New life is found for Catholic church artifacts

By Craig Smith
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, December 5, 2011

As a seminarian, the Rev. Joseph McCaffrey knelt before a tabernacle in the chapel at Mercy Hospital, where his mother was being treated for a brain tumor, and prayed for her recovery.

Later, when he was named pastor of Ss. John and Paul Church in Marshall, he noticed that same tabernacle — an ornamental cabinet used to store the Blessed Sacrament — at his new church.

And when it came time to build a new Sts. John and Paul Church building, he “knew that was going to be in there.”

The practice of reusing religious items is a common one among Catholics. The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has two warehouses — one an old church — that house aging, unused religious articles and statuary.

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