History of St. John Cantius Church Diamond Jubilee 1906-1981 St. John Cantius Church, Sharpsburg, PA. CAP at Orchard Lake.

Early Background The history of St. John Cantius Parish is indeed unique. Records show that as early as the middle of the nineteenth century there was a steadily growing Polish community in Sharpsburg, Pennsyl- vania. It was in 1875 that St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish was organized by Father Klawiter as the first Polish parish in the Diocese of . This Polish church was located on Twenty-First Street in the Strip District of the City of Pittsburgh, and it was here that the Polish people from Sharpsburg would walk to hear the word of God in their own native tongue. It is not surprising to read in the Church Chronicles that "to satisfy their spiritual needs and to fulfill their Sunday obligation," the early immigrants walked a distance of five miles to this only ex¬isting Polish church in Pittsburgh. In 1902, Father Anthony Smelsz founded the Holy Family Polish Parish in Lawrenceville. As a result of the closer location, the sixty Polish families of Sharpsburg now attended the Holy Family Church, located on Forty-First Street in Pittsburgh. However, there were a growing number of pious Polish families who wanted to establish a Polish parish of their own in the Sharpsburg Area. A list of ninety families had been compiled, each having promised to support the founding of a Polish parish in Sharpsburg. But as all beginnings are difficult, the Poles of this community had their share of hardships. It was not until October of 1906 that granted permission to organize the new Polish Parish of St. John Cantius in Sharpsburg. This permission was granted only after countless appeals to the Chancery Office and through the intercession of John Górzyński, the Bishop's Consultor. On October 14, 1906, Bishop Regis Canevin appointed Father Michael Kozłowski, who was serving as an assistant at St. Adalbert Church on the South Side, to be the first pastor of St. John Cantius Parish. With the establishment of the parish, the new pastor visited every family in the parish to collect funds for the construction of a new church and school. The generous families of Polish descent gave all they could afford, and Father Kozłowski collected over 01,100 for the church fund in his first appeal. On March 13, 1907, after considerable deliberation, the pastor and the church committee agreed to buy the property located on 6th and High Street in Sharpsburg for the sum of 07,500. A loan of 5,000 dollars was granted to our parish by Bishop Regis Canevin so the construction of the combined new church and school could begin.

1 The actual construction work began in June 1907, and was completed on January 26, 1908. The school opened in February of 1908, and was established with three nuns from the Felician Order who taught four grades with 93 children. The new church was blessed by Bishop Regis Canevin and the first sermon was preached by Monsignor John Gorzynski, pastor of St. Adalbert Church on the South Side. The first church committee members were: Jan Zygello, Antoni Olszewski, Franciszek Jaranowski, Antoni Jaronski, Jozef Przeradski, Stanislaw Grzybowski, Mateusz Jaronski. Under the direction of Father Michael Kozlowski, St. Michael's Young Men Society was founded on March 3, 1907. The purpose of St. Michael's Society was to promote the general welfare of its Polish mem- bership and at that time to assist its members to secure citizenship papers. Akin to this purpose was its desire to help St. John Cantius Parish. With the completion of the new church and school and the establishment of St. Michael's Society for Young Men, St. John Cantius Church became a close- knit parish, with its people proud of their Polish Catholic Heritage. Then suddenly on December 5, 1908, Bishop Canevin moved Father Michael Kozlowski to a new assignment. On December 6, 1908, Bishop Canevin appointed Father John Czaplin¬ski pastor of St. John Cantius Church in Sharpsburg. Father Czaplinski was to give thirty-three years of his priesthood to the parish and parishioners of St. John Cantius. With the appointment of Father Czaplinski, our parishioners became blessed with an extremely capable and dedicated pastor who always cared for the spiritual welfare of his flock. By cooperating with Father Czaplinski, the parishioners deepened their faith, preserved their customs, and enkindled Christian Love in their hearts. Father Czaplinski guided St. John Cantius Parish through its infant years, which were financially lean years. An earnest and zealous priest, Father Czaplinski did not let hardship get the best of him. Throughout his priesthood, he was offered larger parishes by Bishop Canevin and Bishop Hugh C. Boyle. However, he always declined by saying that he was attached to the parishioners of St. John Cantius. Father Czaplinski served our parishioners faithfully until God called him. He died on October 20, 1941. Father Ted Wisniewski served as administrator of our parish from Oc¬tober 1941 to March 1942. Father John Styka Pastor: 1942 - 1980 Bishop Boyle appointed Father John Styka pastor of St. John Cantius Parish on March 19, 1942. During the succeeding years, he was responsible for many improvements and changes in our par- ish. The sanctuary of the church was remodeled and proper homage paid to our patron in the redesign. Many improvements were made in the school. No one could deny that the Felician Sisters who taught in our school were inadequately housed, and so meeting this problem, Father Styka tackled the job of building a new convent. The construction of the new convent cost 97,000 dollars and was ready for occupancy in 1952. It took work, sacrifice, and charity on the part of every individual in our parish to accomplish these goals. During his pastorate at St. John Cantius Church, Father Styka had four assistants to help him in the spiritual work of the parish: Monsignor Ferdinand Sojka, Father Joseph Nowakowski, Father Joseph Wichmanowski, and Father Paul Pindel. Yet the greatest challenge to face Father John Styka in his thirty-eight years as pastor was to come when our parish church was destroyed by fire. On Tuesday, June 15, 1965, the last day of the school year a tragic fire began at 3:20 p.m. which engulfed our beloved church. This fire completely destroyed the church and severely damaged the 2 school. The pastor was away on retreat, and the school children and many adults gathered together to salvage whatever could be carried in their arms. In a way, the tragic fire was a blessing in disguise; for it served as a cohesive spirit in bringing about a profound sense of cooperation and solidarity among the parishioners. Men and women volunteered their services; and this effort proved to be almost miraculous in performance and accomplishment. During the five years without a church, Father John Styka celebrated Mass in the former social hall, or annex as it was best known. This was a crisis period for our parish and there were constant rumors that St. John Cantius was doomed to be split up, dissolved, etc. Our staunch parishioners proved otherwise and showed all the skeptics that determined Poles working together can accomplish the impossible, a feat that evinces deep pride in all of us. The summer of 1965 was spent doing work on the damaged school by the men of the parish under the direction of the architect, Stanley Pyzdrowski. After clearing the fire debris, each classroom was restored. In September of 1965, the school's fall term of school was begun on time, using St. Michael's Young Men Society's building as a school. In March of 1966, just eight months after the fire, the renovated school building was completed and ready for occupancy. At this time Father John Styka approached Bishop of the Pittsburgh Diocese for permission to begin formulating plans to build a new church. Many obstacles and roadblocks had to be overcome before the permission was granted to build a new church. On Sunday, April 9, 1967, Father John Styka announced to the parishioners that permission to build a new church was granted by the Bishop. The firm of A. & S. Pyzdrowski, architects and engineers, was hired immediately to design the new church building. After the new church plans were finalized, they were sent to the Bishop and Diocesan Consultors who rejected them because they were too costly. Bishop Wright sent a "stop-work order" letter to Father Styka forbidding Mr. Pyzdrowski to plan or progress any further on the church until the school issue in Sharpsburg was resolved. Despite opposition, the school problem was re¬solved by the merger of the three local parochial schools. In May of 1969, the parish committee, with the pastor's approval, started to pass around a peti- tion asking all of our parishioners and neighbors to obtain as many signatures as possible to show support for a new church building. This proved to be a very successful venture; more than 1,200 signatures were obtained on the petition calling for the Bishop to allow us to build. The Bishop re- sponded with the proposal that the new church building be located at a site outside the borough limits of Sharpsburg. The plan to remodel the annex was too expensive and it seemed as if we had reached an impasse. In June of 1969, Bishop John Wright was elevated to Cardinal, and his new duties would require him to live in . Bishop became the new head of the Pittsburgh Diocese. There was an air of great optimism due to the changeover. The new bishop scheduled frequent meetings with Father Styka, the architect, and the committee's representatives. Finally, in November of 1969, Bishop Leonard granted Father Styka the goahead to proceed with final plans for the new church to be built on the site of the present annex, which was to be razed. The new church would be a modular-type building, and on March 30, 1970, all of the contract documents were signed. In building the new church, there were many obstacles, revisions, and 3 overruns which started to escalate the cost. Father Styka approached the parishioners and asked for a one-time donation of 0250 per family to help meet all of the cost obligations. A bronze plaque was installed in the narthex of the new church, naming all of the donor families who made this 0250 sacrifice for our parish. With special permission, Father John Styka celebrated the first Mass in the new church on Christ- mas, December 25, 1970. On February 28, 1971, Aux¬iliary Bishop Anthony Bosco consecrated our new St. John Cantius Church to be appreciated and used for the ultimate glory of God by future generations of our Polish progeny. Shortly after the new church was completed, the physical health of Father John Styka declined, and the last years of his pastorate were spent in poor health. Father Styka retired on February 29, 1980. He was able to celebrate his 50th Anniversary as a priest on June 15, 1980, with a Mass in our church. After ten months of retirement, God called Father John Styka, and he died on December 22, 1980, at the age of 76 years. On February 29, 1980, Bishop Vincent Leonard appointed Father Ernest Strzelinski, who was serving as Pastor of St. Christopher Church in Prospect, , as the new pastor of St. John Cantius Parish. The immediate task was to elect a new parish council, and an election was held in June of 1980. Those elected to the parish council were: Chester Kruglak, Louis Borowski, Walter Drabicki, Tom Goral, Jr., Henry Wojciechowski, Leo Pilarski, Thomas Pilarski, Patricia Szelc, and Marcella Kachinski. The new pastor with the help of the parish council brought about some needed changes in the parish. Plans were made to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of our parish on Sunday, October 11, 1981, with a 4:00 p.m. Mass celebrated by Bishop Vincent Leonard. As we look to the future, we must keep our Faith strong and live by the Polish traditions that have brought God's Blessings on our parish and on our families. We invoke our , St. John Cantius, to watch over each family in our parish. We ask for God's divine guidance that our parish will always be spiritually blessed now and in the future.

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