The Rev. Monsignor Andrew D. Parvensky

The Rev. Monsignor Andrew D. Parvensky, spiritual leader to generations of Monessen families for more than 50 years, died Saturday of emphysema in Monongahela Valley Hospital. He was 83.

Monsignor Parvensky was appointed pastor of St. Mary's Byzantine Catholic Church in Monessen in 1957 and spent most of his religious career there.

"In this rectory right now, there's a hole," said Jean Adamio, his housekeeper of more than 30 years. "All of our parishioners, they're really upset."

Born in Pottstown, Pa., Monsignor Parvensky was a graduate of McAdoo High School and attended what was then St. Procopius College in Lisle, Ill. He did his theological training at St. Procopius Seminary.

Ordained in 1950, he was first assigned to St. Michael's Church in Passaic, N.J. He also served at Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia, in the Bishop's Chancery Office in Pittsburgh and St. Eugene's Church in Maple Heights, Ohio.

After going to St. Mary's, he coordinated construction of the current church and rectory and purchased land for a cemetery expansion.

His niece, Mary O'Grady of Las Vegas, Nev., talked to him each week by phone and remembered her uncle as an intelligent and compassionate man. He always gave her good advice, was a good Christian role model and a straight shooter.

"He just knew the right things to say," she said. "You could ask him something and he was going to tell you like it was."

She especially enjoyed the church bulletins and sermons he would send to her from time to time and admired his dedication to family and his parishioners.

Monsignor Parvensky took in his parents when their health failed, caring for them until their deaths, and always helped needy people who came to the rectory.

"He was wonderful," said Mrs. Adamio, who cared for him as his health declined. "He was everything a priest should be."

When Mrs. Adamio fractured her hip, Monsignor Parvensky fixed up the dining room at the rectory so she could stay there and not have to go back and forth the couple blocks to home.

"He was more than just a priest. He was a very good friend who was a lot of fun to be around," said Mrs. Adamio's daughter, Michele Donohoe of Pleasant Hills, who did some work in the church office with Monsignor Parvensky. "I'm still in shock."

One snowy day years ago when she set off from Monessen for work at Jefferson Regional Medical Center, Monsignor Parvensky called her to make sure she arrived at work safely.

He routinely talked football with her son and attended her daughter's graduation party in June.

Mrs. Donohoe said she'll miss her morning visits with her mother at the rectory, where she'd often sit at the kitchen table and talk with Monsignor Parvensky.

He's a part of the fabric of her family, she said, noting that he married her parents, married her and her husband, and baptized, confirmed and gave First Holy Communion to her children.

As a child, Mrs. Donohoe was an angel and a shepherd in Monsignor Parvensky's annual Christmas pageant.

"It really meant a lot to me to have my kids be in the pageant with the same priest," she said. "I can't believe he's gone. It's going to be hard for me."

Surviving is his brother, John Parvensky of Las Vegas, Nev.

Visitation is today from 1 to 9 p.m. at St. Mary's Byzantine Catholic Church, 125 McKee Ave., Monessen.

Funeral Service for a Priest, Part Two, will be tonight at 7 in St. Mary's. Metropolitan Archbishop Basil Schott will officiate a concelebrated divine liturgy at the church tomorrow at 11 a.m., with burial following in Mount Calvary Cemetery in Uniontown.