Pastor Joe DiDonato

Pastor Joe DiDonato’s chapel looks like any other.

A long and narrow building, its walls are decorated with photos of former and current parishioners, a list of upcoming liturgies is posted by the door, and inspirational bulletins are tacked up in back. Dozens of rows of seats face to an altar where weekly services are held and Bible stories are recounted.

But DiDonato's ministry is no ordinary ministry. His is a church without a steeple or stained glass windows and his congregation includes stables, sheds, horses, hay and oats.

DiDonato is chaplain at Ladbroke at the Meadows harness racing track just outside Washington, Pa., and ministers to a congregation of about 1,000 families. A high percentage of those, he says, have no religious affiliation. Some of his congregation come and go from the racetrack, while others such as the horse trainers live in small dorms set up on The Meadows’ grounds.

For those, the chapel is their place of worship, Bible study and prayer. And DiDonato is their spiritual leader, confidant, advisor and friend.

“There’s only one like him,” says track veterinarian James Knepper.” ‘I truly believe he’s in the right place at the right time. It’s a real blessing having him here.”

The Meadows has had three other chaplains, but none made it work like DiDonato or “Pastor Joe” as he’s known around these parts.

His chapel is at the heart of the racetrack, literally and figuratively.

His services are held Sunday mornings and attract around 60 people each week.

“This is its own mission field,” Pastor Joe says. “People think missions are
all overseas, but they’re not about geography, they’re about the people.”

“Every racetrack is a mission.”

And a full-time job.

In addition to his duties at the Meadows, Pastor Joe takes care of his congregation off the track and his weekly itinerary often includes visits to homes, hospitals, funeral parlors and nursing homes. He’s officiated weddings, handled funeral services and offered spiritual guidance to workers’ extended families outside the racetrack setting.

Pastor Joe’s work at the track is a labor of love and as many at the track will say a true calling. But it was a calling he initially didn’t think he was ready to accept.

Pastor Joe got a call more than a dozen years ago inquiring whether he’d like to become chaplain at The Meadows.

“I said ‘What? Where?’ I thought it was the craziest thing I ever heard.”

But he, nonetheless, agreed to meet with racetrack officials and toured the grounds. There he saw a worn and weathered chapel whose aging letters were peeling from its welcome sign. Moisture had begun seeping inside the tiny structure and cans of donated food that had been stored in the chapel had begun bursting from the heat.

“It needed work, no doubt, but I could see immediately a need was present.”

Though Pastor Joe wasn’t entirely sure whether racetrack chaplain was the job for him, he decided he would act as a shepherd, tending to the racetrack flock, on an interim basis until a more suitable replacement could be found.

“I could see a good thing had started here. I knew I wasn’t the person they needed, but I didn’t want to see it fall apart.”

“I talked it over with my wife, and we decided I would do it for a few months, until God sent the right person to take it on, then we’d move on.”

Little did he know that God already had chosen the right man for the job.

“Pastor Joe,” a South Fayette resident, will begin his 13th year at The Meadows this summer.

“God has just provided so much for us here,’ he says. ‘It’s really taken care of itself.”

Case in point. A new chapel to replace the old, weathered Mass site desperately was needed for the racetrack community, but Pastor Joe knew raising the money on a shoestring budget would be difficult.

However, soon after talks of a new chapel began, a horseowner and regular at the chapel’s weekly service, won $1,000 at the track and donated it to the chapel building fund. A community golf outing also contributed $5,500 to the cause, and Meadows announcer Roger Houston’s charity auction raised an additional $9,500. Before long, the building was paid for and the chapel hosted its first service in 1998 free of debt.

“I never had to ask for a penny,” he says. “It was God’s will, and through Him this
was built.”

Judy Sprowls owns a horse at the track and also helps open the chapel Sunday mornings. She says Pastor Joe is one of the race track’s true assets.

“He helps out a lot of people, and I’ll certainly help him,” she says. “Everybody likes Pastor Joe.”

Like those horses running the track, Pastor Joe took a rather circuitous route to the priesthood. Pastor Joe once went by another moniker ‘Joey Dee’ and worked as an on-air personality at the now-defunct B-94 radio station in Pittsburgh.

His radio gig got him backstage at concerts, which enabled him to see, firsthand, how young people can succumb to a sex, drugs and a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.

“I always was a music nut, but I saw a side of rock and roll that I didn’t like,” he says.

“I didn’t want to promote that, so I got away from it and I started asking a lot of questions.” Was this something I wanted to do, was this something I wanted to promote?’’

Raised a Catholic, he turned to the Bible for answers. He found his answers there and in the summer of 1982, rock n’ roll Joe turned his life over to the Lord.

He attended Central Assembly of God Church in Houston, Pa., and taught Sunday school there. He also took a job at a Christian Radio station in Canonsburg and worked there as a general manager for a decade

“He’s a good fit,” says track secretary Tom Leasure. “He’s grown the ministry way beyond what we first envisioned it.”

“He cares, he takes the time for everybody. He’s a very giving person. He’s the model for any racetrack chaplain... if only each track could find someone as devoted as he is.”

And that point was driven home in 1999 when Pastor Joe was honored with the Harness Horsemen International Appreciation Award. The national award recognizes individuals who have dedicated themselves to helping harness racing.

“He’s a great guy,” says track official Ruby Begonia. “He really cares.” •