St. Jude Parish in Mountain Top holds groundbreaking ceremony for new church building

MOUNTAIN TOP — St. Jude Parish took a step into the future with a groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday to celebrate the beginning of the construction of a new church.

Diocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph C. Bambera served as the special guest for the parish’s afternoon Mass. He was joined by Rev. Joseph J. Evanko, from St. Jude, and several others in grabbing shovels for the ceremony.

Bambera, who said he’s visited St. Jude Parish more times than he can count, is excited about the direction the parish is taking.

“It means a great deal,” he said. “Very often people will talk about the fact that we close, we merge and we’ve consolidated churches. But in reality the church is very much alive and vibrant in all of our communities. They just shift and modify over the years.

“And here — on the mountain — there is a need for a new worship site with a community that is growing.”

According to Evanko, the current building, which was founded in 1953 by Fr. Edward Nolan, holds 530 parishioners. The new one will hold over 800.

The design of the current church is in the shape of an L, meaning not all parishioners sit in the same area. Evanko said that is something the next building will fix.

“For what the church asks us to do and how to pray, it’s much better to have the church in the new building … so everybody will be together as one community,” he said.

Construction of the building will cost $8 million and be done by Sordoni Construction Services of Forty Fort.

The project is slated to begin in June, and Evanko said it will done sometime between June and December of next year.

“We’ll see how the weather holds up,” he said.

Once the new building is completed, the current building will come down and make way for parking spaces, according to Evanko.

Bambera mentioned during Mass how it might be his last time as a guest in the current building.

“It means that there is a tremendous amount of growth in this community,” he said. “Whenever I come back here, which could be next week or it could be at the time of the dedication of the new church, that same life will be here even though the bricks will be different.”

Bishop Joseph Bambera, center, joins members of the St. Jude Parish building and finance committees in groundbreaking for their new church after Mass on Saturday in Wright Township.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_TTL051516StJude-3.jpgBishop Joseph Bambera, center, joins members of the St. Jude Parish building and finance committees in groundbreaking for their new church after Mass on Saturday in Wright Township. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

The Rev. Joseph Evanko, pastor of St. Jude Parish in Wright Township, shows ‘the chair’ in which ‘many church decisions were made’ by previous pastors since the church’s beginning in 1953 during Mass before groundbreaking for a new church on Saturday.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_TTL051516StJude2-3.jpgThe Rev. Joseph Evanko, pastor of St. Jude Parish in Wright Township, shows ‘the chair’ in which ‘many church decisions were made’ by previous pastors since the church’s beginning in 1953 during Mass before groundbreaking for a new church on Saturday. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader

Diocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph Bambera presides over the groundbreaking for a new church after Mass at St. Jude Parish in Wright Township on Saturday.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_TTL051516StJude3-3.jpgDiocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph Bambera presides over the groundbreaking for a new church after Mass at St. Jude Parish in Wright Township on Saturday. Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader