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Nativity of the Mother of God Byzantine Catholic Church, DuBois, PA

I passed through Du Bois on my last trip to the "Holy Land" last year and missed this church. I'll have to check it out this summer along with Philipsburg, Hawk Run, and Urey.

Etnick,

Holy Land?

It is a beautiful church by the way.

God bless and keep you....

I don't know about "Holy Land", but we are the gateway to "God's Country" as the area to the north is called.

A Canadian Anglican consultant who worked for my employer remarked that he didn't know that the "Bible Belt" extended into northwestern PA, such was his impression of the people that he met.
Our Sunday Divine Liturgy is at 10:45 for anyone who would like to visit. PM me for a private visit if the time is inconvenient.

Fr. Deacon Paul

Pennsylvania is jokingly referred to as the "Holy Land" because it has the most Eastern Christian churches of any state.

PAUL:

Don't forget Osceola Mills, Madera, and Irvona in the same neighborhoods. Osceola Mills installed a beautiful iconostasis during the years I was in university.

BOB

Pennsylvania is also home to some of the oldest Latin Catholic
parishes in the nation. This is because in colonial times the
Proprietors of Pennsylvania (the Penn family) allowed religious
tolerance and their policies were found to supercede those of
the British Government which forbade the admitance of Catholics
to the colonies. The congregations were served by Jesuits out
of Philadelphia. My own ancestors were members of the congregation
at Goshenhopppen (now Bally), Berks County, a parish
that dates back to the 1740's, and which is still active under
the name "Blessed Sacrament". The parishioners were mostly German
plus some Irish.

Edmac

It is no joke!


For the Eastern Catholic Churches, Pennsylvania has our first Parish in Shenandoah, our first Bishop, Stephen Ortynsky and both of our Metropolitan Cathedrals.

Father John Wolansky, out frst Priest, established many Churches.

Father Walter Ciszek was born and buried in Pennsylvania. He did a few things in other places in between.

For the Western Church it is Holy as well.

In 1733 St. Joseph's in Philadelphia was the only Catholic Church in the British Empire, permitted by William Penn's doctrine of religious liberty.

Prince Dimitri Dimitrievich Gallitzin came to Pennsylvania and was ordained a Priest. Fr. Gallitzin became known as "the Apostle of the Alleghenies".

Blessed Francis Seelos, CSSR served with St. John Neumann in Pittsburgh before he served in Maryland and New Orleans

Philadelphia has the Shrine of St. John Neumann at St. Peter's Church on Girard Ave.

In Bensalem is the Shrine of St. Katherine Drexel, who was noted for building schools for disadvantaged groups, most not Xavier University in New ORleans.

I was there last year, couldn't get in the church! Couldn't get in the Madera church either. However, a parishioner at my parish grew up there and described it to a tee.

I've posted pictures of the Irvona parish.

Bob, Etnick,
I'll have to go visit them this summer. I just looked at the pictures of Irvona. Our own "wooden churches" have a holy simplicity about them. I visited the church in Clarence a couple of times in the past 15 years; South Fork is also beautiful. I was told it was sort of an "unofficial cathedral' or something of the sort early in our history in America.

Isn't it a sad sign of the time with the churches locked up during the week.... and we don't even have "gypsies." (Not speaking of American Romani, who have become good citizens.

Don't forget to visit Ramey, as that parish was a pinoneer parish in that part of Pennsylvania and also mixed (both Galicians and Subcarpathians).

Ung