Butler County’s second oldest Catholic church - St. Alphonsus - could reopen as community center
More than 180 years since St. Alphonsus Roman Catholic Church was erected, descendants of Murrinsville’s figurehead who owned the land and helped build the church are hoping to honor an agreement he made with the Catholic Church.
John Murrin stipulated in the 1840s that if St. Alphonsus were to close, the property would be transferred to the Murrin family for the use and benefit of the community.
John Murrin was the son of Hugh Murrin, who immigrated from Ireland. After fighting in the Revolutionary War, Hugh Murrin was given acres of land in Butler County, some of which were later used to build a stone church with stained glass windows known as St. Alphonsus.
Prior to the church’s founding, Catholics in the area would gather at Hugh Murrin’s home to worship.
The church’s doors have been closed since 2019. But Mary Murrin and Neil Kennedy, who are third cousins and descendants of John Murrin, are heading an effort to transform the property into a community center.
They said repurposing the church could revitalize Murrinsville, an unincorporated village in Marion Township, as well as the surrounding community.
Instead of keeping the property in the family, Mary Murrin and Kennedy said they want to create a nonprofit that will ensure the repurposed church will benefit the community, which is closer in line to their ancestor’s intention.
Mary Murrin resides in California, and Kennedy lives in Texas, so the two are searching for local board members to help with the effort.
Last fall, they held a community open house to gauge interest in the project.
“It was mainly a listening session for myself and Neil,” Mary Murrin said.
The two said people offered suggestions for the use of the community center, ranging from renting the hall for ceremonies and events to hosting technical classes and creating an association for residents who are visually impaired.
Mary Murrin said she loved the idea of the community center serving as a space to bring people together in a way that would also be financially profitable for the community.
“We heard that there was a need for a space for family and life events, like ceremonies, wedding receptions and reasons to get together that the (church) hall lends itself to,” she said. “There really is nothing nearby for that. We also heard farmer markets, craft markets, scout meetings.”
“It's aspirational in some ways,” she said. “I want to carry on the legacy. A lot of (residents) have long relationships with our families over generations and they stayed there and I want ... to make them proud to be there and give them opportunities to celebrate their history.”
Michelle Dillaman Marlowe, a community resident who created a Facebook page for the project called Murrinsville Community Center, said “people are excited to see what’s to come.”
“That church has been sitting dormant for quite a while,” Marlowe said. “So to see some life brought back to both the church and the hall and the parish house is very advantageous.”
Like other residents, St. Alphonsus is where Marlowe was baptized and received her first communion. As a child, she said she sang in the choir with her grandmother, flanked by other female elders.
Her aunt would ring the church bell every Sunday morning well into her old age, Marlowe said.
When the church closed its doors in 2019, St. Alphonsus Parish continued to share clergy and staff with other parishes in the area. According to the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the parish merged in 2021 with St. Christopher Parish in Prospect and St. Peter Parish in Slippery Rock, forming St. Faustina Parish.
Kennedy said the last mass at St. Alphonsus took place around December 2019.
“My phone wouldn’t stop ringing,” he said. “Everyone was commiserating and asking if there's something I can do to help.”
“It was a real blow to our community,” Marlowe said. “It ended up scattering the parish. Members had to relocate, and that was tough, especially because it was an elderly community that filled up the pews. Having people travel 20 miles instead of two was a hardship for them.”
“I think the community has been lacking a central gathering place for a long time,” Marlowe said. “Being able to open the door to a place where folks could gather again would bring the community back together.”
The area, once part of the oil boom, used to be lively.
Mary Murrin’s father, who grew up in Butler City, would visit with his six brothers and sisters, she said. While Mary Murrin lived in Pittsburgh, she said she often visited Murrinsville with family, where she was regaled with tales of family and local history.
“There is a question of, will there be another generation of people that want to develop that area?” she said. “It was a booming place in the mid-1800s and got pretty quiet by the late 1990s.”
At this time, Kennedy said the church is still the property of the diocese. A $1 sale agreement was made, but discussion is still underway regarding terms for the diocese’s maintenance of the graveyard.
The agreement will also be changed, Kennedy said, to state the property will be transferred to an entity called the Murrin Community Center Nonprofit, instead of the Murrin family.
The next step is to bring potential board members on board.
“Ideally, local community members are the drivers of the project,” she said. “I think our objective is just to satisfy the original intent of having the church property be owned and managed by the community.”
Mary Murrin said board members would help sustain the community center for generations to come.
“I personally think that, you know, along with being fortunate enough to have land you also have a certain obligation,” Kennedy said. “And our obligation is to, you know, be a good neighbor and try to foster community.”
Residents interested in getting involved or learning more about the St. Alphonsus project can visit the Murrinsville Community Center Facebook page or email Michelle Marlowe at Marlowe@zoominternet.net.
