Day: May 10, 2007

Poland - Polish - Polonia,

65th Annual Meeting of the American Center of Polish Culture

The Polish Institute of Arts & Sciences of America (Polski Instytut Naukowy w Ameryce) in cooperation with The National Polish Center (The American Center of Polish Culture) cordially invites you to its 65th Annual Meeting to be held at Georgetown University’s Inter-Cultural Center, Washington, DC 20057 on Friday, June 15, and Saturday, June 16, 2007

This national multi-disciplinary conference on Polish and Polish American studies is sponsored by PIASA (208 East 30th St., New York, N.Y. 10016) in cooperation with The National Polish Center (2025 “O” St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036). All persons attending the conference, including panelists and presenters, are required to register and pay a registration fee.

Advance registration by mail is strongly recommended on forms provided. These forms can be found at the PIASA website.

Affordable housing is available on the campus of Georgetown University in newly renovated Village C Residence Hall. All rooms include private baths. Reservations with full payments can only be made directly with the Polish Institute by May 24, 2007.

The final detailed official program with full titles of presentations, room assignments and schedule will be printed later and distributed at the Annual Meeting. It will also appear on PIASA’s website as it becomes available. The following is an incomplete list of sessions and panels that will make up the 65th Annual meeting program. The final version of the program will include additions and some corrections.

PLENARY AND CONCURRENT SESSIONS AND PANELS

1. Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic: Getting Away From the Past
Piotr S. Wandycz, Yale University; Stephen Szabo, Johns Hopkins University; Frank Hadler, Leipzig University; Igor Lukes, Boston University, TBA: Diplomats from the German, Polish and Czech Embassies in Washington, D.C.

2. Perspectives on Polish Literature: The Ghost of Shakespeare, Kresy, Tatra Mountains and the New World
Michael J. Mikos, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Anna Frajlich-Zajac, Columbia University; Anna Gasienica Byrcyn, University of Illinois at Chicago; George Gasyna, University of Illinois at Chicago.

3. Rethinking Poles and Jews
Robert Cherry, Brooklyn College CUNY; Mieczyslaw B. Biskupski, Central Connecticut State University; Shana Penn, Taube Foundation; Carolyn Slutsky, The Jewish Week; Charles Chotkowski, Polish American Congress.

4. Reshaping the Landscape: Polish Contemporary Theatre
Co-sponsored by the Polish Cultural Institute with video taped excerpts from Wojcieszek’s theatrical productions. Krystyna Lipinska Illakowicz, New York University; Agata Grenda, Polish Cultural Institute; Przemyslaw Wojcieszek, Independent Film and Theatre Director from Poland.

5. New Directions in Polish Music: Preservation, Reaction and Reception
Anne Swartz, Baruch College & Graduate Center CUNY; Luke Howard, Brigham Young University; Anna Gasienica Byrcyn, University of Illinois at Chicago.

6. Polish Cinema
M. Marek Haltof, Northern Michigan University; John M. Grondelski, independent scholar, Washington, D.C.; Sheila Skaff, University of Texas at El Paso.

7. Polish American Texts: Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry
Grazyna J. Kozaczka, Cazenovia College, NY; Thomas J. Napierkowski, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs; Czeslaw Karkowski, Nowy Dziennik, NY.

8. Economics, Politics, Society in Contemporary Poland
Jan Napoleon Saykiewicz, Duquesne University; Lucja Swiatkowska Cannon, Center of Strategic and International Studies; Richard J. Hunter, Seton Hall University; Susanne Lotarski, Polish American Congress, Washington Metropolitan Area Division; Krzystof Bledowski, Manufacturers Alliance; and Edward Basinski, Embassy of the Republic of Poland.

9. The United States and Solidarnosc
Idesbad Goddeeris, University of Leuven, Belgium; Jakub Grygiel, Johns Hopkins University SAIS; Gregory Domber, Indiana University REEI; and Donald Pienkos, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

10. Exploring the Culture of American Polonia
James S. Pula, Purdue University; Thomas J. Napierkowski, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs; Jerome Krase, Brooklyn College CUNY; and Geraldine Coleman, Loyola Academy, Chicago.

11. John Paul II the Great
Barbara Miller, Polish Women’s Alliance of America; Dennis Martin, Loyola University of Chicago; Francis Borkowski, Appalachian State University, NC; and Margaret Ryznar, Polish Women’s Alliance of America.

12. The Kosciuszko Legacy in the Polish Airforce
Michael A. Peszke; Wakefield, RI; James S. Pula, Purdue University; Mieczyslaw B. Biskupski, Central Connecticut State University; Veterans of the Polish Air Force in-exile during World War II: Jan Koniarek, Kazimierz S. Rasiej and Jerzy Glowczewski.

13. Jamestown (Un) Remembered. On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown
Angela Pienkos, PAHA and PIASA; Donald Pienkos, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Deborah M. Majka, American Council for Polish Culture, and James S. Pula, Purdue University.

14. The Poetry of Anna Frajlich
Roundtable discussion combined with a poetry reading.
Regina Grol, Empire State College, SUNY; Anna Frajlich, Columbia University; Joanna Rostropowicz-Clark, Princeton Research Forum and Jaroslaw Anders, Washington, D.C.

15. Regina Salomea Pilsztynowa: A Peripatetic Polish Physician in 18th Century Istanbul
Paul W. Knoll, University of Southern California; Wladyslaw Roczniak, Bronx Community College CUNY; Lynn Lubamersky, Boise State University, Idaho.

16. Polish Peoples Republic 1945-1989
Anna Cienciala, University of Kansas; David T. Curp, Ohio University; Idesbad Goddeeris, University of Leuven, Belgium; and Ashby Crowder, Ohio University.

17. Newest Historical Research
Neal Pease, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Marek Payerhin, Lynchburg College, VA; Thaddeus V. Gromada, New Jersey City University.

18. Polish Saturday Schools and Polish Scouting: Their Impact on Polonia Case Studies, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
Bozenna Buda, University of Maryland; John Armstrong, Department of State, and TBA.

19. First Navigation of Canyon Colca by Polish Explorers: 25 Years Later
Zygmunt Malinowski, John Wiley Publishers; Andrzej Pietowski, Bowling Green University, and Piotr Chmielinski, HP Environmental.

20. MDM: Marszalkowska Housing District, a Major Socialist Housing Project
A documentary film will be presented, followed by a roundtable discussion. Irena Tomaszewski, Canadian Foundation for Polish Studies; Eric Bednarski, National Film Board of Canada; Ella Chmielewska, University of Edinburgh and Bart Bonikowski, Princeton University.

Friday, June 15, 2007, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Reception hosted by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland (2640 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20009) for registered participants and guests. ID and tickets required.

Saturday, June 16, 2007, 6:15 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Pre-banquet reception (Cash Bar), South Gallery, Georgetown University Conference Hotel.

Saturday, June 16, 2007, 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Gala Banquet – Salons CHF, Georgetown University Conference Hotel (Events by
Marriott). Tickets required at $60.00. Reservations must be made in advance by June 2, 2007. Banquet speaker TBA.

Directions to Georgetown University as well as parking, campus map and other information will be posted at PIASA.

For more information regarding the program, registration, reservations, contact Dr. Thaddeus V. Gromada or Janina Kedron.

Everything Else

2007 Armenian Festival

Hagop Torosyan, Etchmiadzin

The 2007 Armenian Festival will be held at St. Peter Armenian Apostolic Church, 100 Troy-Schenectady Road, Watervliet, New York 12189 (Call 518-274-3673) on Sunday, June 10th from 12 noon to 6pm.

The festival features Armenian food, music, dance (including the Sipan Dance Group and the Armenian School Student’s Group), as well as all the normal festival fun for young and old.

If you’re in the Albany, Troy, or Schenectady area I encourage you to attend and support my Armenian friends. Stop by and say hello to Father Stepanos and Father Bedros, and save a few pastries for your local PNCC deacon.

Everything Else,

Monks are funny

By the way, the monk having trouble is Ansgar, as in St. Ansgar. Just wondering if the producers had that in mind when they created this. It is in Danish I think.

I think the whole thing is great, but what stood out for me was when Ansgar held up the scroll and stated that books are more time consuming…

Calendar of Saints, Christian Witness, PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Saints and Martyrs

May 10

Joseph Padewski, Bishop and Martyr, (1951)
St. Calepodius, Martyr, (222)
Saints Gordian and Epimachus, Martyrs, (250)

Bishop Joseph Padewski

Bishop Joseph Padewski was born February 18, 1894 in Antoniów, a small farming village near Radom in Poland. He emigrated to the United States in 1913 and moved to Detroit, Michigan. In Detroit he came into contact with the Polish National Catholic Church. In 1916 he entered the PNCC Seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 16, 1919 by Prime Bishop Francis Hodur. He celebrated his first mass at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Plymouth, Pennsylvania.

In 1931 Father Padewski was sent to Poland as part of the PNCC mission of evangelization in Poland, and to work on consolidating the structures of the PNCC (PNKK) in Poland. He was appointed assistant to Bishop Leon Grochowski.

In January 1933 at a meeting of the Supreme Council of the PNCC in Poland attended by Bishop Hodur, Father Padewski was appointed administrator of the PNCC in Poland. At the Second Synod of the PNCC in Poland in April 1935 Father Padewski was elected Bishop. Father Padewski was elevated to the Episcopacy on August 26, 1936 in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Before the Second World War the PNCC had 100,000 members, 52 parishes, 12 affiliate churches, and 52 priests in Poland.

On September 1, 1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west and the Soviet Union invaded from the east. The losses to Poland and to the Church in Poland during the Nazi German and Soviet occupation were devastating. Over 6 million Poles died including 3 million Polish citizens of the Jewish faith. Many priests were sent to concentration camps. In all, 28% of PNCC priests were killed.

In part, Bishop Padewski was able to save the church from complete liquidation by bringing the church under the control of the Old Catholic Church’s Bishop in Bonn, Erwin Kreuzer.

In 1942 Bishop Padewski was arrested by the Nazis and was held at the Montelupich prison in Krakow. He was then transferred to the Tittmoning POW Camp in Germany where he was held for 18 months. Through the intervention of the Swiss Red Cross he was freed and returned to the United States in March 1944.

Between 1944 and 1946 Bishop Padewski served as pastor of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Czestochowa Parish in Albany, New York.

Bishop Padewski returned to Poland on February 20, 1946 to resume his duties as Bishop of the Polish branch of the PNCC.

Shortly after his return, the Soviet Union completed its takeover of Poland and asserted Communist control. In this atmosphere of Stalinist terror, Bishop Padewski was arrested by the Communist Secret Police (UB) in Warsaw and was held at their prison on Rakowieckiej Street.

Bishop Padewski died on May 10, 1951 as a result of secret police questioning and maltreatment.

Bishop Padewski with Servicemen and Gold and Silver Star Mothers and Wives in Albany, NY