A historic Pennsylvania Roman Catholic church was demolished this week after the local diocese failed to secure a buyer for the century-old building. The steeple of St. Joseph’s Church in Nanticoke crashed to the ground on Monday, as some former parishioners looked on. “It’s a sad day,” Lorraine Beck, a former member of St. Joseph’s choir, told local ABC affiliate WNEP. “It’s hard to watch.” St. Joseph’s has been vacant since 2010, when several local Catholic parishes were consolidated into one church ― the Parish of St. Faustina. The diocese previously sold the building’s stained-glass windows.

Warren Ruda/The Citizens' Voice St. Joseph's Church in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, was demolished on Monday.

Warren Ruda/The Citizens' Voice St. Joseph's used to be a popular worship site for Slovak families when it was first built.