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Catholic church closings strand faithful

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Philip G. Pavely | Tribune-Review
Parishoners take part in an 8 am mass at Holy Innocents in Sheraden, Sunday, June 12, 2016. The church is slated to close Aug. 1.
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Philip G. Pavely | Tribune-Review
Parishoners trickle out of an 8 am mass at Holy Innocents in Sheraden, Sunday, June 12, 2016. The church is slated to close Aug. 1.
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Philip G. Pavely | Tribune-Review
Holy Innocents parishoner Myrna Srbaccia of Brookline talks outside her church in Sheraden, Sunday, June 12, 2016. The church is slated to close Aug. 1.

Medio Mercolini has been attending weekly Mass at Holy Innocents Catholic Church for 80 years.

But after the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh announced this weekend that the 116-year-old church will close for good, he has to find somewhere else to attend services.

“We can't afford to keep it open,” said Mercolini, 88, after the 8 a.m. Sunday Mass. “We don't get enough money in the collections to maintain it.”

Holy Innocents in Sheraden is one of 10 parishes involved in three church mergers by the end of the summer, the diocese said. Parishioners from Holy Innocents will be absorbed with those from Ascension in Ingram, and Guardian Angels in the West End into St. Phillip Parish in Crafton, effective Aug. 1. St. Gregory Parish in Zelien­ople will absorb St. Matthias Parish in Evans City on July 1. The parishes of St. Albert the Great in Baldwin Borough, St. Basil and St. Wendelin in Carrick and St. Norbert in Overbrook will merge Sept. 1 to form Holy Apostles Parish.

All church buildings will remain open except for Guardian Angels and Holy Innocents.

“This could be a cathedral in some cities; that's what's bugging me,” said Carl Sbraccia, 74, who has attended Holy Innocents all his life. The century-old church has high vaulted ceilings, wooden pews and a series of archways that line both side of the sanctuary.

He and his wife, Myrna, live in Brookline, but drove out of their way to attend Mass at Holy Innocents. They don't know where they will go after it closes.

“Everybody's sad, but what are you going to do?” said Myrna Sbraccia, 74.

Holy Innocents was founded in 1900, according to the diocese. Catholics in Sheraden no longer wanted to make the trek to attend Mass at St. Philip Parish in Crafton and petitioned the bishop to establish a parish. Two years later, the church was built on Landis Street. Within 20 years, the parish had outgrown that church and razed it to make room for a larger one, which stands today.

After they heard the announcement about its closure, parishioners were left wondering what will happen to the dozens of old stained-glass windows in the building.

Donald Scholz, who has been a member of the church for about 50 years, said the number of people in the pews each Sunday had been dwindling for years.

The closure is sad, but Mercolini said it did not come as a surprise. Churches across Pittsburgh and the rest of the country are closing their doors because of shrinking parishes and financial pressures.

“We just have to adjust to it, that's all,” he said.

Elizabeth Behrman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. She can be reached at 412-320-7886.