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St. Boniface cHurcH
Founded in 1860 to help meet the needs of German Catholics in the southeastern part of Rochester,
St. Boniface Church has experienced an eventful history.
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Bishop John Timon of the Diocese of Buffalo dedicated the original St. Boniface Church on June 8, 1861. The three-story building also housed the parish’s rst rectory and school, and Father John P. Klein was its rst pastor. A larger church and rectory was built in the 1880s and dedicated by
Bishop Bernard J. McQuaid in 1886.
As the parish was about to start renovations ahead of its centennial celebration, a re destroyed the church building on Nov. 15, 1957. A statue of St. Boniface disappeared following the re, but was returned in time for the saint’s feast day on June 5, 2016.
The current church building at 330 Gregory Street was constructed in 1960 and dedicated on June 5, 1960, by Bishop James E. Kearney. The parish campus served as the site for Becket Hall, the diocesan program of priestly discernment, from 1984-2006.
St. Boniface formed a partnership with Rochester’s Blessed Sacrament and St. Mary’s churches in 2006. Nearly a decade later, the three worship sites became the Southeast Catholic Community.