Greek Catholics from the Austro-Hungarian Empire of Central Europe began a great migration to the United States in the 1880s. These pioneer men and women left their homeland because of poor economic conditions. They came to the United States primarily for employment in the coal and steel industries, which required little education but much hard work.

The immigrants who came to the coal fields were most often recruited by agents of the mine owners. Thus the agents would recruit all of the young men of particular villages. Since most of the villages had just one church, it often happened that many American mine settlements were populated by people of the same faith.

In the 1890s, as Slavic immigrants came to work in the mines surrounding the Philipsburg area, the Greek Catholics gathered to organize a church and to recruit a priest from Europe. The first Greek Catholic church was organized in Osceola Mills. Within a few years, this parish affiliated with the Orthodox Church, and those who chose to remain Greek Catholic organized a parish in Chester Hill. After a few years, this parish also affiliated with the Orthodox Church. Those who chose to remain Greek Catholic met once again to plan yet another Greek Catholic church for the area.

In 1903-04, this group purchased land in Hawk Run and constructed a wooden church on a stone foundation. This church was dedicated to St. John the Baptist on July 7, 1904, the Feast Day of his birth according to the Julian calendar in use by the Greek Catholic Church at that time. This church building continues in use today.

In 1920, a floor to ceiling icon screen was installed in the church. This iconostas has been well maintained in excellent condition to the present time. Through the years, the church building has been brick-sided, while the original bell tower has undergone several renovations, including the addition of a bronze Byzantine dome and cross. The church and dome are illuminated at night and can be seen from a five-mile distance beyond Philipsburg.

The parish has a large cemetary with burials dating to 1906. The parish also has a large social hall, built in the 1930s. In the 1950s, the parish adopted the Gregorian Calendar for its liturgical services and English as its primary liturgical language. In 1950 Bishop Daniel Ivancho, at that time the head of the Greek Catholic Exarchate of Pittsburgh, officially changed the identity of our diocese and its parishes from Greek Catholic to Byzantine Catholic. This change was made in recognition of our increasing number of mixed marriages and converts, and to avoid having our church members confused with those of Greek nationality.

In 1906, St. John the Baptist parish helped to establish a sister parish, Dormition of the Mother of God, in Clarence, a town twenty-five miles northeast of Hawk Run. In 2004, St. John the Baptist parish is assisting in the establishment of yet another sister parish, this one to be located in State College, a town twenty-five miles southeast of Hawk Run. St. John the Baptist parish and its priest also assist in providing weekly Byzantine Catholic services at the Penn State University's main campus in State College, utilizing the Pasquerella Spirituality Center dedicated in 2003.

The next one hundred years of our parish are in the hands of the fifth and sixth generations presently being born. We pray that God will grant them a continuing knowledge and enthusiasm for the Byzantine Catholic faith, and the zeal to be evangelists for Our Lord Jesus Christ.

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The Dormition of the Mother of God Byzantine Catholic Church, affectionately referred to as St. Mary's, was organized in 1906 to serve the Greek Catholic immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian empire who had immigrated to the area to serve in the coal mines and brick factories. These men and women began moving to the area from Europe in 1900, when agents for the mines and factories visited their home villages and encouraged them to find "gold in the streets" of the new country.

The Clarence-area Greek Catholics initally attended St. John the Baptist Greek Catholic Church in Hawk Run, organized in 1904. After two years of the arduous weekly sixty-mile round trip, a group of men and women organized a Greek Catholic congregation in Clarence. The parish was placed under the patronage of the Dormition of the Mother of God, since the founding date of the parish was close to the Feast Day of the Dormition (August 29 on the then Julian calendar and August 15 on the Gregorian calendar).

Dormition parish has always been served by the Greek Catholic priest residing in Hawk Run. The parish has a church with a social hall beneath. The parish has never had a separate hall or a rectory.

In 1950, the Bishop of the then Pittsburgh Greek Catholic Exarchate decreed that the use of the identifiying term "Greek Catholic" was to be replaced by the identifiying term "Byzantine Catholic".

Dormition parish celebrated its one hundredth anniversary on Sunday, August 20, 2006. His Grace, Archbishop and Metropolitan Basil M. Schott, OFM celebrated a hierarchial Divine Liturgy at Dormition Church, followed by a Centennial Dinner at the Bellefonte Holiday Inn.

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Divine Liturgy is celebrated during the academic year each Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. Services are held in the All Faiths Chapel (formerly the Eisenhower Chapel) of the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center.

At the present time, it is estimated that two hundred Byzantine Catholic students are enrolled on the Penn State main campus in State College.

The formal student organization for the Byzantine Catholic students is known as the Eastern Catholic Student Organization. The organization is presided over by a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer.

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The Pittsburgh Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Archeparchy joyfully announces the formation in State College, Pennsylvania on Saturday, October 15, 2005, of the newest Byzantine Catholic community.

This is the first new Byzantine Catholic community to form in Pennsylvania since 1975, when St. Andrew's parish was established in Gibsonia.

The State College community celebrates weekly Divine Liturgy on Saturdays at 7:00 p.m. at Good Shepherd Roman Catholic Church Word of God Chapel, located at the Grays Woods exit of Interstate 99.

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