Saint Andrew Church
Video Tour of the Campus
This drone video of St. Andrew Church and surroundings was shot and edited by Sean Geary. For those who are not familiar with the church, the video opens with bird’s-eye and rooftop views of the parish center, which housed offices and ministry space. Then it leads viewers to the reflection garden and the statue of Mary between the parish center and Mary Arundel Hall; then to the former St. Andrew School and auditorium; down the driveway to Raspberry Street; to the church on West Seventh Street; then around the west side of the church past the former rectory to the Our Lady of Fatima shrine and back to the school buildings. Our thanks to Sean Geary for sharing his video.
Address
1116 W. 7th Street
Erie, PA 16502
Mass Times
Daily Mass is held at Saint Jude Chapel
Monday – Friday 8am
Tuesday 6:30pm in English
Thursday 6:30pm in Spanish
Weekend Liturgy
Saturday 4:30pm Saint Jude
Sunday 7:30am Saint Jude
Sunday 9:00am Saint Jude
Sunday 9:15am Saint Andrew
Sunday 10:30am Saint Jude
Sunday 12pm San Esteban (Spanish)
Saint Jude Parish Boundaries
Saint Jude the Apostle Parish shall be territorial in nature, with boundaries as follows:
In Erie County, beginning at the southwest corner of Erie International Airport where Asbury
Drive meets the railroad tracks: north on Asbury Drive to state highway 5A/ West Lake Road;
east on West Lake Road to Marshall Drive; north on Marshall Drive to the lakeshore; east along
the lake to Cherry Street; south on Cherry Street to West 12th Street/state highway 5; west on
12th Street to Greengarden Boulevard; south on Greengarden Boulevard to the Norfolk Southern
railroad tracks near West 20th Street; west on the railroad tracks to Asbury Drive.
Decree Details
- By means of an extinctive union, Saint Andrew Parish in Erie shall be merged and subsumed
into Saint Jude the Apostle Parish in Erie. - The name of the receiving parish shall continue to be Saint Jude the Apostle Parish.
- All sacramental records from Saint Andrew Parish shall be retained at the parish offices of Saint
Jude the Apostle Parish. - In accord with the norm of law (cf. can. 121), all of the assets, responsibilities, and liabilities of
Saint Andrew Parish shall be transferred to Saint Jude the Apostle Parish. - The parish church shall be Saint Jude the Apostle church.
The History of Saint Andrew Church
Saint Andrew Church history goes back 150 years to the efforts and sacrifices of many wonderful people who founded the parish in 1871. On July 9, 2024, the parish was merged into Saint Jude Parish and the church became a secondary church with mission status.
We have grown from the original wooden church building on the corner of West Sixth and Raspberry streets to the complex which exists today of two school buildings, a beautiful stone church and a large rectory. All of this has come about through the dedication and stewardship of our parish ancestors. We are most grateful for the work of faith which is manifest in our parish plant.
In the early years, most of the Catholic community in the city of Erie were of Irish and German descent. A sizable group of Portuguese settled in the northwest area of the city. In 1870, a delegation of Irish, German and Portuguese approached Bishop Mullen and asked that a parish be established in northwestern Erie. Until that time Catholics attended services at St. Patrick Church. The Bishop agreed and St. Andrew Parish was established and dedicated in 1871. Three years later a home was built on the property, facing Raspberry Street, as a residence for the priests.
Reverend James McCabe was named the first Pastor in 1871. The Rectory that was built under Father McCabe’s direction, lasted until 1919. At that time, auxiliary Bishop John Mark Gannon, pastor of St. Andrew Parish, built the present Rectory.
In January, 1889, Father William Dwyer became the new Pastor. A movement for a school was started, but Father Dwyer thought it would place too much of a burden on the parishioners at this time. On March 4, 1896, during Forty Hours, a fire broke out in the old frame church, and completely destroyed the structure. The Blessed Sacrament was rescued and carried to safety and placed in a neighboring church. The fire had settled the hopes and dreams of building a school and a new church would hold first priority. In the meantime, Mass was celebrated on the second floor of the John Vincent Hall on West Sixth Street. The new church was started at Sixth and Raspberry Streets, but the parish ran out of money. Making do, Father Dwyer put a roof over the cellar that had been constructed and held services there. It was so dark and damp that is had been nicknamed “The Catacombs.” Services were held there for the next eighteen years.
In 1915 foundations were laid for the present church at the corner of Seventh and Raspberry. Father Hurley continued the building project as Father Dwyer’s health was failing. Father Dwyer did not live to see the completion of his dream and he died on May 7, 1915.
Father Michael Desmond became the third pastor of St. Andrew and it was under his leadership that the church was completed in 1916.
Bishop John Mark Gannon became the fourth pastor of St. Andrew. The Rectory was in poor condition and had been the home of the parish priests for nearly 45 years. The story is that Bishop Gannon loved to rock on the old wooded porch and one day, while rocking briskly, the porch floor gave way. It was then that he made plans for the present Rectory and it was completed in 1919. Bishop Gannon left St. Andrew in 1920.
Father Dennis Sheehan became the fifth pastor of St. Andrew and served from 1921 until his death in 1935. Under the pastorate, ground was broken in May of 1929 for a school. The school was not completed by September so classes were held in the Church. The school building was completed and ready for occupancy by December of 1929.
Monsignor Gerald Dugan became the sixth pastor of St. Andrew in 1936 and filled that role for thirty years. During that time he had the church completely redecorated. This project was completed in 1941.
The school was in need of more classrooms and an annex was built provided four classrooms for the lower grades. It was hoped that when classroom space demands declined the building could be used by parish societies. The decrease never came about.
St. Andrew parish has always had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and because of this devotion, a shrine to Our Lady of Fatima was built during Msgr. Dugan’s pastorate. It was constructed under the leadership of Father Robert Reilly, who was the spiritual director of the Men of Fatima. This shrine was formally dedicated during Forty Hours devotion on September 30, 1956.
Because of poor health, Msgr. Dugan retired and the parish welcomed Msgr James I. Gannon as the new pastor in june of 1966. Msgr. Gannon saw the need for a school library and additional classroom space. Two more classrooms were added to the School Annex and a library was built in the basement of the main school. The church parking lot and playground area were added to take care of the increased demands on these facilities.
When the church was redecorated, it was discovered that some structural work would be needed. Footers needed to be reinforced, the slate roof was repaired, plastering was done, new paint applied, and new carpeting was installed. On Msgr. Gannon’s seventy-fifth birthday in October of 1987, he retired after twenty-three years of fine leadership.
Father William Miller became Administrator of the parish until a new pastor was named. On January 15, 1988, Father Walter E. Packard became the seventh pastor of St. Andrew.
…more to come…
The parish ran St. Andrew School from 1929 to 2006. In 2017, Saint Andrew was partnered with Sacred Heart and Saint Paul parishes with Father Mark O’Hern as pastor. On July 9, 2024, Saint Andrew merged into Saint Jude Parish with Father Ross R. Miceli as pastor of the newly enlarged parish of Saint Jude, including the secondary church of Saint Andrew.
Latest Decree and Pastoral Planning
Saint Andrew parish merged into Saint Jude Parish on July 9, 2024. Originally, the church was to be designation as secondary without mission status meaning no regularly schedule masses would occur on site. Later, it was amended and mission was added along with a Sunday mass.
5.31.24
Bishop Persico amends decree regarding St. Andrew Parish, Erie
On April 11, 2024, The Most Rev. Lawrence T. Persico, bishop of Erie, issued a decree effecting the merger of St. Andrew Parish in Erie into St. Jude the Apostle Parish, also in Erie. The merger was to take effect July 9, 2024.
On April 24, 2024, within the appropriate canonical timeframe, parishioners of St. Andrew Parish presented a petition asking the bishop to revoke his decision. The petition asked that St. Andrew Parish instead be made a partner parish with St. Jude Parish, which would have created two, independent parishes sharing a single pastor.
As a result of the request, and after extensive consultation with parish leaders and with the diocesan priest council, Bishop Persico amended the decree of April 11, 2024, issuing an amended decree on May 29, 2024. With a focus on pastoral considerations and against the unanimous advice of the priest council — which advised him to retain the original decree — Bishop Persico offered a compromise: While St. Andrew will still merge into St. Jude Parish, it will now be
designated as a secondary mission church rather than a secondary church without mission status. This means that Mass may be celebrated at St. Andrew Church on Sundays, holy days and the evenings which precede them, so long as priests are available to support those Masses. The bishop said his decision was made in response to the “need for a stronger and more sustainable means to provide for the care of souls for the faithful of the West side of the City of Erie and Millcreek Township.”
The compromise and amended decree are effective July 9, 2024. The amended decree, which details the history of St. Andrew and St. Jude the Apostle parishes, as well as the current situation, can be found at www.eriercd.org/bishop/decrees.html.
Merger Process Timeline
Preliminary Plan Announced and Various Meetings Convene
4-11-24 Final Plan Announced at Saint Mark Catholic Center.
4-15-24 Pastor Mark O’Hern holds parish council meeting in which members asked for an explanation of the decisions of the final plan.
4-18-24 Fr. Ross Miceli sends email to members of the pastoral and finance council introducing himself and inviting members to join a transition team.
5-31-24 Bishop Persico amends decree concerning Saint Andrew Church making it a secondary church with mission status.
7-9-24 The parish of Saint Andrew merges with Saint Jude forming the newly enlarged parish of Saint Jude. At the same time, the parish of Saint Jude partners with the parish of Saint Stephen of Hungary (San Esteban). The two parishes will share a pastor, parochial vicar and three deacons.
Parish data was merged over the next few weeks including addresses, sacraments, and church (offertory) envelopes.
7-14-24 Mass at Saint Andrew is moved from 11am to 7:15am for the summer while priest assignments are being finalized. Music is also temporarily put on hold while the various parish ministers are off during the summer.
7-28-24 Fr. Ross celebrates 11am mass for the parish picnic.
8-4-24 Missionary Priest comes to celebrate mass at all three sites and to serve the annual Missionary Appeal.
During the month of August and September: data and records continue to be merged including bank accounts, child protection files, sacramental information. The chapel in the former classroom space of Saint Andrew (Annex) is closed and classrooms are cleaned out making room for other ministries.
8-21-24 Staffing changes occur at all parishes as some retire, others have been re-hired under the new parish and collaborative staff are shared across campuses.
9-15-24 Mass time is changed from 7:15am to 9:15am with cantor and choir in order to provide a more joyful experience of mass.
9-21-24 Fr. Ross holds “Pizza with the Pastor” at Saint Andrew’s Arundel Hall for an evening of faith sharing.
Definitions and Terms
Thoughts on the definitions of parish, church, secondary mission churches and more
Excerpts from the presentation Msgr. Edward Lohse, episcopal vicar for canonical services, offered as the final decisions for parish restructuring in the Diocese of Erie were announced. Additional definitions can be found on page 13 of the Parish Restructuring Preparation Guide.
While we often use terms like church and parish interchangeable, it’s important that we understand what these terms mean, so that we’re all speaking the same language.
The first term is “parish.” The easiest thing to remember is that “parish equals people.” In the Code of Canon Law, canon 515 states that:
Msgr. Edward Lohse According to canon law, a parish is a community of the faithful, and that community is clearly defined. Ordinarily, a parish community is defined geographically, so that the parishioners are technically all those people who live within its territory, just like we say that Pennsylvanians are all those people who live within Pennsylvania. A parish community can also be defined by some other objective method, like a common language or culture.
Who determines the criteria for a particular parish community? One person only … the diocesan bishop. He divides, or if necessary re-divides, the diocese into parishes in the way that best helps him to provide for the care of souls.
Canon law also identifies for us the two types of parishes which will exist in the Diocese of Erie after February of next year … the kind which has its own pastor, which we will call stand-alone, and the kind which shares a pastor with another parish, which we will call partnered.
A stand-alone parish is the traditional model, the one we normally think of when someone mentions a parish. It is a single community of believers, who have their own pastor whom they do not share with anyone, their own parish church, their own finances and finance council, their own parish pastoral council, and their own parish staff and office.
Although we are describing such a parish as a stand-alone, it is not a free agent. It is a part of the diocese, which is part of the Universal Church, and it receives its mission and vision from the Lord through the bishop.
The other type of parish is the partnered parish. Every partnered parish is still a canonically distinct community with its own members who have their own parish church, and their own finances and finance council. They will be asked to share some very important things with their partner parish, however: their pastor, their parish pastoral council, the parish office and staff.
Partnered parishes should respect each other’s unique identity while sharing and helping each other whenever possible.
They can share things like religious education programs, Lenten series, small Christian communities, evangelization efforts and outreach, etc. This will provide for a better stewardship of resources and personnel, relieve some of the financial burden on the parishes, and provide for a richer and more fruitful parish ministry.
We have done a lot of talking about merging. It is important to remember that merging is a transitional phase, not a final end. Every parish that merges will come out on the other side of the process as either a stand-alone parish or as a partnered parish.
This thought may be helpful: Merging is the process by which the bishop redefines the membership of a parish. He reorganizes a portion of the people of the diocese by bringing two communities together into a single entity, in order to provide better for the care of souls.
Here is a fundamental difference: Merging redefines the membership of a parish; partnering does not.
For this reason, every merger must be accompanied by a written decree of the bishop by which he formally redefines the parishes in question. The decree of the bishop for every merger occurring in the Diocese of Erie will be available on the diocesan website.
The partnering of parishes does not redefine them. There is no change in parish membership, no change in parish boundaries, etc. There are no decrees for parishes that are being partnered, because the membership of the parish communities isn’t actually being modified in any way.
The next important term is church. Just as “parish equals people”, we can say that “church equals building.”
The most important thing to note about the definition of church in the Code of Canon Law states is that the term church refers to a building, not to a parish community. In fact, sometimes the church and the parish don’t even have the same name.
Just as there are different types of parishes, there are also different types of churches.
The first type is the parish church, which is the principal church of a parish.
A parish church has certain rights and duties:
Every parish church must have the Eucharist reserved in the tabernacle, and for that reason every parish church must be open for at least some hours every day and Mass must be celebrated there at least once every two weeks. Why every two weeks? Because consecrated host are not to remain in the tabernacle more than two weeks before they are consumed and replaced.
A parish may also have one or two other churches in addition to the parish church. These are called secondary churches.
In the Diocese of Erie we have two types of secondary churches … those with mission status and those without.
Only mission churches have permission for Mass on Sundays and holy days, or on the evenings preceding them.
In every secondary church, missions and non-missions alike, there is an obligation to celebrate Mass in the church at least once a year, and maybe twice: on the feast day of its title, and – if it was truly consecrated and not just blessed – on the anniversary of its consecration.
Beyond this, all secondary churches in the diocese are available for weddings and funerals, and at the discretion of the pastor they may also be available for other public devotions like novenas, Adoration and Benediction, the celebration of weekday Mass, etc. And of course, people can always enter simply to pray on their own whenever the church is open.
Other Sacraments
CONFIRMATION
We celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation each year with our bishop. We are inviting young people in grades 9-11 to consider getting confirmed.
MATRIMONY
We love celebrating the love between two people! Contact us to learn more about how the church supports strong and healthy marriages.
FIRST EUCHARIST
Children in third grade are usually prepared for First Holy Communion. Any child in third grade or older requesting first communion can be added to our preparation classes.