BROCKTON - This Schuylkill Township village's former Roman Catholic Church has been sold, and its new owners intend to make it a private residence, according to the Diocese of Allentown.
Brian M. and Shirley M. Tirpak, Lake Hauto, bought the Green Street property from the diocese for $121,000, according to the deed dated Feb. 12 and recorded Wednesday in Pottsville.
The Most Rev. John O. Barres, bishop of the Diocese of Allentown, and the Rev. John A. Frink, pastor of St. Jerome Roman Catholic Church, Tamaqua, signed the deed for the property, which consists of two adjacent parcels of land containing the church, its rectory and its parking lot.
Matthew T. Kerr, the diocese's director of communications, said Thursday that the property will become a home.
"Somebody is going to use it as a residence," he said.
Such a result is not unusual, he said.
That's not the only former church that will be converted into a private residence, Kerr said.
The Tirpaks could not be reached for comment on exactly what they want to do with the property.
St. Bartholomew Roman Catholic Church closed in 2008, canonically suppressed by the diocese. The diocese consolidated the congregation, and that of St. Bertha Roman Catholic Church, Tuscarora, with St. Jerome Roman Catholic Church.
St. Bartholomew Roman Catholic Church, named for one of Jesus Christ's original 12 apostles, was founded in 1846 and the building was constructed in 1922.
The stone sanctuary now sits empty and dark, with unlit candles in some of the windows. This winter's snow covers the steps and blocks the doors.
A solitary sign containing the word, "Believe," sits in the main entrance.
That consolidation was part of an extensive restructuring in the five-county diocese that resulted in 32 churches shutting their doors. Their congregations were consolidated with, or merged into, other churches.
Approximately 20 of the former church buildings have been sold, Kerr said.
Schuylkill Township and Tamaqua Area School District each will receive $605 in transfer taxes from the sale of the property, with the state receiving $1,210.