E.C. church blesses new Cedar Lake home

CEDAR LAKE | The dedication of the new St. Michael the Archangel National Catholic Church began with The Lord's Prayer and a hymn.

The church dedicated the first phase of its new complex in Cedar Lake on Sunday afternoon. In addition to parishioners and clergy of other faiths, special guests included Town Council President Robert Carnahan and two officials from Pangere Corp., which built the new building at 6629 W. 133th Ave.

"This day we bless our parish," said St. Michael's pastor, the Rev. John P. Kowalczyk.

As part of the ceremony, Pangere's Robert Grow and Steve Pangere presented Kowalczyk, Dale Wynant, parish committee chairman, and Bill Burket, relocation committee chairman, with keys to the building. "May the building stand 100 years," Grow said.

St. Michael's sold its original church, in East Chicago, in 2007. Until the opening of the new church building, parishioners celebrated Mass at Great Oaks Banquets in Cedar Lake.

Carnahan presented the building's certificate of occupancy on behalf of the Town Council.

"It is a privilege and an honor to do so," he said.

The dedication ceremony was conducted by Kowalczyk, the Rev. Anthony Mikovsky, seventh prime bishop of the Polish National Catholic Church, and the Rev. Anthony Kopka, diocesan bishop of the Western Diocese. Other Polish National Catholic clergy attended, as well as ecumenical guests from United Methodist, Zion United Church of Christ and local Catholic churches.

After the keys and certificate of occupancy were presented, the processional cross led the way. The bishops first blessed the church entrance and the area of the building to be used as a hall. In the hall, Kopka mixed blessed salt, wine, ashes and water to make Gregorian water, which traditionally is used to consecrate churches and altars. The church's sanctuary space was then blessed and its altar consecrated.

The bishop blessed items from the parish's old church, including an offertory table, tabernacle, pulpit and woodcut panels depicting the stations of the cross.

St. Michael the Archangel National Catholic Church was first established in East Chicago in 1903. Its earliest parishioners were Polish. It reached 200 members by the 1940s.

A new church, with more than 50 stained glass windows donated by parish families, was built in East Chicago in the 1950s. English Masses were added in the 1960s and the church continued to grow. Its 100th anniversary was celebrated Sept. 28, 2003.

The last Mass in the old church was celebrated Nov. 18, 2007. The parish purchased 7.75 acres on 133rd Avenue in Cedar Lake in 2008. Groundbreaking for the new church complex was March 8, 2009.