Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish was established on July 1, 2021, merging St. Mary of the Assumption with St. Ursula. The predecessor parishes both have a long, rich history that brought them full circle with the merger.
It all began in 1830 when the number of Catholic families living in and around the Pine Creek area had increased to a point where the people felt they wanted their own church. The nearest Catholic church was St. Patrick's, ten miles away. In those days, that meant that going to and from Mass entailed almost a days journey over poorly constructed mud roads.
Encouraged by the priests of St. Patrick, 14 pioneer men began to construct the first log church in the area. They began in 1834 and finished in 1835. The church was originally called the Roman Catholic Church of Pine Creek and was a mission site for St. Patrick in the Strip District. In 1839, it became a mission of St. Philomena. On August 15, 1840, the deed to the property was transferred from Hugh Loughrey to the Diocese of Pittsburgh, establishing St. Mary of the Assumption as its own parish. However, it remained a mission of St. Philomena until the first resident pastor was appointed in 1847. At that time it became a Diocesan parish.
Because the population growth in the Pine Creek area was growing, in 1866, the log cabin was taken down and a new larger church was built. As the population continued to grow, there was a need for more churches.
The site for the original log cabin church in 1834 was deliberately chosen by the Catholic families in the area because it was a central location for all of them. However, as the Catholic population continued to expand, there were no paved roads leading to St. Mary’s which forced parishioners to travel by foot or wagon over primitive roads and lanes, through snow in the winter and mud in the spring and rainy seasons. When a Methodist church in the area was vacated and available for purchase, a parishioner, Herman Keppler, approached the pastor of St. Mary’s, Fr. Peter Rigler, offering to purchase the structure if he thought the bishop would agree to establish a new parish. Fr. Rigler called a meeting on November 30, 1908, to discuss the matter with the 46 families that were in the area, and Bishop Regis Canevin gave permission for the church building to be purchased for $1,400 and the new parish to be established. The first Mass for the newly established St. Ursula parish was celebrated on January 1, 1909, but the church was not formally dedicated until August 1909. Eventually, ground was broken for a new and larger church on January 26, 1928, with a dedication ceremony on November 22, 1928. The cost of the new church was $100,000, and the original church was torn down shortly afterward.
Both parishes continued to thrive side by side and serve their congregations well for over 100 years. However, the beginning of the 21st century witnessed a decline in not only the number of parishioners but also in the number of priests available for parish ministry throughout the Diocese of Pittsburgh. To address these challenges, Bishop David Zubik announced on April 12, 2015, a new diocesan initiative. “On Mission for the Church Alive!”, a consultative strategic planning process “designed to foster viable, sustainable and vibrant parishes”. As part of this process, the bishop, in consultation with various advisory groups, began to consider new models of parish life based on pastoral needs, financial and temporal resources, and available clergy.
In 2018, following a period of discernment and consultation, parishes were grouped together and served by a single clergy team with the goal of forming a united new parish.
During this transition period, both St. Mary of the Assumption and St. Ursula continued to operate independently, while sharing clergy and staff and eventually publishing a joint bulletin and website. On July 1, 2021, by decree of the bishop, the new parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was canonically established, bringing back together what had been separated in 1909 – the full circle of life.
The first clergy team assigned by Bishop Zubik to serve Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish were Rev. Timothy F. Whalen, Pastor; Rev. John Forbidussi, Senior Parochial Vicar; Rev. Ernest Strzelinski, Retired Senior Parochial Vicar; Deacon Francis Dadowski; and Deacon Richard Ernst.
The inauguration of the new parish was celebrated at the St. Ursula campus on July 1, 2024, with a dinner supplied by Nature of Fire food truck, followed by a Holy Hour when all gathered around the Eucharist to officially pray together as a parish family for the first time. During this Holy Hour Fr. Tim spoke about the mission and vision of the parish and Fr. John was introduced to the parishioners.
Since that time, Deacon Steve Cafaro was ordained on October 1, 2022, and began his assignment at the parish on Oct. 17, 2022. Subsequently, Deacon Ernst was reassigned to a different parish.
The parish has thriving ministries and organizations, which enables and offers the opportunity for everyone to WELCOME all to ENCOUNTER Jesus and to SERVE others with love.