A Panther Valley native is hoping that the "supreme court" of the Catholic Church will save the Nesquehoning church her family helped found 100 years ago.

Susan Koomar's family attended the former Immaculate Conception Church for decades, and continued after it was joined with two others to become St. Francis of Assisi in 2008. Her memories go back to her grandmother attending Masses."She was a traditional Slovak woman who went to Mass every day," she said. "We have deep personal roots to this church."But the church was closed by the Diocese of Allentown last year and consolidated into St. Joseph's of Panther Valley.Members have been arguing their case to Catholic Church officials that it was closed without merit. Members of St. Katharine Drexel are doing the same.Koomar's argument is that Catholics in Nesquehoning were never told that their church was in financial difficulty, and they never got a chance to try to keep it open."We feel like we weren't given any opportunity as a parish. First of all. we weren't aware of this, and we weren't given any opportunity to deal with it, to try to raise money, to have fundraisers, to have a campaign," Koomar said.The closure may also have had to do with a shortage of priests. In a letter to parishioners during the closing, former Bishop John Barres recognized a priest shortage as a factor, but he left it out of his official decree.St. Francis has had three full-time priests since 2008. Parishioners say that if they had a more stable figurehead, they would have been able to bring in more members and boost the church's revenue.Last November, a church member appealed Barres' decree to the Congregation of Clergy in Rome, the church's appeals court. The congregation decreed that the bishop's plan was the best for the parish, and acknowledged that Nesquehoning already has the Shrine of St. Theresa, which hosts a weekly mass.Church member James Sauka's appeal addressed the three main points of the decree that closed St. Francis. The bishop decreed that it should be merged with St. Joseph's because of the financial condition of the parish, the economic depression of Nesquehoning and surrounding areas, and the rising median age of parishioners.In his appeal, Sauka disputed the "economic depression," writing that Nesquehoning was a financial generator, including the county's largest employer, KME.St. Francis also served newer developments in the Hauto area, stretching all the way to Hometown, Schuylkill County."When you look at St. Francis, it's not just serving Nesquehoning, it's also serving the village of Hauto, Lake Hauto estates," Koomar said.While St. Theresa holds a Saturday morning Mass, it does not satisfy the Sunday Mass obligation.The church was financially insolvent. It was burdened by debt, most of it to the diocese itself. But its annual income had actually increased since 2008, according to the documents included with the appeal. Sauka argued that it would have been better for St. Francis and the other area churches if it was combined with Immaculate Conception Church in Jim Thorpe.Instead, that debt is now the responsibility of St. Joseph's. In their denial, the congregation of clergy said that St. Joseph's is now insolvent.Koomar said that she hopes to carry the torch from the initial appeal, with the help of a canon lawyer - a nun with a degree in canon law.There is still a group of dedicated St. Francis members who meet to discuss the appeal. Koomar says she just wants to give them a chance to save their church."Tell us, what is it going to cost to keep the lights on, and heat the building, and maintain the building. We'd like to have a chance," she said.