<P> The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church is a Ukrainian Catholic church in the town of Centrailia, Pennsylvania . The church is the last remaining church in Centrailia, which was largely abandoned after a mining accident rendered much of the town unsafe . </P> <P> The church was built in 1911, at which time Centrailia was a thriving coal mining community . Many of the miners and miner's families whom formed the congregation of the church were immigrants from Eastern Europe . In May 1962 a mine fire broke out in the coal seams under Centrailia, an event which resulted in the majority of the town's population leaving over the following decades . Despite the continuously burning fires (which are expected to burn for hundreds of years), the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church remained open . In 1987 a survey under the church found that the structure was built on top of rock rather than coal, and so plans to demolish the church were abandoned . The persistence of the congregation gain notoriety, and the church became an unofficial pilgrimage site for Ukrainian Catholics . In 2015 Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk officially declared the church a pilgrimage site . </P>

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