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| Address: | 5776 Broadway Street Lancaster, New York 14086 |
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| Telephone: | 716-685-5767 | |
| Founded: | Aug 1895 | |
| Pastor: | Rev Bishop Thaddeus Peplowski | |
| Mass Schedule: | Sunday 8 & 11 AM | |
| Parish Census: | ||
| School: | ||
| Year Built: | 1996 | |
| Style: |
Buffalo, like many other Polonian enclaves at the turn of the 20th century, saw a division in the ranks of the Roman Catholic parishes it founded. An Independent Polish Catholic parish was first established in Buffalo in Aug 1895, when a rejected group of parishioners at St. Adalbert's Parish decided to form a separate church just a block away. These discontented souls were forced to decide their own fate when their demands were rejected by the Bishop and his advisors.
The separation was a matter of personalities and parish ownership rather than a matter of faith and doctrine. On land purchased along Sobieski St., the first Mass was celebrated by Rev. Kolaszewski, an invited Independent priest from Cleveland, Ohio for the members of Holy Mother of the Rosary Parish. Two weeks later, the Rev. Antoni Klawitter, the founder of St. Adalbert's Parish returned to Buffalo at the invitation of the Sobieski St. congregation. Although his stay was short, he laid the foundation for the future of the parish. Klawitter was followed by a very colorful and zealous man, Stefan Kaminski, who arrived at the parish from Freeland, PA.
For the next 15 years, the history of the parish was full of conflict and growth. That same year, 1896, a synod made up of Independent parishes in the area and elsewhere, elected Kaminski as their Bishop. Under his direction, the magnificent Gothic cathedral of Medina sandstone was erected and pompously dedicated in 1906.
The parish cemetery located on Dale Road in Cheektowaga, is also credeted to Kaminski's account of accomplishments. To combat the myraid of stinging criticism against himself and his Church, Kaminski printed his own newspaper, "Warta", up to the time of his death in 1911. With the demise of Kaminski came a period of uncertainty and financial turmoil. His successor was unable to continue in his footsteps and this resulted in the default of the parish on the cathedral mortagage. The Roman Catholic Diocese seizing the opportunity to crush the Independent movement, obtained ownership of the church at a public auction. In Sept 1913, the first Roman Catholic Mass was celebrated in the Independent Cathedral on Sobieski St.
For the next two years members of Holy Mother of the Rosary Parish celebrated Mass in a German Association's hall on Genesee St., but determined to get their property back, initiated a law suit against the Diocese of Buffalo. The Independents were fortunate to be helped by a very capable attorney named Henry Bull and Bishop Walker of the Episcopal Diocese of Buffalo. In 1915 the Court of Appeals ruled unanimously in favor of the Independents and ordered the Catholic Diocese to return the property and pay fees for the two year usage of the church.
With the assistance of Rev. Walenty Gawrychowski of St. Casimir Parish of Rochester, the congregation aligned itself with the Scranton based Polish National Catholic Church in 1914. This church under the guidance of Rev. Franciszek Hodur, was slowly forming parishes of its own and also merging former Independent parishes into its ranks. In 1927 the young Rev. Jan Zenon Jasinski was appointed pastor of the parish. Rev. Jasinski would leave a very positive and lasting mark on this community of faith that he directed for 24 years. At its synod held in 1928, the PNCC elected Rev. Jasinski a Bishop of the Church and he was consecrated at Scranton later that year.
The newly organized Buffalo - Pittsburgh Diocese of the PNCC, headquartered in Buffalo, was the assignment of Bishop Jasinski. The Bishop was a dynamic speaker and organizer; during his tenure new parishes were organized and societies of the Church established. His untimely death occured in 1951. He was buried in the parish cemetery next to Bishop Kaminski. In 1953 the Rev. Sr. Tadeusz Zielinski, another distinguished leader and well liked in the Polish community, was appointed pastor of the cathedral.
In 1969, during the Church's synod Bishop Zielinski was selected to direct the Church as its Prime Bishop taking up residence in Scranton, PA, the Church's headquarters. Other Bishops that followed Zielinski included, Bishop Daniel Cyganowski;Bishop Francis Rowinski, retired Prime Bishop of the Church; Bishop John Swantek, presently serving as Prime Bishop; and the current Bishop, Thaddeus Peplowski. Once numbering several hundred families, the Cathedral parish began losing members for a variety of reasons as early as the 1950s.
With the added problem of a changing neighborhood, the parish for sometime considered moving from the old eastside of Buffalo to the suburbs. This difficult decision was finally made and voted upon by the parish membership in 1992 with the last Mass offered in the Sobieski Cathedral in the Fall of 1993. A temporary worship site was found at the old Annunciation Church in Elma until the new Cathedral complex could be completed. The multimillion dollar complex located on Broadway near Schwartz Road in Lancaster N.Y. was opened in 1995 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the parish. Some of the old cathedral's artifacts have been already removed and placed in the new complex; included are the stain glass windows of the saints, the pipe organ, some altar ware, the cornerstone and yet to be installed, the cathedral bells.