Reverend Joseph F. Cieminski (II)

Old SS. Peter and Paul Church,
Duluth, MN

In 1910, Father Cieminski transferred to Duluth, Minnesota, to serve as pastor to the troubled parish of Saints Peter and Paul. According to the 1917 Acta et Dicta of the Saint Paul Catholic History Society (vol. 2, page 262), Duluth's second Polish Catholic church had become a battleground between the Diocese of Duluth and a group of "independent" parishioners determined to bring it into the Polish National Catholic Church. Already a group of "independents" had seceded from Duluth's first Polish Catholic church, Saint Mary Star of the Sea, resulting in the 1907 foundation of Saint Josephat's Polish National Church. The legal battle over Saints Peter and Paul had been won, but Father Cieminski had to spend the next five years putting the parish back in order.

1915 saw Father Cieminski moving to another trouble spot, the parish of Holy Cross in Minneapolis, founded in 1886 by his mentor and friend, Father Pacholski. Holy Cross had been in turmoil for several years, due to a scandal involving (or not involving) its longtime pastor, Father Henryk Jazdzewski. Sensing an opportunity, a faction of "independents" had already broken away from Holy Cross and founded Sacred Heart Polish National Church. Again, Father Cieminski was called upon to heal a congregation and bring it safely back to the fold.

In 1932, Father Cieminski, now aged 65, replaced the late Father Pacholski as pastor of Saint Stanislaus Kostka in WInona. For the first time in his career as a priest, Father Cieminski had the enviable task of building upon an already rock solid foundation. Nor did he need to worry about following in Father Pacholski's giant footsteps. For one thing, he was Kaszubian born and Winona raised; for another, he had drawn some of the very toughest parish assignments in three separate dioceses and succeeded every time. In 1943, his exemplary efforts were rewarded when Pope Pius XII raised him to the rank of Monsignor. In 1946, his retirement after fifty-one years in the priesthood was celebrated with an outpouring of gratitude of respect from his parishioners, his fellow priests, and the Winona community.

Father Joseph F. Cieminski died in a Saint James, Minnesota retirement facility on November 19, 1959. Over his ninety-two years he had experienced - and taken an integral part in - dramatic changes for both the Roman Catholic Church in Minnesota and the Kaszubian community of the Upper Mississippi Valley. He lies buried in Winona, among other members of the Cieminski family, in Saint Mary's Cemetery.

Reverend Joseph F. Cieminski (I)

Jozef Franciszek Darzyn Cieminski was born on August 4, 1867 in the Kaszubian village of Borzyszkowy, which is in the parish of Bytow. He was the first of ten children born to Franciszek and Maryanna Darzyn Cieminski, who emigrated from Prussian Poland to the United States in 1881 aboard the paddle steamer Grimsby.  The humble peasant boy's fifty-one years as a Roman Catholic priest would take him from the post of archdiocesan Secretary to the rectory of a Polish colony on the Minnesota frontier, and from Minneapolis troubleshooter to respected patriarch of Winona's Kaszubian Polish community. Kaszubian born and American educated, Father Joseph F. Cieminski exemplified through his long and accomplished life the hard work and achievements of America's Kaszubian Polish community.

Young Jozef studied in Winona schools until he went away to seminary. He was then ordained in Saint Paul, in 1895. Father Cieminski's first assignment was as secretary to Reverend John Ireland, first Archbishop of Saint Paul. The strong-minded Archbishop Ireland, it should be noted, was no admirer of Eastern Europeans, or of Poles in particular. But Father Cieminski's talents were soon needed elsewhere. His first parish assignment transferred him to Saint Stanislaus Kostka in the newly established Diocese of Winona, where he served as assistant to the pastor, Father James W.J. Pacholski. The fact that Archbishop Ireland dispatched his secretary out of the diocese to work alongside the extremely capable Father Pacholski suggests that the disturbances at Saint Stanislaus were more substantial than the records (at least those presently available to me) would indicate.

Father Cieminski's next assignment, in Wilno, Minnesota, returned him to the Archdiocese of Saint Paul. The Polish colony in Wilno had been established in 1883 under the auspices of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. It represented an attempt to steer underemployed Polish-American urbanites into the Archdiocese's wide-open western spaces; an outstanding recent article by John Radzilowski treats Wilno as an exemplar of Polish-American farm life. Radzilowski also chronicles Archbishop Ireland's ham-fisted attempt to control Wilno's Saint John Cantius parish by replacing a popular Polish-speaking priest with an unfortunate Bohemian priest who (due solely to his ethnicity) was run out of the parish in some time. 

From 1896 to 1902, Father Jan Andrzejewski had labored to build for St. John Cantius what Father Waclaw Kruszka describes as "a new, spacious, and magnificent temple," only to depart just before the building's consecration in a confrontation (according to the 1983 Parish Jubilee Book) over the church organ. Arriving in 1902, Father Cieminski brought the parish back into line despite the fact that Father Andrezejewski remained in Wilno for quite some time. In 1906, Father Cieminski also engaged the School Sisters of Saint Francis from Rochester (otherwise known as the Rochester Franciscans) to staff Saint John Cantius's elementary school. In 1907 Father Cieminski was recalled by the Diocese of WInona as pastor of Saint Casimir's Church in Wells, Minnesota. It would be nice to think his three years in the little Faribault County town were free of any major troubles. Two extremely challenging assignments lay ahead in the near future.
In 1910, Father Cieminski transferred to Duluth, Minnesota, to serve as pastor to the troubled parish of Saints Peter and Paul. According to the 1917 Acta et Dicta of the Saint Paul Catholic History Society (vol. 2, page 262), Duluth's second Polish Catholic church had become a battleground between the Diocese of Duluth and a group of "independent" parishioners determined to bring it into the Polish National Catholic Church. Already a group of "independents" had seceded from Duluth's first Polish Catholic church, Saint Mary Star of the Sea, resulting in the 1907 foundation of Saint Josephat's Polish National Church. The legal battle over Saints Peter and Paul had been won, but Father Cieminski had to spend the next five years putting the parish back in order.

1915 saw Father Cieminski moving to another trouble spot, the parish of Holy Cross in Minneapolis, founded in 1886 by his mentor and friend, Father Pacholski. Holy Cross had been in turmoil for several years, due to a scandal involving (or not involving) its longtime pastor, Father Henryk Jazdzewski. Sensing an opportunity, a faction of "independents" had already broken away from Holy Cross and founded Sacred Heart Polish National Church. Again, Father Cieminski was called upon to heal a congregation and bring it safely back to the fold.

In 1932, Father Cieminski, now aged 65, replaced the late Father Pacholski as pastor of Saint Stanislaus Kostka in WInona. For the first time in his career as a priest, Father Cieminski had the enviable task of building upon an already rock solid foundation. Nor did he need to worry about following in Father Pacholski's giant footsteps. For one thing, he was Kaszubian born and Winona raised; for another, he had drawn some of the very toughest parish assignments in three separate dioceses and succeeded every time. In 1943, his exemplary efforts were rewarded when Pope Pius XII raised him to the rank of Monsignor. In 1946, his retirement after fifty-one years in the priesthood was celebrated with an outpouring of gratitude of respect from his parishioners, his fellow priests, and the Winona community.

Father Joseph F. Cieminski died in a Saint James, Minnesota retirement facility on November 19, 1959. Over his ninety-two years he had experienced - and taken an integral part in - dramatic changes for both the Roman Catholic Church in Minnesota and the Kaszubian community of the Upper Mississippi Valley. He lies buried in Winona, among other members of the Cieminski family, in Saint Mary's Cemetery.

Reverend James W. Gara

Jakub (James) Gara was born on March 3, 1875 in the coal mining village of Jawiszowice, which is roughly 50 miles west of Krakow in modern Poland. He was one of ten children born to Jan and Sofia (Chromik) Gara; his older brother Andrew (1859-1922) was also a priest of the Diocese of La Crosse. Unlike Andrew, who studied for the priesthood in Rome before being ordained at La Crosse, Jakub pursued his vocation after emigrating to America in 1893. After attending seminaries in Detroit and then Milwaukee, Jakub was ordained to the priesthood on January 6, 1898 at La Crosse.

Father Gara's first few years as a priest were spent pastoring small parishes in the logging towns of northern Wisconsin. On June 19, 1904 he became pastor of Sacred Heart-Saint Wenceslaus Church in the largely Kashubian community of Pine Creek, Wisconsin. Until this time, it was common for Polish-speaking priests to move frequently from one parish to another. Father Gara's longest serving predecessor, Father Dominik Majer, had been pastor in Pine Creek for six years, from 1878 to 1884. His own older brother, Father Andrew Gara, had served the parish from 1898 to 1901. Father James Gara would serve as pastor of Sacred Heart-Saint Wenceslaus until his death at the age of 62 on December 29, 1937.

As pastor of Sacred Heart-Saint Wenceslaus, Father Gara was of course at the center of the local Catholic community. In these days, the word of the pastor in a Roman Catholic parish was virtually law. Since Pine Creek and the nearby town of Dodge were nearly 100% Roman Catholic, this role was even more significant. Although the majority of his parishioners spoke Kashubian Polish as their native language, and not "good" Polish, Father Gara immediately became the honored and revered leader of Dodge-Pine Creek's Catholics. Sacred Heart-Saint Wenceslaus's buildings and furnishings were maintained in excellent shape, and new structures were built as needed. The parish itself remained debt free, no small accomplishment during the Great Depression. Father Gara's forceful preaching and powerful oratory were also well known across the river among Winona's Kaszubian Polish community; as Rector of the Pine Creek Deanery he provided crucial assistance to the Bishop of the La Crosse Diocese.

Yet Father Gara's devotion to Sacred Heart-Saint Wenceslaus was most obvious in his everyday attention to his people's spiritual needs. Over his more than three decades as pastor he performed countless baptisms, weddings and funerals. He heard thousands upon thousands of hours' worth of confessions. He was always prepared to go out and attend to a parishioner in distress, regardless of the time or the distance involved. Despite his high status in the community, Father Gara always remained a man of the people. Ron Galewski recounts how the popular priest enjoyed stopping by the saloons of Dodge and Pine Creek to buy a round for the house, and laughed as the lucky beneficiaries joked about where their Sunday collection money was going.

Years of this service took its toll on Father Gara's health. On June 24, 1936, he was elevated to the rank of Domestic Prelate by Pope Pius XI, with the title of Monsignor. On September 21, 1936 he was formally invested in this role at Sacred Heart-Saint Wenceslaus by Bishop Alexander J. McGavick of LaCrosse, as around one hundred area priests and other dignitaries looked on. Yet shortly afterward, the new Monsignor Gara was assigned an assistant pastor to help him in his duties. On December 7, 1937, Monsignor Gara was admitted to Saint Francis Hospital in La Crosse. He insisted on returning to his beloved parish for the Christmas services but was forced to go back to the hospital in days. He would not live to see the new year.

More than 1,500 people attended Monsignor Gara's funeral at Sacred Heart-Saint Wenceslaus on January 3, 1938. The mourners included priests and nuns from all around Wisconsin and Minnesota, other local dignitaries, and (of course) his beloved parishioners. According to the Winona Republican-Herald for January 5, 1938, many of those in attendance had to stand outside the church. He lies buried among his flock in Sacred Heart Cemetery, where his grave looks out over the church and the countryside he loved and served so well and for so long. Out of all the selfless priests and sisters and brothers who have served Sacred Heart-Saint Wenceslaus over its 150 years of existence, Monsignor James W. Gara best exemplifies the role they have played in the life of the parish.