Donora Episcopal church to be deconsecrated
In a move that reflects the struggles of both mainline religious denominations and communities in the Mon Valley, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Donora is due to be deconsecrated today.
It will happen in a ceremony set for 10:30 a.m. that will be led by the Rev. Ketlen Solak, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. Deconsecration transfers a building from sacred to secular use, and a notice on the diocese’s website explained that deconsecration “is a necessary measure to remove the property from the canonical jurisdiction of the Bishop of Pittsburgh.”
The church was founded in 1925. An Episcopal congregation has not met in the church since 2019, according to the Rev. Canon Kimberly Karashan, an assistant to the bishop. She explained that “some groups were renting the space and trying to make a go of it, but they were unable to do so.”
By 2019, the congregation was limited to just a handful of people, Karashan added. The building is about to be sold, but she declined to say who would be purchasing it.
The diocese stated in the notice that the church does not now have running water or air conditioning.
This is the second Episcopal church in the Mon Valley to shutter in recent months. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Monongahela closed after Christmas, ending its 160-year history in that community. The church closed due to dwindling membership and finances and property maintenance issues. COVID-19 and the temporary closure of some churches also dealt a blow to the Monongahela church and other houses of worship in the region and around the country.
The Episcopal church is not alone among mainline Christian denominations in confronting declining membership in Southwestern Pennsylvania – the First Christian Church in East Washington closed last year and Pittsburgh’s Catholic diocese has been closing churches and consolidating parishes in recent years, including some in Washington County.
The Episcopal Church nationally has also been riven by conflicts over the acceptance of gay clergy and same-sex marriage. Some conservative Episcopalians have departed from the church as a result.