Monsignor Edward Coyle, former pastor of Most Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church in Bally,  put the parish's 275th year of existence in perspective.
"George Washington was 9 years old when the church was founded in 1741 as St. Paul's Chapel in an area that once was called Goshenhoppen," said Coyle, adding that the church was essentially a Jesuit mission in the heart of Protestant Colonial Pennsylvania.

Many artifacts in the church speak to its age and special historical niche, including the Goshenhoppen Registry, which records baptisms, marriages and deaths from 1741 and was borrowed from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in the Philadelphia Archdiocese to be displayed at the church during this celebratory year.

But two other delicate artifacts, a 1752 church deed and the Catholic missal of founder the Rev. Theodore Schneider, circa the 1740s and written in what appears to be an almost microscopic hand, all in Latin, already have been returned by Coyle to the archives at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. "We had the items here for about three weeks, but, frankly, the deed was folded and very crinkly, and the missal (or Catholic prayer book) was very delicate," Coyle said. "I was glad to get it back to the archives at Georgetown."

It's not that there aren't other fascinating historic items housed in the church that not only relate to the structure, but also to the personalities that defined the church over the centuries.  It is a living parish, but also a museum.  In fact, it has a museum named after one of its 20th century pastors, the Monsignor Charles Allwein Museum, 610 Pine St., Bally.

"Basically, I'm the museum committee," said Michael Miller, 65, of Washington Township, a longtime member of Most Blessed Sacrament.  "I left the church when I was younger, but then came back," Miller said, noting that the church has become much more diverse in recent decades compared to its once predominant Pennsylvania German heritage.

Coyle said the church has about 1,000 families, adding that only 25 pastors have served its parishioners during its long history. "To be honest, the museum only gets a handful of visitors these days," Miller said. "People mostly come because of genealogy issues and secondarily to see the architecture or learn about the personalities who led the church, particularly the founder, Father Schneider, and Father (Augustine) Bally, who was here for more than 40 years in the 19th century (1837-1882)."
Miller said that he and another parishioner, Ronald Thren, have been working to update church history during the past 15 years and will probably have the first of several volumes ready for publication this year.

"The first volume is nearly ready for our anniversary," Miller said. "This will be the first history of the parish published in 40 years since a booklet prepared by Monsignor Allwein sold out."
For those who wish to know more about the earliest migration of Catholics to Pennsylvania, two special lectures will be held at the church at 7 p.m. next Saturday and Sunday.

The lectures will be conducted by Helen Heinz, an adjunct history professor at Temple University and Philadelphia University, whose doctoral dissertation focused on Catholics in Protestant Pennsylvania between 1730-1790.

This article was taken from the Reading Eagle marking the 275th Anniversary of the Founding of MBS in Bally, PA (Contact Bruce Posten: [email protected])

610 Pine Street
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www.mbsbally.org