Repair work begins at New Kensington church damaged by tornado
Workers started dismantling a damaged steeple at a New Kensington church on Tuesday.
The steeple, one of two atop St. Mary of Czestochowa on Kenneth Avenue, was damaged by a tornado that hit the city April 8 and also tore off part of the church’s roof.
Roofers took advantage of the sunny day to get back up on the roof and continue their work to cover it and prevent damage to the church interior, according to an update Msgr. Michael Begolly gave to parishioners on the church’s Facebook page.
“It’s a sad day for the history of St. Mary’s church today as the bell tower on the left side of the church will be coming down,” Begolly said in the Tuesday morning video post. “Structurally, it was deemed unsafe. It could fall down and injure someone on the sidewalk so it has to be taken down.”
Engineers were in the tower trying to determine the best way to get the steeple down, he said.
“Ideally we’d like to take it off in one piece so that we can preserve as much of it as possible, but we’re not sure if that’s going to be possible,” he said.
Begolly said he would keep the church’s families informed on the work’s progress.
Brian C. Rittmeyer, a Pittsburgh native and graduate of Penn State University's Schreyer Honors College, has been with the Trib since December 2000. He can be reached at brittmeyer@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.