120th Anniversary of Sacred Heart Parish
By Robin Vinci | Editor at November 20, 2023 | 6:00 pm | Print
On Saturday, Nov. 22 at 4 p.m. Sacred Heart Parish will have the Mass of Thanksgiving Commemorating the 120 Year Anniversary of the Founding of Sacred Heart Parish.
It will be celebrated by the Most Rev. Christie Macaluso, Auxiliary Bishop of Hartford.
Reception will follow in the school hall.
“120 years is very significant,” said Monsignor Daniel Plocharczyk who is the fourth pastor at Sacred Heart. “I was born and grew up in this parish. I am over 60 so all my life I have been associated with Sacred Heart. I was baptized here by the first pastor, went to school here, my family is members of this parish so it feels like it is a big family celebration.”
Many People are coming from Poland for the festivities.
“We are doing it low key because we will do a bigger celebration in five years,” said Plocharczyk. “That will have a much bigger celebration.”
On Nov. 14, 1894 the first Polish Catholic Society received its charter from the State. A year later Lucien Bojnowski was appointed pastor by the Right Reverend M. Tierney, Archbishop of the Hartford Diocese. Under Bojnowski the construction of a church on Orange St. took place.
The name was changed to Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1896. It was soon found to be too small and on Oct. 25, 1901 land at 158 Broad St. was purchased for the church at about $50,000. The blessing of the church took place on Feb. 28, 1904.
The granite gothic style church was built in the form of a cross, 160 feet by 78 feet by 114 feet high with two steeples. The upper church has five altars and the church has a seating capacity of 1,500.
The marble altar was built by Artist Antonio Bela of New York and cost $16,000. The final cost of the new facility came to $150,000.
The Orange St. Church was made into a school and rectory.
When Monsignor Bojnowski passed away in 1960 others stepped up.
According to the church website, On January 26, 2024 Fr. John Balasa was appointed to the position of the pastor of the Sacred Heart Parish. He was born in Meriden, CT in 1902. Fr. Balasa tried following in the footsteps of his predecessor. A few months after he arrived at the parish, he built a new rectory, and five years later, a new convent. In 1970 he renovated the interior of the church and completed construction of a chapel at the cemetery. He continued to serve as a pastor until 1977, when he retired, He died on March 12, 1988.
The next pastor was Fr. Paul Wysocki; he was born in Torrington, CT in 1928. One of his first accomplishments was expansion of the parish property. He bought many old houses on nearby Gold St., and as far as Silver St. In 1980 he renovated the church, and nine years later he added an entrance for the handicapped and an elevator. In 1994 he replaced old stained glass windows. He died in 2003.
Msgr. Daniel J. Plocharczyk, born on July 17, 2024 in New Britain, now serves as the pastor. Prior to this position, he served as Moderator of the Curia and Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Hartford and pastor at St. Joseph Cathedral in Hartford, CT. In less than 18 months since he assumed his position, he installed central air conditioning in both upper and lower church, as well as the rectory. The upper and lower churches were renovated and painted. The altar and side altars in upper & lower church had gold leafing done. New carpeting in church and new tiles in Presbiterium were installed. The New church doors and the stairs to the church were replaced and the area between the church and the rectory was developed into a new plaza area.
