Obituary of Monsignor Peter Andrew Sanczenko

SANCZENKO, Monsignor Peter A. Born on March 9, 1927 in the town of Nieswiez, Eastern Poland and passed away peacefully on July 11, 2018 at the age of 91. Fr. Peter was 12 years old when in 1939 the Second World War began and Poland was divided and annexed by both Germany and the Soviet Union. Fr. Peter was spared the waves of arrests, executions, and deportations of hundreds of thousands of Poles including children to Siberia and other remote gulags by the Soviet NKVD. When the Soviets were driven out by the invading German army in 1941, Germany extended its occupation to include the entire territory of Poland. In April 1943, the 16-year-old Peter was separated from his family, arrested and taken away to Germany for forced labour in a brick-yard in the town of Lorrach, near the border with Switzerland. After being liberated by French troops in May 1945, he made a crucial decision for his future; not to return home. Nieswiez, his hometown, was no longer part of Poland but had become integrated into the Soviet Union. He graduated in 1947 from a Polish high school in Rottweil, Germany, and then studied philosophy at the University of Freiburg, Germany. In 1950, he left Europe and arrived in Chicago, IL and ended up in Detroit MI, where he worked on a Ford assembly line for a short period of time. In 1950 he was accepted into the Polish Seminary in Orchard Lake, MI and was ordained to the priesthood in 1954. He celebrated his first mass at St. Stanislaus Church, Detroit MI. Later on Fr. Peter served as associate pastor and pastor at Polish parishes in London (Our Lady of Czestochowa), Chatham (Our Lady of Victory), and Windsor (Holy Trinity). He also was the pastor of St. Michael"s German Parish. In the late 1980"s, he helped over a thousand Polish families immigrate to Windsor through the sponsorship of the Catholic Church in Canada. Monsignor Peter Sanczenko will be missed by his many friends, the Ursuline Sisters, and relatives in Canada and abroad. Special thanks to the many parishioners, friends, the Polish Ursuline Sisters of Windsor, the staff of CCAC, nurses of Paramed Home Health Care, and the staff and volunteers of the Windsor Hospice for all their care and compassion during Fr. Peter"s illness. Visitation will be held at HOLY TRINITY POLISH CHURCH (1035 Ellis St. East at Langlois Ave) on Sunday, July 15, 2018 from 5-9 p.m. Parish prayers will follow at 8:00 p.m. Visitation will continue on Monday, July 16, 2018 from 10 a.m. until the time of Mass of Christian Burial at 11:00 a.m. Burial to follow at St. Alphonsus Cemetery. Arrangements entrusted to WINDSOR CHAPEL 1700 Tecumseh Rd E. 519-253-7234. In kindness, donations may be made to Holy Trinity Building Fund or Hospice of Windsor and Essex County.