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Who Is the Church? Conflict in a Polish Immigrant Parish in Late Nineteenth-Century Detroit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2009

Leslie Woodcock Tentler
Affiliation:
University of MichiganDearborn

Extract

Early on the cold morning of Wednesday, December 2, 1885, a crowd beganto gather in the forecourt of a handsome brick church on the outskirts ofDetroit. The church, only recently blessed, was the Polish Roman Catholicchurch of Saint Albertus; the crowd, eventually numbering perhaps eighthundred, were Polish immigrants. Most of them were women. Shortly after 6:00, seven policemen marched into the convent opposite the church and soon emerged escorting two Polish priests. The group moved toward the church, but at the church steps the crowd—“the women,” according to witnesses—began to jeer at and jostle the priests, and even pelted them with gravel. The police responded vigorously, but they and the priests were pushed from the door several times before they were finally able to enter.

Type
Religious Dissidents
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1983

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References

1 The narrative here and in the next three paragraphs is drawn from Detroit Evening News, 2 12 1885, 1:4–5; Detroit Evening Journal, 2 12 1885, 1:1–2; Detroit Free Press, 3 12 1885, 5:2–3; Detroit Tribune, 3 12 1885, 1:2–3.

2 Detroit Evening News, 2 12 1885, 1:4–5.

3 Detroit Evening News, 1 12 1885, 4:1; Detroit Evening Journal, 1 12 1885,1:3; Detroit Free Press, 2 12 1885, 5:2–3; Detroit Tribune, 2 12 1885, 2:5.

4 Smith, Timothy L., “Religious Denominations as Ethnic Communities: A Regional CaseStudy,” Church History, 35:2 (06 1966), 226;CrossRefGoogle ScholarDolan, Jay P., The Immigrant Church: NewYork's Irish and German Catholics, 1815–1865 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975);Google ScholarGalush, William, “Faith and Fatherland: Dimensions of Polish-American Ethnoreligion,1875–1925,” in Immigrants and Religion in Urban America, Miller, Randall and Mar-zik, Thomas, eds. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1977);Google Scholaridem, “Forming Polonia: A Study ofFour Polish-American Communities, 1890–1914“ (Ph.D. diss., University of Minnesota, 1975).Google Scholar See also Smith, Timothy L., “Lay Initiative in the Religious Life of American Immigrants,1880–1950,” in Anonymous Americans, Hareven, Tamara, ed. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Pren-tice-Hall, 1971).Google Scholar

5 Carey, Patrick, “The Laity's Understanding of the Trustee System, 1785–1855,” The Cath-olic Historical Review, 64:3 (07 1978), 357–76;Google ScholarDolan, , Immigrant Church, 87–98;Google ScholarGalush, ,“Forming Polonia,” 58–59;Google ScholarJames Hennesey, S. J.., American Catholics: A History of theRoman Catholic Community in the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), 93100;Google ScholarLinkh, Richard M., American Catholicism and European Immigrants, 1900–1924(Staten Island: Center for Migration Studies, 1976), 106–7;Google ScholarMcAvoy, Thomas T., A History of theCatholic Church in the United States (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1969), 92125;Google ScholarMcNamara, Robert F., “Trusteeism in the Atlantic States, 1785–1863,” CatholicHistorical Review, 30 (07 1944), 135–54;Google ScholarStritch, Alfred G., “Trusteeism in the Old North-west, 1800–1850,” Catholic Historical Review, 30 (07 1944), 155164;Google ScholarTomasi, Silvano M., Piety and Power: The Role of the Italian Parishes in the New York Metropolitan Area,1880–1930 (Staten Island: Center for Migration Studies, 1975), 148–53.Google Scholar For late nineteenth-century conflicts in a German and in a French-Canadian parish in Detroit, see Detroit Evening News, 10 12 1885, 1:1; Detroit Sunday News, 17 04 1892, 3:3; Detroit Evening News, 21 04 1892, 5:3–4; 29 October 1892, 7:3; 16 01 1893, 4:4; 18 01 1893, 5:3; 24 071893, 4:6; Detroit Free Press, 11 12 1885, 5:4.

6 Buczek, Daniel S., “Polish-Americans and the Roman Catholic Church,” The Polish Re-view, 21:3 (1976), 4749;Google ScholarGalush, , “Faith and Fatherland,” 90Google Scholar; Greene, Victor R., For God andCountry: The Rise of Polish and Lithuanian Ethnic Consciousness in America (Madison: StateHistorical Society of Wisconsin, 1975), 100121;Google ScholarKantowicz, Edward R., “Polish Chicago:Survival through Solidarity,” in The Ethnic Frontier, Holli, Melvin G. and Jones, Peter d'A, eds,(Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977), 194–95;Google ScholarOrzell, Laurence, “A Minority within a Minority: The Polish National Catholic Church, 1896–1907,” Polish-American Studies, 36:1 (Spring 1979), 915;Google ScholarSkendzel, Edward Adam, The KolasinskiStory (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Littleshield Press, 1979), 4142;Google ScholarThomas, W. I. and Znaniecki, Florian, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America (New York: Dover Publications, 1958), II, 1528–30, 1551–53. See also Detroit Sunday News, 26 01 1890, 1:6; Detroit EveningNews, 3 02 1890, 2:3; 15 June 1892, 2:3; Detroit Sunday News, 19 06 1892, 2:6; Detroit Evening News, 22 06 1894, 3:1; 20 August 1894, 3:1.Google Scholar

7 Detroit Evening News, 11 01 1886, 3:5; 4 May 1889, 1:4; 6 May 1889, 1:1; 13 May1889, 1:5; 23 October 1889, 1:3; 25 March 1890, 2:3; Detroit Sunday News-Tribune, 4 October 1896,8:4; Detroit Evening News, 24 11 1896, 4:1; 25 November 1896, 4:3; 4 011897,4:3; 5 January 1897, 6:5; 8 January 1897, 4:4; 9 January 1897, 4:4; Detroit Sunday News-Tribune, 10 01 1897, 8:3; Detroit Evening News, 11 01 1897, 4:8; Detroit SundayNews-Tribune, 17 01 1897, 8:4; Detroit Evening News, 20 01 1897, 3:3; 21 011897, 4:2; 22 01 1897, 4:3; 25 01 1897, 4:1; 2 February 1897, 4:5; Detroit SundayNews-Tribune, 7 02 1897, 8:3; Detroit Evening News, 8 02 1897, 4:2; Detroit Sunday News-Tribune, 21 02 1897, 8:4; Detroit Evening News, 22 02 1897, 4:1; 2 March 1897, 4:1; 3 March 1897, 4:5; 29 March 1897, 6:4; 3 04 1897, 4:3; 12 04 1897, 8:1;7 01 1898, 6:2; 21 February 1898, 4:1.

8 Galush, , “Forming Polonia,” 65–68;Google ScholarOrzell, , “Minority within a Minority,” 5–32.Google Scholar

9 Galush, “Faith and Fatherland,” 90–91; Greene, , For God and Country, 100–101;Google Scholar Kan-towicz, “Polish Chicago,” 192–95.

10 Curran, Thomas J., “The Immigrant Influence on the Roman Catholic Church: New York, a Test Case,” in An American Church: Essays on the Americanization of the Catholic Church,Alvarez, David J., ed. (Moraga, Calif.: St. Mary's College of California, 1979), 125128;Google ScholarDolan, , Immigrant Church, 89, 92–93;Google ScholarHennesey, , American Catholics, 97–100.Google Scholar

11 William Galush has worked in Polish archives with an eye to locating parish disputes inPoland similar to those which occurred in Polish parishes in the United States. The singleexample he reports, in Galicia in 1914, was in some important respects different from the typicalparish quarrel in the American setting. He does find in Galicia, where the clergy were closelyallied with the state, the beginnings of an anticlericalism among elements of the peasantry thatsometimes led to demands for greater lay control of parish life. Galush, , “Forming Polonia,” 27, 43.Google Scholar

12 McNamara, , “Trusteeism,” 135–54.Google Scholar

13 Stritch, , “Trusteeism,” 155–64.Google Scholar

14 George, Pare, The Catholic Church in Detroit, 1701–1888 (Detroit: Gabriel Richard Press, 1951), 527–61;Google ScholarSwastek, Joseph, Detroit's Oldest Polish Parish: St. Albertus, Detroit, Michigan,1872–1972 (n.p., n.p., n.d.), 4144;Google ScholarDetroit Evening News, 3 05 1887, 4:1–3; 30 04 1890,7:1, 8:2; Detroit Free Press. 3 05 1887, 1:5–7.

15 Aside from occasional single editions, no copies of Detroit's Polish-language newspaperssurvive from the nineteenth century. There is, therefore, no adequate substitute, as a principalsource of my narrative, for local English-language newspapers, though I am aware of theweaknesses of such sources. Fortunately, there were in the late 1880s and 1890s four English-language dailies in Detroit, and each covered the dispute at Saint Albertus and its lengthyaftermath attentively. For nearly all important public events in the history of the long disputethere were, then, at least four eyewitnesses who recorded their perceptions, and if they wereindividually not wholly satisfactory witnesses, each testimony can be checked against that of theothers to good effect. I have not reported incidents that were not attested to by at least twonewspaper sources, and usually more than two. Fortunately too, the English-language dailieswere used by leaders on both sides of the dispute to present their positions to a larger cityaudience.

Orton's, Lawrence D. recent study, Polish Detroit and the Kolasinski Affair (Detroit: WayneState University Press, 1981), provides a narrative of Kolasinski's career between 1882 and1898. Orton's concerns in his book are substantially different from mine here, and our conclu-sions differ as well. “The Kolasinski affair,” he writes, “was essentially the story of one man'sstruggle to vindicate himself and triumph at all costs. Although there can be no doubt thatKolasinski cared deeply for the welfare of his congregation, circumstances made them pawns inthe struggle between their stubborn pastor and two strong-willed bishops” (p. 157). I find theparishioners considerably more important as independent actors in the Kolasinski drama thanOrton does.Google Scholar

For the history of the initial dispute and subsequent formation of an “independent” parishfrom the point of view of the children and grandchildren of the disputants, see 50cio LetniaRocznica Parafii Najstodszego Serca Marii Panny, 1890–1940” (Detroit: n.p., ca. 1940)Google Scholar; Pamigtnik Diamentowego Jubileuszu Parafji Najslbdszego Serca Marji, Detroit, Michigan,1890–1965” (Detroit: n.p., ca. 1965).Google Scholar

16 Skendzel, , Kolasinski Story, 4–6;Google ScholarSwastek, , Detroit's Oldest Polish Parish, 65, 67;Google ScholarDetroitEvening News, 4 07 1885, 1:8; Detroit Free Press, 5 07 1885, 5:4.

17 Father Kolasinski's guilt or innocence is, happily, not an issue that requires resolution here.Needless to say, the question sparked passionate debate in Detroit's Polish community for manydecades after the actual events. Much, though not all, of the correspondence that passed between Bishop Borgess and Kolasinski and Kolasinski's accusers and his defenders can be found in thearchives of the Archdiocese of Detroit. One could not, I think, prove the case for or against thepriest based on the evidence there, but it is clear that both his accusers and his supporters believedfervently that their version of events was the correct one.

The accusations of sexual misconduct, never proved and disbelieved even by some ofKolasinski's foes, probably largely explain the inflexibility of Bishop Borgess and his successor with regard to Kolasinski. Bishop Borgess, who had few sources of information within the Polishcommunity and who relied principally on Father Joseph Dombrowski, a local Kolasinski rival, for guidance in the Kolasinski matter, evidently believed that the priest was guilty of a series ofsexual affairs with women and girls in his congregation. He detailed his suspicions in a letter toArchbishop William Henry Elder in Cincinnati. (Bishop Caspar Borgess to Archbishop WilliamHenry Elder, 21 March 1886, Bishop Foley papers, Correspondence, Rev. Kolasinski, “Exhibits,” Archives of the Archdiocese of Detroit (hereafter cited as AAD).) Shortly thereafter, FatherDombrowski attested to Kolasinski's immorality in a report to the Congregation of the Propagan-da in Rome. (“Report of the Rev. Joseph Dombrowski to the Propaganda in July, 1886,” Bishop Borgess papers, Box 3, File 4, AAD.) When the Detroit Chancery late in 1893 forwarded chargesagainst Kolasinski to Rome at the request of the Propaganda, those charges included the same billof sexual particulars that Bishop Borgess had sent to Archbishop Elder in 1886. (“In MateriaApplicationis Reverendi D. Kolasinski in Quantam ad Nos Aliquo Modo Pertineat,“ Bishop Foley papers, Correspondence, Rev. Kolasinski, undated, 1892–1893, AAD.) Probably theextravagance of the original accusations of immorality and the embarrassing publicity that at-tended them caused not only Bishop Borgess but his successor to insist-and to believe-that theaccusations were true. And it is likely that the 1885 decision to dismiss Kolasinski without ahearing was precipitated by Bishop Borgess's angry conviction that Kolasinski was an immoralman. The abrupt dismissal led to a series of violent events, each of which increased for BishopBorgess the need to believe that he had judged Kolasinski rightly. (Bishop Caspar Borgess toArchbishop William Henry Elder, 1 04 1886, Bishop Foley papers, Correspondence, Rev.Kolasinski, “Exhibits,“ AAD.) Bishop Foley in turn inherited the burden.

See also Skendzel, , Kolasinski Story, 6–7Google Scholar, 104B–104G; Swaktek, , Detroit's Oldest PolishParish, 66–67, 72–73;Google ScholarDetroit Evening News, 24 11 1885, 4:1; Detroit Evening Journal, 27 11 1885, 1:3.

18 Skendzel, , Kolasinski Story, 7;Google ScholarSwastek, , Detroit's Oldest Polish Parish, 73;Google ScholarDetroit Evening News, 30 11 1885, 4:3; Detroit Evening Journal, 30 11 1885, 1:1; Detroit Free Press, 1 12 1885, 3:3; Detroit Tribune, 1 12 1885, 2:5.

19 Skendzel, , Kolasinski Story, 7; Detroit Evening News, 1 12 1885, 4:1; 3 December 1885, 3:3; Detroit Sunday News, 6 12 1885, 4:1; Detroit Evening Journal, 1 12 1885, 1:3; 3 December 1885, 4:1; Detroit Free Press, 2 12 1885, 5:2–3; 4 12 1885, 3:4–5; 5 December 1885, 4:6; Detroit Tribune, 2 December 1885, 2:5; 4 December 1885,2:6.Google Scholar

20 Detroit Sunday News, 6 12 1885, 4:1; Detroit Evening News, 7 12 1885,2:1; 25 12 1885, 1:1–2; Detroit Evening Journal, 25 12 1885, 1:1–2; DetroitFree Press, 26 12 1885, 1:5–6; Detroit Tribune, 26 12 1885, 1:5.

21 Detroit Evening News, 26 12 1885, 1:1–4; Detroit Sunday News, 27 12 1885, 1:1–4; Detroit Evening Journal, 26 12 1885, 1:1–3; Detroit Free Press, 26 12 1885, 1:5–6; 28 12 1885, 3:1–4; Detroit Tribune, 26 12 1885, 1:5; 27 December 1885, 2:1.

22 Detroit Evening News, 28 12 1885, 4:2–3; 17 August 1886, 4:2; Detroit Evening Journal, 28 12 1885, 4:1; 17 August 1886, 4:3; Detroit Free Press, 18 08 1886, 5:5; Detroit Tribune, 28 12 1885, 4:1–2; 17 August 1886, 4:4; 18 August 1886, 2:5.

23 Detroit Evening News, 21 March 1887, 4:1–2; 20 May 1887,4:1; Detroit Evening Journal, 21 March 1887, 4:3; 20 May 1887, 4:3; Detroit Free Press, 21 March 1887, 1:6–7; 20 May1887, 4:7.

24 Swastek, , Detroit's Oldest Polish Parish, 73, 75, 83–84. Detroit Evening News, 10 12 1885, 2:3; 5 04 1886, 4:2; Detroit Free Press, 4 12 1885, 3:4–5.Google Scholar

25 Register of Marriages, Wayne County, Michigan, 1889–90. See also Ostafin, Peter A.,“The Polish Peasant in Transition: A Study of Group Interaction as a Function of Symbiosis and Common Definition” (Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, 1948), 251.Google Scholar

26 Polk's, Directory of Detroit, 1886, 1887, 1888.Google Scholar

27 Register of Marriages, Wayne County, Michigan, 1889–90. On the economic status ofPoles in late nineteenth-century Detroit, see also Napolska, Sister Mary Remigia, “The PolishImmigrant in Detroit to 1914,” Annals of the Polish Roman Catholic Union Archives andMuseum, 10 (1946), Chicago, 3436;Google ScholarOstafin, , “Polish Peasant in Transition,” 371–72;Google ScholarZunz, Olivier, “Detroit's Ethnic Neighborhoods at the End of the Nineteenth Century,” Center for Research on Social Organization, Working Paper no. 161 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 02 1978), 70.Google Scholar

28 Detroit Evening News, 19 March 1887, 1:3; 21 March 1887, 4:1–2; 20 May 1887, 4:1; 7 12 1888, 4:1; Detroit Evening Journal, 25 12 1885, 1:1–2; 26 December 1885,1:1–3; 28 December 1885,4:1; 17 August 1886, 4:3; 21 March 1887, 4:3; Detroit Free Press, 2812 1885, 3:1–4; 21 March 1887, 1:6–7; 27 June 1887, 2:2; Detroit Tribune, 17 August 1886, 4:4; 18 August 1886, 2:5.

29 Detroit Evening News, 3 May 1887, 4:1–3; Detroit Free Press, 3 May 1887 1:5–7. Such adecree of excommunication would certainly be questionable in the eyes of many canon lawyers.Bishop Foley, successor to Bishop Borgess, obliquely acknowledged the considerable difficultiesof excommunication in these circumstances when he declared in 01 1889 that all whoparticipated in services at which Father Kolasinski officiated would incur automatic excom-munication. See Detroit Evening News, 25 01 1889, 1:4; Detroit Tribune, 26 01 1889, 5:2.

30 The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911), XI, 502, 538;Google ScholarDetroit Evening News, 4 12 1885, 4:1; 6 12 1885, 4:1; Detroit Sunday News, 27 12 1885, 1:1–4; Detroit Evening News, 30 12 1893, 5:4–5; Detroit Evening Journal, 7 12 1888, 1:1; Detroit Free Press, 2 12 1885, 5:2–3; 3 12 1885,5:2–3; 28 12 1885, 3:1–4; 8 June 1888, 8:5.

In 1890, the trustees of Sweetest Heart of Mary issued a statement in which they comparedKolasinski's situation to that of Father Edward McGlynn, who was suspended as a priest in thediocese of New York and eventually excommunicated for his refusal to cease speaking on behalfof Henry George and the single tax movement. McGlynn was eventually reinstated, but not until12 1892. That Kolasinski's trustees were aware of the McGlynn case and able in 1890 toconsider him still a priest because his superiors had dealt with him unjustly demonstrates that theirdefense of themselves was broad and principled. They could endorse a priest of another na-tionality, in a distant city, whose disobedience had occurred in a very different context from thatof Father Kolasinski. See Detroit Sunday News, 28 09 1890, 2:1.

31 Galush, , “Faith and Fatherland,” 8586;Google Scholaridem, “Forming Polonia,” 27, 58–59; Swastek, , Detroit's Oldest Polish Parish, 54, 83;Google ScholarDetroit Evening News, 17 August 1886, 4:2; 21 March 1887, 4:1–2; 7 December 1888,4:1; 10 December 1888, 2:3; Detroit Sunday News, 28 Septemper 1890, 2:1; Detroit Evening News, 11 June 1891, 1:3; 12 June 1891, 1:5; 13 June 1891, 1:3; 15 June 1891, 1:2; 16 June 1891, 1:2,2:3; 17 June 1891, 1:4; 18 June 1891, 1:3; 20 June 1891, 1:1; Detroit Sunday News, 21 June 1891, 2:8; Detroit Evening News, 26 June 1891, 1:5; 13 07 1891,1:1; 1607 1891, 5:1 Detroit Sunday News, 19 07 1891, 2:5; Detroit Free Press, 5 04 1886,4:4; 14 June 1891, 18:3; Detroit Tribune, 10 December 1888, 4:4; 10 June 1889, 4:3.

32 Galush, , “Faith and Fatherland,” 89;Google ScholarLinkh, , American Catholicism, 106;Google ScholarThomas, and Znaniecki, , Polish Peasant, 1523–28, 1545–47.Google Scholar

33 Catholic Encyclopedia, XV, 71; Galush, , “Forming Polonia,” 87, 92–93, 218–20, 258–61Google Scholar; McNamara, , “Trusteeism,” 146; Detroit Sunday News, 19 07 1891, 2:5.Google Scholar

34 Chmielewski, Edward A., “Minneapolis' Polish Priests, 1886–1914,” Polish-AmericanStudies, 19:1 (0106 1962), 3132;Google ScholarGalush, , “Forming Polonia,” 221; Detroit Sunday News, 9 June 1889, 2:4; Detroit Evening News, 8 07 1889, 3:3; 4 January 1898, 1:5, 6:5; Detroit Free Press, 31 October 1889, 5:1.Google Scholar

35 Detroit Sunday News, 25 11 1888, 8:1; Detroit Evening News, 5 07 1890, 1:3; Detroit Sunday News, 28 september 1890, 2:1; Detroit Evening News, 16 october 1893, 5:3–7; Detroit Tribune, 10 June 1889, 4:3.

36 Detroit Evening News, 21 03 1887, 4:1–2; Detroit Sunday News, 25 11 1888, 8:1; Detroit Evening News, 26 01 1889, 1:5; Detroit Sunday News, 29 Septemper 1889, 13:1; Detroit Evening News, 24 09 1890, 1:1; 20 07 1891, 5:3; 2 December 1893, 6:3; Detroit Evening Journal, 26 01 1889, 1:3; Detroit Free Press, 1 12 1888, 8:3; Michigan Catholic, 3 zOctober 1889, 4:4–5.

37 Detroit Evening News, 2 June 1890, 1:3; 10 June 1890, 1:1–2; 2 07 1890, 1:1; 4 071890, 1:1; 24 07 1890, 1:2; 24 September 1890, 1:1; 25 September 1890, 1:3; 29 September1890, 1:1–2; 16 June 1891, 1:1–2; 1607 1891, 5:1; 25 07 1891, 1:2; 3 September 1891, 2:1;Detroit Sunday News, 5 June 1892, 1:8; Detroit Evening News, 2 12 1893, 6:3; DetroitSunday News-Tribune, 24 12 1893, 1:2–3; Detroit Free Press, 6 June 1892, 5:2–3; 25 12 1893, 1:6–7; Detroit Tribune, 6 June 1892, 5:2–4.

38 Wiarus, , 20 May 1886, 3:2; 27 May 1886, 1:6. Bishop Caspar H. Borgess to Rt. Rev. Dr.Marty, 3 04 1886 (appended to Chancery brief, “To the Congregation De Propaganda Fide, inre Diocese of Detroit vs. Rev. Dominic Kolasinski,” undated, but late 1893), Bishop Foleypapers, Rev. Kolasinski, transcripts, folder 2, AAD.Google Scholar

39 Wiarus, , 19 Agust 1886, 2:4;Google ScholarDetroit Evening News, 30 11 1888, 1:3; 12 May 1889, 2:1; Detroit Evening Journal, 3 01 1889, 1:5; Detroit Tribune, 8 June 1888, 5:5–6.

40 Detroit Evening News, 10 12 1888, 2:3; Detroit Evening Journal, 8 12 1888, 5:1; 10 12 1888, 4:3; 12 12 1888, 1:2; Detroit Free Press, 10 12 1888, 4:2; Detroit Tribune, 8 June 1888, 5:5–6; 9 June 1888, 5:3; 10 12 1888, 4:4.

41 Detroit Sunday News, 18 11 1888, 2:1; Detroit Evening News, 7 12 1888,4:1; 20 February 1889, 1:4; Detroit Sunday News, 28 September 1890, 2:1; Detroit Evening News, 16 September 1893, 5:3–7; 30 12 1893, 5:4–5. Kolasinski himself variously claimedto have baptized 680 children within three months of his return, and also “more than a thou-sand.“ (Fr. Dominic Kolasinski to Fr. Peter, 30 May 1890, Bishop Foley papers, Correspon-dence, Rev. Kolasinski, undated, 1889–1892, AAD; Petition, Rev. Dominic Kolasinski toArchbishop Satolli, 19 01 1893, Bishop Foley papers, Correspondence, Rev. Kolasinski,1893–1894, folder 2, AAD.) And he claimed as well that, on his return, “very many were livingin marriages [considered] illicit by the Church“ (Ibid.).

42 Register of Marriages, Wayne County, Michigan, 1888, 1889, 1890.

44 Register of Marriages, Wayne County, Michigan, 1888; Baptismal Register, SweetestHeart of Mary Church, Detroit.

45 Baptismal Register, Sweetest Heart of Mary Church, Detroit; Death Register, SweetestHeart of Mary Church, Detroit.

46 Detroit Evening News, 14 04 1888, 4:3.

47 Detroit Evening News, 7 12 1885, 2:1; 29 11 1886, 1:1; 16 October 1893,5:3–7; 16 12 1893, 8:2–3; Detroit Evening Journal, 27 June 1887, 4:3; Detroit Free Press, 1 12 1888, 8:3.

48 Detroit Evening News, 7 June 1888, 1:5; 11 June 1888, 4:2; Detroit Sunday News, 18 11 1888, 2:1; 25 11 1888, 8:1; Detroit Evening News, 30 11 1888, 1:3; 712 1888, 4:1; Detroit Sunday News, 9 12 1888, 2:1; Detroit Evening Journal, 112 1888, 5:1; 10 12 1888, 4:3; Detroit Free Press, 8 June 1888, 8:5; 11 June 1888, 2:5; 8 12 1888, 8:2; 9 12 1888, 19:5; Detroit Tribune, 8 June 1888, 5:5–6; 9 June 1888,5:3; 10 June 1888, 5:1; 6 12 1888, 5:5; 7 12 1888, 4:5; 9 121888, 5:3.

49 Detroit Evening News, 1 12 1888, 1:3; Detroit Sunday News, 2 12 1888, 2:7; Detroit Evening Journal, 29 11 1888, 1:5; 3 12 1888, 2:4; Detroit Free Press, 1 12 1888, 8:3; 2 12 1888, 18:3; Detroit Tribune, 8 12 1888, 5:1; Baptismal Register, St. Albertus Church, Detroit, Michigan (entries for 11 and 12, 1888); Baptismal Register, St. Aloysius Church, Detroit, Michigan (entries for 11and 12, 1888); Bishops' Private Sacramental Records, AAD.

50 Detroit Sunday News, 9 12 1888, 2:1; Detroit Evening News, 10 12 1888,2:3; Detroit Sunday News, 16 12 1888, 1:4; Detroit Evening Journal, 10 12 1888,4:3; 17 12 1888, 2:3; Detroit Free Press, 9 12 1888, 19:5; 10 12 1888,4:2; Detroit Tribune, 10 12 1888, 4:4; 18 12 1888, 5:4.

51 Detroit Evening News, 24 01 1889, 1:2; 26 01 1889, 1:5; Detroit Evening Journal, 15 12 1888, 5:3; 29 12 1888, 8:2; 23 01 1889, 1:3; 24 011889, 1:2; Detroit Tribune, 27 01 1889, 5:4. Sweetest Heart of Mary parish claimed 2,000 families in 1898, the first year for which the Diocese of Detroit recorded annual statistics for thisparish. There is good evidence that parish membership grew considerably between 1889 and1898. (Account Book 15: Parish Statistics and Accounts, 1894–1916, p. 11, AAD.) Late in1893, however, Father Baart of Marshall, Michigan, a sympathetic but relatively dispassionateobserver of the Kolasinski affair, argued that “Polish priests who have charge of other parishes, not friendly to him, state he has from 1800 to 3000 families, ie, from 9000 to 15000 souls, whorecognize his pastorate over them.” (Rev. P. A. Baart to Rev. Charles P. Grannan, 4 November 1893, Bishop Foley papers, Correspondence, Rev. Kolasinski, folder 2, AAD.)

52 Articles of Association of the Roman Catholic Parish of the Sacred Heart of St. Mary of the City of Detroit of the State of Michigan, 9 February 1889. (Bishop Borgess papers, Box 3, file 4, AAD.) The name of the new parish, for many years mistranslated into English as the SacredHeart of Mary, is readily identifiable as Roman Catholic. This may well have been a factor in thechoice. And the Virgin may have represented for many in the parish the accepting, nurturantaspects of their faith as opposed to the harsh discipline they had come to associate with the local Chancery.

53 Detroit Evening News, 9 June 1889, 2:4; 10 June 1889, 4:1; 5 September 1891, 1:1–2;Detroit Free Press, 10 June 1889, 4:3; Detroit Tribune, 10 June 1889, 4:3.

54 Swastek, , Detroit's Oldest Polish Parish, 114, 154Google ScholarDetroit Evening News, 4 07 1890, 1:1; 29 September 1890, 1:1–2; 23 12 1893, 1:1–2; Detroit Free Press, 25 June 1887, 5:2; 10 June 1889, 4:3; 6 June 1892, 5:2–3; 19 February 1894, 1:5–6, 3:4–5; Detroit Tribune, 19 02 1894, 1:2–3, 3:6–7; 9 07 1894, 5:6; Michigan Catholic, 31 01 1889, 8:4. Onpreaching in nineteenth-century American Catholicism, see Dolan, Jay, Catholic Revivalism: theAmerican Experience, 1830–1900 (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1978).Google Scholar

55 Galush, , “Forming Polonia,“ 156;Google ScholarNapolska, , “Polish Immigrant in Detroit,” 6466;Google ScholarSwastek, , Detroit's Oldest Polish Parish, 114;Google ScholarRoberts, Peter, Anthracite Coal Communities (New York: Macmillan Company, 1904), 215; Detroit Evening News, 25 12 1897, 5:3–4;Detroit Free Press, 25 June 1887, 5:2.Google Scholar

56 Detroit Evening News, 14 September 1891, 1:5; 7 January 1892, 5:4; 23 01 1893, 1:1.

57 Detroit Evening News, 27 May 1890, 2:3; 26 07 1890, 1:5; 26 September 1890, 1:5;Detroit Sunday News, 14 12 1890,' 1:7–8; Detroit Evening News, 16 07 1891, 5:1; 2007 1891, 5:3; 3 September 1891, 2:1; 5 September 1891, 1:1; Detroit Sunday News, 5 June1892, 1:8; Detroit Evening News, 6 June 1892, 4:4–5; 4 07 1892, 1:1–2; 23 12 1893,1:1–2; 25 12 1893, 1:1–6, 6:3; 26 12 1893, 5:4–5; Detroit Free Press, 6 June1892,5:2–3; 25 12 1893, 1:6–7; Detroit Tribune, 6 June 1892, 5:2–4; 25 121893,1:2–3. (Continued on next page.)Descriptions of the event and speculation about the identity of Kolasinski's imported “bishop”can also be found in the reports of a Detroit detective agency, hired by diocesan authorities toinfiltrate the crowds around the church and to send confidential reports directly to Bishop Foley.The reports cover the activities around the church during 12 23–26, 1893. Only oneagency operative spoke Polish, however, and two hapless agents were arrested on 12 24for suspicious loitering. They spent most of the day at the local police station. Given thecircumstances, the confidential reports offered the Bishop little he could not have read in the localpapers. See Bishop Foley papers, Correspondence, Rev. Kolasinski, 1893–1894, folders 5 and 6, AAD.

58 Detroit Evening News, 26 07 1890, 1:5; 16 October 1893, 5:3–7; 23 12 1893,1:1–2; Detroit Sunday News-Tribune, 24 12 1893, 1:2–3; Detroit Free Press, 25 12 1893, 1:6–7; Detroit Tribune, 25 12 1893, 1:2–3.Google Scholar

59 McAvoy, , History, 277, 303–4, 309;Google ScholarDetroit Evening News, 12 August 1891, 5:5; 5September 1891, 1:1; 23 01 1893, 1:1; 24 01 1893, 1:1; 26 01 1893, 1:3; 2801 1893, 5:2; 16 October 1893, 5:3–7; 2 12 1893, 6:3; 16 12 1893, 8:2–3;22 12 1893 1:1; 23 12 1893, 1:1–2; 30 12 1893, 5:4–5; 5 01 1894,1:5, 4:6–7; 10 01 1894, 1:1, 6:3–4; 12 01 1894, 1:5; 7 February 1894, 5:3; DetroitSunday News-Tribune, 11 02 1894, 1:8; Detroit Evening News, 12 02 1894, 6:4;Detroit Sunday News-Tribune, 18 02 1894, 8:3; Detroit Free Press, 7 02 1894, 4:5;12 February 1894, 5:4; Michigan Catholic, 15 02 1894, 4:2. Extensive correspondenceconcerning the negotiations involving Archbishop Satolli, Bishop Foley, and Father Kolasinskican be found in the Bishop Foley papers for the years 1893 and 1894. The Foley papers alsoinclude six petitions from priests in the diocese objecting to Kolasinski's reinstatement (Corre-spondence, Rev. Kolasinski, 1893–1894, folder 1, AAD).

60 Detroit Evening News, 19 02 1894, 5:2–4; Detroit Free Press, 19 02 1894,1:5–6, 3:4–5; Detroit Tribune, 1902 1894, 1:2–3, 3:6–7; Michigan Catholic, 22 021894, 4:2. See also “Draft of Agreement between Bishop John Foley and Rev. DominicKolasinski,” Bishop Foley papers, Correspondence, Rev. Kolasinski, 1893–1894, folder 3, AAD; “Form of Retraction to be Read in Public by Rev. Dominic Kolasinski on the Occasion ofhis Reconciliation with the Church,“ Bishop Foley papers, Correspondence, Rev. Kolasinski,1893–1894, folder 3, AAD. Both the agreement and the form of retraction were reportedaccurately in the newspaper accounts.

61 Detroit Evening News, 5 September 1891, 1:1; 7 02 1894, 5:3; 11 02 1894,1:8; 17 February 1894, 1:5; Detroit Free Press, 19 02 1894, 1:5–6, 3:4–5; Detroit Tribune, 19 02 1894, 1:2–3, 3:6–7.

62 Detroit Evening News, 10 August 1893, 4:5; Detroit Sunday News-Tribune, 18 111894, 8:2; 2 12 1894, 8:2; Detroit Evening News, 1 February 1897, 6:2; 2 February 1897,6:2; 4 March 1897, 5:2; 5 March 1897, 5:3–5; 17 March 1897, 5:6; Detroit Free Press, 2February 1897, 7:3; 3 February 1897, 5:5; 5 March 1897, 5:4; 6 March 1897, 10:2.Google Scholar

63 Detroit Evening News, 20 04 1897, 1:5; 13 12 1897, 1:1; 4 01 1898, 1:5,6:5; 5 01 1898, 6:4; 10 01 1898, 6:1; 15 01 1898, 1:6; Detroit Free Press, 2104 1897, 3:5; 5 01 1898, 7:1; Detroit Tribune, 4 01 1898, 5:3; 5 01 1898, 8:4;6 01 1898, 8:4; 7 01 1898, 8:3.

64 Detroit Evening News, 11 04 1898, 5:1–3; 12 04 1898, 8:1; 13 04 1898, 6:1–2;Detroit Free Press, 12 04 1898, 10:6; 14 04 1898, 10:2; Detroit Tribune, 12 04 1898,5:2–3; 13 04 1898, 8:2; 14 04 1898, 5:5–6.Google Scholar

65 Flannery, Austin P., ed., Documents of Vatican II (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William P.Eerdmans Company, 1975), esp. “The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy,” “Decree on theCatholic Eastern Churches,” “Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People,” “Lumen Gentium,”“Gaudium et Spes.”Google Scholar

66 Zunz, , “Detroit's Ethnic Neighborhoods”, 54, 57, 63–64, 67–68.Google Scholar