News & Features

Braddock parish remains ‘a beacon of hope’
archived from: 2009-12-21
by: Patricia Bartos

Good Shepherd in Braddock — the first consolidated parish established during the diocesan reorganization — is heading into its 25th anniversary year with a spruced-up interior and a full schedule of activities for the celebration (see box on Page 12).

The church just reopened for Mass Dec. 14 after six weeks of renovation in preparation for the jubilee, including interior painting and cleaning and relocating the tabernacle to behind the altar.

The completed interior now features egg-white- and light-cream-colored walls with a slightly darker trim, done by Rocco Cugini.

Renovations actually began this past summer with sealing and recoating the parking lot at the parish’s Sacred Heart Church building, kicking off a capital campaign of $100,000 to cover the renovation costs, and creation of a parish pictorial directory of families.

“We are a community of good hard-working, down-to-earth Pittsburgh people, and we’re alive and growing as a parish,” said Father Thomas Burke, pastor.

“We are a beacon of hope” in the economically distressed community of Braddock, he said. “We give the people hope.”

Good Shepherd will celebrate its 25th anniversary on Good Shepherd Sunday, April 25, 2010.

The parish was established April 27, 1985, as the first consolidated parish in the diocese. Bishop Anthony Bevilacqua merged six ethnic churches — St. Brendan (Irish), St. Isidore (Lithuanian), St. Joseph (German), St. Mary of Mount Carmel (Italian), St. Michael (Slovak) and St. Thomas (Irish) — to form Good Shepherd Parish.

The merged parish also absorbed Sacred Heart (Polish) in Braddock Hills four years ago.

Today the parish consists of Good Shepherd and Sacred Heart church buildings and Good Shepherd School (the former St. Thomas High School), and covers Braddock and North Braddock, Braddock Hills and Rankin.

Father Burke said the former St. Michael building was chosen as the parish church because of its location along Braddock Avenue next to the school.

Father Robert Boyle became the first pastor, serving for 11 years, until 1995. He was succeeded by Father Albert Zapf, who served until 1997, Father Thomas Wagner, who remained until 2008, and presently Father Thomas Burke.

The church building, which dates to the 1920s, was renovated after the merger and last painted following a sacristy fire in 1994.

The old rectory was sold in 2003 and the parish office relocated to the administration center and convent, while the priests moved to Sacred Heart rectory.

In recent years, both church buildings and the school got a new roof and Father Burke has added a new parish bus and van, new signs and lighting.

Upcoming projects include relocating the parking lot of Sacred Heart, updating the church’s electrical system and adding new sidewalks, concrete work and railings for the parish school.

The parish today includes 1,800 families and operates a school, the only one in Braddock, for 123 children in kindergarten through eighth grade.

“We’re busy here,” Father Burke said. “I lean on parishioners to help me. We have a very good staff who put all their heart and soul into the parish.”

He added that “we’re alive and well in a very economically challenging area of Pittsburgh.”

Christmas Masses will be offered Thursday, Dec. 24, in Good Shepherd Church at 4 p.m., featuring blessing of the crib, a homily for children, music by the chamber choir, with brass and percussion, and at 10 p.m. with the adult and handbell choirs. On Christmas Day, Masses are set for 9:30 a.m. in Good Shepherd Church and 11:30 a.m. in Sacred Heart.

 

 

 

E-mail this story

 

	Web www.pittsburghcatholic.org