{"id":8460,"date":"2011-11-07T08:09:43","date_gmt":"2011-11-07T14:09:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=8460"},"modified":"2016-09-30T17:36:01","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T21:36:01","slug":"buffalo-parish-discovers-hidden-letters-to-god-from-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/11\/buffalo-parish-discovers-hidden-letters-to-god-from-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Buffalo parish discovers hidden letters to God from children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From Buffalo comes this surprising story<\/a><\/strong> of a discovery that is reminding a parish of its past \u2014 and offering hope for its future:<\/p>\n

They were letters to God, written by schoolchildren more than a century ago.<\/p>\n

And since being discovered concealed in a cross atop Corpus Christi Catholic Church on Clark Street, they continue to bring members of the East Side parish together \u2014 past, present and future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was very surprising for us. It was a very beautiful moment,\u201d the Rev. Mariusz Dymek, administrator of the parish, said Sunday of the recent discovery, which was made when a copper cupola and the cross were removed by a construction crew during restoration work.<\/p>\n

So delighted were the parishioners that the decision was made to continue the tradition.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we followed this custom and asked our parishioners to add new letters to the old ones and put them back,\u201d Dymek said.<\/p>\n

The response from parishioners was overwhelming. Asked how many members were participating in the letter-writing campaign, which continued Sunday after all Masses, Dymek said, \u201cAlmost everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t see one person who didn\u2019t stop for the letters. It was beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, between 400 to 500 new letters, including those written by children from the parish, have been collected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something that connects parishioners to each other and to the parish,\u201d Dymek said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just touched my heartstrings to see those letters,\u201d parishioner Christopher Byrd, a member of the parish organization Friends of Corpus Christi, said Sunday. \u201cIt put into perspective the work we put into this church. It binds us with the past. It reaffirms why a lot of us are here, preserving the parish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Byrd, whose grandmother was baptized in the church in 1916, said that most parishioners feel very strongly about preserving the parish.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel that we owe that,\u201d he said. \u201cBy us being involved in preserving their church, it\u2019s as if we\u2019re going to church with our ancestors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the old letters and artifacts found in the cross were on display Sunday in the St. Kolbe Center, across the street from the church.<\/p>\n

Longtime parishioner and former altar boy Zbigniew Wilkosz remarked that the letters are just another sign that Corpus Christi parishioners still feel connected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe church still has a strong heartbeat,\u201d he said. \u201cThis will be from our generation. We\u2019re still supporting the church, and our lives are still part of this church. There\u2019s only a few of us now, but we\u2019re not giving up. The torch, like the Olympic torch, is still lit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilkosz said that although the parish has been reduced to just hundreds of parishioners from thousands in years past, it is still a very close-knit, predominantly Polish community.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody knows everybody,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope we are blessed as previous generations were blessed.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more.<\/a><\/strong> You can visit the church online at the parish website.<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Buffalo comes this surprising story of a discovery that is reminding a parish of its past \u2014 and offering hope for its future: They were letters to God, written by schoolchildren more than a century ago. And since being discovered concealed in a cross atop Corpus Christi Catholic Church on Clark Street, they continue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,23,48],"tags":[180],"class_list":["post-8460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-churches","category-inspiration","category-the-people-in-the-pews","tag-buffalo"],"yoast_head":"\nBuffalo parish discovers hidden letters to God from children<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From Buffalo comes this surprising story of a discovery that is reminding a parish of its past -- and offering hope for its future: They were letters to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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