Diocese launches recovery fund to rebuild chapel in Mahanoy City
After being open to worshippers around the clock for 43 years, access will be limited after the estimated $27,000 in damage is repaired and the chapel reopens. After dark, a security code or special access card will be required to gain entrance.
'I hate to do it,' confided Rev. Kevin Gallagher, 'but I had to take that extra step given what happened.'
What happened was that an explosive device — possibly an M-80 or larger — was detonated at 9:02 p.m. on May 6 in the chapel next to St. Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Church.
Placed on the altar, the device burned the altar cloth, shattered glass candleholders and scorched the monstrance, the ornate receptacle that contains the consecrated host.
The shock wave was powerful enough to damage three stained glass windows and puncturing a hole in the aura of the Blessed Virgin Mary in one.
The stained glass windows, transplanted from the former Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Mahanoy City, have to be removed for repair by a Pittsburgh company.
Damage from the blast is estimated at $27,000, not including cleanup costs, Gallagher said.
'There's smoke and residue over everything,' said Gallagher, Teresa of Calcutta pastor.
The Allentown Catholic Diocese has launched a St. Teresa Recovery Fund to assist the parish in repairing the damage. So far, the fund has raised $8,250, the Allentown Diocese reports. Donations can be made at https://www.allentowndiocese.org/SaintTeresaRecovery.
Suspect in custody
Kyle Kuczynski, 32, remains in Schuylkill County Prison, facing charges in connection with the chapel explosion. He has been charged with felony arson, reckless burning or exploding, possessing explosive or incendiary material, risking a catastrophe and related charges. His preliminary hearing is 10:30 a.m. June 19 in Magisterial District Judge Anthony Kilker's office, Shenandoah.
Photographs from the chapel's security system show a person wearing a black hoodie leaving the chapel on May 6. In his hand is a black device, resembling an explosive, with a fuse at one end.
Police have not released details about the device.
Rev. Kevin Gallagher looks at the broken stained glass windows within the adoration chapel at Saint Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Church in Mahanoy City, Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)
The manufacture, sale, possession and use of M-80 explosive devices is illegal under federal and Pennsylvania law, according to the Crime Watch Pennsylvania website. Considered highly explosive devices, they contain ingredients capable of injuring or killing people.
In the chapel
Miraculously, a statue of the church's patron saint, Mother Teresa, holding baby Jesus was not damaged by the blast, though it was only a few feet away.
A stained glass window depicting the Nativity wasn't as fortunate.
Holes in a stained glass window were caused by a May 6 explosion in the adoration chapel at Saint Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Church in Mahanoy City, pictured Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)
The concussion from the ignition, perhaps an arm's-length away, blew holes in the window.
A statue of St. Teresa of Calcutta inside the adoration chapel at Saint Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Church in Mahanoy City, Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)
A statue of the Blessed Mother nearby was damaged and has been sent to an artist in Mountain Top for reconditioning.
The monstrance, held sacred by Catholics, has been sent to the St. Jude Shop in Philadelphia for repairs.
'The blast blew open the luna, a door at the rear through which the host is placed, and the Holy Sacrament was tossed out,' Gallagher said.
The monstrance was donated by Joanne Bobbin, in memory of her family, he said. She's in her 80s, and still helps out at the church.
On a recent visit to the chapel, Gallagher reflected on how it touches the lives of church members.
When the churches consolidated, he was certain to relocate items from Polish, Slovak and other churches that we closing into what was formerly St. Joseph's, a Lithuanian church.
It was his way of preserving some of their heritage.
The 11 stained glass windows in the chapel were from Sacred Heart, an Italian parish.
'Many of the items in the chapel are of a personal nature to our parishioners,' Gallagher said. 'They're very important to them, and we want to restore them.'
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