The Founding and Early Years of St. John the Baptist Catholic

Frank Vargo August 2021

The part of Hammond known as Robertsdale was named after George M. Roberts who first purchased land there on March 6, 1847. In 1856, Roberts added an additional 313 acres to his holdings. Some of his land was sold to the railroads that were laying track to the city of Chicago. Roberts held on to his remaining land for future development.

As more railroad workers moved to the area and the Standard Oil Company started to build their refinery, the need for additional housing and businesses became apparent. Roberts sold some parcels of land including land upon which St. John the Baptist Catholic Church was built.

Along with the early Irish and German settlers came Slovaks and Poles looking for a better life in America. Only a small group of Slovaks lived in Whiting in the mid 1890s. These families formed social clubs to keep their culture and language alive here in their new home. On April 8, 1894, Branch No. 130 of the First Catholic Slovak Union was organized with a total of twelve members. By 1896, membership had increased to thirty-two. It was the members of this branch that petitioned the bishop of Fort Wayne to request a priest to be sent to Robertsdale to form a parish.

In the meantime, Father Byrne, the pastor of Sacred Heart Church, allowed Slovaks to attend mass in his church and even encouraged Slovak priests from Chicago to offer mass on Sunday afternoons. It was a few years before Bishop Rademacher of the Fort Wayne Diocese agreed to the idea of a new parish. He sent letters to bishops in Austria-Hungary asking that a Slovak speaking priest be sent to this new parish.

Finally the day that everyone in Robertsdale and Whiting was waiting for had arrived. On Holy Saturday, April 17, 1897, a train was to bring this Slovak priest to Hammond. Two Robertsdale residents, George Berdis and Joseph Skrabala, awaited his arrival. When no one “looking clerical carrying a breviary or some type of outward sign of the priesthood” stepped off the train, they thought he missed his stop. All the two men saw was “a smallish, foreign-looking man in a dark suit, clutching at a strange suitcase. He seemed like someone who had run away from home.” Berdis and Skrabala asked him if he had seen a priest on the train and with that a big smile appeared across his face. He turned down the collar of his coat to reveal a clerical collar and said, “I am Father Benedict M. Rajcany from Austria-Hungary.” Father Benedict quickly and affectionately became known as the “Little Father.”

Father Rajcany enjoyed the hospitality of Father Byrne and while staying in the rectory was able to offer mass on Sunday afternoons in Slovak. Soon five lots were purchased in Robertsdale, one of which was already occupied by the Jednota Slovak Catholic Lodge.

Enough money was finally raised to start construction of the church. The new church was dedicated on July 4, 1897, to St. John the Baptist, because Father Rajcany said he felt like “one crying in the wilderness” when he first came to America. The total cost of the lots, hall and church were $940.00. Parishioners numbered about 150. To help pay down the debt, Father Rajcany traveled from Joliet, Illinois, to South Bend, Indiana, preaching and offering mass in Slovak, Hungarian, German and English wherever he went.

Because of his strong belief in education, Father Rajcany started a school in the back room of the rectory where only English was taught. Only eight boys attended. In 1900, the first real school, a four-room frame building, and a Sisters’ convent was erected. Seventy-five students attended on the first day of classes, October 10, 1901. The teachers were nuns from the order of the Sisters of Providence from Saint Mary of the Woods, Terre Haute, Indiana. This order of nuns would continue teaching at St. John School until the 1980s.

The parish continued to grow and more room was needed to accommodate the overflow crowds for Sunday mass. In 1914, an all brick extension was built in front of the old church, a side entrance was added and a shrine of our Lady of Lourdes was built inside. The old spire was replaced with an “onion topped tower” that was a familiar style back in the “old country.” In 1921, Father Michael Kosko became the first regular assistant. Father Kosko would help start the other Slovak parish, Immaculate Conception, in 1922. Another visiting priest from St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Indiana, came on occasion to help on the weekends. He was Fr. John Kostik.

Father Kostik was a professor at St. Joseph’s College from 1921 to 1923. He spoke Slovak, English, German and Hungarian. He could also hear confessions in Slovene, Croatian and Polish. After finishing his Master’s Degree in Science, Father Kostik became the permanent assistant to Father Benedict on September 18, 1925.

As Father Rajcany grew older he realized that the young, energetic Father Kostik would make a great pastor for the expanding parish. In 1927, Father Rajcany met with the Rt. Rev. John F. Noll and made such a suggestion to the bishop. Father Rajcany retired to Orlando, Florida, where he lived for many years. He visited Whiting for the 40th Anniversary celebration of St. John’s Church and was on his way back to Florida by train when he suffered a fatal heart attack. The “Little Father” was 68 years old.

On December 18, 1927, Father John Kostik became the second pastor of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church.

Father Kostik was born in 1894 in Slovakia (Austria-Hungary). He immigrated to America in 1908 and was ordained a priest on May 5, 1921. He served as a faithful assistant to Father Rajcany, earning the reputation as a tireless worker for the people of the parish.

His main objectives were not only to continue the growth the parish had seen under Father Rajcany but to build a much larger church. Because of the increase in the number of families joining St. John, Father was given two assistants who were priests from the Society of the Precious Blood. One of these men was Father Isidore Stadtherr. On Sunday afternoon, June 17, 1928, he saw smoke coming from the church. Father Stadtherr ran into the church and brought the Blessed Sacrament to safety. This electrical short circuit caused about $4,500.00 in damage and gave a sense of urgency to the building of a new structure.

A ground breaking ceremony was held on May 20, 1930, and the cornerstone was laid on Sunday, July 6, of the same year. The ceremony was performed by the Rt. Rev. John F. Noll, D. D. Bishop of the Fort Wayne Diocese. The Drum and Bugle Corps of the American Legion and the St. John parish band led the procession. The Knights of Columbus, area clergy and over fifty altar boys also participated.

The new church was the work of Chicago architect Herman Gaul. Contractors were the Michuda Brothers. Many other companies did the interior work in the church. The cost of the new church was to be about $300,000.00. Father Kostik had no previous experience in financial matters. The stock market crash of 1929 and the start of the Great Depression were on people’s minds. The First Catholic Ladies Slovak Union helped St. John with installment payments to help pay down the debt. As good luck would have it, Father Kostik approved the withdrawal of $12,000.00 from the Central State Bank to pay bills that were due at the time. The very next day the Central State Bank was forced to close its doors.

The construction of the church was placed under the protection of St. Therese of Lisiuex, the Little Flower. Because of the successful building and the retirement of all the debt by 1942, a special novena to St. Therese is offered every October in her honor. This novena is still carried on today.

Father Kostik continued on during the years of World War II helping families cope with the sufferings and losses they endured. In 1945, Father Kostik was appointed the Superior of St. Charles Seminary and the Motherhouse of the Fathers of the Precious Blood in the United States. A grand farewell party was held in the Whiting Community Center on Sunday evening, August 19, 1945, in his honor for his nearly two decades of service to the people of St. John’s and the Robertsdale and Whiting communities.

That concludes the timeline of the founding of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in the Robertsdale and Whiting communities. The priests that have worked as pastors since then, Fathers Lefko, Brenkus, Homco, O’Reilly, Kalicky and O’Donnell, as well as our present pastor, Father Mark Peres, have all strived to continue the great traditions of service to God, country, community and family started by Fathers Rajcany and Kostik.