Sophie's Choice for Cambria City

By Zachary Hubbard
For The Tribune-Democrat

March 03, 2008 10:34 pm

— In the 1982 film Sophie’s Choice, actress Meryl Streep plays a tragic character named Sophie.
Sophie, a Jew, is forced by her Nazi captors to select one of her two children for extermination.
If she refuses, both children will be killed. Her choice haunts her for the rest of her life.
A similar, tragic choice is in the works for Cambria City.
Citing dwindling numbers of parishioners and a shortage of priests, Bishop Joseph Adamec of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown announced last week that the five Catholic churches in Cambria City will merge into one parish by July 2009.
All but one of them – SS. Casimir and Emerich, St. Columba, Immaculate Conception, St. Rochus and St. Steven – will be forced to close their doors.
My wife and I moved to Johnstown in early 2006. Before coming here, I always had associated this area with the 1889 flood.
After living here for two years however, I have come to believe that Johnstown’s rich heritage is built more upon its immigrant history than upon the flood.
As a tour of the local Heritage Discovery Center reveals, Johnstown owes most of its heritage to immigrants who came here at tremendous risk to build a future in a foreign land.
Those immigrants were assimilated into American society, but clung to their ethnic religious heritage. Their faith is reflected in the many beautiful churches in Cambria City today.
Our local ethnic heritage has been duly recognized by Cambria City’s designation as a National Historic District.
I fear that closing four historic Catholic churches will deal a severe setback to the preservation of our area’s heritage.
Just imagine the Cambria City Ethnic Festival with four of the Catholic churches closed.
Worse, imagine these beautiful, historic churches being torn down or sold for another use.
That would be a tragedy.
Many of us long have feared that a decision to close some of the churches was coming. Now that the decision has been made, it is time to mobilize to preserve Cambria City, a jewel that is important to both our local and national heritage.
With Johnstown in desperate need of something to stimulate the local economy, a preservation effort akin to John D. Rockefeller’s rescue of the decaying Colonial Williamsburg is in order. A restored Cambria City surely would be an incredible tourist attraction and a boon to our economy.
Rockefeller was inspired by the Rev. W.A.R. Goodwin, who championed the preservation of America’s colonial history in Williamsburg. Perhaps Bishop Adamec could be equally inspired to champion the preservation of Cambria City.
Cambria City stands as a living testament to America’s immigrant history deserving of preservation.
The visitor’s center is already in place. By this I mean the Johnstown Heritage Discovery Center.
Some preservation already has occurred through the restoration of the Wagner-Ritter House, a 19th century steelworker family’s house that now is a museum.
We need a group of concerned citizens and a philanthropic sponsor to move Cambria City’s preservation forward.
I would venture that the citizens can be organized from the parishioners who will be displaced by the church closings.
As for a philanthropic sponsor, the Carnegie Corp. of New York immediately comes to mind.
The corporation was formed as a result of Andrew Carnegie’s commitment to philanthropic giving. What better sponsor than Andrew Carnegie, who will forever be connected with the events leading to the 1889 flood?
A restoration of Cambria City might fall within the Carnegie Corp.’s national program goals of “Increasing integration of immigrants and disconnected populations in the United States into civil society and strengthening civic education,” as stated on their Web site, www.carnegie.org.
The restored neighborhood could serve as a national learning center focused on immigration in America. The Heritage Discovery Center is a good start toward such a goal.
Just as we have illuminated many of the bridges in Johnstown, it is time to illuminate the domes and steeples of Cambria City. I encourage concerned citizens to send your thoughts on preserving Cambria City to Zachary.Hubbard@Consultant.com.

Zachary Hubbard is a retired Army officer and freelance writer who lives in Upper Yoder Township. He is a member of The Tribune-Democrat Readership Advisory Committee.