People of God: A Centennial History of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, New Britain, Connecticut by Daniel S. Buczek (review)

324book reviews 1964") examines the transition under new Community leadership other than Drexel's. In Part Four ("Strong Against theWinds, 1964-1991"), the author identifies the fruition of the Sisters' previous efforts and the time of vital changes in the Congregation as a result of the Second Vatican Council, the Civil Rights Movement, and school desegregation. Appendices contain the names and dates of aU the members of the Congregation and a list of the 122 missions and convents founded since the Community's inception. The publishers are working on a way to correct the errors in the index. Lynch draws extensively on primary sources in the archives of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for her narrative. By and large, the centennial study chronicles the development of the missions which the Sisters staffed from 1891 , the year that Katharine Drexel made her first profession. With the exception of the section on the 1960's and the CivU Rights Movement, there is Uttle interpretation provided placing the Sisters' work and Uves in a larger context of American history. However, by sheer force of the number of pages, as weU as the identification of mission locations, the reader is impressed with the considerable role which the Sisters played in the formation and education of the two groups to whom they went in mission. The addition of a map indicating the sites of schools and catechetical centers would have enhanced this perception. At various points in their history, the Congregation took significant stands in relation to race questions, especially in the southern part of the United States. In addition to the Sisters' role in the formation of local churches, education on reservations, in cities and rural areas, the Congregation founded Xavier University (1925) in New Orleans, an institution which remains a notable locus for higher education for African American Catholics to this day. Angelyn Dries, O.S.E Cardinal Stritch University Milwaukee, Wisconsin People of God: A Centennial History of Sacred Heart ofJesus Parish, New Britain, Connecticut. By Daniel S. Buczek. (New Britain, Connecticut: Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, 158 Broad Street, 06053-4104. 1998. Pp. vi, 136. $15.00.) Although entitled People ofGod, this history reviews the accompUshment of the three PoUsh pastors who have held sway in Sacred Heart parish for more than one hundred years. The role of the first pastor, Right Reverend Lucyan J. Bojnowski,who created and sustained Polonia there from 1895 almost until his death in I960, is emphasized. This is logical. No other pastor of the Hartford Diocese has, in fact, ever had the permission or power to buUd the bulwark of ethnic CathoUc institutions that he did. As the author makes clear, even those who did not share Bojnowski's ethnic background or his faith saw him as a key player in local religious and secular affairs.Yet, we are quick to learn that almost BOOK REVIEWS325 half of his parishioners left him to become part of a second Polish parish in New Britain some thirty years after he assumed control. But what of the PoUsh people who were his parishioners? One is struck by the degree to which the factionalism that constantly beset the congregation takes precedence in this history of Sacred Heart over their story of faithful adherence to pastors and parish. According to the author, discord was core to the parochial life of Sacred Heart, resurfacing with weU-documented vigor as late as the 1980's. Despite this, the majority of the congregation endured because of "fierce loyalty" and dedication to the Catholic Church. Moreover, a magnificent church, a school, a reUgious congregation of women, an orphanage, a cemetery, and a home for the aged aU emerged as monuments to PoUsh faith. How could such prodigious growth occur in the face of such turmoil? It appeared that Monsignor Bojnowski must have been more than the briUiant buUder. What was the secret of Bojnowski's persistence? One could assume,from the emphasis given to it, that the loyalty of the "people of God" was highly motivated by fear. Thus, the concern that "Americanization" could destroy the Polish kind of faith or the requirement that the people needed annual certification of the reception of...