Corpus Christi Church to be designated a historic landmark

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In what will be a huge day for Corpus Christi and the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood, the church will officially receive its new landmark status from J. Winthrop Aldrich, the state’s deputy commissioner for historic preservation on Thursday, 11/01 following the 11:30 am mass.

It was only a few short years ago that Corpus Christi was doomed to close. 

The church will also be added to the National Register of Historic Places.

From the Buffalo News

Corpus Christi is only the third Catholic church in Western New York to be listed on the National Register, joining Blessed Trinity on Leroy Avenue and Our Lady Help of Christians chapel on Union Road in Cheektowaga.

The state and federal recognition confirms the significance of churches such as Corpus Christi, not just to their members, but also to the larger culture of the region, said the Rev. Anzelm Chalupka, pastor.

“It’s important that people know on the East Side we have beautiful diamonds,” said Chalupka, part of the Pauline Fathers and Brothers community that runs the church.

The Paulines took over its operation in 2004, following the departure of the Conventual Franciscan Friars, who no longer had enough priests available to staff the parish they founded in 1898.

Construction of the current church, built of Onondaga limestone faced with red Medina sandstone, began in 1907 and was completed in 1909, at a cost of $200,000, according to church records.

“You’re never going to see a building built like this again, in terms of a church,” noted Bill Koch, a local preservationist and past president of the Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier. “The artwork on the inside really stands alone. It’s magnificent.”

Amen…come home to an Alive Church!

🙂


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