All Saints, Wherever

Last Thursday, I was surprised when I encountered the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette headline “Penn Hills church in Anglican Diocese abandons its building.” The headline sounded like it was describing another “Anglican” congregation giving up its building to the Episcopal Diocese. That was indeed what the story was about, but I couldn’t identify what church was involved. The only church I knew of in Penn Hills that either is or was in the Pittsburgh diocese was St. James, and the story was clearly not about St. James.

The next day, September 2, 2011, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review had its own story about the church. In this case, the title was “Verona’s Anglican Church to abandon its facility.” I didn’t recall an Episcopal church in Verona, either.

Both stories contained a clue that I missed, namely, that the departing congregation is going to hold services at Rosedale United Methodist Church. In fact, when I asked a friend about the church, she told me that we had always referred to the church as All Saints, Rosedale, a name I found in past convention journals of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. Somehow, I missed seeing the updated Post-Gazette story of September 2 that described the church as being “in the Rosedale section of Penn Hills.”

I had no idea where Rosedale was, and I had never heard of it except in conjunction with All Saints Church. As it happens, the church, which is located at 1620 Randolph Lane, is apparently not in Penn Hills (actually a neighborhood of Pittsburgh) but is in Verona, an incorporated suburb that, as far as I can determine, includes the Rosedale neighborhood. In any case, the USPS Web site gives the church’s address as

1620 RANDOLPH LN
VERONA PA 15147-3010

I will return to the matter of the physical location of the church in a moment. Let me first note that All Saints issued a press release on September 1. The Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, on whose site the press release is hosted, also published a story about the All Saints decision to relinquish the property (wherever it is). That story contains a link to the letter written by David Rucker, rector of the church, to Andy Roman, chancellor of the Episcopal diocese.

The Episcopal diocese has had little to say about the matter, curiously, not even mentioning it on its Web site, although diocesan spokesman Rich Creehan was quoted in the newspaper stories saying very little indeed. I do expect that the diocese will issue its own story eventually, but the committee handling property negotiations is quite serious about the negotiations themselves being confidential. Some very good friends are on the committee, but I don’t know more about what’s going on than anyone else.

Some extraordinary statements have been made by the “Anglicans,” and I will have more to say about that in another post.

Never having seen All Saints, Rosedale, I decided to take a trip to find it yesterday. Like so many of the churches that are or were in the Pittsburgh diocese, it is a bit off the beaten track. Google maps, however, took me right to it, although I was not sure I had taken the right turn until I saw the church before me.

I was a bit surprised to see that the large sign next to Verona Road proclaimed “All Saints Episcopal Church.” Many of the congregations that left the diocese removed “Episcopal” from their signage, some even before the October 2008 schism. (Click on photos for a larger view.)

Sign along Verona Road

Also, like many Pittsburgh churches, All Saints is housed in a quite respectable building. The picture below does not quite do it justice. The sun was behind the church, which was exactly the wrong place for it to be from a photographer’s standpoint. Not shown fully is the substantial building to the right. The building has a large parking lot surrounding it. The paving is not in good shape at the rear but seems fine elsewhere. The landscaping is best not commented upon.

Front of the church

The tall steeple on the building is best seen from the rear.

Rear of the church

I neglected to look for a cornerstone, so I don’t know exactly when the church was built. I assume the bell tower, which is an interesting architectural feature, is a later addition.

Bell tower

It would be interesting to know the history of the bell, which is dated 1894. The tower was dedicated in 2001.

Plaque on bell tower

  It is sad, of course, when a congregation has to leave memorials such as this one.