Parish celebrates 100 years

On June 1, parishioners of St. Adalbert's Church in Schenectady celebrated its centennial. Among those concelebrating the Mass were Bishop Howard J. Hubbard and Bishop Ryszard Karpinski from Lublin, Poland, the latter reflecting the strong Polish heritage of the parish.

In 1903, St. Adalbert's Church was built atop a hill that overlooks Schenectady in the area known today as Mont Pleasant. Built as a reminder of Our Lady of Czestochowa, the spiritual and cultural focal point of Poland, St. Adalbert's Church has had nine pastors, all of Polish descent.

Rev. John J. Malecki attended St. Adalbert's grammar school during the 1920s and '30s. He said that the education and faith formation he received there as a student directly influenced his decision to become a priest.

"The Sisters of the Resurrection [from Poland] taught in the grade school. They were all selfless, committed, hard-working women," he said. "Sister Adolphine Grono taught me in the sixth and seventh grades. She was the reason I became a priest. She was 'thermonuclear energy' personified."

The current pastor is a life-long parishioner, Rev. Carl Urban. He has led the parish since 1974. That year, he initiated the first Polka Mass ever celebrated in New York State. A polka group provided music at the Mass that was televised, and miniature babki were distributed and shared by parish families at their Thanksgiving dinners. Among other accomplishments, Father Urban reorganized the Parish Council, expanded the religious education program, appointed a lay teacher as director, established a folk choir and helped parishioners write a parish constitution. More recently, he has led efforts to keep the parish neighborhood safe by waging wars against drug dealers and strip-tease establishments.

Joyce Solimini, associate director of Sacramental and Family Catechesis for the diocesan Office of Evangelization and Catechesis, is the lay teacher that Father Urban appointed to head up the religious ed program in 1975. She grew up in St. Adalbert's parish.

"In those days, we were concerned with developing the new guidelines of the Second Vatican Council," she recalled. "Integrating them with our existing program, particularly in the grade school, seemed a monumental job. Father Urban was instrumental in that development."

(6/05/03) [[In-content Ad]]