Uniontown church marking centennial
St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Uniontown welcomes Bishop Lawrence E. Brandt of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg on Sunday, as the parish celebrates its Centennial Anniversary Mass. Brandt will be the main celebrant and homilist for the Mass, which begins at 3:30 p.m. and includes the Rev. Alexander J. Pleban, pastor, and several guest priests as concelebrants. The guest priests include six parish sons who serve the Greensburg Diocese, which is composed of Fayette, Westmoreland, Armstrong and Indiana counties. They are the Rev. Joseph Sredzinski, the Rev. Thaddeus J. Kaczmarek, the Rev. Leonard W. Stoviak, the Rev. Terry A. Hercik, the Rev. William J. Lechnar and the Rev. Douglas Dorula.
A celebration dinner for those who have registered will follow the Mass at the Summit Inn.
The Mass and dinner culminate a year of celebrating for the parish, located at 180 Old Walnut Hill Road. Events have included a mission, special Mass for St. Joseph’s Feast Day, turning the sanctuary into a theater for a public showing of “The Passion of The Christ,’ monthly first Friday adoration as well as social events such as the St. Joseph School Reunion, polka Mass and dance, classic car show and parish picnic.
“The anniversary year has been a very happy and joyful year,’ said Pleban. “Parishioners have committed themselves to so many of the scheduled centennial activities. They all wanted to be part of this special year.’
St. Joseph Parish is composed of approximately 1,400 members. Pleban reported there is great stability in the parish with probably 70 percent of the parishioners members for more than 40 years.
“Love, pride and interest in their parish comes from the fact that the majority of parishioners here had parents, grandparents and great-grandparents who were members and made great sacrifices in the past for this church family,’ said Pleban. “They have heard the stories and they have retold them to their children. For many of our families, what is here has been passed on and given to them by their own families.
“The 100th anniversary is special to so many present-day parishioners because their great-grandparents, grandparents and parents built the first church and have sustained it here in Uniontown for 100 years,’ he continued. “Families tell me stories about their grandparents coming to church after they put in a full day on their jobs to dig a foundation, to pour cement footers and walls for the old church. Younger members tell me about their parents helping the diocese and the pastor pick the new church property, watching it being built, hauling stones for the present outside grotto, landscaping the property, sacrificing their treasure to pay off the new church debt. They love their church and they love one another. They are interested and know so much about many of their fellow parishioners. There is a family style of life and a feeling of ownership here.’
According to a history of the church, Polish immigrants who came to work in Pennsylvania mines founded St. Joseph Church with the construction of the first church on South Mount Vernon Avenue. The Rev. Ignatius Ostasziewski, pastor of St. Thomas Parish in Footedale, blessed the cornerstone on Oct. 1, 1905. The Rev. Boleslaw Pawlowski became the first pastor of the parish on Jan. 31, 1906.
The history noted, “The name St. Joseph was chosen because of the great love of the Polish people for the man who so lovingly cared for the child Jesus and Mary his mother, and the fact that Polish National Alliance Lodge 454, so important in the realization of the dream, was under the patronage of St. Joseph.’
The church added a rectory in 1907 and a school/convent building in 1914. Land for a cemetery was purchased in 1916.
The history reported the first classes at St. Joseph School began in 1907. From 1922 until its close in 1970, the school was operated by the Sisters of the Holy Ghost (Spirit) of West View, Pa.
St. Joseph relocated to Old Walnut Hill Road in South Union Township in 1974. The parish includes a church that seats 400, social hall, facilities for religion classes and a rectory.
There is also a beautiful shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary built with sandstone from local mines in memory of the first parishioners, a statute of St. Joseph that greets all who visit and a shrine containing the bells of the old St. Joseph Church.