Our Parish History

Incarnation of Our Lord Parish is a Catholic community in
the Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania. The parish is a
merged parish which was established in 2008 from the
Slovak, Hungarian, Slovenian, Polish, and Italian Catholic
Churches in the Southside of Bethlehem. We are now a
territorial parish serving the needs of all in the South
Bethlehem neighborhoods in addition to the former
members of the parishes five “Mother Churches”.

St Cyril And Methodious Parish

Slovak immigrants came to south Bethlehem in search of jobs in local
industries. Believing there was a need for a Slovak church, Monsignor
William Heinen of Mauch Chunk purchased land from Lehigh University in
1891 and opened the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius. The Monsignor
sold off parcels of the remaining land to parishioners, creating a Slovak
community on the Southside.
As immigration increased at the turn of the century, the congregation of
Saints Cyril and Methodius began to outgrow the original church building. A
new church was built on an adjacent plot and opened to the public in 1906
on Pentecost Sunday. The old building was converted into the parish school
that opened three years later, and another larger school building was
constructed in the mid-twentieth century to accommodate a growing
population of baby boomer students. In the 1970s and 1980s the school
also incorporated students from other ethnic Catholic parishes as the
Italian, Slovenian, and Hungarian parish schools closed because of declining
enrollments.
Saint Cyril’s,” the first Slovak church in the diocese, actively preserved its
ethnic culture in Bethlehem throughout the twentieth century. A Slovak
mass was offered to parishioners until the church’s closing in 2008 and the
parish had a Slovak folk group, called Tatra Slovak, which was formed in
1977 and sought to preserve and celebrate Slovak culture in the form of
dance, costume, and song.

The parish school also taught lessons in Slovak, with students learning
the language from a reader called a chitanka. They were expected to
greet their pastor in the language.
The church was known in the community for its adult choir, which was
founded under Sister M. Clotilda in 1948. The choir sang at liturgies in
both English and Slovak. Parishioner Nancy Hutt recalls that the choir was
not just for adults. “When we were in sixth and seventh and eighth grade
we were considered the junior choir, so we would have to sing in the
summertime, we had to sing in Latin, English or Slovak, and they would.
pull us out of school to sing at funerals.”
Saints Cyril and Methodius was one of five churches that were closed and
consolidated by the Diocese of Allentown in 2008, as the number of
active members declined. That same year, the church building reopened.
as Incarnation of Our Lord, a blended parish made up of members representing.
the five consolidated ethnic churches.

St. Stanislaus Parish

“Niech Bedzie Pochwalony Jezus Chrystus (Praise be to Jesus Christ)”
At the turn of the twentieth century, Pennsylvania welcomed more
Polish immigrants than any other state. American industry was
booming, and jobs in the steel mills and factories were plentiful.
Many Polish immigrants settled in the city of Bethlehem. Small,
ethnically diverse communities struggled to find ways to maintain
their native dialects and traditions, while also participating in the
process of assimilating into American society. One way they
accomplished a balance between the two was through the institution.
of the church.
With little money for a church of their own, the Poles in south
Bethlehem held their first worship services in the previously.
established Hungarian and Italian parishes. As the population grew,
the St. Stanislaus and St. Michael Societies were created in 1903.
These social clubs provided a firm foundation for the organization of
the Polish Catholic Church in Bethlehem. In 1905, Father Francis
Wieszok—a priest of the Allentown Catholic Diocese and fellow
Pole—was granted funds to purchase land on the corner of Hayes
and Fifth Street where St. Stanislaus Polish Catholic Church. The parish was named.
for the Polish saint. The parish opened its doors in 1906.

The church enjoyed both prosperity and hardship. In a testament to
its affluence, emblems of national and religious iconography adorned
the building. The statues of St. Stanislaus and the Immaculate
Conception align the history of the Polish tradition with the biblical
narrative.
St. Stanislaus was also a place where food was made, picnics were
hosted, polka was danced, halupkies were cooked, and cabbage and
noodles were consumed during parish festivals. In leaner times, the church
experienced a split that caused families to leave and finances to
dwindle.
Following the 100th anniversary in 2006, declining membership and
a shortage of priests caused the Catholic Diocese of Allentown to
close St. Stanislaus in 2008. This was a difficult time for parishioners,
like Alfreda Wesolowski, who said, “You can’t go to a church all of
your life and not miss that church.”

While the original church building is now home to South Side Lofts, St.
Stanislaus Church leaves a legacy of strong faith and love for the
Church and lives on in memory as a significant center of the Polish
traditions in South Bethlehem.

(Sourcing, Ron Koach; Bethlehem Area Public Library)

Thanks to Mr. Ron Koach for researching and providing content used in the development of the
articles featured on the site. His work helps to preserve the rich history of the
Incarnation of Our Lord Parish for future generations.

Ronald J. Koach, Jr.
Director of Ecclesiastical & Temporal Affairs. Pastoral Collaborator and Coordinator,
Catholic Campus Ministry, Lehigh University.

We are also proud to share several informative videos made by a local historian, Mr. Mark Iampietro.

Each highlights a brief history of our Parish’s “Mother Churches”. if you are interested in viewing
all of Mark’s video’s, please visit his you tube site. https://www.youtube.com/@markiampietro6225

Mark has also written six books on Bethlehem including “The Boys from Bethlehem”, “Bethlehem Profiles” “Bethlehem, A Pictorial History,” “Southside Memories”, “Tamar Bair’s Bethlehem” and “Elora Explores Historic Bethlehem.” Thank you Mark for allowing us to share these important videos!