Our
Lady of Calvary:
Celebrating 50 years of activity
and prayer
By Lou Baldwin
Special to The CS&T
When a postman delivers mail for Our Lady of Calvary Parish in the wall-to-wall
Catholic Far Northeast area of Philadelphia, he has many stops.
“We have almost 3,000 registered families and 9,800 people. There
are 10,600 people living within our boundaries,” said Father John
P. Paul, OLC’s pastor.
The parish, where Cardinal Justin Rigali will celebrate a 50th anniversary
Mass on April 6, had its first Masses at the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament’s
former St. Michael’s Shrine of the True Cross in Torresdale.
Older parishioners with nostalgia for the beginnings might glance at the
museum-quality stations of the cross on the wall of today’s church.
They are the original stations, purchased in 1914 by Louise Morrell, sister
of St. Katharine Drexel, for the Shrine and they are now on permanent
loan by the Blessed Sacrament Sisters to the parish.
The area was still relatively undeveloped when Father (later Msgr.) George
Wierzalis was asked to found Our Lady of Calvary as a new parish. A former
lieutenant colonel with the U.S. Army in World War II, he had survived
the horrors of Iwo Jima and had a military bearing that belied his warm
personality. He was more than up to the task; the groundwork he laid resulted
in the thriving parish of today.
Although OLC’s original territory was taken from St. Charles Borromeo
Parish in Bensalem, according to a history prepared by parishioner Anthony
P. Zecca, the core community of founders was a Polish congregation that
worshipped at St. Michael’s Shrine. It was served by priests from
St. John Cantius Parish.
Original plans were for a parish of only 800 families, but the population
growth in the area so far exceeded that figure that two other parishes
formed from OLC’s founding territory.
OLC children attended St. Charles School or Nazareth Academy until their
own school opened for 494 students in 1959. Because the parish church,
which was built shortly after the founding, seated only 360, it was doubled
in size to its present dimensions in 1960.
Although in the beginning the term “stewardship” was not used,
Father Paul said, “We are a Stewardship parish and have been since
Father Wierzalis’ time.”
He is especially proud of the parish school — not just its 986 children,
but also the quality of education provided by six Sisters of the Holy
Family of Nazareth and lay teachers.
“I taught school for 27 years, and I’d put these kids up against
any school,” Father Paul said. “We have very strong computer
and math programs.”
Our Lady of Calvary has more than 60 parish programs. Among the most outstanding,
the pastor said, are the Stewardship Committee, the Parish Pastoral Council,
the Charismatic prayer group, a bereavement group, and Boy Scout and Girl
Scout programs that trace back to the beginning of the parish.
Spiritually, the parish adoration chapel is open 12 hours every day, and
the three daily Masses attract more than 100 communicants. There are approximately
100 extraordinary ministers of holy Communion, many who also do parish
visitation or make monthly visits to Frankford Hospital’s Torresdale
Division.
An anniversary banquet will be held at the Emerald Room on Townsend Road
on April 19.
Lou Baldwin is a member of St. Leo Parish and a freelance writer.