As parishioners entered St. Ann Church in Emmaus Dec. 24, 2024, they were greeted with three huge bells at the main entrance. The restored bells were the result of a combined project between the Knights of Columbus and Boy Scout Troop 80 that began in 2022 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of this church.

Originally, St. Ann’s was organized as a Slovak-speaking mission in the 1900s. According to church records, a cornerstone for “a temporary basement church was laid on Thanksgiving Day in 1923.” Later that same year, masses were celebrated on Christmas Day. The church building was constructed in 1929.

In 1928, the McShea Foundry in Baltimore, Md., was responsible for the casting of the three bells. The bells are of great weight with the smallest bell weighing 400 pounds and the other two weighing in at 600 and 1,200 pounds.

Past Grand Knight Fred Flemming noted “these free-swinging bells originally hung from iron yokes in the church tower and the iron clappers swung freely within the bells.” Approximately 30 years later the bells would hang spring-mounted from a fixed I-beam. By 1981, though, the original church would be demolished and the bells, their control panel and mounting beam made their way to the parish garage where they would remain for over 40 years. Various objects would be stored on top of them throughout this time resulting in layers of dirt and tarnish.

In 2022, St. Ann’s Council of the Knights of Columbus soon realized the 100th anniversary of that first Mass in the temporary basement church was fast approaching. Current Pastor Monsignor Edward Coyle supported the restoration project and anticipated the display of the bells as an important part of the anniversary of the parish’s founding.

In February 2023, the church’s annual Valentine’s Dinner Dance donated approximately $4,000 to this project. The Knights used the rest of the year to investigate the history and construction of the bells. In addition, they began the cleaning and restoration of the smallest bell which involved removing it from the 1960s I-beam. It was then placed in the front of the garage for cleaning. It took numerous hours of scrubbing by the Knights and volunteers to remove the dirt and tarnish and by December 2023, a silvery gleam emerged.

A young Knight skilled in woodworking created a display stand on which the bell was mounted. This bell now found its way into the back of the nave of the present church.

There were still two additional and much larger bells that needed to be restored so this past summer the Knights invited Scouts from Troop 80 to take on the cleaning and polishing of the medium and large bells. Life Scout Anthony Romero decided to make this his Eagle Service Project.

During the annual Fall Fest, the partially cleaned medium bell was displayed. It was hanging from an engine hoist giving many people a chance to tap it with a plastic mallet. The beautiful tone could be heard throughout the church grounds.

Romero volunteered well over 160 hours to this service project. Once all three bells were restored, Romero’s family purchased two sturdy steel frames to support the two heavy bells. The project was completed Nov. 25, 2024. The three bells were exhibited outside the church entrance for all the Masses on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

“I am excited to have earned my Eagle Scout rank doing a project for the church,” Romero said. He added, “It was a privilege to help St. Ann’s to prepare in this way to celebrate the 100th anniversary.”

The Knights will be asking students in St. Ann’s School and parishioners to submit their ideas for a memorial design showcasing the bells. Fleming hopes the bells will be able to be rung as they did 100 years ago. However, the committee is still debating whether the bells will be part of a memorial or if they will be used in the bell tower. There are implications for the use of the bell tower.

Fleming said “the goal is to have the memorial designed and built before the 100th anniversary of the founding of the parish in 2031.”