St. Ladislaus will soon be saying its last prayers

In 2016, St. Ladislaus parishioners protested over a proposal to close the church because there were fewer and fewer parishioners who attended services. Now, however, time has run out. File photo

By Charles Sercombe
For the past several years, the St. Ladislaus Parish has been existing on borrowed time.
That time is now up.
Recently, Fr. Tomasz Pietrzak of St. Florian Church announced, via social media, that the church will close its doors for good.
“After prayerful consideration, guiding a data-driven process to review our long-term financial viability, we have decided to close St. Ladislaus Chapel.”
The reason behind the closure has been obvious for a number of years: the number of parishioners keeps dwindling down.
St. Lads, as it is affectionately known, joined its resources with St. Florian several years ago as a way to keep the parish going, albeit with limited services.
The plan to close its doors has one more step to go, Pietrzak said: Getting final approval by the Detroit Archdiocese. If approved, as it will likely be, the official closing date is June 29, with one last Mass.

“We are committed to keeping the memory of St. Ladislaus alive — as a parish for over 100 years and as a Chapel of St. Florian Parish – through celebrating the feast of St. Ladislaus each year and creating a sacred display in St. Florian Church,” Pietrzak said.
Speculation about St. Lad’s began rumbling back in 2016, the first time it came close to shutting down.
St. Lad’s parishioners held a protest against that move at the time.
Protest organizer Walter Bankowski insisted that “this is a financially viable church.”
At one time, the parish operated a school, but that, too, closed decades ago as the Polish-Catholic population began to decline.
The school building was sold for $500,000 to a charter school.
St. Lad’s initial church was located in Detroit. The current building, here, was completed in 1930.
Posted May 31, 2024