Offers but no buyers on 3 Guardian Angels churches still on the market

Three former churches, once part of the Guardian Angels parish, remain for sale three years after the parish cut seven churches to two, keeping open Most Blessed Sacrament in Harrison and Our Lady of Victory in Springdale Township.

“We have people looking all the time,” parish Business Manager Tom Babinsack said. “We haven’t been able to make anything concrete.”

The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh in 2022 closed five parish churches and 17 ancillary buildings, citing diminished finances and dwindling attendance.

Church officials at that time said the number of people coming to Mass dropped from 3,000 to 900 over the past 10 years.

The diocese closed St. Ladislaus and Our Lady of Perpetual Help, both in Harrison; Holy Martyrs, in Tarentum; Holy Family, in Creighton; and St. Alphonsus, in Springdale.

Here’s where they stand today:

• St. Ladislaus, built in 1903, was demolished early last year, along with an adjacent elementary school. The church was razed after two of its ornate altars were dismantled and shipped across the globe for use by a Catholic church on the South Pacific island of Tonga. The Stations of the Cross also were removed, refinished and reinstalled at Blessed Sacrament thanks to an anonymous donor.

• Holy Martyrs, a 2.76-acre property in West Tarentum, was sold for $360,000 to Legends of Pittsburgh fitness center, which moved to the borough from Pittsburgh Mills in Frazer.

• Our Lady of Perpetual Help, St. Alphonsus and Holy Family remain for sale, along with a former rectory along Union Avenue in Harrison.

“They’ve been on the market for about three years,” Babinsack said. “We’ve had interested parties but could never come to an agreement.”

He noted there was a recent inquiry for the Our Lady of Perpetual Help property at 11th and Carolina avenues in Harrison’s Natrona Heights section.

The buyer hoped to tear down the church to build townhouses, but the two parties couldn’t agree on a deal, Babinsack said.

At Holy Family, the religious group Alfatimiah of Pittsburgh stepped up as a potential buyer last year for the shuttered East Deer site. That deal also fell through. The church is listed for $195,000.

Babinsack said there’s been a buzz about the empty St. Alphonsus church and school in Springdale from many people but the property’s massive size has proved a challenge.

Last summer, a public sale of items inside the properties drew interest from across the globe. Several pieces were shipped for use at the Hope Academy Buea in Cameroon, a country in central Africa.