[PRCo] Fwd: Church Architecture, McKees Rocks

[Fred Schneider]

Here is what John P sent out today….

https://picasaweb.google.com/jrpolyak/June222014AscensionChurchIngramPA?feat=email

And below his reply to what I mailed yesterday, forward because he has no access to our list.

Begin forwarded message:

> From: John Polyak <jrpolyak at gmail.com>
> Date: June 26, 2014 1:29:42 AM EDT
> To: Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net>
> Subject: Re: Church Architecture, McKees Rocks
> 
> Fred,
> 
> Thank you for sharing my photos. I'm glad you find them worthy of sharing. They are a form of therapy for me, something I desperately need right now. It's amazing how many really nice responses I get from people I send the albums to. This is one of them.
> 
> McKees Rocks is struggling with its identity today. 20% of the buildings in town are abandoned and many that are occupied are in a state of decay. The people who call this place home are some of the poorest in the tri-state area. This was never my "home", but it's probably where I will live out what life remains to me. I'm not sure that's a comforting thought.
> 
> I was told once that my name was akin to one that meant "peasant", or "man of the fields". I'm not unhappy with that thought. I'm definitely neither Polish nor Russian.
> 
> Thanks, again.
> 
> 
> On Wed, Jun 25, 2014 at 3:56 PM, Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net> wrote:
> 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 …
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> John




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