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Year: 2006

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Homilies

Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord

Here is Isaiah speaking about the messiah

I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,
I have grasped you by the hand;

My brothers and sisters,

This applies to us as well. We are called by God’s action in the Holy Spirit. Every man, woman, and child is called.

I love the story of Cornelius. God surprised Peter here. God did something unexpected. Cornelius was a gentile. Remember last week, we spoke of how the gentiles came to worship Christ. The Magi were our representatives. As gentiles, we are grafted unto the vine. We are part of that vine now, not separate, not unequal. We are Israel.

Many Evangelical Christians are Christian Zionists. Their views on the end of the world, called pre-millennialism, call on them to support the Jewish people as having a unique, separate, and parallel role with the Church. They support the reestablished Israel and believe that Israel’s existence will bring about the end of the world. They hold the Jewish people and gentiles as separate.

My friends,

We are not separate. Rather we as gentiles are equal heirs, equal partners in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus Christ is our Messiah; He is the world’s Messiah.

The Jewish people continue to hold a dear place in the heart of God, for God has not forgotten His promises to them. Their role as Israel by the flesh and their place in the history of salvation is only known to God, but that role is assured.

So we must not get caught up rhetoric that differentiates the Jewish and gentile peoples. Trust rather in what God has done. Cornelius the gentile —“ and his whole household received the Holy Spirit right in front of Peter’s eyes. Peter subsequently baptized them. Peter was confounded, taken off guard, he was not in control. God showed him what He wanted.

As with Cornelius, God has taken us by the hand and has called us. As Isaiah eludes, He calls us to be

a light for the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

Your baptism is your inclusion. You have been made part of the vine. Your inclusion in the new Israel carries both rights and responsibilities.

When you consider your role as the new Israel and your place in the Polish National Catholic Church, by right of your baptism and by your choice, you must not forget that its teachings are authentic and true. You must not forget that they are different. That they are not Roman Catholic or Protestant, nor can you easily equate them. You must remember that they are authentically catholic.

That is why, when you step outside, because you think something else is appealing or true, or when you walk away from the PNCC because you think another faith tradition is ‘just as good,’ you endanger your soul.

Do you understand what they teach? Do you understand what you are buying into? Do you understand that integrity calls you to study and come to a well informed decision before you endanger your soul? Do you understand that the PNCC places its emphasis not in tomes of rules, but in the Holy Spirit’s guidance in your life?

Do not let anyone fool you into believing that there are answers in Hinduism, Buddhism, or Islam. Don’t let anyone fool you into believing that some shadow of a seed or truth found in other faiths makes them right. That shadow is only the realization of the fact that all of humanity is called to the one God. It is symbolic of the fact that all of humanity is justified, sanctified, and made adopted sons and daughters by the saving action of Jesus Christ alone. The wholeness of God’s love and justice, the complete truth, is found in Jesus.

Jesus didn’t need to be baptized. He said however that he needed to fulfill all righteousness. He did so to show us the truth and the Father Himself proclaimed it from the heavens:

[As Jesus came up] out of the water
He saw the heavens being torn open
and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him.
And a voice came from the heavens,
—You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.—

Everything Else

But I am a Journalist – What is your Perfect Major test

You scored as Journalism. You are an aspiring journalist, and you should major in journalism! Like me, you are passionate about writing and expressing yourself, and you want the world to understand your beliefs through writing.

Journalism
100%
Mathematics
92%
Philosophy
92%
Psychology
92%
Sociology
92%
Theater
83%
Anthropology
83%
English
75%
Linguistics
67%
Engineering
58%
Biology
50%
Dance
42%
Chemistry
42%
Art
33%

What is your Perfect Major?
created with QuizFarm.com

See, blogging is for me.

Everything Else

I am not a heretic!!!

You scored as Chalcedon compliant. You are Chalcedon compliant. Congratulations, you’re not a heretic. You believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man and like us in every respect, apart from sin. Officially approved in 451.

Chalcedon compliant
100%
Pelagianism
83%
Nestorianism
33%
Monophysitism
33%
Apollanarian
25%
Docetism
0%
Arianism
0%
Donatism
0%
Adoptionist
0%
Gnosticism
0%
Monarchianism
0%
Albigensianism
0%
Modalism
0%
Socinianism
0%

Are you a heretic?
created with QuizFarm.com
Current Events

St. Stanislaus Suppressed

I guess I stayed away from the St. Louis news for too long after the New Year. Thus, from the Associated Press via the Springfield News-Leader:

Archbishop ends St. Stanislaus’ status as parish in archdiocese

St. Louis —” St. Louis’ Roman Catholic archbishop has issued a —decree of suppression— of St. Stanislaus Kostka church, ending the historic church’s standing as a Catholic parish in the St. Louis archdiocese.

The traditional Polish parish, which is at odds with the archdiocese over control of the parish’s property and assets, is appealing the suppression, along with last year’s interdict and last month’s excommunication of its lay board of directors and priest.

—We saw it coming,— parish spokesman Roger Krasnicki said, adding that St. Stanislaus has retained a canon lawyer. —We’re doing as much as we can as fast as we can.—

According to church law, a move to —suppress— a parish ends its affiliation to the larger Catholic church.

The decree, dated Dec. 29, but announced in the archdiocesan newspaper today, was delivered Wednesday (Jan. 4, 2006) to the parish’s lay board along with a cover letter from Burke.

…

The move to —suppress— the parish was the latest development in a two-year dispute between Burke and the parish’s lay board of directors over control of St. Stanislaus’ $9.5 million in assets.

The church’s property and finances have been managed by a lay board of directors since its founding 126 years ago.

Since Burke arrived here in January 2004, he has sought to make the parish conform to the same legal structure as other parishes in the diocese and hand over control of its assets. As the parish resisted, Burke responded with increasing pressure —” removing its two parish priests, issuing an interdict denying sacraments to the parish’s board, and establishing another parish as the official home for Polish Roman Catholics.

Last month, Burke declared the board and Father Marek Bozek, the former assistant pastor at St. Agnes Church in Springfield who was hired to serve St. Stanislaus, had been excommunicated.

Krasnicki, an attorney, said it’s possible that suppression might be used as a prelude to a civil attempt to get back the property, but doubted such a move would succeed.

Now, here is the most interesting part of the story:

For more than a century, St. Stanislaus has been the religious, cultural and historical home of Polish Americans in St. Louis. The tradition of self-governance in matters of property and assets dates back to the European immigrants who brought the church to America in the 19th century. But that model has faded over the years as the nation’s bishops have asserted control.

The Rev. William Barnaby Faherty, official archdiocesan historian, said late last month that many of St. Louis’ immigrant parishes closed after descendants of the founders moved to the suburbs.

—But enough of the Polish people stayed to keep St. Stanislaus alive,— Faherty said. —The thought was, ‘who cares about those Poles down there?’ No one bothered about them. They went on their way, kept things alive and spent money on their church.—

Yes, they kept the faith, and were largely ignored by the Diocese, especially when they asked for help.  They probably understood the subtext, which has now been made abundantly clear by Rev. Faherty, an archdiocesan representative: Who cares about you, we’re not bothering with you, go on your way.  Now I can add —“ but ooops you have $9.5 million.  Now its time to care, bother, impede and close —“ just like the rest of the ethnics.

Another thought —“ since I like coining odd phrases, perhaps the nativist influences affecting American Roman Catholic bishops, at the time of the 3rd session of the Council of Baltimore, left an ingrained feeling that —ethics do not count with ethnics—

The Roman Church stands by in amazement at the fact that Hispanic ethnics are leaving in droves for Pentecostal and evangelical churches.  Since Spanish, being a great romance language, is so closely allied with Latin, perhaps they intuit the term Modus Operandi and can see the handwriting on the wall.

Another aside, from KSDK, Abp. Burke was away on retreat at the time the suppression was announced:

Archbishop Raymond Burke is on retreat, but released a faxed statement that said, “It is not possible for St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish to remain a parish of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and, at the same time, to operate completely independently of the Apostolic See and the Archdiocese of St. Louis.”

Saints and Martyrs

January 13 – St. Lucius (Św. Lucjan)

O św. Lucjanie, który dla sprawy Kościoła św. życie swe ku wychowaniu młodzieży po chrześcijańsku poświęciłeś, a późnej rozliczne cierpiałeś męki, uproś nam u Boga, abyśmy wiernie przy wierze Chrystusowej stali, i starali się w miarę sił o jej rozszerzenie. Amen

Current Events, Media

On church ownership

I found an excellent article, Who owns the Church (sic) written by Thomas Szyszkiewicz at the Epiphany Blog.  Mr. Szyszkiewicz is a Catholic journalist. This is a good addition and follow on to my Catholic Church Is Dealt a Blow in Asset Dispute post. One of the items in the article I found most humorous was:

In 1911, the Sacred Congregation for the Council (now the Congregation for the Clergy) told the bishops of the United States that they did not like the corporation sole model all that well and preferred the method of parish corporation, where each individual parish is separately incorporated in the state.

Among the methods which are now in use in the United States for holding and administering church property, the one known as Parish Corporation is preferable to the others, but with the conditions and safeguards which are now in use in the State of New York. The Bishops therefore should immediately take steps to introduce this method for the handling of property in their dioceses, if the civil law allows it. If the civil law does not allow it, they should exert their influence with the civil authorities that it be made legal as soon as possible. Only in those places where the civil law does not recognize Parish Corporations, and until such recognition is allowed, the method commonly called Corporation sole is allowed, but with the understanding that in the administration of ecclesiastical property the Bishop is to act with the advice, and in more important matters with the consent, of those who have an interest in the premises and of the diocesan consultors, this being a conscientious obligation for the Bishop in person. (Quoted in New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, 2000, New York, Paulist Press, page 1457.)

The New York model the Congregation favored is one where the state has written into law recognition of Roman Catholic parishes and the authority of the bishop over them. The law there allows for two lay trustees to be named to the corporate board, but those trustees serve at the pleasure of the bishop, thus avoiding the whole trusteeism question. But that is not the case in many states.

Making the changes

Unfortunately, not many bishops listened to that directive. It’s only been in recent years that some dioceses have been making the civil changes necessary to reflect canon law.

It is funny because, if this is accurate, many U.S. Bishops have been ignoring Vatican opinion on this issue since at least 1911.  This again goes to the point in my original posting, you reap what you sow. 

The article also discusses the St. Stanislaus situation in St. Louis as it is pertinent.  As my readers may know, I have commented heavily on this situation.

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