Part XX

With the retirement of Bishop Vincent Leonard upon reaching the age of 75, the Holy Father appointed Bishop Anthony Bevilacqua as the new bishop of Pittsburgh. He was installed in December 1983 and served in our diocese until his transfer to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 1988.

Clergy changes marked this time period, as Father Goralka was given a new assignment, and Father Vincent Velas became the pastor at Saint Mark Parish. Father Kirby was transferred in 1985, and the bishop appointed Father Richard Dorsch as the new pastor of Saint Francis de Sales Parish. In that same year, Father Edward Hoffman replaced Father Feldmeier as pastor at Saint Mary Parish. Father Cirilli, pastor of Mother of Sorrows Parish, was reassigned in 1986, and Father William Terza became pastor in his place. As the 1980’s continued, the parishes looked at how to serve the needs of the community, with housing for the elderly, and involvement in the FOR, Focus on Renewal, a non-profit agency that began in 1969, and provided a range of social services to the people of Sto-Rox.
Bishop Bevilacqua understood that with the rapidly changing landscape across the diocese, changes were necessary if parishes were going to face the future. When a fire damaged a church in Braddock in 1985, he took the unexpected opportunity to combine all the parishes in that former mill town into one new parish. It was a bold step, and people were not happy. But it was a logical way to address the changes in population, finances and other resources, to keep a Catholic presence in the community.

Arriving in 1988 as Bevilacqua’s replacement, Bishop Donald Wuerl knew the momentum had to continue. Parish life was maintained in this time of determining how to address the changes all around. Father Thomas Kram was appointed pastor at Saint Mary, Help of Christians, in 1988, and at Saint Malachy, the founding pastor, Father Weirauch, retired, being succeeded by Father Nick Mastrangelo.

In 1989, Bishop Wuerl announced what he called a Reorganization and Revitalization program across the six counties of the diocese. Each parish was asked to undergo a self-study, looking at the areas of worship, community, prayer, service, education and administration. At Holy Trinity Parish, for example, following submission of the materials from the self-study, a response came back from the diocese indicating that while there was no need for reorganization at this time, revitalization was needed in several areas, including evangelization and parishioner involvement.

There were more leadership changes as Father Kram accepted a new assignment, and Father Paul Householder was appointed Administrator of Saint Mary in 1990. At Saint Malachy, Father John Brennan was named pastor, replacing Father Mastrangelo, in 1991.
From 1992 to 1994, new parishes were created from old ones, combining those in the City of Pittsburgh, along the corridors of the rivers and in the small towns where industry had mostly been abandoned. In May 1993, on Pentecost Sunday, the six parishes and one mission of the Sto-Rox area became Saint John of God Parish. Three priests were assigned in team ministry, with Father William Terza, previously at Mother of Sorrows, named as team moderator. Four of the churches were closed, leaving three to serve the new parish, Saint Mary, Help of Christians, Mother of Sorrows, and Saint Mark. The school was moved to Mother of Sorrows.

Saint Malachy Parish was, like Holy Trinity, spared from the reorganization, noting in 1993 as it marked 40 years, that the parish census numbered 2100 families with an average of 90 baptisms annually. But growing costs for Catholic education would build debt at many parishes. Unable to pay ordinary costs like insurance, these debts began to mount. Over the next decades more schools would be forced to close.
In 1999, the team ministry at Saint John of God ended, and Father Paul Householder was appointed pastor. Father Brennan left Saint Malachy in 2000, with Father Richard Jones arriving as the new pastor there.