Published: October 18, 2009 11:56 pm      

‘Praying for a miracle’: St. Joseph’s parish members urged to attend Mass elsewhere

COUPON — Eighty-five-year-old Walter Stasik wept in September 2008 as fire ripped through his beloved St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, a quarter-mile from his home.

Tears welled up in Stasik’s eyes late last week as he talked about the loss of the church’s priest and word from the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese that the 100 families that call St. Joseph’s home should start attending Mass at one of a number of other churches in the northern Cambria County area.

“We miss that church. We went there all of our lives. Our two boys were baptized there.

“They were altar boys there,” Stasik said of the place where he and his wife, Carol, have worshipped every Sunday for more than 50 years.

Word of the transfer of the Rev. Brian Saylor from

St. Joseph’s to St. Rose of Lima in Altoona was delivered recently to parish members along with word that a new priest would not be named to fill the vacancy at this time.

Members are being urged to attend Mass at St. Demetrius Catholic Church in Gallitzin and St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, Ashville. A third option being considered by some parishioners is St. Monica Catholic Church in Chest Springs.

Diocesan spokesman Tony DeGol said there has been no “formal” decision about the future of the parish, and no plans to sell the church or the rectory are in the works.

“Within a year or two things may change,” he said. “We are encouraging them to attend Mass at another parish.”

Weddings and funerals need to be scheduled at neighboring parishes while baptisms can be conducted by Deacon Steve Luke, temporary administrator of St. Joseph’s.

Catholic education classes will continue at the church for the time being, officials said.

The century-old building that long housed St. Joseph’s was destroyed by fire in September 2008.

Luke and others were able to save the Eucharist, several statues, vestments and significant books from the blaze, which broke out on a Sunday shortly after Mass ended.

With permission from the diocese, parish members turned out in force to renovate the parish social hall, months of work involving extensive interior work and a new roof.

“It’s beautiful. They did a good job,” Carol Stasik said. “We don’t have stained-glass windows, but it’s a church.”

That nod of approval for the renovation was taken by many locals as a silent sign the church, albeit a renovated social hall, would stay open for years to come.

“We never believed it would close after the volunteers fixed it up,” Walter Stasik said.

The decision comes down to numbers of priests available to fill the pulpits, DeGol said.

The September death of Monsignor George Flinn, 69, created a vacancy at St. John Gaulbert Cathedral in Johnstown, a vacancy filled by transferring the Rev. James Crookston from St. Rose of Lima, creating the need to pull Saylor from Coupon, DeGol said.

“After the fire there was a genuine effort to keep the parish alive as long as possible, but what happened (is) when Monsignor Flinn died it created a need for Father Saylor elsewhere,” DeGol said.

“It’s just a case of fewer priests.”

Any hope from the diocese that someday a priest may be returned to the pulpit at St. Joseph’s is like gold to Mary “Punkin” Pettenati.

“We are not closed. We are still considered as St. Joseph’s Parish. We still have everything going, except we don’t have Mass,” Pettenati said.

For that weekly Mass many parish members are committed to sticking together, even if it is in another church.

“We are the roaming Catholic church, we’ll go to these other churches as a family,” Pettenati said. “Last week, we went to St. Monica in Chest Springs. This week, we’re going to St. Demetrius in Gallitzin.”

A group also continues to gather at St. Joseph’s every Wednesday night to pray together, offering up petitions that a priest someday be assigned to St. Joseph’s.

“We are still praying for a miracle. We are not asking for the world. If we just had someone to come here for 45 minutes a week and do Mass,” Pettenati said.

“If the day comes when they put up a for-sale sign, then we’ll look for other directions from God.”

At the time of the fire, parish members were putting together a commemorative book about the church and its members. The devastating blaze prompted Luke to utter what has turned into a prophetic statement, “This will be our last page,” he said at the time.