Church Closings

Church consolidation in Kingston

November 19, 2009

Old faith, new home

By Bill O'Boyle boboyle@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
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KINGSTON – Mae Perles is 98 years old, and St. Mary’s Annunciation Church is the only church she has ever known.

On Sunday, Perles will lock the doors of the familiar house of worship for the last time. She will then walk with other parishioners about a half mile to their new church – St. Ignatius, at the corner of Maple Avenue and Pringle Street.

A closing liturgy will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at St. Mary’s, 258 Zerbey Ave., with the Rev. Daniel J. Yenkevich officiating. It will be the only Mass at St. Mary’s this weekend.

A brief ceremony and a reception in Conlan Hall will welcome the new parishioners to St. Ignatius.

“I’ve been a member here all my life,” Perles said as she stood outside the red brick church that sits across the street from her home. “I received all my sacraments here, and so did all my children. It’s really sad; I don’t want to start crying.”

The church was built in 1901; Perles’ father and grandfather dug the foundation. There are 800 members on the books at the church, with about 250 regularly attending Mass, Yenkevich said.

The clergyman just turned 75 and is retiring from the priesthood. He said he intends to still help out at parishes throughout the Scranton Diocese.

“I’ve been here since 2001, and in that time I have seen this parish grow closer together,” Yenkevich said. “We revived the church bazaar and we brought back spaghetti dinners, and pork and sauerkraut dinners. Of course, I’m sad. It’s a beautiful church and a beautiful parish.”

The church interior is spectacular – from the marble altar to the stained-glass windows and stately pillars that reach to the ceiling. The oak pews look new.

Three fans turned quietly Wednesday afternoon as a few people filed in to pray. A grand pipe organ in the balcony overlooks the empty pews and the religious statues.

Mae Perles was anxious to walk across Zerbey Avenue to visit her church one more time Wednesday. Her daughter, Nona Carey, 76, accompanied her, along with Perles’ granddaughter, Michelle Danishanko, 43, and great-granddaughter Amanda Mae Danishanko, 9.

“I raised my family in this church,” Perles said. “I never thought I would live to see this day, to see my church – our church – closing.”

With sadness in her eyes Perles smiled for pictures, but her heart was breaking.

“I feel terrible,” she said. “And now I will be locking myself out of the church I love.”

Perles said she feels honored to have been selected to turn the lock for the last time on Sunday – a bittersweet reward for her years of faithfulness.

“I often sit in my house and watch the people going to church,” she said. “I even count them sometimes. I know who goes to church and who doesn’t.”

Perles said she even keeps her eye on the rectory. She said she knows when Yenkevich turns off his television to retire for the night.

“Sometimes he stays up past midnight,” she revealed.

St. Mary’s Annunciation is the second Catholic church to close on Zerbey Avenue in two years. St. Hedwig’s closed in 2007, Yenkevich said.

“A lot of the people that attended these churches would walk to Mass,” he said. “Now most of them can’t drive and won’t be able to walk to St. Ignatius.”

Perles has vowed to make the half-mile walk to St. Ignatius on Sunday. Her granddaughter said it would be impossible to stop her.

“I walk for three hours when they take me shopping,” Perles joked. “What can I say, things change. I’ve seen a lot of change in my lifetime.”

Her six children were raised in St. Mary’s; four of them were married in the church.

“I haven’t been to the Irish church (St. Ignatius),” Perles said as she shrugged her shoulders. “I guess I’ll be seeing it soon.”

Bill O’Boyle, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7218.

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