'The Polish Church'

A neighborhood landmark, St. Casimir's in Yonkers celebrates centennial 

By MARY ANN POUST

The butcher shops piled high with kielbasa are gone from the Hollow/Nodine Hill section of Yonkers, and talk on the streets these days is more likely to be conducted in Spanish than in Polish.

But majestic, twin-towered St. Casimir's Church is still standing tall--a living monument to the Polish immigrants whose hard work helped build Yonkers a century ago, their descendants who have carried that spirit forward and the new Poles, better educated and more affluent, who continue to arrive.

"Ask anybody in Westchester if they've heard of St. Casimir's Church in Yonkers and they'll say, 'It's the Polish church,' " said Peter P. Wendolski, a lifelong parishioner.

"We've kept it up," he said, with more than a touch of pride, "even during hard economic times."

St. Casimir's parish, celebrating its 100th anniversary, was founded when Yonkers was a fast-growing industrial city dominated by the Otis Elevator plant and the giant Alexander Smith carpet factory, which was practically in the parish "backyard."

Italian and Irish immigrants lived in their own enclaves, and the large number of Poles--along with Russians and other Eastern Europeans--lived in theirs. Most found work in one of the other bustling factories attracted to Yonkers for its willing labor pool, good rail freight connections and Hudson River location.

But as industry began moving south after World War II, and the immigrants' children moved to newer parts of Yonkers or the suburbs, the parish went through the same wrenching changes as downtown, inner-city parishes did throughout the Northeast.

Besides that, St. Casimir's went through an upheaval unique to the parish caused by a major road-widening project in the early 1970s that literally ripped the community apart.

Yet, St. Casimir's has survived--smaller but no less friendly--to begin the new century with a loyal core of longtime parishioners as well as Polish newcomers who travel from throughout the metropolitan area because they crave a taste of home.

"The 10 o'clock Mass in Polish is the most crowded one every Sunday," said the pastor, Father John A. Michalak, O.S.P., a member of the Pauline Fathers from Poland, who has been at St. Casimir's since the Pauline order took over its administration in 1997.

He's quick to point out, however, that despite the strong Polish identity of the parish, "we welcome everyone."

The Polish Mass, which attracts some 400 people, is one of four weekend Masses at the parish. The others are celebrated in English and draw some 120 people each--a stark reminder that the parish, which has 495 families registered, has suffered losses along with the neighborhood. In the early 1970s, before the Nepperhan arterial roadway was built, there were 1,100 families on the rolls.

People turn out in force, however, whenever there's a Polish-oriented event, such as the Easter basket blessings on Holy Saturday.

A tradition in Poland, the ceremony involves families bringing baskets filled with their holiday foods--ham, kielbasa, Easter eggs and breads--to the school gym for a blessing. It is so popular that Father Michalak schedules four ceremonies during the course of the day to accommodate everyone.

"We get thousands," he said.

Another popular offering is the Saturday Polish school, under the direction of Eva Krzeminski, which has an enrollment this year of 60 children ages 5 to 14. In a day that begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 2 p.m., they study the Polish language and Polish history and dance and religious education.

"We keep up the Polish culture for them," Father Michalak said.

The Polish language is no longer taught at the parish school, which has maintained a sizable proportion of Polish-American students, but now has an enrollment that reflects the neighborhood.

Under the direction of principal Paul J. Henshaw, the school has pulled its enrollment up to 178 kids this year from a low of 97 in 1997 (it was 700 at its peak in 1959) after the departure of the Sisters of the Resurrection, who had served parish children since 1910. At the time, talk that the school might merge with another caused parents to remove their children and exacerbated an already sinking enrollment.

But the archdiocese decided to keep the school going, and Henshaw was brought on board to run it with a lay staff. Since then, the school building has been completely repainted and modernized, a cafeteria and hot lunch program added, prekindergarten and after-school programs started and a grant obtained to buy 70 new computers.

"Those kinds of things convinced parents that the school's not moving anywhere," Henshaw said.

Father Michalak, who encourages the involvement of children in parish life--including a monthly Polish-theme Mass planned by children--is delighted with the turnaround. "Our school is at such a high level, educationally, now," he said. "That's my message: Come back, children, to our school and our church."

Father Michalak is assisted by Father Jerzy Maz, O.S.P., parochial vicar, and Deacon John Radzilowicz.

Parish organizations include the Holy Name Society, the Ladies of the Immaculata and weekly prayer groups in Polish and English.

The parish properties are the church, an attached school, a rectory and a convent building currently rented to a Franciscan priest and several brothers in New York for studies.

A few blocks away is the 17-story St. Casimir's Tower, parish-sponsored senior citizen housing built in the early 1970s under a public financing program.

Archbishop Egan celebrated the centennial Mass at the parish Oct. 22. The Mass was followed by a reception at the Polish Community Center in Yonkers.

Other centennial events have been a parish picnic and luncheon, a scholarship breakfast and a concert with an exhibit of parish historical items.

The parish was founded to serve the Polish immigrants of Yonkers who were traveling to Polish parishes in Manhattan or to St. Valentine's parish in the North Bronx for Mass in their native language. Eventually the Bronx pastor, Father Joseph Dworzak, agreed to petition the archdiocese on behalf of a Yonkers group that wanted a Polish parish in that city.

Archbishop Corrigan granted the request in September 1899, and Father Dworzak was named the first pastor of the new St. Casimir's parish while still maintaining duties at St. Valentine's. Within a year, Father Michael Slulpek was appointed the first resident pastor.

Mass was celebrated at first in a side chapel of Immaculate Conception Church (St. Mary's) on South Broadway, until a church for St. Casimir's was built in 1903. Father Dworzak, again the pastor, celebrated the first Mass in the church. He was pastor until his death in February 1951.

Father Vincent Raith, pastor from 1951 to 1969, guided the parish through continued growth. A new convent for the sisters opened in 1954.

Msgr. Edmund A. Fabisinski followed as pastor from 1969 to 1977. Pastor for the next 20 years was Father Eugene A. Kosnik, now pastor of St. Charles Borromeo in Gardiner, who oversaw construction of a parking lot and extensive renovations to the church and school.

The present church, completed in 1927 near the old one, features stained-glass windows by Bavarian artisans and a hand-carved relief depicting the souls in purgatory above a side altar. In 1966, for the 1,000th anniversary of Christianity in Poland, a shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa was added.

Father Michalak said ground was broken for the church in 1925, and it was completed in less than two years, thanks to the support of its hard-working though poor immigrant parishioners.

"Here, we honor people who are poor," he said. "They built this beautiful church, this school, because they believe in God. They love God."