St. Stanislaus Polish Catholic Church 1413 North 20th Street, St. Louis, MO 63106

"The Church itself is a beautiful work of art, but what is most important is this church practices what is preached. Their doors are open to everyone, the LQBQIA community has a home here, and all are welcomed to services and Communion as long as baptized, regardless your primary faith. The clergy as well as the congregants are warm and welcoming. I am so happy to have found a church to attend in my later years of life who believes as I do, we are ALL God's children across the board."

"This is an amazing church and while Father Marek is greatly missed Father P is wonderful! I should add I am neither Polish or Catholic, I just love this church ever since they had the polka mass after the Diocese basically robbed the church and then excommunicated father Marek because the church would not give up the land and the building that they rightfully owned."

"St. Stanislaus is a breathtaking masterpiece! I could spend hours looking at this artful cathedral. The Priest was straight from Poland and he was delightful. It was a beautiful wedding ceremony made even more outstanding because of the amazing treasure trove of murals and statues."

"This church is probably one of the most beautiful churches left in North St. Louis. The Priest there is so welcoming. The first Sunday of the month for now hosts the Julia Greeley community @ 5pm. Beautiful people all the way around."

"This church holds my first memory as a child. My parents and nearly everyone in my extended family have been married here. The Wilga tradition and name would still be alive and thriving here if not for sinful greed. Fall festivals, Polish celebrations, wedding showers, baby showers, the most peaceful of midnight mass' on Christmas Eve....in which I swear it snowed every year and I can still hear the dress shoes my mother made me wear crunching in the snow along the sidewalk to the steps of the front door, where inside I would find my grandparents, aunt's, uncle's, cousins, my aunt and uncle's cousins and their children, my grandparent's siblings and heir extended families, and the intense presence of Jesus. My dad was actually named "Vincent", in honor of Father. Father Vince...may he be resting in eternal peace with his savior...he performed mass in Polish (not all, but often) and I didn't understand one word, but I always watched my grandparents and my Aunt always recite prayers and sing Psalms right along with him on Polish, as if Engilsh were the foreign language to them. These moments are part of who I am. The greatest and most fulfilling moment of my life was here. A day that, I swear, I remember every single minute of. My wedding day. A cool, crisp, fall morning in late October 2002. It was just as I had dreamed of after having attended family weddings there my entire life. No words can describe the honor I felt to fulfill my final sacrament... committing myself and promising God that I would honor my best friend until my last breath. The last time I walked out the doors and down the front steps to leave St. Stan's...it was with my new husband holding my hand. I was beyond blessed that day in the church that had been a second home to me my entire life. A piece of my heart will always be there, as I will never forget the greatest moment in my life that happened right inside those doors, in God's house that he shared with us. Sadly, I was the last one in my family to be married here before the archdiocese came in and took over and put a halt on EVERYTHING....they took away our home, our memories, our reason, our future, and tradition. I'm not positive, but it's even a possibility that I may have been the very last person to have been married at St. Stanislaus. My younger cousins and brother, I'm sure, were devastated to learn that this tradition in our family was over and that they would someday have to accept that their wedding day would never be possible here. Our family was built on the foundation of this historical church. Anyone that has ever been to a mass or ceremony or celebrate here will agree, there is NO house of God like this one and there never will be again. #ststanislausforever"