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NM Fan 164M4 M" United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number R Pape 7 St. Casimir Parish Historic District OW AXNWW Na 146=6 ` St. Joseph County IN in which they hoped to find solace. Abandoned by the unions, reviled by the native—born community at large, and slighted by the church that had been the center of their world in the old country: it is little wonder that the Polish (and likewise the equally—scorned Hungarians) turned inward and remained insular for many decades. Polonia, South Bend's westside immigrant community, was virtually a world unto itself until well after World War II. Some religious difficulties originated with the plight of the workers and growing nativism in the larger community, as well as the Catholic hierarchy. As likely, though, the Polish --along with some Hungarian --immigrants were troubled by the church's relationship to the mother country, still in bondage in Europe. Even more importantly, many parishioners, while respecting the Pope's authority, wanted more autonomy --at least a voice in decisions of local import. A group of Polish immigrants, many from the adjacent St. Adalbert's parish (established in 1911) to the northwest as well as some from St. Casimir's, followed the lead of their Hungarian fellows and met in the summer of 1913 to discuss the formation of an independent Polish Catholic Church. That fall, the dissident immigrants selected a committee to establish a new parish under the jurisdiction of Bishop Hodur in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where the Polish National Catholic Church in America was begun in 1897. The Polish National Catholic Church of St. Mary of the Holy Rosary was established the following year and purchased property on the northwest corner of Sample and Kosciuszko streets, where its followers began the construction of a new church in 1915, finally completed in 1921. A Polish National Hall was built immediately adjacent to the north. The church and its hall remain today, its priest the third generation of his family to serve St. Mary's. Meanwhile, other of St. Casimir's parishioners continued to try to work within the constraints imposed by the diocese in Fort Wayne, placing their requests in petitions to the bishop. In the summer of 1913, the diocese transferred St. Casimir's parish priest to nearby St. Hedwig's, prompting the parishioners to ask that the popular assistant pastor Father Leon Szybowicz (or Szbowicz) be appointed to fill the position. Accounts vary widely as to exactly what action took place when and in what order, but the bishop in Fort Wayne refused to honor the petition and sent another priest to St. Casimir's. Father Boniface Iwaszewski (or Iwasewski), who resigned after a short time because of ill health. A second petition to appoint Father • • r1