For years, Polish and Mexican parishioners fought shoulder to shoulder to save St. Adalbert’s Church. Now they are fighting to keep the statue there. “I’m ready to lock myself at the door.”
PEARSON — Parishioners have pledged to stop the Archdiocese of Chicago from removing a beloved statue from a former Catholic church in Pearson they are trying to save.
About 16 former parishioners gathered outside St. Adalbert’s Church at 1650 West 17th Street on Friday morning after Rosemary Dominguez, a protester at St. Church Door.
Judy Vasquez, who also lives in Pilsen, said she was told archdiocese officials were responsible for removing a copy of Michelangelo’s La Pieta statue in the former St. Adalbert’s Church, prompting former parishioners to protest. According to a representative of the archdiocese, she plans to move it to the Catholic Church of St. Paul in Pilsen.
In 2016, the Archdiocese announced that it would merge the six Pilsen churches into three. As part of the merger, St. Adalbert will close. The archdiocese cited demographic changes, low mass attendance and a reduction in the number of priests as reasons for the restructuring.
Polish and Mexican parishioners fought for years to save the church, founded in 1874 by Polish immigrants and completed in 1912 in Pilsen. In 2019, the church held its last Mass.
As the two women supported the wooden blocks on the church gate on the west side of the church, a janitor told them they had no right to stand in the way of efforts to remove the statue.
Representatives of the archdiocese said in a statement that they plan to move it to the nearby St. Paul’s Church, “a lively, vibrant church in the same area of Pilsen.”
“Parishioners will be able to worship in their new homes and better enjoy the sculpture. In addition, this precious treasure of the community can be better protected and preserved in the current parish church,” representatives of the archdiocese said.
But Dominguez said residents and groups such as the St. Adalbert Preservation Society, the Resurrection Project and the Polish National Union have been trying to discuss with the archdiocese how to move forward with building the property.
The transfer of the statue to St. Paul raised concerns among parishioners about whether the archdiocese would properly close the hole after the removal of the statue, and whether this would hasten the removal of the parish.
Vasquez said she believes that if the statue is removed, it should be “given to the Polish community and allowed to live in one of their churches” because it was founded by Polish immigrants.
Although the former Polish and Mexican parishioners of St. Adalbert’s often speak different languages, the struggle for the church has brought them closer, Mendez says.
“When they sing, we sing along with them and follow their rhythm, and when we sing, they follow our rhythm, and it’s a great community,” Mendes said.
Josefa Reyes, a longtime active parishioner of St. Adalbert’s, said their ultimate goal is to reopen the churches.
“This is a beautiful church and we have so many memories here. I ask with all my heart that it be opened,” she said.
In the past four years, the Archdiocese of Chicago has entered into a real estate deal twice—once to a music school and once to a real estate developer—but both deals fell through.
The property, including the sanctuary, rectory, monastery, school and parking lot, is located on 2.1 acres in the heart of a changing community.
Alder. Byron Sigcio-Lopez (25th) has been working for years to reduce the zoning of the church grounds in order to force any developer to interact with neighbors from Pilsen and former parishioners of the Church of St. Adalbert.
Sigcho-López’s ordinance was passed by the zoning committee in May, although a spokesman for the archdiocese at the time stated that if passed, the city could sue the city. It was supposed to take place before the next meeting of the city council, but the mayor’s supporters blocked the vote.
Sigcho-Lopez then filed a complaint with the Office of the Inspector General against Mayor Laurie Lightfoot, accusing the mayor of interfering with the rezoning to help the archdiocese.
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