By Daniel Payne

AIIC Staff, November 2, 2024 / 6:00 a.m.

A historic Polish Catholic church in Michigan City, Indiana, has received more than half a million dollars in a major fundraising campaign to preserve the structure that parishioners themselves helped build a century ago.

St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish recently received two grants – $400,000 from Indiana Landmarks and $250,000 from the National Fund for Sacred Places – as part of a $3 million fundraising effort to address significant construction needs.

Michigan City Parish dates back to 1890, when Fort Wayne Bishop Herman Alerding appointed Father Emmanuel Wrobel to found a parish for the city’s Polish residents.

The cornerstone of the current neo-Renaissance style church was laid in 1916 and it was completed in 1926. Father Walter Ciesla, parish priest of Saint-Stanislas, told CNA that the building “was constructed in great detail.” part by the parishioners themselves.”

“They dug the foundations of this church by hand,” he said. “They were on scaffolding laying the masonry.”

Initially, the parish hall was used as a church, Ciesla said, after which parishioners “built their way.”

“It was initially aimed at Polish-speaking people in the area,” he said. “The windows bear memorials to the city’s Polish families.”

The National Fund for Sacred Places announced earlier this month that the parish would receive $250,000 to contribute to “substantial renovation projects” at the church.

Rachel Hildebrandt, director of the fund, told CNA that the organization is funding “the restoration of the masonry and the restoration of (the parish’s) 87 stained glass windows, including its iconic rose windows.”

Repairs to the masonry will include correcting a poor mortar application originally made in the 1960s, which contributed to the deterioration of the building. The columns of the two church towers will also need to be repaired.

“For many congregations, the scope of the National Fund’s work shifts somewhat between entry into the program and the start of construction as we work to assess the condition of the building and prioritize repairs ” said Hildebrandt, “but from what we know, at the moment, it’s the masonry and the stained glass windows that we’re going to focus on.

The $250,000 grant follows a $400,000 matching grant earlier this year from the nonprofit Indiana Landmarks through its Sacred Places of Indiana initiative. The parish ultimately seeks to raise up to $3 million through fundraising and matching grants.

Ciesla, who has served the parish for 25 years, said the church building has been a major landmark in the area for a century. The parish also has an attached school with 120 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. “They participate in parish activities,” he said.

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The church still recognizes its historic Polish roots, the priest said, which include the singing of Polish carols at Christmas.

Ciesla said the church is home to generations of Catholics who have attended Mass there for decades.

“It’s an old parish,” he said. “We have great-grandchildren who come here with their great-grandparents. »

A Our report on Sunday visitors from 1926as for him, attests to the beauty of the church, of which the parishioners “can be justly proud”.

“The building is not only an ornament to the whole city,” the newspaper reported, “but it is also a splendid monument to all those who took an active part in making its construction possible.”

Daniel Payne is an editor at the Catholic News Agency. He previously worked at the College Fix and Just the News. He lives in Virginia with his family.