Philadelphia, Pa., Aug 30, 2018 / 23:36 pm
Centralia, Pennsylvania, is on fire … literally: a coal fire has been raging underneath the town for more than 50 years, but a century-old church still stands, drawing hundreds of Catholics for an annual Marian pilgrimage.
"The town is essentially gone, for all intents and purposes dead, but the Church is what gives life," said Father John Fields, communications director and vice-chancellor for the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia.
"Jesus Christ gives life to the whole location," he told CNA.
On August 26, four bishops and more than 500 pilgrims gathered to celebrate the Feast of Assumption of Mary, known in the Eastern rites as the Dormition of the Theotokos.