Bradford area Catholics will be seeing a new face in town.
The Rev. Stanley Swacha has joined the staff at St. Bernard of Clairvaux Church and St. Francis of Assisi Church, both in Bradford, as well as Our Mother of Perpetual Help Church in Lewis Run.
Swacha, who started in Bradford on Feb. 13, came from Erie, where he was pastor of Holy Trinity Church for just over two years. The move was part of the reorganization of the churches in the region by the Catholic Diocese of Erie in an effort to offer the best pastoral care for parishioners with fewer resources.
“I’m going to be working with Father Ray Gramata, the pastor here at St. Bernard, to take care of the needs of the people of parishes of the Bradford area,” said Swacha. He explained that Gramata has been the pastor of St. Bernard, and, as of Feb. 13, he also became pastor of St. Francis. That same day, Our Mother of Perpetual Help merged with St. Francis Church.
Swacha noted he joins the parishes as senior associate.
“Father Gramata is going to be the one who is in charge. My job is to help,” said Swacha.
The long-time pastor jumped right into work in Bradford, saying Masses at St. Bernard Church his first weekend here. This past weekend, he said Masses as Our Mother of Perpetual Help and St. Francis of Assisi.
Swacha was young when he felt called to serve.
“I was attracted to it, and that is the work of God Himself, calling me to serve the church,” Swacha said, describing why he found his vocation in the church. “I felt the attraction during grade school, then after grade school I entered seminary.”
That decision led to decades of work as a pastor throughout the diocese.
In fact, “I’ll be finishing up 38 years in May,” he said. “I was ordained in 1979.” His first assignment was as the assistant parochial vicar, called the assistant pastor at the time, for three years at St. Leo Magnus Church in Ridgway.
His career has also taken him to St. Michael Catholic Church in Greenville, where he served as assistant pastor for seven years, and to St. Bernard Church in Falls Creek, where he held his first pastorate. “I was there for 12 years,” he said.
He spent about 10 years in Sharon, first as pastor of Sacred Heart Church for seven years, then at St. Stanislaus for three years. “Then I was pastor at Christ the King Church in Houtzdale for 2 ½ years,” Swacha said. It was from Christ the King that he went to his most recent assignment at Holy Trinity.
“The reason that I came here from Erie is the reorganization of the parishes,” Swacha said. He explained that the diocese had been considering changes for about three years, and the final reorganizational plan was recently implemented.
The Rev. Msgr. Bernard Urbaniak took over as pastor of Holy Trinity in Erie in addition to serving as pastor of St. Stanislaus Church in Erie.
According to Swacha, the Bradford area parishes are still ironing out many details about his service, and he was unsure what forms his work in the community might take.
At weekend Masses, Swacha mentioned that he likes to go all out with decorations at Christmas, and was a model railroader.
The Catholic Diocese of Erie first announced specifics for its plan to restructuring of its Eastern Vicariate in fall 2016, when it was revealed that St. Bernard and St. Francis would become partner churches, and Our Mother of Perpetual Help parish would merge with St. Francis.
The Rev. Stephen Collins, who up until recently was pastor at St. Francis of Assisi and Our Mother of Perpetual Help, is now leading St. Bonaventure Parish in Grampian and St. Timothy Parish in Curwensville.
