The following is a guest submission by Jason Bolte of Save the Rome of the West.
Mary Antonini’s dying wish was for her funeral mass to be held at Mary Queen of Peace, a church she began attending as an impoverished child when it first opened in Pottsville, Pennsylvania in 1929.
With its white stucco exterior and its red tiled slanted roofs, the Spanish-styled church was an integral part of Mary’s life. That’s where she married her husband Bob. That’s where she attended Sunday mass with Bob and their three children, who were all baptized and confirmed at Mary Queen of Peace. That’s where all of her grandchildren were baptized. That’s where she held the funeral mass of her husband in 1991. It was her home.
“Her whole life was based on that building,” Mary’s son Robert Antonini wrote in a letter dated August 6, 2009, which was addressed to the then Bishop of Allentown, John Oliver Barres. Just a year prior, the diocese announced that it would be shuttering Mary Queen of Peace due to financial reasons and a priest shortage.
The population of Pottsville, once a mining town, had dwindled from more than 21,000 in the 1970s to roughly under 14,500 when the Diocese of Allentown began its consolidation. The Catholic population was thinning out and poverty in the rural Pennsylvania region grew.
Meanwhile, Mary, who was battling cancer for years, had grown more ill and was nearing death’s door. Robert made it his mission to see that his mother would have her funeral mass at Mary Queen of Peace, but the diocese rejected his request. Mary’s funeral mass was held at a church ten miles away.
But, Robert didn’t forfeit his fight to preserve Mary Queen of Peace, which served as the foundation for his life too. Following in his parent’s footsteps, Robert married his wife at Mary Queen of Peace, where they raised their children before the parish closed.
Robert reached out for assistance to write canonical appeals against the closure of his parish and church in 2008. In 2011, the decision came back from the Congregation for the Clergy of the Holy See with the parish appeal being denied and the church closure decree being overturned. After this, Robert reached out for assistance to Brody Hale, a Massachusetts based lawyer well-versed in canon law, Robert had received the decision and needed to know his next steps. While the parish would remain closed, The Vatican permitted Mary Queen of Peace to continue operating as a chapel. However, in 2021 — amid the COVID-19 pandemic — the church faced closure by the diocese once again. Robert reconnected with Brody, who was working with Save Rome of the West, a nonprofit organization that he cofounded with Jason Bolte, dedicated to assisting parishioners in their efforts to preserve their churches from being closed. Jason Bolte cofounded Save Rome of the West in response to the St. Louis Archdiocese’s restructuring measures to eliminate 44 parishes, including his home parish of St. Barnabas. With the assistance of Brody Hale, Jason has written dozens of appeals for parishes. In modern church history only nine parish appeals have ever been successful, and two of which can be attributed to the efforts of Save Rome of the West. St. Mary’s Church of the Immaculate Conception in Yonkers, New York and St. Joseph in Joliet, Illinois, will remain open as decreed by the Vatican in response to Save Rome of the West’s written appeals. But it’s more than just preserving parishes. Save Rome of the West is working to insure that Sacred spaces remain Sacred. In St. Louis, there have been churches turned into skateboard parks, restaurants and even adult theaters, while in other areas like Buffalo, New York they have been turned to Mosques. With the assistance of Save Rome of the West, Robert was able to establish The Society of Mary Queen of Peace of Pottsville, allowing them to purchase the church from the Allentown Diocese, which agreed to designate it as a Catholic Chapel. Save Rome of the West assisted The Society of Mary Queen of Peace in fundraising, making the purchase of the nearly 100-year-old church possible in September. The Chapel is now open allowing private prayer and devotions, other sacramental activity is allowed at the Ordinary’s (Bishop’s) discretion. Twice a year a mass will be held: one to commemorate the Feast of Mary Queen of Peace on July 9 and the other to commemorate the anniversary of the church’s dedication on August 25.
Since the reopening of Mary Queen of Peace last month, a crowd of at least 25 people have gathered each week in the pews to pray the rosary. Robert said seeing the crowd gather every Sunday gives him hope for the church’s future.
“We’re not going to be able to do everything in there like we used to do,” Robert said, going on to say that the chapel will serve as a “beacon of hope” for the community.
What started as a promise to his mother transformed into Robert’s mission to preserve a sacred space for the next generations to come. And thanks to Save Rome of the West, Robert was able to preserve a sacred space which served as a bedrock for his and countless other families in the Pottsville region.
Jason and Brody hope they can replicate this success for other churches across the globe. “We, the lay faithful, have a right,” Bolte said. “It’s our blood, sweat, and tears that went into the construction of those buildings. It’s everything that we’ve poured into generations of baptisms, funerals, weddings, all the stuff has gone through these doors, and a lot of that is being supported financially by us. This was donated to God not to be used as poker chip to be cashed in to pay for whatever the clergy wishes to.” Save Rome of the West has 18 open appeal cases, working with churches across the country to ensure that their beauty remains intact. This has become Jason’s life’s work.
“The main focus is so that people are made aware that they have the right to challenge decrees that come down against their parish or church, because most people don’t even realize they have the ability to exercise that right,” Bolte said.
Save Rome of the West is a 501c3 group that assists Catholic laity with preserving their parish or church. They write canonical appeals and help set up preservation groups to keep Catholic sacred space as sacred and not profane.
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