Will There Be a Transfiguration?

(by Robert J. Sulecki – 09/07)

Being interested in my Polish heritage has led me to many places in my life. A few years ago, I visited Buffalo, New York. In the old Polish neighborhoods (which really are not Polish anymore), there are many Polish Roman-Catholic churches, and a market house called the Broadway Market. As we were driving around the old neighborhoods, there was a church on almost every couple of blocks. There was one church with a massive steeple that we could see from a few blocks away. It had a large, golden cross on top of the steeple. The name was gone, the stained-glass windows were broken, the doors were boarded up and the grounds were overgrown. The church was abandoned. It bothered me. I wondered what happened about its past. I found the very sad story on the Internet. This was the Church of the Transfiguration.

It was founded in 1893, as a small wooden building. A school followed in 1894. In 1897, a new church was built. The edifice was a magnificent structure, built in the Romanesque style, red brick gothic. The new cathedral-sized church could now accommodate more that 1400 people. There was also a handsome, brick rectory built adjoining the church. The interior of Transfiguration Church was of magnificent splendor, featuring murals depicting events in Polish-Catholic history. There were large statues, including the Sacred Heart of Jesus and a beautiful icon of our Lady of Czestochowa. Much of this grandeur was not uncommon in Polish parishes of that time. They were able to build this with the hard work of the immigrants and many of Buffalo’s leading Polish businessmen who belonged to the Parish

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