Sacred Heart Church (Sharon, Pennsylvania)
Sacred Heart Church, or the Church of the Sacred Heart, as it was officially known, was a Roman Catholic church located at 40 South Irvine Avenue in Sharon, Pennsylvania. It was a part of the Diocese of Erie. History Brief history (1850s–2016) The history of Sacred Heart Church and Catholicism in Sharon, Pennsylvania begins in the early 1850s, when the first Catholic settlers moved to the Shenango Valley area. These first settlers attended services in Mercer, Pennsylvania and Hickory Corners, now located in Hermitage, Pennsylvania. The priests who were in charge of the services at Hickory Corners held the occasional service at the homes of early Catholic families in Sharon. The occasional services continued in this manner until the arrival of Reverend John J. O'Keeffe, who is considered to be the first resident pastor in Sharon. Father O'Keeffe commissioned the building of a pastoral residence, located south of where the current church is. One of the rooms within residence was used as a church until the mid-1860s, when it was decided that a proper church should be built. In 1864, the cornerstone of Sacred Heart Church was laid in a ceremony, on a lot that was donated by J.M. Irvine,