NORRISTOWN — Thinking about baking cookies for the holidays?
Sign up for professional baker Kathy Wolper’s virtual cookie class on Dec. 11 from 2 to 4 p.m., and your $20 registration fee will go toward St. Patrick Church’s effort to repair and restore its historic Norristown house of worship.
The East Norriton woman’s ties to the local church go way beyond the butter cookie and black and white shortbread recipes she’ll be sharing this weekend. Wolper attended its former parish school as a kid and returned to her old third-grade classroom as a St. Pat’s teacher. Twenty years ago, she tapped into her longtime passion for baking to start Kathy’s Just Desserts, a boutique business that eventually expanded into Kitchen Wizards. The latter offered in-person tutorials, team-building opportunities and special events for all ages.
With the progression of COVID-19 and the pandemic’s social distancing protocols, Wolper drew from her background as a technical trainer to create the popular virtual classes she’s conducted for hosts as varied as local libraries and adult evening schools to an international session for UNICEF employee families.
All of which made her upcoming St. Pat’s fundraiser, “a natural,” she believes.
“I was raised in St. Patrick parish,” she says. “My dad’s family and most of my mom’s all belonged to St. Pat’s. I went to school there, and then I taught there for five years – from 1980 to 1985 – in my old third grade classroom…teaching some kids who were the children of my own former classmates. Talk about worlds colliding.”
St. Patrick school opened in 1875, following construction of the second church proper at Lafayette and Cherry streets. Its first was located on Washington Street near Cherry, established to serve the immigrant laborers – “many of them Catholic” – who’d settled in Norristown to construct a railroad between Philadelphia and Reading in 1831.
“With no Catholic church in Norristown, this meant traveling to Manayunk to worship,” one parish history continues. “In 1834, Bishop Kenrick gave Father David Mulholland permission to start a parish in Norristown, and when a Mr. Patrick Flynn came up with the necessary $100 needed to complete start-up costs, a grateful pastor announced that the church would be placed under the patronage of St. Patrick.”
Groundbreaking for the current church at DeKalb and Green streets – the parish’s third – took place in 1905, and the building was dedicated in 1907.
“The church is magnificent…a truly historical building, but pieces of the ceiling and pillars are breaking off, and that’s made it necessary for them to close off (the interior) until they can make the repairs they need to be safe and return it to its previous glory,” Wolper says.
The extent of the damage was described in an open letter St. Patrick Pastor Rev. Gus Puleo issued to outline the church’s $1.6 million fundraising effort.
“We need your help,” Puleo wrote. “Earlier this year, we discovered extensive damage to our historical church building, and restoring it is a massive project. Our parish community is vibrant, growing and welcoming, so this project is more than ‘just’ repairing a building – it is a way to honor the sacrifices of those who built our beautiful church and ensure that our historic home will be available for future generations.”
Wolper hopes cookie lovers “of all ages and…skill levels” will join her for Dec. 11’s St. Patrick baking benefit.
“Families and friends can participate for one fee per household (or) camera,” she says. “If you’re from St. Pat’s – past or present – you’ll see some familiar faces on Zoom. You can start a new tradition when you invite your family and friends to bake together. Non-St. Pat’s family can certainly join us, too. All costs will go to the St. Pat’s restoration fund. This is a labor of love for me.”
To register, go to https://tinyurl.com/sjzb5m6x. Additional information – including updates about a possible second St. Patrick fundraiser – is available at www.kitchenwizards.info or via email to kathy@kitchenwizards.info.
And if cookies aren’t your thing…
“If you would like to donate to the restoration fund for St. Patrick Church but cannot attend the cookie baking program, please mail your check, payable to St. Patrick Church, to St. Patrick Church Office, Attention: Church Restoration Fund, 703 Green St., Norristown, PA 19401,” Wolper says.
“St. Pat’s does so much for the community. They’re such a presence here…for things like ESL classes and college prep classes and nurse’s checks. It’s an important resource for the entire Norristown community.”
