Lightning hits historic St. Boniface church, leading to homily message about Judgment Day

KRIS B. MAMULA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
kmamula@post-gazette.com
AUG 21, 2022


A bolt of lightning struck St. Boniface Catholic Church on the North Side on Sunday morning, damaging the historic building’s dome, blowing off roof tiles and knocking out the lights inside as the Rev. Larry DiNardo prepared for morning Mass.

Included in Sunday’s gospel message: a warning for Christians to be ready for Judgment Day.

About 100 people were in the church around 8:45 a.m. when the church was hit by lightning. Father DiNardo, 73, was in the sacristy, getting ready for Mass, he said. Parishioners reported seeing roof tiles crashing to the ground as they arrived for the 9 a.m. service, causing clattering that was heard inside.

“All of a sudden, there was a bolt of lightning,” said Father DiNardo, a priest for 48 years. “The bolt of lightning just cracked; you could feel it. All of the lights went out, then some went back on. We could hear stuff falling off the church.

“Some of the roof tiles blew off.”

Father DiNardo incorporated the lightning strike in his homily, picking up on the words of the Gospel of Luke to be prepared for Judgment Day: “Lord, will only a few people be saved? He answered them, ‘Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.’”

The start of the 9 a.m. Mass was delayed for a few minutes while Pittsburgh firefighters checked the building for safety.

Telephone service to the church, which was knocked out, had not been restored by midday Sunday, and Father DiNardo worried that the church’s dome was damaged. He said he was awakened around 3 a.m. in the night by thunderstorms that caused a roof leak in the church’s rectory.

The lightning strike came 50 years after St. Boniface Church, now part of Christ Our Savior Parish, survived a near-death experience of its own.

The St. Boniface parish was formed by German-Americans in 1884, and the church opened in 1926 in what became a bustling East Street Valley. But in 1971, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation purchased St. Boniface from the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh with plans to demolish it to make way for Interstate 279, a connector highway.

The highway, which opened in 1989, eventually resulted in the demolition of some 1,300 homes and the displacement of about 6,000 people living near St. Boniface.

The highway project gutted the East Street Valley business district, and the residential area was decimated, but residents banded together in the late 1960s to save the church. Ultimately, they were successful, with the church still visible from the highway.

Although thunderstorms and rain persisted throughout Saturday night and into Sunday morning, no other weather-related damage in the region was reported to authorities.

Father DiNardo said churchgoers remained calm throughout the lightning strike and flickering lights, but for him, it was a different experience.

“It was exciting,” he said.