St. Andrew the Apostle Church

St. Andrew the Apostle Church was founded November 23, 1975 to serve the spiritual needs of Byzantine Catholics in the greater North Hills area of Pittsburgh. Father James Spontak was assigned by Metropolitan Stephen Kocisko to found this new mission, which began with 25 families. Its first home was in the former Ascension Lutheran Church on Babcock Boulevard near La Roche College in McCandless Township. Extensive remodeling and repair was done on the first home to properly prepare it for Byzantine worship.
On June 6, 1976 the mission officially was elevated to the status of parish. Organizations and committees were formed to promote growth and to examine the future needs of the parish. In April 1977 the parishioners were informed that the lease on their church building had been terminated. Thus, the search for a permanent home began. One month later the Archeparchy of Pittsburgh gave the parish a five and one-half acre parcel of land in Pine Township. The land was part of a 200-acre farm owned by the Archeparchy.
Groundbreaking for the new building took place at an outdoor Divine Liturgy on July 22, 1979. With the help of loans from the Knights of Columbus and St. George Church in Aliquippa, Pa., the parish began construction of their new church building in November of 1979. The first Divine Liturgy in the new edifice was celebrated on November 2, 1980, and the official dedication and blessing of the cornerstone was on June 13, 1982.
St. Andrew's has very active pirohy and nut roll baking programs, which annually provide significant additional financial income to help meet the expenses in operating the parish facilities. The ECF (Eastern Christian Formation) program provides religious education to the youth of this growing parish family.