St. Stanislaus Kostka
Niagara Falls, New York

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Address: 2401 Niagara Street
Niagara Falls, New York 14303
St. Stansislaus Kostka, NF
Telephone: 716-285-3604
Fax: 716-282-2297
Founded: Sep 1917
Pastor: Bishop Edward Grosz
Mass Schedule: Sat. 5:15 PM; Sundays 8 & 11 AM
Parish Census: 435 Families
School: Closed in 1989
Year Built: 1966
Style: Modern

History

St. Stanislaus Parish was founded in 1917 because of a need to serve the Polish families living at a distance from the only Polish parish in the City of Niagara Falls, Holy Trinity. Job opportunities caused some families to move farther east and by the mid 1910s, the number was still growing. In Sept of 1917, the Bishop appointed the Rev. Stefan Szczepanski, organizer and first pastor of the newly founded St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish. Fr. Szczepanski arranged to use the neighboring parish church of Our Lady of the Rosary until St. Stan's was completed in 1919.

Following the establishment of the parish, Fr. Szczepanski went about also organizing a parish school for the youth. The Felician Sisters took charge in Nov. 1917 and continued up to the time of the school's closing in 1989, because of declining enrollment. In 1950, during the pastorate of Rev. Jozef Stelmach, a new school building was erected and a new convent built for the teaching Sisters. In the 1960s, the parish was under the direction of Rev. Glowacki, who brought about the construction of a new St. Stanislaus Kostka Church.

Modern in style, it is use accessible because of its ground level entry, requiring no stairs. The Rev. Richard Jesionoiwski served as pastor during the 1980s and early nineties, when the parish came under scrutiny by the Diocesian Commission which resulted in the merging of St. Stanislaus and Holy Trinity with one pastor. In 1996, the new Bishop of Buffalo, appointed the Auxilary Bishop of the Diocese, Rev. Edward Grosz, as pastor of the twinned parishes and made him the Vicar General of the northern part of the diocese.


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