Canonically, it was established as a mission of St. Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes, in Export. The small community, whose livelihood depended upon mining coal from the earth, named their small mission church in the honor of St. Barbara, patron of miners, mathematicians, architects, artillerymen, and armourers.

Tragedy struck early on the morning of December 8, 1937, when fire destroyed the wooden church. The local community came to the rescue and offered the old German Hall (present site of the Claridge Volunteer Fire Department) for celebration of Mass. Meanwhile, the men of the parish set about planning and eventually working with a local contractor to build a new church. Construction of the second church came in 1940, and the first Mass was offered in December.

In July 1957, Father Aloysius Borkowski was appointed to St. Mary, and with continued growth in Penn Township, one priest providing pastoral care proved difficult. It was at the recommendation of Father Borkowski that Bishop Hugh L. Lamb, the first bishop of the Diocese of Greensburg, then appointed Father John Garred as administrator of St. Barbara in June 1959. The diocese drew boundaries that encompassed all of Penn Township with the exception of the Level Green area.

However, even before becoming a canonical parish in July 1962, it was determined that the Claridge church building could no longer serve the liturgical and educational needs of the people. The present plot of land, located near the geographic center of the parish boundaries, was purchased in summer 1961. An architect designed the parish plant to include a church that could seat 700, a social hall, a school and a convent. This ambitious plan had to be scaled back by reducing the church seating capacity and eliminating the school and convent.

Ground was broken in spring 1963, and the third church was dedicated December 8, 1963.

By 1988, it was very apparent that the parish needed more space, especially for religious formation. A Planning Committee was established to forecast near and long term needs and develop plans to meet them. The parish lacked the funds to implement a project that proposed a modest addition and the Pastoral Council beginning in 1990 through 1995 conducted various surveys and meetings to define priorities for a workable expansion plan.

Another sign that the parish had outgrown its facilities occurred in 1993. To satisfy the space needs for expanding pastoral staff, the parish converted the on-site rectory to offer space and purchased property in the community to serve as the rectory.

In summer 1994, the Pastoral Council established a Facilities Assessment Committee to evaluate uses for the church, social hall and classroom spaces. This committee shared its findings in regards to parish needs, future trends and student population. One year later, “A Week in the Life of St. Barbara’s,” was presented to provide a forum for Msgr V. Paul Fitzmaurice, pastor, and committee members to present the results of their evaluation to parishioners. In May 1996, the Facilities Steering Committee then conducted a parish-wide survey about space limitations at all Masses and received 1,200 responses. The fact was 65 percent of the parishioners considered outgrowing the church and formation facilities as being of great concern to the community, while 95 percent considered the problem at hand to be a moderate to great concern. The remaining concerns fell to a priority of the social hall, rectory and storage space.

The research and finding conducted in the mid to late 1990s allowed the parish to move forward with facility expansion plans. From March 1996 to April 1997, the Facilities Steering Committee conducted seven focus group meetings; developed a strategic plan; and submitted a request to the diocese to perform a Facilities Feasibility Study.

In October 1997, the diocese granted permission for our community to proceed with facility expansion and by December of that year the parish had contracted with Desmone and Associates, an architectural firm to conduct the work ahead.

By December 1998 the architectural design phase of the expansion project began, and in March 2000, the “Body of Christ … Growing in Grace … Proceeding in Peace,’ capital campaign began to raise the funds necessary to construct the fourth St. Barbara Church.

The final Mass in the third church was celebrated May 6, 2001, and ground was then broken for reconstruction.