Mar 23, 2016 5 min read

It was 60 years ago this month – Sunday, March 18, 1956 – that the new Mother of Sorrows Roman Catholic Church was the focus of an official consecration and dedication.

Those solemn and holy rites at the house of worship at Third Street and Lincoln Avenue in Charleroi were held in the wake of the heaviest snowfall of the 1955-56 winter season but went off without a hitch.

Most areas of this Mon Valley felt Mother Nature’s impact on Friday as between nine inches and a foot of snow snarled traffic and forced emergency road crews into overtime work.

More than 100 big tractor-trailer trucks and automobiles lined a detour off the National Road (Route 40) in a major tie-up west of Washington. Many motorists in Valley communities chose to leave their cars downtown and walk to their homes in the hill districts. Commuters using public transportation also faced long delays as buses, trolleys and trains were running far behind schedule. Newspapers reported that taxis were doing a “brisk business.”

Light snow fell Saturday night but temperatures climbed into the upper 30s Sunday and the celebration at Mother of Sorrows went on as scheduled.

Bishop John F. Dearden of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh was the chief celebrant of the Pontificial Mass at the event that began with a procession from the church rectory at Third Street and Lookout Avenue. The line of march was led by the Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus Honor Guard.

Monsignor Jacob C. Shinar, secretary to Bishop Dearden, was the master of ceremonies at the services and the Rev. Christopher Fullman of St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe was the assistant emcee.

Officers of the Mass were the Rev. John J. Thomas, pastor of Mother of Sorrows, assistant priest; the Rev. Walter A. O’Hara, pastor of St. Ceclilia in Glassport, and the Rev. Charles J. Ceradino, pastor of Mother of Good Counsel in Brushton, deacons of honor; the Rev. Nicholas J. Thomas, pastor of St. Therese, the Little Flower of Jesus, Uniontown, deacon, and the Rev. Nicholas A. Biondi, pastor of Regina Coeli, Northside, subdeacon.

The English sermon was preached by the Rev. Salvatore Federici, director of admissions at Duquesne University. The Rev. Nunzio Pirulli, pastor of St. Cajetan Church in Monessen, delivered the Italian sermon.

Monsignor Joseph Kushner of Donora also assisted with the services and priests from throughout the Mon Valley also participated in the celebration.

Sacred music was presented by the St. Vincent College Choir.

Bishop Dearden lauded Thomas and his congregation for the “beauty and simplicity” of the new church and congratulated them on their achievement.

According to stories in The Charleroi Mail before and after the dedication, Mother of Sorrows Church was founded in 1902. The congregation initially used a storefront on Fifth Street between Fallowfield and Washington avenues for Mass and other services. A permanent church at 702 Fallowfield Ave. was built and opened in 1903. It was home to the Mother of Sorrows faithful until the new church opened in 1956.

The building, which is located next to the Myford Hotel, has been occupied by the Rev. William D. Fries Council 956 of the Knights of Columbus for many years.

Plans for construction of a new church began in the 1940s and the property at Third Street and Lincoln Avenue was puchased in December 1948.

Work was completed on the new rectory at Third and Lookout in October 1919, and on March 6, 1955, ground was broken for construction of the new church and school combination building.

Ermes Brunettini was the architect for the new church and Ferraro Construction Co. of Pittsburgh was the general contractor.

Seating capacity was listed at 480 but the crowd for the March 18, 1956, dedication far surpassed that limit.

The school that would be located on the second floor of the building was not completed until long after the church opened. The school area also served as a social center for numerous church functions.

Mother of Sorrows Church became part of the new Mary, Mother of the Church established by the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh in 1992 in a consolidation involving Mother of Sorrows, St. Jerome and Saints Cyril and Methodious parishes in Charleroi.

Subsequently the church and rectory on Third Street closed, as did Saints Cyril and Methodious at Tenth Street and Fallowfield Avenue. The former St. Jerome facilities along Washington Avenue between Sixth and Seventh streets became, and continues to be, home to Mary, Mother of the Church.

The Rev. John J. Thomas, pastor of Mother of Sorrows at the time of the dedication of the new church at Third and Lincoln, was ordained to the priesthood in June 1938. He was appointed to his first pastorate at Mother of Sorrows in 1946 and served there until June 16, 1982. In 1953, the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh authorized him to build a new church and rectory along Third Street between Lincoln and Lookout avenues.

A farewell testimonial banquet marking the retirement of Thomas was held on June 20, 1982, and it was emphasized that the new church “… is the everlasting credit of Father Thomas’s executive ability that the enormous debt incurred by the construction of the church and rectory was paid off in seven years.”

Thomas was 76 when he died Sept. 12, 1987, in the Vincentian Home in Pittsburgh’s North Hills. He is interred at St. Joseph’s Cemetery in East McKeesport.

The former church at Third and Lincoln was sold to a private party in 2011 and is now used as a storage facility. The rectory remains unoccupied.