Published: September 19, 2008 02:49 pm            

Church says thanks

Lilly congregation sets open house to show gratitude

A Lilly church will say thank you to those who helped in its restoration by hosting an open house Sunday.

St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, 604 Cleveland St., will celebrate its 135th anniversary at 11 a.m. Sunday when the Rev. Gregory Pile, bishop of the Allegheny Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, delivers the sermon.

“He will speak on what God has done, is doing and will do through the people of St. Luke’s,” said the Rev. John Palko, pastor. “The bishop will offer an order for rededication of the church building and grounds.”

In the afternoon, an open house with light refreshments will be held from 2 to 4 p.m.

“It’s a thank you to the community of Lilly, Washington Township and beyond for their prayers, visits and financial support for renovations,” Palko said.

“We felt at our 135th it was good for the bishop to come and say thank you to the community.”

Palko added that major renovations in the past five years have included restoring a stone fence, renovating the chapel and having two of the church’s large stained-glass windows renovated.

“I anticipate the restoration of the other windows and the clock tower,” Palko said. “I think the clock tower needs done once a generation.”

He added that the small congregation had been without Sunday school classes for years because there had been no children.

“Last week, we began having classes,” Palko said.

“We’ve seen growth. We have some children.”

Palko said there are seven members in their 90s in the congregation and about a dozen in the new pre-K and kindergarten class.

The congregation of St. Luke’s Lutheran was organized on June 22, 1873, and was part of the Wilmore pastorate until 1889.

The first separate Lutheran church edifice was constructed in 1881-82, and the first parsonage was built in 1892.

In 1889, the congregation, which numbered 60 communicant members, became a separate pastorate and issued a call for a pastor.

The congregation applied for a charter of incorporation on Dec. 12, 1901, in Cambria County Court.

The second and present church building with a 60-foot clock tower was built in 1904-05.

The stained-glass windows were constructed by local workmen at a cost of $15,000.

The cornerstone was laid on Sept. 4, 1904, and the building was dedicated on June 18, 1905.

In 1910, the second and present 11-room brick parsonage was constructed, with a brick garage going up during the summer of 1914.

In the fall of 1915, the Ladies Aid Society paid for a rustic stone fence to be built around the church property.

In 2003, Palko began dismantling the crumbling stone fence and several months later, the Lilly-Washington Historical Society involved the community, which raised $11,000 to restore the fence and clock tower.

Two of the stained-glass windows were restored at a cost of $75,000.

The congregation grew from an average attendance of 35 in 2002 to more than 50 in 2007.

Since Nov. 30, 1970, the congregation has been part of the Lilly-Portage-Lutheran Parish with First Lutheran Church in Portage.

        

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