A Brief History of St. John's

Before the founding of the current St John’s parish, the Catholics from the Delmont area were being served by St Mary’s in Export and by missionary priests from as early as the 1920’s. In 1948 the idea for starting a new parish was begun. At this time, Delmont and Export were part of the Pittsburgh diocese since the Greensburg diocese had not yet been established. In 1949 the new parish of St John de la Salle was established and the first Mass was held in a converted chicken coop which had become the temporary church. In 1950 a new basement church was built and attendance continued to grow. In 1960, property was purchased for a new church and ground was broken in November 1967 and on April 6,1969, the first Mass was celebrated in the new St John Baptist de la Salle church building. In 2002 St John’s became a partner parish with St Mary’s in Export.