Days after a fire destroyed a more than 100-year-old Catholic church in Luzerne County, people reminisced outside.
As of Tuesday afternoon, machines were still excavating at St. Hedwig’s Church in Edwardsville. No injuries were reported in a fire that broke out early Sunday morning, according to the Kingston/Forty Fort Fire Department who arrived on the scene shortly after 6 a.m.
People walked along Zerby Avenue despite the rain to get their last look at the site. Some stopped to remember times spent as a youth in the church that closed in 2007.
One woman, who grew up across the street, said she remembers gathering for midnight mass, reciting songs in Polish. Immigrants from Poland founded the parish in 1901.
Another woman showed photos of her First Holy Communion, saying she attended school next door. That building, St. Hedwig's Veterans Village, is owned by Catholic Social Services, who also once owned the church. In a statement, the Diocese of Scranton said Catholic Social Services had more recently sold the church to "another entity."
Several cars briefly parked along the block. People hopped out to pick up a brick or piece of concrete as a memento before the rest of St. Hedwig’s Church is cleared away.
