I live in Toledo, Ohio, USA. There is a Polish church here, St Hedwig's, that has someone come in to do the genealogy look-ups. I believe that she also will do some more extensive look-ups for a small fee. Maybe, if someone is involved in their parish & interested in genealogy, the pastor would allow them to take over looking up the records for those that request information. That should help out the priest if his reason is that he is too busy. I needed some information from a convent's records of my great-aunt. They had a sister that worked as archivist 1 day a week. She was helpful when I went there, although she guarded each piece of paper & only let me see them one at a time. ACzubek@aol.com >Subject: Re: Priests Sympathetic to Genealogy Requests >From: John Pejza <jpejza@ix.netcom.com> >Date: Tue, 27 May 1997 20:28:09 -0700 >Message-ID: <338BA649.5340@ix.netcom.com> >Ralph Lewis wrote: > So, I am asking two things: > > First, is there a priest who might write something for us to send along > with our requests, reflecting a personal experience regarding genealogy > research? Perhaps someone has helped reunite a family, or something like > that. > > Secondly, is there a Catholic perspective, here? I know why the Mormons > want to identify their relatives, but aren't there Catholic interests in > family, roots, heritage, tradition, etc.? What would Rome think about > genealogy research? That it is a frivilous effort that takes priests from > their work, or that this is an important part of that work. (By the way, I > enclose some money along with my requests, which I learned from the > suggestions of others.) > >There is no specific Catholic perspective as with the Mormons, but >certainly there are Catholic interests in tradition and heritage. (Any >church that's 2000 years old certainly has a lot of interest in >tradition!) > To be quite honest, I don't know why Catholic churches keep records for >more than 70 or 80 years. The main time they are used for church >purposes is in marriage preparation. A fresh copy of the baptismal >certificate is ordinarily requested to ensure that the individual is >free to marry (a note ordinarily is made in the baptismal record of a >marriage or ordination). After a person dies, there really is no reason, >other than historical, for keeping the records. > I suppose some priests have a greater sense of maintaining the privacy >of their parishioners, living or dead, than others. They might feel >that, even though you might be a relative, you don't have any right to >the information. That, plus irritation at being asked to dig in musty >and dusty old records (which are probably not conveniently located), >might be the reason that some priests don't answer requests for >information. Since I work in a school and not a parish, I can't give you >a definitive answer. > Personally, I have never requested any records from any parish. I have >used the Mormon microfilms of Polish church records to trace my father's >family back to about 1830 in Poland. But a cousin, while in Poland, did >go to the local parish and obtain a copy of his grandparents' marriage >certificate. > So I don't know if that helps you or not. Feel free to pursue this >further if you think it will help. > >Father Jack Pejza ACzubek@aol.com