Blue and white bows and balloons lined the steps entering Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Church in Mahanoy City on Sunday.

Turn the clock back 20 years and locals will tell you about a similar scene as the parish's future patron, Mother Teresa, visited the Schuylkill County town to attend Mass and meet with the newly established branch of her Missionaries of Charity at St. Joseph Convent.Shortly before 10 a.m. on Sunday, many parishioners gathered outside the church to recite the rosary just as was done, albeit spontaneously, on June 17, 1995.During the homily, Monsignor Aloysius Callaghan, a priest of the Diocese of Allentown serving as rector of St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, St. Paul, Minnesota, spoke of Mother Teresa's lasting impact."I think Mother had a special place in her heart for the coal region," Callaghan, who met Mother Teresa, said. "She was but a tiny woman of God who had calmness about her no matter what storm would come up. For many of us, she was the one who taught us how to pray and love. She took the Jesus in her heart and put it in our hearts."Callaghan served as a retreat master for the order and Mother Teresa while he was assigned to Rome.Just catching a glimpse of Mother Teresa was the goal of Shenandoah's Joe Penniman 20 years ago, but her words have carried on with him."Families who stay together, pray together," Penniman recalled her saying. "It's a glorious celebration to remember her and what she meant to this area. I'm glad the church decided to do this."The Most Rev. John O. Barres, bishop of the Diocese of Allentown, was celebrant for Sunday's mass."Family was of the utmost importance to Mother Teresa," he said. "This parish, this church, and the great people of Schuylkill County are a family she would be very proud of."Born in 1910, Mother Teresa left home to join the Irish branch of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Loreto Sisters. In 1950, she founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, and built a legacy as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless. A 1979 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, she died Sept. 5, 1997, and was beatified as "Blessed Teresa of Calcutta" Oct. 19, 2003.In 2008 Assumption BVM, St. Canicus, St. Casimir, St. Fidelis, St. Joseph and Sacred Heart, Mahanoy City, and Our Lady of Siluva, Maizeville, merged. The new parish was located at the former St. Joseph building and named "Blessed Teresa of Calcutta" in her honor.The Rev. Kevin P. Gallagher, current pastor at the church, wasn't present for Mother Teresa's visit, but said it really rejuvenated the town as evidenced by exceptional attendance to a Mass held in her honor many years later."If you talk to people who weren't born yet or didn't live here at the time but do now, they all know about her visit," Gallagher said. "You won't get thousands of people lining these streets for a lot of reasons, but she brought them in."As a fundraiser, the parish sold ornaments with a picture of Mother Teresa during her visit to Mahanoy City. Commemorative magnets were also available.