“A yearslong battle over a historic Polish church in Pilsen moved from the streets into the chambers of Chicago’s City Council on Friday as church supporters who want it protected as a city landmark clashed with leaders of the Chicago Archdiocese who fear landmarking the church will halt any efforts to repurpose the property.

“During a daylong Commission on Chicago Landmarks hearing, dozens who back landmarking St. Adalbert Church provided fiery testimony and characterized the Archdiocese of Chicago and the nearby parish that now oversees the church property as greedy and disrespectful of St. Adalbert’s heritage.

“Anina Jakubowski joined many of the landmark supporters in the crowd in saying she placed her hopes not just in the church receiving protected status but in a dream that the church, which closed in 2019, might one day reopen. Jakubowski grew up attending masses at St. Adalbert and her mother fought a planned closure of the church in 1974, Jakubowski said.

“‘It was built as a house of God,” said Jakubowski, now a Downers Grove resident. ‘How can you have so many thousands of people who have been in that church and prayed? Where do those prayers go?’

“The landmarks commission did not vote on whether it would recommend a landmark designation for St. Adalbert, but is scheduled to do so June 6. If the recommendation is made, the landmark status question would go to the full City Council for final approval. The status would trigger a series of restrictions on what could be done to the church building and landmarks commission reviews of any redevelopment plans in order to protect the church complex’s ‘significant features’ — including its Renaissance Revival facade. Still, a landmarks designation would not completely ban renovations and interior changes.

“The church was called ‘one of the finest in Chicago’ by the Tribune when it was completed in 1914 and, at its peak, served 4,000 families. But its membership declined as Pilsen shifted from a more heavily Polish community to predominantly Mexican, said Dan Klaiber, a Department of Planning and Development coordination planner.

“Protesters, many of them proudly Polish, have ardently pushed back since the archdiocese shut down the church five years ago. They decried the removal of a statue from the site and led the charge for its landmark status. A 73-year-old woman last year was arrested for trespassing while protesting the removal of stained glass windows and art from the shuttered church. On Friday, she joined the spectating crowd at City Hall. And many have continued to pray the rosary outside the building every Friday.

“The movement to protect St. Adalbert has drawn support from Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th. The Pilsen alderman gave a strident speech Friday that called for the protective status, arguing the complex must be saved ‘not only because of the structure, but because of the people … that built this structure with blood, sweat and tears.’

“He harshly criticized the archdiocese, warning that ‘luxury apartments’ would be built on the property if the church does not win protections. He called the arguments of archdiocese leaders ‘propaganda’ and accused them of being like the moneychangers and merchants in the temple in Jerusalem that Jesus lambasted in the Gospel. The comparison drew eruptions of cheers and boos from the crowd.” (Sheridan, Chicago Tribune, 5/10/24)

Read the full story at the Chicago Tribune

• The future of Pilsen’s historic St. Adalbert Church hangs in balance following heated landmark hearing, Jake Sheridan, Chicago Tribune, 5/10/24
• Developer’s Plans for St. Adalbert Remain Vague; The city awarded federal tax credits to a proposal to build affordable housing for migrants despite questions about the project’s feasibility; Emeline Posner, South Side Weekly, 6/3/24
• Supporters fight to designate Pilsen’s shuttered St. Adalbert Church complex as landmark; The Catholic Church says St. Adalbert does not meet the criteria of a landmark and has been trying to sell the building, Karen Jordan, ABC 7 Chicago, 5/10/24