St. Hedwig's Church in Chester, Pennsylvania slated to close after 125 years

CHESTER, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- Saint Hedwig's Church in Chester, Pennsylvania is rich in history. Since its inception 125 years ago, families have made lifelong memories here celebrating their Polish heritage. Sadly, the church is making the tough decision to close.

"This church is my family. It's my home," said David Chominski, of Chadds Ford.

"We sing in Polish and pray in Polish and we still have a very tight-knit community that maintains this church," said Judy Kuchinski of Chester.

On Sunday, the church announced the news on Facebook, saying attendance has been down and so has collections.

With a building over 100 years old, parishioners say its aging infrastructure has become too costly to maintain.

"The thing that was the nail in the coffin here was that the heater went in the church and once the heater went the expense to replace that was probably a little more than we could have raised ourselves," said Kuchinski.

The heater alone is estimated to cost more than $65,000.

"If they let us raise the money or try to raise the money...we were kind of told no," said Chominski.

Saint Hedwig's school closed in the 1990s and around that time the church was combined with two others, but they've been holding Mass each Sunday and will continue to do so until their final service on New Year's Eve.

Action News reached out to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for comment on the potential closure, but we have not yet heard back.