Letter to the editor: Dissecting Mon Valley's Catholic community

The Diocese of Pittsburgh’s “On Mission for The Church Alive!” campaign is DOA in the Mon Valley. It has proved to be a strategic, systematic and painful dissection of our Catholic community.

Corpus Christi Parish in McKeesport is composed of the former St. Mary Czestochowa and six closed McKeesport parishes. St. Angela Merici, St. Patrick and St. Robert Bellarmine are not closed, but were added to our group recently.

Corpus Christi, famous for our Lenten fish fry, is a strong partner in the community, assisting the local food bank, the Boys and Girls Club, the police department and the Little Sisters of the Poor. Thousands and thousands of dollars have been donated over the years to these vital organizations. What happens to McKeesport without this support?

Our ZIP code may not be Mt. Lebanon, Fox Chapel or Cranberry Township, but we are a proud, vibrant, passionate, dynamic and faithful congregation. Corpus Christi Parish is financially and structurally sound. Substantial debt incurred by North Catholic High School, abuse survivors’ court cases and other parishes have riddled the diocese.

St. Mary Czestochowa Parish provided the diocese over 100 years of loyalty. Will the bishops be loyal to our faithful congregation for the next hundred?

Katherine Kolanko Coberly

Penn Township, Westmoreland County