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OUR LADY OF CZESTOCHOWA

Located on 24th Street between Third and Fourth Avenues.

In 1896, the Polish people of Sunset Park came together to erect the church, Our Lady of Czestochowa (CHOS-TO-HO-VA). Most of the Polish men worked at the waterfront. Around the 1970s, another wave of Polish immigration came due to the communist regime in Poland at the time.

By the 80s and 90s however, the Polish population began to dwindle. Many moved away to other areas, and because Poland has become a developed country, native Polish men have no reason to immigrate. In 1980, Our Lady of Czestochowa merged with another nearby Polish church, St. Casimir. Because membership was decreasing, merging was a reasonable act. The building stayed in tact.

The Church offers mass in English and Polish. The Church also runs a Polish school on weekends. Hispanics and West Indians are beginning to come to the church.

Our Lady of Czestochowa is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is seen as the (heavenly) Queen of Poland. She is named as such because there is a famous painting of the Virgin Mary (The Black Madonna of Czestochowa) in the town of Czestochowa in Poland.