Vatican upholds decision to close
The Vatican’s highest court upheld a decision by the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh to close the former St. Anthony Church in Monongahela.
The ruling, by the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, was announced by the Pittsburgh diocese Saturday and likely ends further attempts by a group of parishioners to reopen the church.
In a letter to parishioners of St. Damien of Molokai Parish, which was formed in 2011 when the diocese merged St. Anthony and Transfiguration churches in Monongahela into one parish, Bishop David Zubik wrote that he hoped the court’s decision would finally bring St. Damien Parish together.
“The court has upheld the decision that I made to close the St. Anthony church building. With this decree, it is my hope that this decision will finally enable the parish of St. Damien of Molokai to move forward in unity,” Zubik wrote.
Following the merger of the churches, Masses were temporarily canceled at St. Anthony’s.
Zubik reopened St. Anthony’s for Saturday Masses while a two-year study was conducted by St. Damien Parish’s pastoral and finance councils to determine which properties should be kept open.
The councils did not reach a consensus, and in August 2013, they asked Zubik to make a decision.
Zubik visited the parish in September 2013 and solicited more than 400 written responses about the future of St. Damien Parish.
On March 6, 2014, the Priest Council of the Diocese of Pittsburgh recommended that Zubik close the St. Anthony building, and on March 23, Zubik announced he would close the church because of its declining congregation and revenues.
The final Mass at the church was celebrated April 27, 2014, and the building was formally closed the next day.
A group of parishioners who opposed the merger and subsequent closing of the church, which was established in 1904, engaged in a lengthy legal battle with the diocese.
The group also held a demonstration at the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh’s headquarters to protest Zubik’s decision, and some former parishioners temporarily refused to leave the church building after the final Mass was conducted there.
In May 2014, the group filed an appeal with the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy, asking to keep the former St. Anthony building open for worship.
The Congregation rejected that appeal, and on Dec. 23, 2014, the group appealed to the Signatura, which on Nov. 20 upheld the earlier ruling by the Congregation for the Clergy, which affirmed Zubik’s decision.
The group who opposed the closing of St. Anthony’s believed their appeal to the Vatican had a chance because it has reopened 42 churches in recent years. Rev. William Terza, pastor of St. Damien Parish, read Zubik’s letter during all three weekend Masses.
“We’re happy the decision has finally come through, and we’re moving forward as a congregation,” said Terza.