Over 40 people, many of them former parishioners, gathered Sunday afternoon outside the closed St. Adalbert Catholic Church in Pilsen to honor their patron saint on his feast day.
The celebration began with a Litany to St. Adalbert, the church’s and Poland’s shared patron saint. The group offered petitions first in Polish, then Spanish, then English.
“St. Adalbert, faithful to God, pray for us,” the prayer went. “St. Adalbert, glory of the Holy Cross, pray for us.”
Following the prayers, a band from Holy Trinity Polish Catholic Church and Mariachi La Barca Jalisco played in the street in front of the scaffolded church building as people danced along. Those gathered at the corner of West 17th and South Paulina streets ate paczkis and sernik, Polish doughnuts and cheesecake, as well as tacos and tamales.
St. Adalbert closed its doors in 2019. Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago attributed the decision to declining parish populations and the “significant investment” needed to make church building renovations.
[ St. Adalbert Church in Pilsen to be sold: ‘This is erasing our history, our legacy’ ]
The church held its last Mass in July 2019. Since parishioners first heard in 2017 that the church would be closing, a group of them has been steadily fighting to keep St. Adalbert open.
In November, after months of protests by former congregants, the archdiocese had the replica of Michelangelo’s La Pieta statue, which depicts Mary cradling Jesus’ body on her lap after the crucifixion, moved from the historic church to St. Paul Catholic Church, about a mile southwest.
[ La Pieta statue at St. Adalbert Church is moved after months of protests ]
Protesters of the move told the Tribune that the statue’s removal would bring the church closer to a point of no return. An archdiocese statement said the “valued community treasure can be better safeguarded and preserved in an active parish church.”
And the archdiocese’s multiple unsuccessful attempts to sell the building have been met with opposition from the former parishioners — and prayer.
One group of former St. Adalbert congregants, the St. Adalbert Rosary Group, meets every Friday evening to pray the rosary outside the church with the intention of saving St. Adalbert. On Sundays, they pray the rosary outside Holy Name Cathedral.
Anna Leja, a rosary group member, attended Polish-language services at St. Adalbert before it closed.
She said her hope for the feast day event, and for all of the rosary group’s prayers, is to catch the attention of the cardinal and stop the church from falling out of sacred use.
“We are always praying here and in front of the cathedral for a change of heart of Cardinal Cupich so he allows this church to be reopened, and so we can gather in this church for Masses and prayers and to celebrate all our events,” Leja said.
She said one potential property buyer has turned a former synagogue in Miami into an event venue. If the same happened with the St. Adalbert building, cardinal law would be broken, she said.
She also mentioned her concerns about the crime reported in the neighborhoods surrounding the church. Leja said that young people today need safe places to come together, and vibrant parish communities can serve that purpose.
The St. Adalbert Church building, deconsecrated as an approved place of worship following its final Mass, sits at 1650 W. 17th St. The church was first constructed in 1874 to serve Polish immigrant families settling in the area. In 1912, the church was rebuilt following a fire.
[ From sacred to secular: What happens when a Catholic church shuts down? ]
The former congregation has maintained its Polish roots to this day, even though Polish immigrants have since dispersed from Pilsen, a neighborhood that is now home to a large Hispanic immigrant community.
Demetrio Reyes, a St. Adalbert parishioner for over 25 years, passed out tamales with his wife in front of the church Sunday afternoon. He said they were married at St. Adalbert and have fought to reopen their church. They pray with the rosary group and come to the church every Sunday to thank God, he said.
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“That’s why we are here, to say to the cardinal, ‘We are here celebrating. A lot of people want to reopen the St. Adalbert Church,’” Reyes said.
Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, attended the event after being invited by former parishioners and residents. He said he supports the community members fighting against the sale of St. Adalbert and is glad see the Polish and Mexican communities working together to ask the city and archdiocese to work together to create a path forward for the church.
“The community has made it clear that they don’t want more churches to become for-profit spaces,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “But to remain a community space, and a faith based space, and that’s what we hope for.”
Former parishioner Julie Sawicki, Society of St. Adalbert president, said the Polish community in Pilsen built the church for the benefit of future generations.
She said the congregation will continue gathering until there are plans in place to set the church up for another 150 years.
“We’re not giving up on this,” Sawicki said. “We’ll be here as long as it takes.”
