Preserving More Than History In Sacred Places

St. Stephen's Church in Oil City, PA.

Oil Region Alliance Photo

Franklin, PA (March 3, 2020) –

Staff from Oil Region National Heritage Area organized and hosted a town-hall meeting in January, with the Partners for Sacred Places organization at First Baptist Church in Franklin, PA, to address the decline of their historic churches and how to save these community spaces. The National Heritage Areas program granted Partners for Sacred Places the funds to facilitate and moderate the conversation between locals, church groups and church leaders, and historic preservation enthusiasts. The non-profit, non-sectarian organization Partners for Sacred Places, based in Philadelphia, PA, has received funding from the National Heritage Areas program to help other National Heritage Areas and communities across the country rescue their historic places of worship and use them to fill other needs within the community.

A panel, including Oil Region NHA’s historic preservation specialist Jenn Burden, community leaders state Rep. R. Lee James of Oil City and Rev. Mark Elliston of Christ Episcopal Church in Oil City, as well as Partners for Sacred Places’ Joshua Castaño, spoke with the over 70 attendees.

A sacred place, such as a church or temple, may evoke meaningful memories of weddings, religious experiences, or memorial services. It could be a place of healing, where the local Alcoholics Anonymous chapter meets every Sunday, or provide space for Scout troops and other community groups to gather. It may function as a food bank or provide child care and other community services. Yet the 20-year national trend of waning participation in organized religion has led to low attendance and financial decline that have been hurting historic places of worship for years. Many of these once special structures have been torn down or abandoned.

“There is serious talk about churches being financially unstable,” Jenn Burden said. “I’m coming from the historic preservation point of view, and these buildings are important to the community as they are such assets to the community. They’re often on prominent street corners, or are large buildings downtown. You notice them. It would be a shame if these buildings start disappearing and are replaced by a vacant lot or a gas station.”

“These are the places that people remember. These are the places that people talk about.”

Attendees of the Partners for Sacred Places Town Hall meeting sit in church pews.

Oil Region Alliance Photo / Marilyn Black

Last fall in the Oil Region, local government proposed to combine historic St. Stephen’s and Joseph’s churches, and possibly even tear down St. Stephen’s Church. Two Catholic parishes in the region, one of which had preserved its Polish heritage by holding masses in Polish, have closed. At the meeting, Oil Region NHA staff also found out that a Presbyterian church in their area is now inactive. A mid-century modern synagogue had closed in past years as well, however, it was sold and is now a YMCA.

The meeting successfully brought non-profit, secular and civic groups together with faith groups to network, brainstorm, and find ways to bring more people to the area’s historic churches. The attendees broke into small groups, moderated by staff from Partners for Sacred Places, to brainstorm ways to reuse the old churches and answer questions about their ideas on surveys made by Partners for Sacred Places. One problem facing the preservation of the buildings, Burden said, is the need for these diverse communities to agree on how to reuse some of the buildings. For example, the Catholic St. Stephen’s church is owned by the Catholic Diocese, which regulates how their buildings are reused.

“If someone were interested in taking on that building, they would need to approach the Diocese,” Burden said. “There are certain uses that they absolutely wouldn’t transfer ownership for.”

Burden gave as an example The Church Brew Works, a historic former church that now houses a popular, successful microbrewery and restaurant in Pittsburgh.

“That rankled a lot of former parishioners, and even other members of the Catholic community, that the church was turned into a brewery.”

A church in Titusville, Crawford County, PA.

Oil Region Alliance Photo / Marilyn Black

“It’s new to this region to have these churches potentially closing, and to have to know what to do with them,” Burden said. “There are generations of families with close connections to these places. It was good timing to have the town hall meeting ... In this setting, with Partners taking the lead … It was good to have that third party come in and start the conversation.”

However, through more varied use of the structures, such as by encouraging theater groups to take advantage of the acoustics and layout already in the buildings, these places could gain the funding to remain open. Partners for Sacred Places suggested churches try to slow down or pause efforts to close or tear down their structures, and find a spokesperson to voice community concerns and bring more people together to solve the problem. Reaching out to others via social media and the press is a great way to spread awareness of the churches’ issues, find donors and allies, and to spread accurate information or counteract inaccurate information about the demolition.

Burden described the meeting as a good start to the necessary, ongoing conservation about the preservation of historic churches. Parishes will need to be creative about adaptive reuse of their churches, Burden said, if they want to keep their congregations intact. For now, Oil Region NHA needs to come up more with ideas on how to use their churches. After the town hall meeting people in the community are more enthusiastic than ever and are looking forward to future discussions about the preservation of the sacred places in the region. The next steps for Oil Region NHA staff and Partners for Sacred Places are to analyze the results of the small groups’ surveys, and set up future meetings and workshops.

“It is a difficult conversation to have, but we at least started it,” Burden.

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