St. Ladislaus group lobbies for shrine designation at Natrona church

Longtime Natrona resident Conrad Zylinski attended the former St. Ladislaus Elementary School in the 1960s and served as an altar boy at the magnificent domed church on Spruce Street.

He no longer attends Mass every week but said he sees the significance of the 118-year-old church to the community.

Zylinski is among a group of people lobbying Bishop David Zubik to designate St. Lad’s, as it is affectionately known, as a religious shrine as it and four other churches in the Guardian Angels Parish are shuttered this week.

“Its beauty is unmatched,” Zylinski said. “A shrine could become a minor tourist attraction and bring people to Natrona.”

He hung a banner across his home to solicit interest for the shrine designation.

Guardian Angels Parish was formed by a 2020 merger of seven churches that stretch from West Deer to Harrison.

Closures were directed this summer by Zubik, assisted by administrators from the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh who studied each building’s feasibility.

Two parish churches, Most Blessed Sacrament in Harrison and Our Lady of Victory in Springdale Township, will remain open.

The locations satisfy the two heaviest clusters of parishioners within the 32-square-mile parish boundaries, church officials said.

Churches closing this week are St. Ladislaus and Our Lady of Perpetual Help, both in Harrison; Holy Martyrs in Tarentum; Holy Family in Creighton, East Deer; and St. Alphonsus in Springdale. Seventeen ancillary buildings also are scheduled to close.

St. Ladislaus is the oldest of the original parishes that are closing. It was founded in 1893, with the present church built around 1903.

Requests for comment made to diocesan spokeswoman Jennifer Antkowiak were not returned.

A letter written by Zubik on Sept. 2 is posted on the parish website. It attributes the closures to declining population and attendance, as well as financial constraints.

The Rev. John Lendvai, Guardian Angels’ pastor, did not return calls for comment.

Earlier this year, Lendvai told parishioners that meager attendance and rising costs have forced their hand. Attendance has dwindled from 3,000 people across the parish to about 900.

The results of a parish survey, town halls and building assessments revealed financial contributions have declined 42% over the past five years — from $1.4 million in 2016 to $813,000 in 2020.

The parish has drawn down its savings to pay budget deficits.

Parish savings in 2019 topped $557,000. Now they stand at about $75,000.

It was unclear what will happen to the buildings after Saturday, Oct. 1, when they are officially deemed relegated.

“People are crying,” said Aurora Leighlitner, a St. Lad’s parishioner. “This is very sad. We have no other church in our community.”

This week, a Mass was scheduled for each of the closing churches, each on a different night, to allow parishioners the chance to celebrate their church — and grieve.

Doors opened several hours before the 7 p.m. services so people could gather for prayers and photos.

St. Lad’s member Karen Stempkoski questioned the parish finances and what she called inequities of the 2020 merger.

“We were always in the black until the merger,” said Stempkoski, a 65-year member. “I think people would definitely donate to keep St. Lad’s open as a shrine.

“When you step into St. Lad’s, you step out of the world and into God’s world of beauty,” she said.

“Why do all the shrines have to be in Pittsburgh? Why can’t we have something in this forgotten part of Allegheny County?”

She expects a crowd that exceeds seating capacity during St. Lad’s final Mass on Thursday night. The church was drawing about 150 people a week. She expects more than double that during the final service.

On Monday, someone paid to run a full-page ad in the Trib’s Valley News Dispatch edition seeking to catch Zubik’s attention. It pictured the interior of St. Lad’s with a plea to keep the building open as a shrine.

“We were getting as many people as Blessed Sacrament. I just don’t understand these decisions,” Stempkoski said. “This church is beautiful, and we need to keep God’s work open.

“If it closes, I’ll never be able to utter the words ‘St. Lad’s’ again.”