My story behind St Adalbert's Sanctuary

The opportunity to be on the streets of Buffalo in mid afternoon on a Friday, with the sun shinning and enjoying beautiful Buffalo weather was offered and so I simply flat out took it. Much better than sitting in the cubical with my nose pushed against a computer monitor following up on the voluminous list of emails scrolling down the Outlook page in front of me.


The result of seizing that opportunity was I ended up standing outside my car on Stanislaus St on the East Side of Buffalo with my Canon 6D secured tightly to the mount on the top of my Manfrotto tripod directing the camera up towards the the twin spires of St Adalbert's Basilica. I was soaking it all in, the sun, the church, the neighborhood, the being free on a gorgeous Friday afternoon when a big shinny black pickup truck pulled up and blocked my view of the basilica. The passenger side window rolled down, a face on the driver's side of the truck turned toward me and asked, "why are you taking pictures of my church, who are you"?


I was informed the driver of the truck was a caretaker of the church. The church had recently been been deactivated and the "bishop" (said with a snarl) is after our cemetery". "Are you from downtown", he asked? Additional discussion ensued, I handed my card over to him through the rolled down passenger's side window and the driver seemed to relax. As we talked, a black man in muslim dress walked along the sidewalk in front of the basilica.


Jerry, as it turned out, treated me like a welcome guest and asked if I'd like to see the inside. "I have a key", he said with authority. He and his wife have lived on Sobieski Street for many years, they've been married 41 years and this church parish is very important to them. The new bishop is being difficult and doesn't care about the people only the money from the cemetery is what I gathered from our conversation to be the gist of the consternation with the "downtown" people.


What a beautiful sanctuary, with the stations of the cross and a magnificent marble alter. I didn't want to hold him up so I rushed forming the photographs, but I believe I captured some of the color, magnificence and glory of the inside of this basilica.


Jerry is a really good guy. You know, the salt of the earth, the kind of man, you know from the outset that he can be trusted. He wanted to get home, but didn't rush me, however I self imposed the hurriedness and the compositions are evidence. But as we walked out the front door, Jerry took time to shake my hand and mention to me "not to forget the Virgin Mary in the grotto". I got his address and promised to mail him some pictures.