Immaculate Heart of Mary Church (Rosary Hall)
3058 Brereton St, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 – in Polish Hill
Fish Fry
Eat In or Take Out on:
Ash Wednesday, Feb. 14
And every Friday (Feb. 16, 23, March 2, 9, 16, 23) during Lent except Good Friday
3:00-6:30 p.m. (as long as dinners are available)
$9.00 dinner includes: fish sandwich, french fries and cole slaw
$2.50 side dish varies each week.
Immaculate Heart of Mary Church Festival
July 16th, 3:00 -11:00 p.m.
Polka Mass at 4:00 p.m. with Ray Jay & Carousels, followed by music and dancing in the street, under a tent. Pierogie, kielbasa, haluski, games, baskets, 50/50, church raffle. D.J. playing throughout the day.
We hope to see you there!
(3058 Brereton Ave., Polish Hill, Pgh.)
3058 Brereton St, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 – in Polish Hill
Eat In or Take Out on:
Ash Wednesday, Feb. 10
And every Friday (Feb. 12, 19, 26, March 4, 11, 18) during Lent except Good Friday
3:00-6:00 p.m. (as long as dinners are available)
$8.00 dinner includes: fish sandwich, french fries and cole slaw
$2.50 side dish varies each week.
Mass mobs are bringing people into under-attended churches in Buffalo, Detroit, New York City, Rochester, Cleveland, and Philadelphia. The groups select old churches, advertise a particular date for Mass, attracting people who might not have known about the church. Now the idea has come to Pittsburgh, and the Pittsburgh Mass Mob will be in Polish Hill on December 28.
On Sunday, December 28, the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church is hosting the Pittsburgh Mass Mob at their 11:00 a.m. Mass. There will be a tour plus a social after Mass so that people can visit and reconnect. Elizabeth Davis of Pittsburgh Mass Mob says that they had almost 200 people show up for their last Mass Mob, and they hope to get even more people for this one. They also hope that alumni and people who have moved away will come back to celebrate this gorgeous historic Catholic Church and the neighborhood’s history.
For those who have not attended a service at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church (or those who have not been in a while), Christmas is a particularly good time to make a visit, as the church is beautifully decorated. (These fabulous photos of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church were taken by Patrick Singleton in December 2012.)
Read more about mass mobs:
An NPR article about Mass mobs around the country
An article in the Tribune-Review about the Pittsburgh Mass Mob
On October 18, graduates from the Immaculate Heart of Mary School gathered to attend a reunion Mass, followed by a reception in Rosary Hall. In attendance were graduates from the 1930s until 1997, when the school closed. IHM Church and volunteers provided an impressive spread of food, and many people contributed photos and memorabilia to decorate the room. About 200 people attended the mass, and the reception hall was crowded and lively as people gathered to reminisce with old friends and family. The reunion was a big success and many people were heard to say that they wished it could happen ever year!
(all photos by Leslie Clague for the PHCA)
It’s a gray and sometimes drizzly day, but that is not stopping anything. We’ve been told that there were more people at the Polka Mass than there were at Christmas! The food is almost sold out and there’s a crowd in the big tent enjoying the polka band, and lots of people playing the games.
Ceil sat in on drums for a couple of numbers.
The band gets a request.
Punchy Zielmanski and Darlene Hennen take a break from running games.
And the fun will continue for another couple of hours!
(Photos by Leslie Clague for the PHCA)
This Xerox copy of a tattered newspaper clipping is one of older press items we have in the Polish Hill archive. The day and year was cut off, but we know that the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church was dedicated in 1905. This item from the Pittsburg Dispatch in November of that year notes that the church is nearing completion and will be dedicated on December 1.
The church was built on a site that formerly contained a brick factory. The small building just to the right of the church is long gone, but the two buildings to the right of that still stand.
Cary Toaso, a photojournalist and satellite truck operator with WTAE-TV, just shared some amazing photographs with us of the inside of the very top section of the dome of the Immaculate Heart of Mary church, where the lightning hit on Tuesday. These photographs were taken by WTAE-TV chief photographer TJ Haught.
The lightning hit the structure that sits atop the largest dome, so high up that it’s not easily visible from the ground. The domes are wood, covered with copper sheathing, so most of the damage was on the inside.
The structure is accessed by a wooden ladder.
Here’s the hole where the lightning struck, and the charred timbers.
A closeup of the hole, and the torn copper sheathing.
A closeup of the burnt timbers. The timbers are over a hundred years old.
Rubble on the floor. The photo is blurry because the space is small and dark.
Two views of the ladder, looking down. The firefighters had to climb this ladder to extinguish the fire. The arched openings are the ones the firemen were standing in, as seen in our post from Tuesday.
A resident behind the church who witnessed the lightning strike told us that it happened around 4:30. No one saw smoke until about 5:30. Considering how long the fire smoldered before it was noticed, it’s amazing there wasn’t more damage. It could have been a lot worse, and we’re very grateful that it wasn’t.
During a fierce electrical storm yesterday, lightning struck on and near Polish Hill multiple times. It hit in the backyard of a house on Paulowna Street, then a few second later hit the very top of the main dome of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church.
Some time later, people noticed smoke coming from the dome. Fire trucks from different stations around the area quickly responded. Residents lined the street, watching anxiously.
Firemen climbed up into the structure on top of the dome to fight the fire.
Here’s what it looked like from further away. (Photo by Carlea Cannon)
Slightly earlier, lightning also struck near the Iron city Brewery, knocking out a transformer by the Quick Stop on Liberty Avenue. A photographer in the Steel Tower happened to get a picture of this strike (below). The church dome is off to the right — click on the image to see it larger.
(Photo by Tim Betler, from Pittsburgh Magazine)
Read the Post-Gazette article about the lightning strike, or a Tribune-Review article that mentions the church, along with other storm damage around the area.
