St. Anthony of Padua Parish (Fairfield, Connecticut)

St. Anthony of Padua Parish is a parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States, in the Diocese of Bridgeport.

St. Anthony of Padua Parish
41°08′17.7″N 73°16′4.5″W
Location149 South Pine Creek Road
Fairfield, Connecticut
CountryUnited States
DenominationRoman Catholic
WebsiteParish website
History
Founded1927 (1927)
Founder(s)Polish immigrants
DedicationSt. Anthony of Padua
Administration
ProvinceHartford
DioceseBridgeport
Clergy
Bishop(s)Most Rev. William E. Lori
Pastor(s)Ms. Eleanor W. Sauers Ph.D. (Parish Life Coordinator)

The parish was established in 1927 as a national parish for Polish immigrants, one of a number of Polish-American Roman Catholic parishes in New England, and staffed by Conventual Franciscans. It was one of several ethnic congregations in Fairfield, others including St. Emery's, serving the Hungarian populace, and Holy Cross, the only Slovene church in New England.[1]

A new parish church designed by Anthony J. DePace of New York was built in 1970, but as demographics shifted, the parish lost parishioners as well as much of its Polish identity; its parochial school closed in 1973.[2]

Fr. John Baran arrived as pastor in 2002 from crosstown Our Lady of the Assumption Church. He ended a number of traditionalist practices and services, and set about improving the parish's outreach and community activity. As an homage to the Polish heritage, however, the parish picnic, held annually since 1978, does feature traditional Polish foods such as pierogies and stuffed cabbage.[2]

In December 2018, Bishop Frank Caggiano appointed Eleanor W. Sauers as Parish Life Coordinator, the first time a lay person had been appointed to head church administration in the diocese. Sauers had previously served as director of religious education, and had written her 2007 Ph.D. dissertation on the transformation of the parish.[3]

References
  1. Austen, Barbara E; Bryan, Barbara D (1997), Fairfield, Connecticut, Arcadia Publishing, p. 28, ISBN 9780738538877
  2. Lawlot, Thomas (April 4, 2018), "Saying goodbye to Rev. John P. Baran", Fairfield Citizen, retrieved May 15, 2019
  3. Sauers, Eleanor W (2007), "St. Anthony of Padua parish: A case study of the transformation of a Roman Catholic parish", Etd Collection for Fordham University, ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI3299115: 1–218
  • The 150th Anniversary of Polish-American Pastoral Ministry. Webster, Massachusetts: St. Joseph Basilica. September 11, 2005.
  • Kruszka, Waclaw (1998). A History of the Poles in America to 1908. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press - Part III: Poles in the Eastern and Southern States. ISBN 978-0-8132-0809-1.
  • The Official Catholic Directory in USA. National Register Publishing. 2012.
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