Dec 30, 2025 By Mike Jones 5 min read

There were both smiles and tears Sunday morning as more than a hundred parishioners packed into Sacred Heart to say goodbye to the 150-year-old Roman Catholic church in Claysville.

The final weekend Mass was held at the church along Route 40 in western Washington County, and parishioners followed it with a breakfast in the social hall below the sanctuary where they shared stories about weddings, funerals and family gatherings over its sesquicentennial history.

“This is a very tight-knit community,” said Christene Lee of Claysville, who has been a member of Sacred Heart for a decade and attended Sunday morning services with her family. “It’s a hard Mass for everybody.”

A couple pews over, Stephanie North dabbed tears from her eyes during the offering of peace in which many others inside the quaint and cozy sanctuary gave waves to their fellow parishioners, almost as if they were saying goodbye.

“It feels like a family member died,” North said as she thought about her parents getting married at Sacred Heart, her growing up in the church and her children going to CCD classes there. “It’s going to be hard living in Claysville and driving by it every day. I look at all of our church family here and it’s sad.”

The Rev. Edward Yuhas, who is pastor of St. James Parish that oversees Sacred Heart, offered a message in his homily Sunday that acknowledged the “displacement” while trying to signal a way forward for the church.

“All of the memories we hold will never, ever leave us,” Yuhas said. “What we need to have is the courage and conviction that God continues to be with us.

“With God, we always have a home,” Yuhas added.

The Diocese of Pittsburgh last month decided to end weekend Mass at the Claysville church with a new schedule that the weekly bulletin explained was due the number of priests available. Yuhas added there are financial constraints and building expenses that must be taken into account when such changes occur.

Parishioners were directed to travel to Washington to attend Mass at either Immaculate Conception Church or St. Hilary Church since they are also within St. James Parish, although other locations are available as well. Diocesan officials could not be reached for comment on the decision to end weekend services at Sacred Heart.

While Sacred Heart was founded in 1875, its roots from the parish date back to 1821 when the original log cabin church was built in what is now St. James Cemetery along the original Old National Pike near West Alexander, according to the diocese’s website. A new brick structure was built in the 1840s, but it deteriorated to the point construction began in 1873 to build the current church in Claysville that was dedicated Sept. 25, 1875, according to the website.

“This is a place where you walk in and hug everyone,” said Lee, who recently helped to organize the annual spring Fish Fry. “We’re trying to get over the sadness and just realizing some of these people you won’t see again.”

Anna Marie Bonner and her husband, Ed, for years traveled from North Strabane Township to attend Mass at Sacred Heart because they appreciated the 9 a.m. services along with the intimate space compared to larger churches. Anna Marie taught at John F. Kennedy Catholic School for 43 years, so she’s seen many children come through the various churches within the parish and later return with their own families.

“It’s sad,” she said. “We liked the small gathering (and) just felt more connected with small gatherings. … “It’s a sad day, but there’s also celebration.”

There were hurt feelings as well and questions why visiting priests couldn’t come to Sacred Heart once a week, along with whether large donations from parishioners could keep the doors open on Sundays.

“I don’t like it,” Ed Bonner said, raising concerns about whether older parishioners could regularly make the drive to Washington. “I’m upset about it.”

While there will no longer be regular Sunday services at Sacred Heart, there will still be weddings, funerals, baptisms and events in the social hall, which many parishioners hoped would keep the spirit of the church alive.

Pat Maggi, who is a greeter and has been a member of Sacred Heart since the early 1980s when she moved to West Finley and later to Claysville, thought back about the relationships she made over the years. She was baptized at Immaculate Conception, so she thought about the full circle moment of leaving Sacred Heart and returning to her original church in Washington.

“My faith has gotten so much stronger since I’ve gotten here,” Maggi said of Sacred Heart. “The people are wonderful. I have so many beautiful memories. It’s like a family here.”

That’s why Maggi said she had such mixed emotions during Sunday morning’s Mass.

“I was smiling,” Maggi said, “but I had a couple of tears.”