Binghamton’s St. Stanislaus Tried to Avert Merger, Appeals to Pope....Sep. 2003
by William Moyer.....Polish-American Journal
www.polamjournal.com

     BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (Press & Sun-Bulletin) - Some former members of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church are doing an ecclesiastical end-run around Bishop James M. Moynihan, going to the Vatican in a last-ditch effort to save their parish.

About 50 former members of the Town of Dickinson church have signed a letter to Pope John Paul II, asking the pontiff to urge the Syracuse Diocese to change its mind about merging their parish with St. Ann’s and St. Joseph’s into the Church of the Holy Trinity.

If the Vatican heeds the appeal, it would be the first papal intervention involving a Catholic Church merger in the seven-county central New York region, a diocesan official said.

Despite those odds, the letter’s author said he still wanted to do something after parishioners got “form letters” from Moynihan in reply to their protests about closing St. Stanislaus.

The bishop decided to use the former St. Ann’s building for the new parish, which was formed July 1. The third church in the merger was St. Joseph’s. All three are within a few blocks of each other in and around Binghamton’s First Ward.

“I want to try every possible avenue in view of the final response from the bishop,” said Binghamton resident and Poland native Marian Kozik, assisted by an interpreter.

He wrote the three-page letter in Polish, the pope’s native language.
Kozik argued for keeping Polish religious customs at St. Stanislaus rather than watering down three long standing ethnic traditions in a new parish. St. Joseph’s has a Lithuanian background, and St. Ann’s has a Slovak heritage. The congregations will worship in their own buildings until St. Ann’s is renovated, which could take months. Their treasuries have been combined in a single bank account, said former trustee Robert Salankiewicz of Vestal. Diane Cummings, of the diocese office, says the bishop won’t waver, despite the Vatican appeal.
“The decision was made after a two-year process, looking at all the concerns parishioners raised,” she said. “The bishop has made a decision and the decision stands.”

A former St. Stanislaus official, Peter Letkiewicz of Binghamton, said he knows parishioners are fighting an uphill battle. But the lifelong member said he couldn’t sit and watch the church close. “I’m staying with it to see the results, hoping we get some positive responses from the diocese,” he said. Letkiewicz and others expressed frustration with the diocese, saying the merger study was flawed, understating the St. Stanislaus facilities and overstating St. Ann’s building.

Cummings said the diocese has been responsive during the process. “We understand it’s and emotional issue,” she said. “We can only try to help them work through what is a grieving process.” The parishioners’ reactions are logical, not emotional said Kordian Wichtowski of Endwell. He said St. Stanislaus had 500 families, a $2,500 average weekly offering and $250,000 saving account, enough to support its own priest and parish. “We don’t see the point of leaving our parish,” he said. But if the doors are closed, longtime member Valentina Kozlowski said she’ll walk the half-block from St. Stanislaus to St. Ann’s on Prospect Street. “I’d like to see us stay together,” the Binghamton resident said. “If the choir and parishioners stay together, maybe in that way we can continue our Polish heritage.”

Polish-American Journal…September-2003 www.polamjournal.com Subscription: 800-422-1275