History of Saint Josaphat's Parish
The congregation dates back to 1882, when a 13 member committee of Chicago's Kashubian Polish community formally approached the Resurrectionist Father Vincent Barzynski, then Chicago's preeminent Polish priest, for his assistance in establishing a Kashubian parish. Prior to this most of the Kashubian families had been attending Mass at Saint Michael's Parish, a "German" parish which they preferred to Father Barzynski's own "Polish" parish of Saint Stanislaus Kostka. The current combination church-school building, an imposing brick edifice, was dedicated on May 22, 1884.
By 1980, roughly half of Saint Josaphat's 450 families self-identified as Polish American, with 30% self-identifying as Mexican American. In the twenty-first century, Saint Josaphat's now serves a overwhelmingly young, white, urban professional congregation in a newly prosperous, gentrified neighborhood. The renovated church, with its traditional Catholic architecture, is popular for weddings, with over 65 a year.
Read more about this topic: St. Josaphat's In Chicago
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