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Home  / News & Publications /  Michigan Catholic News / 2008 /  The power of pierogi

by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published November 21, 2008

Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic Janet Carnevale, 74, adds the four as she prepares to make the dough for another batch of pierogi.

Detroit – Nearly 60 current and former members of St. Christopher Parish in Detroit's Warrendale community got together Nov. 12 to make nearly 500 dozen pierogi.

"We do this twice a year, before Advent and Easter. It's our biggest fundraiser, bringing in about $9,000 a year, said Betty Pasut, 69, president of the parish's Rosary Altar Society and pierogi-making organizer for the past 12 years.

This fall, volunteers made 225 dozen kraut-filled, 60 dozen cheese-filled and 210 dozen potato-filled pierogi in their day of cooperative effort.

"It's a nice meatless dish, and they're the best pierogi on the west side," Pasut said.

Most of those were picked up on Nov. 13 by people who had placed advance orders. "Typically, most of them are sold before they're even made," Pasut said. The rest were sold after Mass last Sunday by Sr. Mary Teresita Eskra, a member of the Chicago-based Congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth at the parish.

Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic Ron Bush, at 55 one of the younger pierogi-makers, puts them into boiling water.

They have been holding the pierogi sales since 1989, and Janet Carnevale has been helping with it since the early days. Now a member of Divine Child Parish in Dearborn, she still returns to St. Christopher to help mix the dough.

Most of the pierogi makers are in their senior years, but not all. Ron Bush, 55, has been a part of the project for most of the time they have been doing it. "I came to help one year, and I've been back ever since," he said.

Fr. James Smalarz, the parish's pastor, said the pierogi-making is evidence that St. Christopher is still an active parish, "that there are still things going on here."

"It's mostly seniors involved, and it's a good outlet for them and a great help to the parish," he said.

Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic Cutting dough for pierogi at St. Christopher are (from left) James Forster, 85, Bob Lynch, 81, and Harry J. Sacha, 79.

"The people here are very, very supportive, very encouraging since I've been here. These are a very hard-working group of people," he continued.

St. Christopher Parish, on Woodmont just south of Tireman, has between 350-400 families these days, including members who continue to live in the neighborhood and others who still come there for Mass even though they have moved to the suburbs, Fr. Smalarz said.

Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic Kay Shaw, 60, and Betty Pasut, 69, show Fr. James Smalarz some of the pierogi made Nov. 12.

Fr. Smalarz, 46, has ties to St. Christopher that go back a long way. "When I was a child, this is where we always came for Christmas Eve midnight Mass," he said, explaining that his grandparents – the late Michael and Viola Luszczyk – lived in the neighborhood and were members of the parish.

"There are still people here who remember my grandparents, including their next-door neighbors. I see it as God's hand working in mysterious ways that I'm back here," he added.