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*Roman Catholicism was of course the dominant religion among early 20th-century Buffalo Poles, but it wasn't the only one. Starting in 1914, Buffalo was also one of the major national hotspots of the '''Polish National Catholic Church''', a controversial breakaway sect whose local outpost was the {{marker|type=see|name=Holy Mother of the Rosary Polish National Cathedral|lat=42.899095|long=-78.832881|url=http://www.madania.org|zoom=17}} (170 Sobieski St.) Built in 1906 to a design by architect Sidney Woodruff, the building presents an adaptation of the Gothic style to the Polish Cathedral structural template: the requisite twin steeples are present, but with ogee-arched stained glass windows in the base and simple yet handsome wheel windows further up. You'll also notice an unusual, ornamental blind arcade of Gothic arches stretching across the length of the [[Medina (New York)|Medina]] sandstone facade, above the entrance and below an understated yet lovely oculus that stands in place of a rose window. Until 2005, the aesthetic was completed by a pair of handsome Gothic spires atop the steeples; these were removed in 2005 by the building's current owner, the '''Darul-Uloom Al-Madania Institute of Higher Islamic Education''', and the towers were refashioned into minarets capped with small, octagonal, domed cupolas. Inside there were once no fewer than twenty frescoes as well as a set of exquisitely sculpted Stations of the Cross, all done by local religious artist Jozef Mazur; those were removed from the building when the congregation sold it in 1993.
*Roman Catholicism was of course the dominant religion among early 20th-century Buffalo Poles, but it wasn't the only one. Starting in 1914, Buffalo was also one of the major national hotspots of the '''Polish National Catholic Church''', a controversial breakaway sect whose local outpost was the {{marker|type=see|name=Holy Mother of the Rosary Polish National Cathedral|lat=42.899095|long=-78.832881|url=http://www.madania.org|zoom=17}} (170 Sobieski St.) Built in 1906 to a design by architect Sidney Woodruff, the building presents an adaptation of the Gothic style to the Polish Cathedral structural template: the requisite twin steeples are present, but with ogee-arched stained glass windows in the base and simple yet handsome wheel windows further up. You'll also notice an unusual, ornamental blind arcade of Gothic arches stretching across the length of the [[Medina (New York)|Medina]] sandstone facade, above the entrance and below an understated yet lovely oculus that stands in place of a rose window. Until 2005, the aesthetic was completed by a pair of handsome Gothic spires atop the steeples; these were removed in 2005 by the building's current owner, the '''Darul-Uloom Al-Madania Institute of Higher Islamic Education''', and the towers were refashioned into minarets capped with small, octagonal, domed cupolas. Inside there were once no fewer than twenty frescoes as well as a set of exquisitely sculpted Stations of the Cross, all done by local religious artist Jozef Mazur; those were removed from the building when the congregation sold it in 1993.
−
:Holy Mother of the Rosary's story begins with '''Saint Adalbert''', the first new parish established in Polonia after St. Stan's, in 1886. This was a troubled church
,
with a
congregation
that
was constantly plagued by infighting. The question of who owned and controlled the church building and grounds — the diocese or the parishioners
themselves
whose donations helped build and maintain them — led to a revolving door of unpopular priests who tried and failed to maintain order among their flock, and finally, in 1895, to the anti-diocesan faction splitting from both the church and the Diocese. They banded together and bought a plot of land a block away from St. Adalbert's, and so it was that Buffalo's first "independent Catholic" church was founded. Father Stefan Kaminski soon arrived from [[Poconos and Endless Mountains|northeast Pennsylvania]] to lead the new parish, and with a fiery zeal — not to mention ''Warta'' ("Guard" or "Sentry"), the church's own self-financed newspaper that he spearheaded — he defended his flock against the insults, jeering and occasional violence that they endured from the rest of the community. In 1903, when the hastily constructed and overcrowded frame church in which they had heretofore worshiped was claimed by fire, Father Kaminski seized the opportunity to begin construction of a proper home for his congregation. The present-day church building was dedicated three years later.
+
:Holy Mother of the Rosary's story begins with '''Saint Adalbert''', the first new parish established in Polonia after St. Stan's, in 1886. This was a troubled church
whose
congregation was constantly plagued by infighting. The question of who owned and controlled the church building and grounds — the diocese
,
or the parishioners whose donations helped build and maintain them — led to a revolving door of unpopular priests who tried and failed to maintain order among their flock, and finally, in 1895, to the anti-diocesan faction splitting from both the church and the Diocese. They banded together and bought a plot of land a block away from St. Adalbert's, and so it was that Buffalo's first "independent Catholic" church was founded. Father Stefan Kaminski soon arrived from [[Poconos and Endless Mountains|northeast Pennsylvania]] to lead the new parish, and with a fiery zeal — not to mention ''Warta'' ("Guard" or "Sentry"), the church's own self-financed newspaper that he spearheaded — he defended his flock against the insults, jeering and occasional violence that they endured from the rest of the community. In 1903, when the hastily constructed and overcrowded frame church in which they had heretofore worshiped was claimed by fire, Father Kaminski seized the opportunity to begin construction of a proper home for his congregation. The present-day church building was dedicated three years later.
:Father Kaminski died in 1911, and fatefully, his successor would prove to have a far less steady hand in leading the growing church — in just two years' time, it was so plagued by financial troubles that it defaulted on the mortgage of the church, and the city foreclosed. The Catholic Diocese, seeing an opportunity to crush the renegade inependent church for good, put in the highest bid on the property at the ensuing foreclosure auction, and in September 1913, the new '''Queen of the Most Holy Rosary''' mainstream Roman Catholic Church said its first Mass in the former Independent Church.
:Father Kaminski died in 1911, and fatefully, his successor would prove to have a far less steady hand in leading the growing church — in just two years' time, it was so plagued by financial troubles that it defaulted on the mortgage of the church, and the city foreclosed. The Catholic Diocese, seeing an opportunity to crush the renegade inependent church for good, put in the highest bid on the property at the ensuing foreclosure auction, and in September 1913, the new '''Queen of the Most Holy Rosary''' mainstream Roman Catholic Church said its first Mass in the former Independent Church.
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:Their dispute with the Roman Catholic Diocese resolved for good, Holy Mother of the Rosary settled into a quiet and stable period as just another East Side Polish church. And, similar to its neighbors, as the 20th Century wore on the decline of and demographic changes in old Polonia made it more and more difficult for the church to continue on in its present location. In 1992, the congregation finally approved the move to the suburbs that it had been contemplating for a long time, and three years later the new Holy Mother of the Rosary Cathedral in [[Lancaster (New York)|Lancaster]] opened for worship. As coincidence would have it, the congregation found a willing buyer in Dr. Mohammed Memon, imam of Darul-Uloom Al-Madaniya, an Islamic seminary that had recently vacated its former premises on Best Street in the Fruit Belt. Darul-Uloom has proven to be an exemplary steward of the handsome old building, putting in $200,000 worth of renovations to the complex as well as bringing a new stability to the neighborhood with an influx of immigrants, largely from [[Saudi Arabia]]. In addition to the seminary which occupies Holy Mother of the Rosary's former school and rectory, the church itself is used as their mosque, '''Masjid Zakariya'''.
:Their dispute with the Roman Catholic Diocese resolved for good, Holy Mother of the Rosary settled into a quiet and stable period as just another East Side Polish church. And, similar to its neighbors, as the 20th Century wore on the decline of and demographic changes in old Polonia made it more and more difficult for the church to continue on in its present location. In 1992, the congregation finally approved the move to the suburbs that it had been contemplating for a long time, and three years later the new Holy Mother of the Rosary Cathedral in [[Lancaster (New York)|Lancaster]] opened for worship. As coincidence would have it, the congregation found a willing buyer in Dr. Mohammed Memon, imam of Darul-Uloom Al-Madaniya, an Islamic seminary that had recently vacated its former premises on Best Street in the Fruit Belt. Darul-Uloom has proven to be an exemplary steward of the handsome old building, putting in $200,000 worth of renovations to the complex as well as bringing a new stability to the neighborhood with an influx of immigrants, largely from [[Saudi Arabia]]. In addition to the seminary which occupies Holy Mother of the Rosary's former school and rectory, the church itself is used as their mosque, '''Masjid Zakariya'''.
−
''Continue down Sobieski Street, then make your first left at '''Stanislaus Street''' and go a block and a half to the next stop on the tour. On-street parking should be easy to find, but if you prefer to park in a lot turn down '''Rother Street''' (your first left after Sobieski) — there's one behind the church.''
+
''Continue down Sobieski Street, then make your first left at '''Stanislaus Street''' and go a block and a half to the next stop on the tour. On-street parking should be easy to find, but if you
'd
prefer to park in a lot
,
turn down '''Rother Street''' (your first left after Sobieski) — there's one behind the church.''
*Saving an old East Side church doesn't necessarily require the congregation to persevere through hard times, nor does the Diocese necessarily have to find a responsible buyer with the financial resources to not let the building go to pot. There's a third option that has been used several times to preserve churches in the responsible hands of the Diocese even when there aren't enough worshipers to sustain congregations of their own: oftentimes they are repurposed as '''oratories''', or worship spaces that are linked to a full-fledged parish nearby and used by them for various functions such as weddings, funerals, and special-event Masses. Converting former churches to oratories is usually less controversial than closing them outright, but it can still generate a degree of resentment among the parish community who will now be displaced into a merged congregation in an unfamiliar building. That's precisely what happened in 2011 to {{marker|type=see|name=St. Adalbert Catholic Basilica|lat=42.897474|long=-78.831464|url=http://www.saintadalbertbasilica.org|zoom=17}} (212 Stanislaus St.), the largest church in Buffalo to have been repurposed in this way.
*Saving an old East Side church doesn't necessarily require the congregation to persevere through hard times, nor does the Diocese necessarily have to find a responsible buyer with the financial resources to not let the building go to pot. There's a third option that has been used several times to preserve churches in the responsible hands of the Diocese even when there aren't enough worshipers to sustain congregations of their own: oftentimes they are repurposed as '''oratories''', or worship spaces that are linked to a full-fledged parish nearby and used by them for various functions such as weddings, funerals, and special-event Masses. Converting former churches to oratories is usually less controversial than closing them outright, but it can still generate a degree of resentment among the parish community who will now be displaced into a merged congregation in an unfamiliar building. That's precisely what happened in 2011 to {{marker|type=see|name=St. Adalbert Catholic Basilica|lat=42.897474|long=-78.831464|url=http://www.saintadalbertbasilica.org|zoom=17}} (212 Stanislaus St.), the largest church in Buffalo to have been repurposed in this way.