A sign of changing times
In one way, the closing of St. Anthony Church in Monongahela is a story of cold, hard numbers.
As in many other communities around the country generally and in the Rust Belt specifically, St. Anthony was losing parishioners. The families that were once drawn to Monongahela for remunerative jobs in steel and other industries have largely pulled up stakes and are trying to forge lives elsewhere. And there’s also been a slow drift away from organized religion and churchgoing in the last couple of decades, as people adhere to more nebulous brands of spirituality or attend big-box megachurches that serve large numbers of people and eschew many of the traditions and rituals of mainline churches.
Also, in the Catholic Church, fewer and fewer men are willing to sign on for the priesthood and the personal sacrifices the profession demands.
Given these factors, Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik announced Saturday that Monongahela could no longer afford to support two Catholic churches and St. Anthony would be closing after 110 years. One Catholic church will be left in Monongahela, which will be renamed St. Damien of Molokai.
Though this is simply the shuttering of a structure, the decision undoubtedly carries great weight for those who were baptized or married within the church, or said farewell to loved ones there. For them, the end of St. Anthony Church is an all too tangible sign of changing times.