from being joined to the Body of Christ and so to be able then to be prepared to receive Holy Communion,” said Christy.

“It is our hope that the people of our diocese will be reinvigorated by that same love for Jesus, the same love for His Church and the inspiration and protection of Our Lady of Guadalupe.”

Sr. Anna Nguyen, SSC, described being “overwhelmed with emotion,” and said the experience of the Eucharistic procession was one she will never forget.

Nguyen, a delegate for religious, helped coordinate the spiritual aspects of the pilgrimage.

“To see the faces of the people, all ages – clergy, religious, Eucharistic youth, young people, little children in carriages being pushed by their parents – all experiencing that we do not walk alone, Christ travels the ‘Way’ of our life with us!” said Nguyen.

“Even if (pilgrims) couldn’t see the Eucharist from the back of the procession, the Lord’s presence was palpable,” she added.

Bishop James Cecchio of Metuchen participated in the last three miles of the pilgrimage and celebrated Mass at the conclusion. An additional 300 people were present for the anticipated Mass.

Checchio encouraged those present to be open to sacrifice in their discipleship, and to commit their lives to Jesus.

“By this Eucharist today, by our pilgrimage – 9 miles walking with the Lord and one another – we make a public statement to our Lord and to one another of where we choose to place our heart,” said Checchio.

“We ask the Lord to light our hearts on fire, we ask the Lord to strengthen us for the challenges and the difficulties that we and our families face…as we strive to bring the merciful presence of Christ to all who do not know Him yet,” he said.

“I thank God for your striving to live this way, and I thank God for your witness today that you give through this pilgrimage – the times we live in, our times need more witnesses to Christ.”

[…]

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated. While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged, please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion, comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published. Thank you.


*