St. Wendelin Church meant so much to parishioners
Ludwig Henigin laid the cornerstone at St. Wendelin Church 128 years ago.
His great-great-granddaughter, Pat Henigin, stopped by the church on a beautiful sunny Friday afternoon to check on the cornerstone as the church was being demolished.
“I came here to see where the cornerstone is going to go,” said Henigin, of Pittsburgh’s South Side Slopes. “I have been in this church many times for weddings and funerals and other Masses. I have family buried in the cemetery (nearby).
A community landmark will be no more. The church hadn’t been used since 2020, and a final Mass was celebrated there on Nov. 26, 2023.
”I have mixed feelings on it being demolished. I know it wasn’t in good condition, and also, if less and less people are coming to church, it’s tough to sustain it,” Henigan said.
The cornerstone, along with the steeple, will be the final pieces to be removed at the church that’s on the Carrick/Baldwin border.
The time capsule in the cornerstone is going to St. Albert the Great, one of the churches in the grouping of Blessed Trinity Parish that includes Saint Basil, Holy Angels and Saint Sylvester, said Rev. Stephen Kresak, who is the pastor.
A second crane arrived Friday to remove the steeple, which includes a cross and bells, but the weather was too windy.
Kresak said the steeple was believed to be the highest point in Allegheny County.
The bells will be added to a new bell tower at Saint Albert the Great, Kresak said, and the cross will be taken to the cemetery or one of the church gardens.
The Stations of the Cross were removed, repaired and donated to St. Sylvester, Kresak said. The work was paid for by parishioners. Stained glass windows and the statues will also find homes in the other churches, said Kresak — who has been involved in the demolition of four churches, most recently in McKeesport.
The church property is under a sales contract, Kresak said, but declined to say who bought it — though he did say the site will not be a car wash or a Sheetz.
Pittsburgh councilman Anthony Coghill said he doesn’t know who bought the land or what the plans are for it.
“It was decaying and deteriorating, I know,” Coghill said. “And I know it is emotional for people who attended there.”
Nancy Bachner Banze of Shaler married Jim Banze in the church in 1998. Her father, Ambrose “Buck” Bachner, was the head of maintenance for the church and the school.
“I am wondering why didn’t they preserve the church?” Nancy Banze asked. “It is a part of me. This is so sad. It’s surreal. I can’t believe it.”
The church had not been used since 2020 due to building issues, Jennifer Antkowiak, executive director of communications and community relations for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh wrote in an email.
“When Bishop David Zubik approved their request to close the church, they celebrated the final Mass there,” Antkowiak said. “Father Kresak said it was in the best interest of the parish to demolish the building so that it wouldn’t get vandalized.”
She said the adjacent cemetery will remain in possession of the parish and that nothing will change with it.
Chris Staub, owner of Sunseri Pizza, which has been across the street for nearly 50 years, was baptized there, made his first Holy Communion there and was confirmed there. He attended its last Mass, too.
“People were crying when they left that day,” Staub said. “They stood outside the church for a while after the final Mass. We knew this was coming. It is really sad. This is a landmark.”
The church is beautiful but it needed many repairs, according to Lenny Lis, the church’s director of maintenance.
“It’s time,” Lis said, adding that it would take at least $1.5 million to repair the roof, boiler and other areas of the church.
The parish is paying for the demolition, though Kresak declined to give the amount.
“I know it is tough to watch; but as a pastor, what I can do is be here with the parishioners while this is happening,” Kresak said. “The church is not a building. The church is the people.”
The parish festival is Friday and Saturday, when many of the parishioners who came to watch the demolition will gather, Kresak said.
Kresak said the bells were some of the first to ring in this area of Pittsburgh. He said he was thinking about how 128 years ago, this church was being built without the heavy equipment that is available today.
“I think about how much that cross has seen in these last 128 years,” he said.
Jill Murtha Strafalace, of Bethel Park, recalled attending church there for the first time when she was 4 years old with her father, Thomas Murtha, in 1974. She has five bricks from the church, which she will have inscribed as keepsakes.
“There are millions of memories,” said Murtha Strafalace. “I can’t begin to count them all.”
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region's diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of "A Daughter's Promise." She can be reached at jharrop@triblive.com.
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