This Sunday, August 2, will see the holy sacrifice of the Mass offered for the final time at Saint Casimir in Lansing as the parish closes after 99 years of faithful service to Jesus Christ and his Holy Church.
“It will be very sad,” said Father Karl Pung, Administrator of Saint Casimir, July 31, “the people have been great to walk with but it’s just going to be sad, like a funeral, no matter how much we celebrate it’s going to be a sad time.”
Saint Casimir Parish was founded in Lansing in 1921 as an apostolic offshoot of Saint Mary Cathedral to serve a growing Polish immigrant community. In recent years, however, the parish has witnessed a declining population coupled with significant financial challenges.
This Sunday’s final Mass will be offered by Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing with several clerics who have been associated with the past and present of the parish concelebrating.
At the conclusion of Holy Mass, the sacred altar will be reverenced by both the clergy and lay faithful before all depart in procession led by the Blessed Sacrament. The parish of Saint Casimir will then be incorporated back into the parish of Saint Mary Cathedral.
“A parish is our home, it is our community, it is also a reflection of the life we are going to have in heaven,” said Father Pung.
“It is who we are walking with now but they are meant to direct us to something greater such that all the joy, all the good times, we have had here are just a mere foretaste of what is yet to come.”
Saint Casimir, pray for them!