Stations of the Cross removed from St. Ladislaus in preparation for building demolition

Fourteen timeworn cherubs and crucifixes were carted off from St. Ladislaus Church in Harrison as the building continues to be stripped of religious artifacts.

The items, part of the wall-mounted Stations of the Cross for 120 years, were saved by an anonymous donor who is paying to have them restored at a Hampton art studio while religious leaders await approval from the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh to demolish St. Lad’s.

“It’s wonderful that someone feels moved to do this,” said Guardian Angels Parish administrator Tom Babinsack. “They will be repurposed and found a new home.”

The parish declined to reveal the cost of the work.

The Stations will be given new life at A.T. Merhaut Inc., a church supply and restoration company on William Flynn Highway.

“We’ll sand them down, repair and paint them,” owner Tom Merhaut said. “They’ll come back like new.”

The project is expected to take about four months. When complete, the Stations will be erected at Most Blessed Sacrament in Harrison, one of two remaining Guardian Angels churches. The existing Stations at Blessed Sacrament will be placed in storage with a hope to reuse them elsewhere.

St. Lad’s was among five parish churches that closed last year amid financial struggles and dwindling enrollment.

The Rev. John Lendvai, the pastor, wrote in a recent bulletin the church has structural concerns and has been the target of recent vandalism.

He did not release a timeline for demolition.

The church was deconsecrated upon closing, Babinsack said.

Since then, leaders have tried to rehome many of the statues, pews and baptismals rather than seeing them languish in storage.

In June, two decorative stucco altars were dismantled and shipped across the globe for use by a Catholic church on the South Pacific island of Tonga.

Last week, volunteers used mobile scaffolding to remove the 100-pound Stations and prepare them for removal.

Parishioners Greg Rankin and Rich Mosovsky wheeled them from the church and placed them gingerly into a moving van.

The pair also was on hand earlier this year to carry oak pews, candleholders and lecterns from the closed St. Alphonsus Church in Springdale. Items were given for a donation to St. Vladimir Ukrainian Church in Arnold, which is rebuilding after a fire.

“I’m glad all these items are being repurposed,” Rankin said, while helping to lay a Jesus-adorned crucifix into the van.

Before the building comes down, leaders will salvage the cornerstones laid in 1903, Babinsack said.

The Stations, as far as anyone knows, are original to the church.

Babinsack said people far and wide will remember them from their Natrona home, and it’s a blessing to share them with a new generation of worshippers at Blessed Sacrament.

“It’s wonderful that someone stepped up to save them,” he said.