The parish of St. Stanislaus, at 6808 East 18th Street, was either never successful in building a regular church building (instead meeting in what looks like the beginnings of a school building) or it tore down the church at some point.
In This Far by Faith, there is a photo of people posing after one of the final Masses at St. Stan's and it appears to have been in this building. St. Stan's is now used as a spanish-language evangelica/pentecostal community of some sort, with a garish pair of gold-painted concrete lions greeting worshipers.
I didn't stop to get good pictures of the lions because daylight was fading and I planned three more stops, but here's a picture of the church.
I grew up in Holy Cross Parish, but what I understand from H.S. classmates was, the masses at St. Stan's were said in Polish and it was just a small group who were interested. That's why it's so close to St. Stephen's and St. Michael's.
ReplyDeletealso, there were Masses at Holy Rosary said in Italian by an Italian priest who wasn't under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of the KC Diocese.
Barbara Powell
I Googled this but have no idea what a "Google id" is so am sending under Anonymous
I attended St. Stanislaus grade school and church from 1950 thru 1970. The church/school...church on top and two schoolrooms down with a meeting hall and stage below....was home to over 250 families..many of polish,czech refugees from ww1 and ww2. The school was taught by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. Very few Mass's were in Polish because only one priest in the area..Father Palecki spoke the language. Polish mass was usually a special celebration...Once a month Fr. Palecki would visit to hear confessions. The parishioners put money for a special building fund aside. It disappeared when the Bishop closed the church. Church committee members threatened to sue because the funds over 50K were not in the churches name. The Bishop agreed to reopen St. Stan's if the suit was dropped. St. Stans reopened as a "mission" (no assigned priest and missing the 50K....a few years later closed and sold....not a proud history for the diocese of Kansas City
ReplyDeleteI attended first grade at St. Stanislaus. I remember the big heavy wooden doors to the schoo. If I remember correctly our classroom was combined 1st through 6th grade maybe 8th. We ate our lunch in the classroom. I only knew at that time my friends had parents who did not speak English. I was always afraid to go to their homes because I didn't know if they would tell me when to go home and if I would understand when they did! To this day 55 years later I still have a small picture that I won for a little math contest. It is a priceless possession of mine to this day. I'm saddened that this little parish didn't make it. I have good memories of the school.
ReplyDeleteHi! I never knew there was a school at St. Stan's. As a child, I attended church there, usually on Saturday afternoon's with my brothers and parents. I loved hearing the ladies speaking Polish after services; and didn't understand the tattoos on their arms until I was much older. You are right that the outside of the church left much to be desired (a school friend thought it was an abandoned and damaged castle) but the inside was beautiful. Father Faller (spelling?) is the priest I recall.
ReplyDeleteA former Catholic girl
My great-grandfather, Marcin Ordyk was one of the founders of St.Stanislaus parish in 1913. I attended church and school at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Kansas City, Kansas. Some members of St. Joseph parish, including my grandfather, Łukasz Sajwaj, moved to the east side of Kansas City, Missouri, because work at the steel mills and foundries there was plentiful in the years before World War I. Thus, St. Stanislaus was founded.in part, to serve Polish families leaving St. Joseph parish. Lukasz returned to Kansas City, Kansas in 1917. Marcin Ordyk and his family returned to Poland before 1920. Thus, I do not know little about the fate of St. Stanislaus after those dates. I am aware that its baptism, marriage, and funeral records were kept at Our Lady Of Peace Church on Bennington Avenue recently.
ReplyDeleteI have a copy of Silver Anniversary,St. Stanislaus Parish, 1913-1938, June Twelfth.
ReplyDeleteIt has a short history of the parish, some photos (one of the interior of the church), a list of founding families, other surnames, and lots of ads.
I will be pleased to provide a photocopy, or, better yet post it someplace.
Thomas Sajwaj
tesgen@epbfi.com
I as well as two older sisters one younger sister as well as numerous cousins as well as my father and all of my aunts and uncles went to St. Stan's.It did not have an eight grade you went from seventh grade to 9th grade in high school at the time. The church was on the top floor with the two school rooms in the bottom floor with a meeting hall and rest rooms in the basement. I remember having to use the restroom in the basement that had only one light bulb to light the way and I was terrified because we were told the blue racer snakes would get us.At that time Father Moffit was the pastor and we were not allowed to call him Father Moffit we had to call him Colonel Moffit as he was a Colonel in the Second World War. If Colonel Moffit heard you had a loose tooth he would put you in a headlock and pop your tooth out. It happened to me several times.My grandfather was also one of the founders of the church and I think it was named for the patron saint of his father in the old country. I am as I type this looking at the original set of books from the church listing all the expenses. It is written in Polish and my grandfather was the financial secretary at the time. When we went out for recess behind the school/church there were goats tied up in the field to eat the grass and weeds and we had fun playing with them. It will always hold a special place in my heart as so many of our family grew up in that church and school. I still have my grand fathers polish prayer book. Funny after I moved away I ended up having Father Palecki as my pastor at Saint Andrew's in the northland. He even baptized my wife there. I taught CCD classes for him there also. I was the third generation of our family to worship there. My grand father's store is still open over on Bristol. Peter May's House of Kielbasa now run by a fourth generation young man named Mike Loges.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother was Lydia Drab. She lived on Bennington. We walk to the church so many times as children,my younger sister, younger brother and I with my grandmother and mother Anna Kolodziejski as that was my mothers married name at the time. So many memories, from playing in the field around the church, going to Polish mass to baby showers or wedding showers or baptisms parties were held in the downstairs part. Some of the best Polish food and lots of good times as the Polish community would come together. The good old days.
ReplyDelete