About Saint Nicholas [Ukrainian] · Minersville, Pennsylvania
St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church is a Byzantine-rite (Ukrainian Greek Catholic) parish serving the Minersville area in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, in the heart of the anthracite coal region. The parish belongs to the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, and its pastor is Rev. Mark Fesniak. It traces its roots to the Great Slavic Migration of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when Ruthenian and Ukrainian immigrants came to work the coal mines and steel mills, and today it remains a tight-knit community known for its traditional foods, annual parish picnic, and long-running support of St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Seminary through the Ukrainian Seminary Day outing.
- Established
- 1896
- Patron
- St. Nicholas of Myra (Bishop of Myra, Wonderworker)
- Rector
- Rev. Mark Fesniak
- Diocese
- Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia (geographically within the territory of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown)
Why belong here
St. Nicholas offers a small, multigenerational Byzantine Catholic community where traditional Ukrainian heritage is lived out week to week — through Divine Liturgy celebrated in the Ukrainian rite, an active parish picnic and food traditions (pierogies, halupki, halushki, bleenies, bean soup, city chicken) prepared by hand each summer, and a decades-long commitment to Ukrainian Seminary Day supporting St. Josaphat Seminary. Members travel from around the region for Mass and the picnic, making it as much a family reunion as a parish. For anyone looking for a Ukrainian Catholic parish in the anthracite coal region with a real, living community life, this is it.
Mass times at Saint Nicholas [Ukrainian]
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Half hour before each Divine Liturgy (Sunday 10:00 AM, Saturday 4:00 PM)
History of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church
St. Nicholas is a product of the Great Slavic Migration of 1880–1915, when thousands of Ruthenian and Ukrainian immigrants came to northeastern Pennsylvania to work in the anthracite coal mines and steel mills. The first Greek Catholic church in Minersville was St. George, established in 1896. A new brick St. George church was built in 1913, but it was destroyed by fire in 1919. In 1916, while the original building was still standing, the parish was renamed St. Nicholas Greek Catholic Uniate Church. After the fire, the congregation built the present St. Nicholas church in 1937 on the same site at 415 N. Front Street. Today it remains one of the surviving onion-domed Ukrainian Catholic churches of the coal region and a gathering place for descendants of those early mining families.
Parish Picnic and Food Traditions
The St. Nicholas Parish Picnic, held annually the first weekend of July at St. Nicholas Hall and Grove in Primrose (off Route 901, one mile north of Minersville), is one of the best-known ethnic food events in the anthracite coal region. The picnic dates to 1937, just after the new church was built, and has been a family-run tradition for generations — Connie Brophy, the parish secretary, has noted that her grandfather John Demcher helped at the very first picnic and her father kept it going. Volunteer cooks, some in their 80s, prepare the food the same way their mothers and grandmothers did, working from recipes carried over from Ukraine. The picnic returned in 2022 after a two-year COVID hiatus, and that year the parish flew both the American and Ukrainian flags in solidarity with Ukraine following the Russian invasion.
- Pierogies (boiled and deep-fried)
- Halupki (stuffed cabbage)
- Halushki (dumplings)
- Bleenies (potato pancakes)
- Bean soup cooked over an open fire
- Kielbasa and city chicken
- Picnic held at St. Nicholas Hall, Route 901, Primrose
Ukrainian Seminary Day
Since the early 1980s, St. Nicholas Picnic Grove in Primrose has hosted Ukrainian Seminary Day, an annual summer outing begun in the 1930s by clergy of the Ukrainian Catholic South Anthracite Deanery to raise funds for the seminary. The event was originally held at Lakewood Park in Barnesville, PA, and was moved to St. Nicholas Grove after Lakewood closed. Sponsored by 12 parishes of the deanery, it has raised more than $1.1 million since 1985 in support of St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Seminary in Washington, D.C. The day features an 11 AM Divine Liturgy celebrated by Metropolitan-Archbishop Stefan Soroka and area clergy, followed by traditional Ukrainian food — bean soup in particular is the signature of an 'Over 70' club of longtime parishioners who stir a great cauldron over an open fire.
- Held the last Sunday in July at St. Nicholas Picnic Grove, Primrose
- Beneficiary: St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Seminary, Washington, D.C.
- Sponsored by the Ukrainian Catholic South Anthracite Deanery (12 parishes)
- Divine Liturgy celebrated by the Metropolitan-Archbishop of Philadelphia
Parish Staff and Contacts
The parish is led by pastor Rev. Mark Fesniak, who has spoken publicly about the parish's commitment to its Eastern European food traditions and to showing solidarity with Ukraine. Connie Brophy serves as parish secretary. The parish office can be reached by phone or email, and its primary communications are through the Archeparchy of Philadelphia website and its Facebook page.
- Pastor: Rev. Mark Fesniak ([email protected])
- Parish Secretary: Connie Brophy
- Parish email: [email protected]
- Phone: 570-544-4581
Cemetery
The parish maintains a cemetery, and transcribed records of the graves have been compiled by local genealogists, making it a useful resource for descendants of the Carpatho-Rusyn and Ukrainian families who settled in the Minersville area from the 1890s onward.