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St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
Church
Roman Catholic Church, North Huntingdon
Parish established: June 13, 1978
Ground breaking: September 16, 1979
Dedication of Church Building: March
29, 1981
Our Mission
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish was born to
serve the needs of our ever-growing community. We are spirit filled,
hardworking people, baptized into The Family of God and called to ministry.
We gather together to worship, to spread the gospel message of peace, to
respond to the needs of all and to love one another. We pledge to
become more spiritually alive as a parish, inspired, motivated, and challenged
by the love of Jesus Christ.
The Catholic population in the Irwin/North Huntingdon
area was rapidly growing in the 1950's. The only established Roman
Catholic Parish was the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Therefore
it became necessary to build another one. The current St. Agnes Church
was erected in 1957. Still, the community continued to grow and St.
Agnes was no longer adequate. The parish of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
was established in June of 1978 under the direction of Reverend Richard
Mackiewicz. Sunday Liturgies were held in the Hartford Heights Fire
Hall until March of 1981 when the newly erected church was dedicated.
On June 1, 1984, Father William McGuire took over the administration of
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church. He led the parish until a tragic
fire in December of 1992 took his life. The parish family was deeply
affected by the loss of their pastor.
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St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
The first native-born American to be
proclaimed a Saint in the Roman Catholic Church is a woman - a woman whose
life paralleled the history of our country.
Elizabeth Seton lived every role
possible for a woman.
She was a daughter, debutante, wife,
mother, widow, convert, a grieving parent and the founder of the first
congregation of women religious in America, the Sisters of Charity.
Canonized in Rome in 1975, she brought
honor and distinction to the city of her birth.
On the eve of her canonization,
Terence Cardinal Cooke, then Archbishop of New York, wrote:
In Elizabeth Ann Seton we have
a Saint for our times;
In Elizabeth Ann Seton we have
a woman of faith for a time of doubt and uncertainty;
In Elizabeth Ann Seton we have
a woman of love for a time of coldness and division;
In Elizabeth Ann Seton we have
a woman of hope for a time of crisis and discouragement;
Thanks be to God for this saintly
daughter for this valiant woman of God's Church! |
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In June of 1993, Reverend Michael Crookston,
a native of North Irwin, assumed leadership of the church. As pastor,
his first duty was to purchase a new rectory in the community of North
Huntingdon. Since its inception in 1978, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
Church has grown to over 1,000 families, many with young children.
This growth clearly indicated a need for more space to better serve the
parish family. Thus, in 1995, the vacated Westinghouse site on Leger
Road was purchased. Renamed Seton Center, it is now used for offices,
ministerial programs, and religious education for children and adults.
The structure also provides ample room for meetings, social gatherings,
and other parish functions.
In January of 1998, Father Richard Kosisko was
appointed pastor. Along with the pastoral council, his hope is to
expand the church building, as well as its outreach programs and membership
involvement in the years ahead.
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