St. Stanislaus church in Nanticoke closing this Sunday

Yet another Catholic church will be closing in Nanticoke this Sunday. St. Stanislaus will hold its final Mass on Sunday at 3:00. This will be a for-real closing, like the closing of St. Joseph three weeks ago, and not a merely ceremonial one, like the closure of St. Mary's two weeks ago or Holy Trinity last week. After Sunday, the doors at St. Stan's will be closed forever.

When I was in grade school, two of our parishes combined their Parochial education programs into one. Kindergarten and odd-numbered grades were held at St. Mary's, and even-numbered grades were in the St. Stan's building. So for second and fourth grades (and possibly sixth, if the schools had not already been consolidated by that time - I'm a little fuzzy there) I attended school across the street from the St. Stanislaus church. Schoolday masses were held in St. Stan's, which was a dark, musty, and sulphurous place. Aside from one or two incidental masses over the intervening decades, I only started popping in at St. Stan's again last year. There have been great improvements to the place, improvements that made the church interior feel spacious and airy while still retaining many of the features that reflect over 130 years of history.

And after this Sunday, it will all be gone.

See also:

Another Monkey: Other Churches, Other Windows: St. Stanislaus

Closing of historic Polish church nears The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA