Saints Peter and Paul, Homestead

Parish History

Ss. Peter and Paul was established in 1900 as a Lithuanian parish.  The origin of the parish can be traced to the arrival of Lithuanian immigrants at the end of the nineteenth century.  Most of the immigrants traveled to Pittsburgh's South Side to attend St. Casimir parish, the nearest Lithuanian parish to Homestead at the time.  Just before the turn of the century, the Lithuanians began making plans to form their own congregation.  In 1900, they purchased a plot of land for a church and in August of that year, a resident pastor was assigned to the new parish.

Soon afterwards work began on a church.  Until the church could be built, Mass was celebrated in a rented commercial space.  The cornerstone of the church was laid on December 22, 1900, and the completed church was dedicated on June 9, 1901.  This church served the congregation for 40 years.  In 1941, the church fell victim to world events.  The land that Ss. Peter and Paul occupied was required by the Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corporation as part of the nation's defense expansion program.  The church was sold to the steel company and torn down soon afterwards.  The parish then purchased the nearby First Evangelical Reformed Church, which had been built in 1929.  The church building was remodeled and dedicated on October 19, 1941.

As the rise of population in the nineteenth century led to the creation of the parish, the loss of population in the twentieth century led to its suppression.  As part of the diocese's reorganization and revitalization program, Ss. Peter and Paul was merged with seven other parishes to form the new St. Maximilian Kolbe parish in 1992.  As part of the merger, Ss. Peter and Paul Church was closed and later sold.