[PRCo] Church Architecture, McKees Rocks

[Fred Schneider]

The latest set of pitchurs from John Polyak shows St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in McKees Rocks.   

https://picasaweb.google.com/jrpolyak/June222014SaintMarySChurchMcKeesRocksPA?feat=email

No, guys, I am not advocating one religion over any other.   I am simply (1) an expatriot from Pittsburgh who left town in 1949 … like many of us, you can move me out of the area but you cannot move the region out of me.   And (2), I have long held a fascination for art and architecture  … photography to me is not simply a tool for taking pictures of streetcars.   It goes right along with art.   Most schools would group architecture with art … they're related.   Finally (3), I have a profound interest in history in general.   

Look at the sixth image in John's collection … the tablet naming the World War II dead who were members of the church.   Says a lot about the people in McKees Rocks and certainly the members of that church.   Ten out of twelve of them have very obvious Polish names, two are German.    And the photographer, who happens to live in that area today, has a name which drives from the Russian world for Polish.   AGAIN, I AM NOT PICKING ON ANYONE … My life's work was statistics … probing for answers about what made communities tick.   I may be retired but I still ask questions.

http://www.doukhobor.org/Ethnic.htm

John observed in one of his pictures that there were very few people showing up for mass.   The Episcopalians (that's King Henry VIII's version of a Catholic Church) has a term for where they went … the ones who would not be there in June would be C&E Episcopalians.   That stands for Christmas and Easter Episcopalians.   I suspect most denominations these days have C&E members.    We have also become a rather agnostic society.   However, I also suspect it might have a lot to do with demographics of the community.   McKees Rocks peaked at 18,116 people in the 1930 census; it's population today, is fewer than one-third that number.    The church was finished during the growth period … back in 1905.   Today it is part of another parish because of declining membership.

Thanks John …