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Former Members Of St. Anthony's Church Continue To Fight For Reopening

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- When the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese closed a local church, its former members took their fight to keep it open all the way to the top, and even after a ruling from the Vatican, they're still not ready to give up.

Just a couple weeks ago, the Vatican upheld a decision made two years ago to close St. Anthony's Parish in Monongahela, but former parishioners aren't giving up the fight, which they took to the diocese Wednesday.

Time has not healed the wounded former parishioners of St. Anthony's Church. Instead, they continue to fight for the church to reopen, returning to the diocese to plead their case yet again.

"Churches are not just stone. They're not just concrete," former St. Anthony's parishioner Joe Ravasio said. "There were baptisms there, there were confirmations there. I stood for confirmations there ... St. Anthony's Church was our castle."

When St. Anthony's closed in April of 2014, some passionate parishioners locked themselves in the church following the last mass. They haven't stopped fighting, filing yet another appeal on the closure. The Vatican recently gave its stamp of approval, siding with the diocese. On Wednesday, Father Ron Langwin of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh said very explicitly nothing will change.

When asked if there was any hope for St. Anthony's to reopen, he said, "No, there isn't. No, it's pretty simple."

"I don't mean to be blunt, but they had every opportunity to go against the bishop's decision and appeal to the Vatican," he continued. "They did that three times and the Vatican always came back and said no. There's no other appeal at this point."

To this day, members of the former congregation argue that the church was financially stable, with parishioners paying for many of the church costs. Ravasio says what's happening now, with the closings of more and more churches, is not helping to build a stronger diocese.

"We should not be closing churches and scattering the flock," Ravasio said. "You and I both know the statistics. When a church is closed, one-third quit going to church."

Father Langwin argued that all those affected by closures need to answer a simple question.

"Where's your faith?" he said. "Maybe you don't go to that parish, but hopefully you go somewhere else."

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