Amid the ashes of their church, St. Leo members find their parish
Members of the former St. Leo Parish in Philadelphia s Tacony section line up to place flowers before a statue of the Blessed Mother during a June 19 Mass of remembrance celebrated by Archbishop Nelson Pérez before the ruins of the landmark church, which was gutted in a May 9 arson. (Sarah Webb)
By Gina Christian • Posted June 23, 2021
More than 600 gathered last weekend to mourn the loss of a beloved Northeast Philadelphia church – and to rediscover what it means to be a parish, even without a house of worship.
On Saturday, Archbishop Nelson Pérez celebrated an outdoor Mass of remembrance for the former St. Leo the Great Church in the city’s Tacony section. Built in 1884, the landmark structure was destroyed in a May 9 fire that also gutted the St. Leo rectory, home to permanent Deacon Pascual Mota and his family since 2016.
Arson ruled in fire that destroyed St. Leo Church in Northeast Phila.
Firefighters battle a blaze at the former St. Leo the Great church in Philadelphia s Tacony section as area residents and former parishioners watch, May 9. The former worship site, which closed in 2018 following a parish merger five years earlier with Our Lady of Consolation, was completely gutted. (Gina Christian)
By Gina Christian • Posted May 13, 2021
UPDATED Catholic residents of a Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood continue to mourn the loss of a church once known as “the heart of Tacony,” destroyed in a May 9 blaze that federal investigators have now ruled the result of arson.