FIJALKOWSKI, REV. ALEKSANDER STANISLAUS (1883 - 19__)In a racial group where the word "unity" is heard as often as a group meets to discuss a problem, it was always the expression, jednosc in Polish, that the Rev. Aleksander Fijalkowski, who came from Poland in 1902 when it was divided by three neighboring countries, used in sermons, speeches, or whatever the occasion, to achieve harmony. It practically means the same as solidarity.
His ability to shake up a Polish congregation immediately became clear shortly after his ordination on June 11, 1910, when, as assistant pastor of Sacred Heart, the first Polish Catholic Church in the Diocese of Syracuse, New York, he delivered a sermon, full of fire and brimstone, and attracted a lot of attention. Less than two months later, on July 24, 1910, when the cornerstone was laid for St. Stephen's Catholic Church in Oswego, New York, he spoke in Polish to the largest gathering of Polish people ever seen in the city overlooking Lake Ontario. "No matter where you were born, whether in Germany, Austria or Russia," he said, "you are a united people. You must keep this unity in the land of your adoption and be loyal in your allegiance to the United States."
Unfortunately Father Fijalkowski was one of the priests that you will not find in Bolek's Who's Who in Polish America. Neither are the priests who organized the two Polish parishes and schools in Schenectady, New York -- Father Joseph Dereszewski, St. Mary's, in 1890, and Father Joseph Gogolewski, St. Adalbert's, 1903. One of them hired Fijalkowski to teach school and encouraged him to study for the priesthood. Little is known of his credentials. He was born March 17, 1883, on a farm in Dobrzyn, between Wloclawek and Plock, and was probably educated in a gymnasium in one of the old cities along the Vistula River. No matter who taught him, one of the Polish priests in Schenectady arranged for him to go to the Polish Seminary in Detroit, Michigan. He completed his studies for the priesthood at St. Bernard's Seminary in Rochester, New York, and was ordained by the Bishop of Syracuse.
Nine months after his ordination, Bishop Grimes appointed him the pastor of St. Mary's parish in New York Mills, a small village in the Mohawk Valley that grew up around the textile mills of the A. D. Juilliard Company. The first Polish workers in New York Mills came from New England in 1898. The two were followed by hundreds more directly from Poland and now, more than a century later, thirty percent of New York Mills is Polish. The population stood at 3,157 in 2003. Father Fijalkowski got along very well with the Polish pioneers, most of whom lived in company houses, and took part in all of their activities.
In the first years of his pastorate, the unionization of the workers in the mills covered the high points and low points of his religious life. Eugene E. Dziedzic and James S. Pula, who graduated from New York Mills High School in 1963 and 1964, respectively, and studied the influence of Local 753, United Textile Workers of America, on the village, described Father Fijalkowski's position after the strike of 1916 in their book, United We Stand, in these words:
"As the strike lengthened, Father Fijalkowski increasingly became a man torn between many forces. On the one hand Mysliwiec (Jozef Mysliwiec, an old parishioner, translator, and recruiter of labor for the mills) sought his offices to influence a settlement on behalf of the company, and Fijalkowski could ill-afford to lose the financial contributions of the company to his parish coffers. At the same time, the longer the strike lasted the less money his parishioners would have for their families or the support of the church. As a cleric, Fijalkowski had to be concerned with the financial stability of his parish, as well as the preservation of his parish. He was clearly in a very difficult position. He tried to mediate and bring peace and bring them together. Yet his sympathies were with his parishioners. While preaching peace, he also counseled them to remain unified. Jednosc remained his theme."
It's heartening to assume, then, that the 30 years he spent in New York Mills were filled with plenty of unity. He felt satisfied with his accomplishments when he died. His body was laid to rest in the parish cemetery.
Author: Edward Pinkowski - [email protected] - 2011