North Huntingdon's St. Agnes spiritual home to more than 2,300 families

Circleville firefighter Clyde "Spud" Shiring was at Sunday Mass in North Huntingdon Township when he had to leave to respond to an emergency, but he didn't have to go far.

The Rev. Frederick Sauer was celebrating Mass in the Blue Room of the Jacktown Hotel, and the explosion was in the hotel kitchen. Once the incident was under control, people went back to the ballroom to continue their worship.

"It turned out to be a pot of soup or something, and it really scared the life out of us," Shiring said.

That happened half a century ago when members of the congregation of St. Agnes Parish was so new that they didn't even have a building for a church, so they met in the hotel.The church didn't even have a name when the baptism of Clyde and Marguerite Shiring's fourth child, Eugene Robert, was the first entered in the church's records.

The Shirings are among 91 charter members of St. Agnes Parish, which recently marked the 50th anniversary celebration of its first Mass that was held on July 14, 1957.

"Our son was born on June 16 that year, and when I called Immaculate Conception to make arrangements for him to be baptized, they informed us that a new parish was going to be started," Marguerite Shiring said. "We didn't even know at the time what the church's name was going to be."

The congregation voted on several saints' names, among them St. Agnes, a 13-year-old martyr who chose execution rather than to renounce her Christian faith. Shiring cast her vote for that saint, she said, because she had a cousin named Agnes.

The first Mass drew 190 people. There are now more than 2,300 families served by the Rev. Thaddeus J. Kaczmarek, and the

Rev. Thomas S. Trupkovich, pastor and parochial vicar respectively.

St. Agnes Parish was established by the Most Rev. Hugh L. Lamb, the first bishop of the then new Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg. Services were held at the hotel until 1960 when ground was broken for a new school and temporary church. The parish later added a rectory, convent, school expansion, and a permanent church in 1981. In 1999, structural problems forced the closing and demolition of part of the school.

"I was at that first Mass at the Jacktown Hotel with my wife and our three children," said Michael Koper, who will be 99 in October and may be the oldest member who regularly attends. He also belongs to the church's senior citizens group, the Emerald Club.

"I made it my business to go to the anniversary Mass and banquet, and my (son) Paul and I went together."

Paul Koper and his wife, Linda, were married at St. Agnes and were able to bring their middle child, Mike, back to be baptized while Paul Koper was with the U.S. Marines. When he retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1995, the family returned to the area, and he is now an usher at the church where he grew up. Two of their children were altar servers.

"It was an adventure for us to go to church at the hotel," said Ellen Kerber, at the time the teenage daughter of Sam and Marion Firestone. "It was something new, and it was something different. They had the altar on the bandstand on the raised platform."

Her parents were very involved in parish life, and when her father died, her mother remarried and still belongs. That makes four of their generations at St. Agnes: Marion (Firestone) Laughner, Ellen Kerber and her husband Tom, their son Tom Jr., and his children, Kelsey and Ryan.

Tom Kerber Sr. was an usher, on parish council and involved with the St. Agnes Athletic Association.

"Then newer members come along and they get involved and pretty soon they are the leaders, and that's good," he said.

"You need that young generation to make things work because they have all the energy."

Bernard and Dolores Solomon were newlyweds when they joined St. Agnes Parish 50 years ago. Their children, Karen, Craig

and Chris, were baptized there and also attended the school. Chris (Daniels) brought her three children back to be baptized when they moved away, but now her family is back in the area and attends St. Agnes. That's four generations, counting Dolores Solomon's parents, Edgar and Mary Schmidt.

"I belong to the Christian Mothers and was a bazaar worker for probably 35 years and was an office helper," Dolores Solomon said.

Her husband was president of the Parent Teacher Organization and also chaperoned youth group outings.

Corinne Ptazkiewicz was in her 20s when the parish was founded. She and her late husband, Joseph, had their children baptized there and sent them to the school. She was president of the Christian Mothers for three terms and always helped at their fundraisers, which included many bake sales.

"It was hard work and we had a lot of fun doing it," she said. "We raised a lot of money and bought a lot of things for the church. I'm still a Eucharistic minister and I love what I do. St. Agnes is the love of my life."

In his statement in the commemorate book, Kaczmarek calls the work of a parish "a work of faith involving many hands and many hearts."

"The people of St. Agnes have shared their gifts, talents and resources," he said. "We recognize the accomplishments of the past, but we also appreciate the gifts of the present and look forward to the opportunities which await us in the future."