Saint George Roman Catholic Lithuanian Church
By the end of 1905, there were some 400 Lithuanians in Rochester, many of them young men having escaped the hardships of the coal mines of Pennsylvania.
[7] It was at the September 9, 1906, meeting of the Saints Peter and Paul Society that Adomas Butrimas proposed the idea of establishing a Lithuanian Roman Catholic Parish.
Their proposal to buy the vacant land between Hudson, Weeger, and Dudley Streets was readily accepted.
Although at first there were many stumbling blocks because of the hard financial situation of the time, Bishop Thomas Hickey dedicated the new church-hall-school building, costing about $18,000, on December 11, 1910.
The success of the building project was in most part due to the energy of Father Juozas Kasakaitis, who became the first pastor of St. George Church after finishing his studies at Saint Bernard's Seminary in spring 1910.
By January 1927, it became clear to all members that the parish was ready to build a church which would be separate from the hall and school.
Finally, on August 11, 1935, the new church, built to seat 400 members, was dedicated with great celebrations by Archbishop Edward Mooney and Bishop Teofilius Matulionis.
Father Jonas Baksys later expanded it to eight grades and invited Lithuanian Franciscan Sisters from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to staff it.
By 1930 the school had grown to 164 students, and the first graduating class included the present Pastor of Saint George, Father Dominic Mockevičius.
For example, during the Lithuanian Days in 1916 Tautos Fondas raised $1,600 for the independence movement; in March 1918, 13 delegates representing Saint George parish and six other organizations took part in the Lithuanian Convention at New York's Madison Square Garden asking President Woodrow Wilson to recognize Lithuania's independence.
The most frequent guests were Father J. F. Goggin, who officiated at Mass, and Seminarian Juozas Kasakaitis, who gave the sermons in Lithuanian.
When Father Kasakaitis graduated in spring 1909, he was assigned as the first pastor of Saint George Roman Catholic Lithuanian Church.
He was replaced by Father Jonas Bakšys, alumni of Saint Bernard's Seminary, who worked in Hartford and Waterbury.
Bakšys finished building the present Saint George's church and expanded the parish's grammar school to eight grades.
When immigration rules permitted Lithuanian refugees to come to the United States, Bakšys himself sponsored many families and found jobs for many of the new arrivals.
Because of failing health, Father Vaškys had to resign as pastor in June 1991 and went to live in a nursing home, run by the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Putnam, Connecticut, where he died in 1994.
One year later, in 1992, brothers Charles and Dominic Mockevičius returned from retirement to serve Saint George's parishioners.
The chapter officers have, for a number of years, selected people for recognition and award of Lithuanian Foundation medals for achievement in the field of culture.
On their agenda, among other things, were efforts to support Lithuania's membership in NATO,[10] and to participate in the long-term effort by the Eastman School of Music and the Episcopal Diocese to install at Christ Church a copy of the organ from Holy Ghost Church in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The choir has sung at Mass and in concerts, at all North American Lithuanian Song Festivals[13] as well as those in Lithuania in 1994, 1998 and 2002.
The group participated in folk dance festivals in North America as well as in Lithuania, including appearance in Vatican for the Pope in 1983.
The program was started on a commercial basis, but soon a Radio Club was organized for raising funds through dues and contributions.
Members of Ateitis also launched a drama circle, which staged plays locally and in other cities like Philadelphia, New York, Cleveland, Toronto, Montreal.
An outgrowth of the Parish Future Committee was the Lithuanian Heritage Society of Rochester, an umbrella organization with over 100 members.
The Society's main purpose is to continue and promote Lithuanian culture and traditions in the Rochester area.
