11/30/2025
A rather large post from a closed but not abandoned church in Buffalo, New York, seen as part of a restoration tour group taken back in October; St. John Kanty Church.
St. John Kanty Church began as a parish founded in 1892 to serve the city’s burgeoning Polish immigrant community on the East Side, many of whom previously had to traverse dangerous railroad tracks to reach more distant churches.
The cornerstone for the new brick Gothic-Revival church was laid July 19, 1891 under the design of architect O'Sullivan, and the building was completed and dedicated in November 1892, with seating for roughly 800 parishioners.
From the very beginning the parish operated not only as a house of worship but as a social and educational center: a parish school opened on September 4, 1894, staffed by Felician Sisters and lay teachers, serving some 325 children.
In the early decades of the 20th century the parish flourished alongside the city’s Polish-American community, becoming a focal point of faith, culture, and community life on Buffalo’s “Polonia” East Side. However, the building suffered serious fires — a minor fire in 1948 and a devastating three-alarm blaze on January 12, 1955 — which destroyed the sanctuary’s interior, stained glass, altars, murals, and statuary.
Remarkably, the life-size wooden carving of the Last Supper (originally destined for the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Montreal) survived the inferno, and after reconstruction the sanctuary was redecorated; the artist Józef Mazur created new stained glass windows and murals to restore the interior.
As the decades passed and many parishioners moved away from the neighborhood, the parish adapted: its school merged in 1990 with five other East Side Catholic schools to form a regional school complex, Kolbe Catholic Regional School, and the former school building was repurposed as a senior-center and community center, including the creation of the Mother Angela Dining Room to serve the hungry. The broader parish complex — including the church, convent, lyceum, and rectory — came to symbolize the history of Polish-American life in Buffalo’s East Side.
However, in a dramatic turn, the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo’s plan was suspended in September 2025 when the Dicastery for the Clergy at the Vatican temporarily halted the closure, granting a 90-day window of review while considering the parishioners’ appeal. As of late November 2025, St. John Kanty remains a powerful cultural and historic landmark — recognized on the State and National Registers of Historic Places — and emblematic of Buffalo’s Polish-American heritage, though its future remains uncertain.
Check out the beautiful interior of this wonderful old Catholic church, and cross your fingers that the Diocese does the right thing with it, and not leave it to limbo. Enjoy and have a wonderful Sunday! -Mr. P.
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