Polish immigrants in Toledo built strong and large Catholic parishes and sought priests who understood their ethnic customs and language. Their parishes were very much in the center of their lives. Simon Wieczorek was a pastor at St. Hedwig from 1886 until his death in 1901. He was a popular and well-liked priest at St. Hedwig who A. A. Paryski took a great dislike towards despite public respect for the priest. It’s helpful to understand that our ancestors did experience disagreement between them and to realize they did overcome those disagreements.

Simon Wieczorek was born in Sandomierz Province, Poland, near what is today Radom, in 1834. This part of Poland was under Russian control. In his mid-20s, Simon entered the seminary in Sandomierz in preparation for the priesthood.

In 1863, the Polish Uprising occurred. This was an uprising against czarist Russia. Simon fought with Poles for their independence until the effort was crushed by Russia in 1864. Tighter imposition of Russian rule was imposed on Poland and Simon was imprisoned for several months. Upon his release, he left Poland and ended up in France. It was in Paris, France that he became connected to the Congregation of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ (CR). This religious congregation was founded by Polish exiles living in France: Bogdan Janski, Peter Semenko, and Jerome Kajsiewicz. CR was organized after a previous ill-fated November Rising against Russia in 1830-1831.

After arrival in France, Simon had re-started his seminarian studies with the CR congregation.

Simon Wieczorek was ordained to the priesthood in early 1868 at the age of 34 in Rome. Shortly thereafter, he declared his vows as a Resurrectionist. About this time, an opportunity to go to the United States presented itself. Bishop Peter Paul Lefevere of the Diocese of Detroit negotiated with Rev. Eugene Funken, CR and the Resurrectionist community to take permanent care of a parish in Parisville, Michigan, to provide pastoral care to “destitute Poles in Michigan.”

Father Wieczorek was dispatched to Michigan with two others: Father John Wollowski and Brother Horace Cajone, as his assistants. They arrived in Parisville on 1 November 1868 to find a church with a makeshift altar, a dirt floor, no benches, no decorations, no candlesticks, no organ, no bell. There was a small rectory with two rooms and a kitchen. The parish’s population was spread over a ten mile radius to include 127 families who were mostly Polish but there were a few French, German, and Irish families as well. All were living in homesteads and were scattered.

Fr. Wieczorek went to work to supervise the completion of the church and launch a parochial school. He hired a teacher, a Miss O’Connor. By 1871, he was planning a new rectory for the church. Within this time, his parish ministry extended to a forty-mile radius that included 2,000 souls. He tended to them in Polish, French, German, and English. Miss O’Connor taught him English.

In October 1871, the parish met an abrupt end due to a raging forest fire that swept through Huron and Sanilack Counties of Michigan. The fire destroyed the Parisville church and rectory. It also destroyed homes, crops, and livestock of the inhabitants. This tragedy ended Fr. Wieczorek’s tenure in Parisville.

By the end of 1871, Fr. Wieczorek was asked by the new bishop of the Detroit Diocese, Caspar Borgess, to take charge of a new Polish parish in Detroit. During his tenure at Parisville, Fr. Wieczorek would visit Poles on the city’s east side and held services for them in St. Joseph’s German Church. These were the Poles that would form the new Polish parish. The majority of these Poles were Prussians or Kashubians—they were from Prussia, either the Poznan (Greater Poland) area or from the Danzig (Gdansk) coastal region of West Prussia. Kashubians had been emigrating to the United States well ahead of other Poles because the Maritime Navigation Company of Hamburg offered them free passage to America until 1860—Germany was working to colonize their region. Both groups of these Poles were familiar with the German language, most from these regions spoke both German and Polish. They were comfortable in the German parish, but it was quickly becoming overcrowded.

The Polish Catholics who were to form the new parish, named St. Albertus, began to collect funds for construction of the church. The real estate for the church was obtained and a contract to build two frame structures—the rectory and the parish—was executed. Construction was to be complete by 15 June 1872. Parish revenues amounted to about $11,000 and came from collections and fund raisers such as raffles and picnics. However, expenses for construction came to nearly $18,000. The parish ended up with a debt of $6,700.

Despite the debt, the church was dedicated on 14 July 1872. Bishop Borgess addressed the congregation at the dedication and told them to continue supporting their parish to ensure its solvency. Privately, the Bishop warned Fr. Wieczorek that as pastor, he must administer the parish within its financial means and expressed hope to see some new Resurrectionists in Detroit.

Fr. Wieczorek began the business of administering his parish. He started the sacramental records, started daily Masses, and helped develop lay organizations such as the St. Stanislaus Kosta Society and a Rosary Guild.

Sometime between July and November, a lien was placed against the St. Albertus property for nonpayment of contractual obligations of $2,000. The bishop warned that if the matter was not settled by 8 December, that the church would be placed under interdict, the community would be excommunicated, and that he would revoke Fr. Wieczorek’s jurisdiction of the parish.

Fr. Wieczorek explained to the bishop that the payment was deliberately withheld due to shoddy roofing, that the parish was awaiting the contractor to make good on the contract. Bishop Borgess accepted the explanation and withdrew the threatened penalties. The parish did pay the contractor and the contractor then posted a $2,000 bond for the surety of fulfillment of the contract—that the roof would be made right.

Even with these circumstances, Bishop Borgess was not entirely happy with Fr. Wieczorek’s handling of finances for the parish and later issued a letter to the church that stipulated “all future orders shall be given to me in writing to the community so that every misunderstanding will be avoided.” Bishop Borgess requested that Fr. Wieczorek prepare and deliver a report on the parish’s finances. This was spurred by the lien placed against the property.

Another confrontation would occur between the bishop and the priest.

That December, Fr. Wieczorek drew up a petition for a school near St. Albertus Church to be under his supervision. The petition was signed by 131 persons and it was presented to the Bishop on 30 December. A school would be a crowning achievement to Fr. Wieczorek, he believed that education was an imperative, not a luxury, but a necessity. Shortly after leaving Parisville, he had started a small school in Detroit on Willis St. When he had become involved with St. Albertus, he had to relinquish care of the school to a lay teacher. Bishop Borgess responded with extreme caution to the proposal for a school with a reminder that all orders were to come from him in writing. He further stated that the church committee must submit to the bishop all possible debts that would come from building such a school.

On 11 January, the trustees of the parish purchased a lot from a woman named Mary Moran that was near the church. This transaction involved a bond and a mortgage deadline that had a stipulation of the return of the property to Mary Moran should the parish fail to meet its obligations. This was submitted to Bishop Borgess and Bishop to have the document legally examined.

Meanwhile, construction on the school began with the assumption that all was in order. However, Bishop Borgess received legal advice that the legal documents were unclear regarding the title of the property. He issued an order that prohibited further work on the school until the question of the property’s title was resolved.

Fr. Wieczorek disregarded the order and construction continued. This deepened the bishop’s concerns about the parish’s financial stability and the property deed did in fact provoke a financial crisis. The parish failed to live up to is contractual obligations and Mary Moran foreclosed on the property. Bishop Borgess then closed St. Albertus Church and removed Fr. Wieczorek’s jurisdiction within the Diocese of Detroit.

Fr. Wieczorek remained in Detroit that summer and then moved on the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin and shortly thereafter, to the Diocese of Cleveland. He had left the Resurrectionists to become a diocesan priest. When he landed in the Diocese of Cleveland, he was assigned to be pastor of St. Hedwig’s parish in 1886. (Toledo was then still under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Cleveland and would not be an established diocese until 1910.)

Bishop Borgess did have a history of dismissing priests from their duties. He also dismissed a Fr. Dominik Kolasinski about a decade later. The name Kolasinski would haunt Fr. Wieczorek during his tenure at Toledo’s St. Hedwig parish. And, as with other events in the Polish community in Toledo at this time, A. A. Paryski and his Ameryka publications tried to color and influence events, sometimes harmfully.

St. Hedwig’s parish grew rapidly about the time of Fr. Wieczorek’s arrival, and the wooden church no longer sufficed for its growing population. Fr. Wieczorek purchased a tract of land at Lagrange and Dexter for the new church and construction began in early 1891 and was completed in October 1892.

About 1891, sometime about the time St. Hedwig had laid its cornerstone for its new church, Fr. Wieczorek got embroiled in a very public disagreement that concerned Fr. Nicodemus Kolasinski, the brother of Fr. Dominik Kolasinski. Fr. Kolasinski was assigned to be pastor of St. Anthony’s parish.

Per the Ameryka w Toledo Kuryer Clevelandski on 20 February 1892, someone with the surname of Marciniak wrote a complaint to the Bishop of Cleveland. It appeared to be a case of abuse against a young girl, Francizka Dzikowska. Fr. Wieczorek was implicated by the Ameryka w Toledo Kuryer Clevelandski as having encouraged Marciniak to write to the bishop with his complaint. (The first name of the author of the complaint letter to the Bishop of Cleveland was not revealed in the Ameryka.)

In the 20 February article, Ameryka w Toledo Kuryer Clevelandski published information on Fr. Kolsanski’s arrest and provided some description of the court proceedings.

In this article, Ameryka named the Dzikowski family as having Fr. Kolasinski arrested and claimed misconduct of their daughter, Franciszka. Franciszka seemed to be employed at St. Anthony’s rectory as a cleaning maid or some type of domestic help as a young girl. At the time of these proceedings, she was only about 12 years old. The complaint against Fr. Kolasinski is not detailed in any article I have read; however, it is implied that there is some type of abuse—whether assault or sexual is not clear but there were allegations of possible pregnancy. However, there was much finger pointing and other circumstances brought into the articles that it is difficult to say exactly what the specific charges against Fr. Kolasinski were. Specific charges were never mentioned in articles in the Ameryka. The outcome that I could determined was that a young girl of 11 or 12 was blamed for the abuse she did experience—publicly, in a Polish language newspaper.

Fr. Kolasinski was well-liked in his parish—he led St. Anthony’s though a growth during a financial depression was occurring in the United State in 1893—he oversaw an improved school and educational system, had model bookkeeping set up for the parish, and saw the completion of the new church.

Franiszka was called to provide her testimony and she stated that she was 12, to be 13 years old and that she did work in the presbytery (the rectory) sometimes to wash dishes or to clean. She also stated that she had quit school at 11 and that she did have a relationship with the priest (Fr. Kolasinski). They type of relationship wasn’t specified but how the questioning was written in the Ameryka implied that the prosecutor was attempting to elicit that it was a sexual relationship. Ameryka also stated in this article that “People came to the priest and accused the girl of misconduct with her neighbors” as well as introduced much confusion about the girl’s age—stating at one point Franciszka was 16 and at other times she was 11 or 12.

A specific day, 13 September, came into question. Franciszka testified that Fr. Kolasinski was in the rectory that day and was there the day before, Saturday 12 September from noon to 4 p.m.

Other witnesses then testified that Fr. Kolasinski was decorating the church on Saturday and that there were two women scrubbing floors and cleaning rooms from 1 p.m. until 10 p.m. Workers testified that Fr. Kolsanski worked with them all day decorating and that dinner was prepared by Mrs. Jozefa Stryszyk and served to Fr. Kolasinski and his guest, Fr. Zareczny and that they did not see Francizka that day in the rectory.

Then on 17 September, she and her mother went to see Fr. Kolasinski, who gave her $2.20 to see a doctor. Fr. Kolasinski was arrested the following day, Friday 18 September.

Franciszka’s mother was also called to testify. Ameryka stated that the mother stated her daughter came home to say she “felt strange” and that Fr. Kolasinski was at fault. The mother also testified that they went confront the priest and obtained from the priest $2.00 for a doctor’s visit and 20 cents for the tram.

According to Ameryka, the judge asked, “Would you accuse the priest if you knew that your daughter was not in a delicate state?” The mother replied that “if I had known she was not, I would have preferred it to quiet down.”

The mother’s testimony continued to explain that the doctor stated her daughter was not doing well but that she was not pregnant.

Ameryka then reported that Franciszka’s father testified and stated he did go to the sheriff upon learning of the visit with Fr. Kolasinski and his wife and daughter. He obtained a warrant for the arrest of Fr. Kolasinski.

Fr. Kolasinski also provided his testimony. He stated that sometimes Franciszka did work at the rectory but that was the extent of their relationship, that he also believed that the girl was fighting with neighborhood boys and that he had heard it was boarders at the Dzikowski’s household who may be taking advantage of her.

At the end of the case, it seems as if there were no criminal penalties, but information on this case is difficult to find, and slanted when reported on via Paryski’s publications—as he clearly defended Fr. Kolasinski and printed several editorials in Ameryka that accused Fr. Wieczorek of coming from questionable origins and claimed he was a “schemer” and created “intrigues.” Paryski also published rather negative comments about Fr. Wieczorek prior to this incident such as that Fr. Wieczorek was quite stupid and that he was a frequent customer of Kujawa’s saloon—where he would plant his intrigues.

In the long run, Fr. Kolasinski was released from jail and remained with St. Anthony’s until 1893 when he was replaced by Fr. Felix Motulewski. The diocese discharged Fr. Kolasinski based on the question of his character and the financial condition of the church which caused some dissension with its parishioners.

As an attempt to completely discredit Fr. Wieczorek, Paryski published an article in the Ameryka w Toledo i Kuryer on 16 December 1891, and it was published in English. No reason why this article was published in English when the entire publication otherwise was written in Polish was given. However, Fr. Wieczorek, with the help of Michael Brzeczka and J. Kina started up a newspaper called Kurjer. Paryski attacked after the first issue of the Kurjer appeared. On 16 December 1891, Paryski wrote:

“Neither of them (in reference to Brzeczka and Kina) have any school education to speak of. Rev. Wieczorek became a priest from a common European tramp, which is worse than any kind of an American tramp…He has not enough knowledge of the Polish language to spell the Polish words and grammar and education correctly. Such a set of ignorant people undertook to conduct a newspaper for educational reasons!”

During this period, in October 1893, Rev. Wieczorek assisted the new pastor of St. Anthony’s, Fr. Felix Motulewski with the first Mass to be said in the new St. Anthony’s church on 16 October 1893 (the old wood structure was replaced with the current brick structure) and societies from both St. Hedwig and St. Anthony took part in the ceremonies for the dedication of the church on 15 July 1894. The ceremonies for the dedication of the new St. Anthony’s parish encompassed a parade from Dorr and Collingwood to Dorr and Junction Avenue to the church.

Fr. Wieczorek was to remain with St. Hedwig until his death in 1901. He did weather yet one more storm in his tenure as a priest: that of the firing of a choir director/music teacher, a Mr. W. J. Pociechowski. This matter seemed to have caught some national attention—the Chicago Chronicle published a fairly lengthy article on the matter on 21 June 1895.

Fr. Weiczorek discharged Mr. Pociechowski after the latter claimed to have narrowly missed being shot by Fr. Wieczorek. The Chicago Chronicle claimed that this was due to Fr. Wieczorek delivering a strongly worded sermon against Pociechowski. Pociechowski was a leader of republicans within the parish and Fr. Wieczorek was a democratic leader. The case split the parish—half was supportive of Fr. Wieczorek, the other half was in dissent and supported Mr. Pochiechowski.

Pociechowski sued for his wages (his contract to the church was ended a few months early) and he ended up leaving the Toledo area for the Green Bay region. Dziennick Chicagoski also reported on this matter stating he named J. Cieslieski. W. Lechlak, Was. Lechlak, J. Ciezki, and Rev. Wieczorek in his suit asking for $100. Additionally, Pociechowski stated that the Kuryer slandered him in an article in that publication.

Pociechowski ended up a few years later in Milwaukee, Wisconsin opening a bar and saloon.

After the Pociechowski affair died down, Fr. Wieczorek had five years of a peaceful life while tending to St. Hedwig’s parish. He died on 9 November 1901 after an illness of about two years. On his death, he left a considerable estate. Aside from his relatives being remembered in his will, St. Hedwig was bequeathed the funds to obtain a new organ, Rev. Francis Doppke was bequeathed $500 along with Fr. Wieczorek’s horse and buggy and library. Additionally, Fr. Wieczorek’s will provided $1,000 to erect the Pieta that is on the lot in Calvary Cemetery dedicated to the interment of priests and pastors of Toledo. That Pieta stands today, over 120 years after his death.