St. Stephen's Will Be Demolished
1909 - 2003
A South Bend Indiana-i St. István R.K. templomot lebontják. A templomot az első amerikai magyar R.K. templomok közé (1909) lehet sorolni.
St. Stephen's Church in South Bend, Indiana will be demolished. The parish was founded in 1900 by Hungarian immigrants, and ground was broken for the church in 1909.
További információt a lehet a következő helyeken találni:
- St. Stephen's will be demolished
- Hungarian Catholics in America
- The following article originally appeared in the South Bend Tribune under the title
St. Stephen Church will be demolished
Property to be donated to day-care program El Campito.
By ANDREW S. HUGHES
Tribune Staff Writer
SOUTH BEND -- It's the wrecking ball for South Bend's former St. Stephen Catholic Church.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend announced Monday in a press release that the church building at 1102 W. Thomas St. will be razed by the end of the month.
The church closed on May 31, 2003, and its congregation was merged with St. Adalbert and St. Casimir Catholic parishes in South Bend. As recently as January, the 93-year-old building's fate remained undecided in statements by the diocese.
Ziolkowski Construction Co. of South Bend has been hired to demolish the building and dispose of any hazardous materials found on the site.
In its press release, the diocese said the church's property will be donated to El Campito, a day-care program currently housed on the first floor of the former St. Stephen's School, 1024 W. Thomas St. House of Hospitality, a poverty-relief agency modeled on Dorothy Day's Houses of Hospitality, will continue to operate out of the parish's rectory.
In its release, the diocese said the St. Stephen's church building is "near collapsing," and that it's estimated it would cost more than $4 million to repair it and its former school.
"In this case it seems better to spend money on programs for the people instead of raising money to repair and maintain buildings," the Rev. Robert Schulte, diocesan vicar general, said in the release.
Some of St. Stephen's liturgical artifacts have been taken to St. Adalbert's, while its pipe organ was sent to St. Mary of the Lake Catholic Church in Culver and its bells were sent to St. Pius X in Granger. King Richard's Antiques of Atlanta has bought St. Stephen's stained-glass windows, pews, altar and accompanying statuary, pulpit and light fixtures.
Bishop John M. D'Arcy, the press release said, is considering a memorial plaque to honor the Hungarian Catholic immigrants who built St. Stephen.
El Campito intends to build a modern facility on the site, the day-care agency's board president, Kevin Smith, said Monday.
"The other thing it'll allow us to do is expand the number of children we'll be able to serve, and that'll be really positive," he said. "We'll still serve the neighborhood we've been serving (since 1985)."
El Campito, Smith said, also is exploring the possibility of providing Family and Children's Center Inc. with some facilities at the site. Smith said he has been meeting with an architect to discuss possible designs and uses for the new building. A capital campaign will be launched to raise money to pay for the construction.
"We're going through the process of integrating the neighborhood components and looking to see what would work out for the neighborhood as well as for our needs," he said.
After the parish closing in 2003, the Historic Preservation Commission received several nominations from former parishioners requesting that the building be considered for landmark status
"I think it's a fine idea to donate the land to El Campito," HPC assistant director Julie Schutte said Monday. "Again, we do regret to see that such a structure that did provide a lot of spiritual health for the community will be lost. It is very good to see that something will be built on the property that will be used to support members of the community."
Staff writer Andrew S. Hughes:
ahughes@sbtinfo.com