Major Wind Storm Damaged Historic Church

This article was written by James Wudarczyk and was posted on July 18, 2009.

When 79 mile per hour winds swept through Western Pennsylvania on the evening of September 14, 2008, approximately one million people were left without electrical power for three to four days. Parts of Lawrenceville were among the areas negatively impacted by the storm.

At 9:30 p.m. on the night of September 14, a cross was ripped by the winds from the top of Saint Augustine Church on 37th Street and thrust to the ground with such force that it damaged three steps. According to an account by the Reverend John Daya, ofm., Cap., pastor of Our Lady of the Angels Parish, which owns the Lawrenceville church, “The cross on the roof directly above the statue of St. Augustine was dislodged from its foundation; along the with the cross, the concrete base plummeted to the steps and street below. The impact was so strong that three steps in front of St. Augustine Church were split and dislodged. Providentially, no one was in the area where the cross and concrete fell. Insurance will cover the cost of repairing the cross and replacing the steps.”

In an interview with Chuck Moody, Associate Editor of the Pittsburgh Catholic, Daya was further quoted, “What I believe happened is that the wind was so strong that it got behind the cross, and just dislodged it and pulled the cross along with the housing for the cross, which was made of concrete terra-cotta. It ripped it right off the top of the church. It flew down. The cross itself flew maybe 20 feet to the right, down an exterior stairwell. The terra-cotta concrete just fell and damaged two or three of the concrete steps. There was debris all over the sidewalk and street and then also across the street on the Zion Lutheran Church’s sidewalk.”

A parishioner assisted the Capuchin friar with cleaning up the debris and roping off the area. In the Pittsburgh Catholic interview, Father John Daya indicated that he was standing on the spot where the cross hit just one-half hour before when he went to turn off some lights that were mistakenly left on.