Two historic Philadelphia churches struggle to prepare for Holy Week as they recover from fires

It was an accident, according the Philadelphia Fire Department, and while no one was injured, the blaze ripped through the 135-year-old sanctuary of Overbrook Presbyterian Church on Jan. 15, disrupting community users of the building, torching antiques, and destroying parishioners’ “home away from home.”

From that tragedy, the church has wrenched a note of grace.

» READ MORE: After a devastating blaze, Overbrook Presbyterian Church has found a community of generosity to help it recover

“Our church still stands, although it remains badly damaged. Our community has been displaced, but it hasn’t been disbanded,” the Rev. Adam Hearlson told City Council when he was invited to give the invocation a month after the fire.

Almost two months after OPC’s fire, an electrical fire broke out in Arch Street United Methodist Church (ASUMC) at Broad and Arch Streets on March 13. The Rev. Robin Hynicka explained that the church was saved from devastation because of a sprinkler head installed 10 years earlier in order to create a drop-in center for unhoused neighbors on the premises.

Although no one was injured, the historic church, which was established in 1862, did sustain substantial damage. The fire was contained to the basement mechanical room but smoke and soot covered the entire interior of the building.

“There is a long road ahead for our recovery efforts,” Hynicka said. The ASUMC is planning a fundraiser for next month that will not only help the church complete restoration of its steeple, but begin to recover from the fire.

Now both ministers face the challenge of celebrating Holy Week, between Palm Sunday and Easter, while working on restoring their respective churches.

For OPC, which was too damaged for congregants to worship in the church, Palm Sunday morning, March 24, and Maundy Thursday Service of Holy Communion and Tenebrae on the evening of March 28, will take place at Penn Wynne Presbyterian Church, OPC’s temporary weekly home.

The noon service of Good Friday on March 29 will be held at African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas at 63 Street and Lancaster Ave. OPC will host its Holy Saturday Vigil Walk, a contemplative stroll, at 9 a.m. on March 30 at Merion Botanical Park, followed by the spring planting of shrubs on the lawn of the church.

The church is expecting more than 375 people to join the Easter Service on Sunday, March 31, which will be held in the auditorium of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood.

For his part, Hynicka, of Arch Street United Methodist Church, said that all Holy Week services, except Good Friday which will be online, will still take place at the Center City church, but in the chapel instead of the sanctuary. The church’s drop-in center, which serves about 75 people daily, has been providing services since the fire and should be fully up and running by the end of the month.

Hearlson said he expected the full extent of OPC’s renovation to take over two years, but after Easter, the preschool will be the first group to return to the building.

“The next thing will probably be the offices,” Hearlson said.