WHAT’S NEWS IN
CARLYNTON-MONTOUR
Ralph Lavrich
KENNEDY AMERICAN
LEGION WELCOMES NEW
POST COMMANDER
Post Commander Ralph Lavrich was
installed for American Legion Post 464 Ken
Marr, Kennedy Township this fall. Lavrich is
guiding the post in a time of renaissance for
its membership, which dwindled to as few as
three members. Today, the post has over 55
members and counting, and is experiencing
vibrancy and enthusiasm in the community.
ST. ELIZABETH ANN
SETON PARISH SELLS
FORMER ST. IGNATIUS
CHURCH TO THE RED
BALLOON EARLY
LEARNING CENTER
St. Ignatius Church, school and adjoining
priests’ residence have been sold to The Red
Balloon Early Learning Center—a total of
more than 32,000 square feet of building
space. With surrounding land and parking lots,
the campus amounts to nearly two acres in the
Glendale neighborhood of Scott Township,
overlooking Chartiers Creek and Heidelberg.
“The parish is grateful to find a buyer with
dignified and socially beneficial plans for the
property. But we regret needing to close a
church, which in the Catholic ideal would
perpetually remain a place of
worship,” said Father David
Poecking, parish pastor.
8 724.942.0940 TO ADVERTISE | Carlynton-Montour
The sale price was $320,000, with which the
parish plans to reduce its building debt for the
new church, now $1.7 million.
“The sale helps us immediately by reducing
maintenance costs and debt service, but
the sale will benefit the wider Catholic
community. Bishop David Zubik’s initiative,
On Mission for The Church Alive!, anticipates
a merge of this and neighboring Catholic
parishes. The reduced debt lightens the
burden for the emerging Catholic structure,”
Poecking said.
St. Ignatius Church replaced an earlier
church that burned down in 1951. In 1992,
then-Bishop Donald Wuerl merged St.
Ignatius with four Carnegie parishes to
become St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish.
St. Ignatius became the parish’s principal
church in 2004 when a flood stemming from
hurricane Ivan closed the Carnegie churches.
Samuel Trapp and Joanne Thralls of Red
Balloon with Father David Poecking of
SEAS Parish.
The parish judged St. Ignatius Church to be
too small and inaccessible for the combined
population, and so rebuilt the former St. Luke
Church in Carnegie. In 2011, Bishop Zubik
dedicated that church as St. Elizabeth Ann
Seton Church.
The Red Balloon ELC has been serving the
communities of Carnegie and the surrounding
Pittsburgh areas for more than 26 years and
was looking for a new location to continue its
educational mission.
The location on Finley Avenue will boast
a large school of more than 10 classrooms to
foster a rich and stimulating environment for
children 6 weeks old to 12 years of age. Future
plans include combining the two current
locations into one large campus.
The school is projected to be open at the
beginning of 2018, with the main church
portion of the learning center following in
the spring of 2018. An outdoor courtyard
is currently being designed as well and is
projected to be complete by opening day.
The Red Balloon hopes to pair with local
contractors and businesses for recycled and
locally sourced products and materials for
the renovations.
GET READY FOR THE
14TH ANNIVERSARY
HOLIDAY COOKIE WALK
The St. Matrona Sisterhood of Sts. Peter
& Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church will
hold its 14th Annual Cookie Walk on Dec.
10 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cookies and
specialty pastries will fill the church hall
located on Mansfield Boulevard in Carnegie,
just off the I-79 exit.
Some of the featured cookies will include
nut crescents, fruit filled kolache, Ukrainian
truffles, Italian rum balls, almond cookies,
Hamentaschen and Russian tea cakes along
with hundreds of beautifully decorated
holiday favorites. Nut rolls, lady locks,
biscotti, pizzelles and gluten-free cookies
will also be available. The assortment will
amaze you! Cookies will be sold by the
pound.
Proceeds from the Cookie Walk enable
the sisterhood to continue maintenance
and beautification projects of the church, a
Pittsburgh National Landmark Building, as
well as support many community outreach
programs.
Please mark your calendars for Saturday,
Dec. 9, and join the hundreds of
Pittsburghers who have already made this
event a holiday family tradition.
For further information, call Sherri,
412.276.2768, or Alexis, 724.348.7326, or
email [email protected].