At a packed 11 a.m. Mass at Holy Child Church in Bridgeville, the Rev. Dennis Yurochko explained he was wearing rose-colored vestments to mark Gaudete Sunday — the third Sunday in the Advent season that signifies a time to rejoice as Christ’s birth approaches.
Another reason for celebration, he told the Roman Catholic congregation, is that Holy Child will officially merge on Jan. 6 with nearby St. Barbara and St. Mary churches to create the new Corpus Christi Parish.
Unlike many parishes in the Diocese of Pittsburgh grappling with empty pews and uncertain futures, Corpus Christi “is thankfully managing growth rather than decline,” Father Yurochko said.
About 10,000 individuals are registered in what will be the new parish, he said, including about 6,600 at Holy Child; 2,700 at St. Barbara, also in Bridgeville; and about 1,500 at St. Mary in Cecil, Washington County.
A new Catholic parish merger is ‘managing growth rather than decline’ https://t.co/Qsm2d04wgU
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (@PittsburghPG) December 16, 2019