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Current Events, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political

EU Summit and a bad choice of words

If you have followed the press on the recent EU summit you probably heard that the Polish President and Prime Minister raised World War II issues in their negotiations.

The response to their raising these issues was less than positive. It’s kind of like the response a person receives when they raise a notion that no one else wants to acknowledge. “Can’t they just be quiet?”

The EUObserver notes in Polish twins accused of bad taste in Brussels:

The most controversial Polish tactic was its attempt to leverage German World War II guilt. When Jaroslaw [Kaczynski] talked ahead of the summit about using EU voting to repay Poland for the millions of Poles killed by Germany in the 1940s, it seemed like just another populist faux pas.

But Lech [Kaczynski] brought up the idea again at the EU leaders’ dinner in Brussels, in a move that may have contributed to chancellor Merkel’s threat to call an intergovernmental conference without Polish approval. In post-summit interviews, the twins kept the same line.

“There are no reasons to censor the past,” Lech said, regretting that he himself was too young to have fought the Germans. “I’m sorry, but today we still have to remind people who was the executioner and who was the victim,” Jaroslaw said in his interview.

Commenting on the rhetoric, Polish liberal MEP and historian Bronislaw Geremek told PAP that “the EU was based on the idea of putting an end to the war era…[the Polish government] tried to open wounds that have not yet fully healed.”

The German press was less kind. The biggest selling paper, Bild, called the twins “poisoned dwarves” and referred to their “sickening double game…”

Speaking of ‘poisoned dwarves,’ probably a bad choice of words for the German Press.

Among Mengele’s favorite experimental subjects were Jewish dwarves and identical twins.

From The Ethics Of Using Medical Data From Nazi Experiments by Baruch C. Cohen at Jewish Law Articles.

— or —

Many people with disabilities became the subject of medical research both before and after their deaths and were used to enrich the profits and prestige of medical institutions, doctors, and German and Austrian universities and researchers. Corpses of patients that had been marked before gassing as being of potential “scientific interest” were separated out and delivered to a nearby autopsy room. Young German physicians performed autopsies on these corpses to earn academic credit. Many organs from murdered disabled victims, brains in particular, were recovered for scientific study at medical institutes. Researchers sent lists of desiderata to killing centers requesting the brains of dwarves and people suffering from “idiocy” and rare neurological abnormalities, presumably with the belief that such disabilities would be scientifically interesting. Although many organs were harvested, the brains of murdered victims were the ones most utilized. Some of Germany’s most prestigious institutions benefited from this hideous use of the body parts of murdered people with disabilities, including Breslau University, Heidelberg University and the medical schools and psychiatric departments at Bonn, Cologne, Berlin and Leipzig.

From Forgotten Crimes – A Report by Disability Rights Advocates.

But then again, Bild is not exactly about journalism…

Christian Witness, Perspective,

Pontifications est fine

The Rev. Al Kimel has discontinued his blog, Pontifications.

In his final article, Namárií«, he notes:

Becoming [Roman] Catholic has brought many blessings, but it has not healed the sorrows of my heart. Indeed, in some ways it has intensified these sorrows. But this is all very private. All I need say is that I often find them overwhelming. God is silent. I am reduced to silence.

While reading his last lines I was struck by an allusion to the film Moscow On The Hudson.

As you might recall, Robin Williams character, Vladimir, defects to the United States. At first he is overcome by the vast differences between his experiences in communist Russia and life in the United States. He is joyful and giddy, full of dreams. As the film progresses he is overcome by remorse over his decision to defect. He wants to return to his ‘home’. But, he cannot go back. In his dread he cannot go forward.

To a certain extent I imagine that the Rev. Kimel faces such a struggle. We have an inherent discomfort with our decisions, especially when faced with the realities of the world.

Past the decision, you must find your place. The Rev. Kimel will certainly find his one day. The Lord is always merciful and just.

quaerite Dominum et virtutem eius quaerite faciem eius semper recordamini mirabilium eius quae fecit signorum illius et iudiciorum oris eius semen Israhel servi eius filii Iacob electi illius ipse Dominus Deus noster in universa terra iudicia eius recordamini in sempiternum pacti eius sermonis quem praecepit in mille generationes

Current Events, Perspective, PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Sad end to a rich history

It appears that seven predominantly Polish R.C. parishes will be closing on Buffalo’s East Side. For more check out Seven Buffalo churches to merge into two: East Side closings stir some protests from the Buffalo News.

Among the churches to be closed is Holy Apostles Saints Peter and Paul, my mother’s home parish and the parish my grandparents helped to found. It was initially a mission parish for St. Stanislaus, the mother church of Buffalo’s Polonia – a parish designed to serve the Poles who had moved to farther flung neighborhoods.

The most shocking closure is that of St. Adalbert’ Basilica.

Yes, a Basilica.

St. Adalbert’s was the first church designated as a basilica in the United States (1907). You don’t find many of those laying about in the United States.

The genesis of the independent Catholicism in Buffalo occurred at St. Adalbert’s as noted in the history section of the Holy Mother of the Rosary Cathedral website:

An Independent Polish Catholic parish was first established in Buffalo in August, 1895, when a rejected group of parishioners at St. Adalbert’s Parish decided to form a separate church just a block away. These discontented souls were forced to decide their own fate when their requests were rejected by the Roman Catholic Bishop and his advisors.

More on the history of St. Adalbert’s and its tie in to the PNCC here, here and here.

As a grade school student I attended a magnificent Mass at St. Adalbert’s. It was held in honor of the International Eucharistic Congress which took place in Philadelphia in 1976. I had family who attended Holy Mother of the Rosary and St. Adalbert’s.

It would appear that those who chose to have a voice and a vote in the destiny of their parish made a better choice. Their parish still exists.

Here’s a photo from St. Adalbert’s 120th Anniversary celebration in 2006. The next to last celebration.

adalberts_120.jpg

Current Events, Perspective

Tingling ears – gnats or drats

I couldn’t resist this one 🙂 .

Shawn Tribe, of the very classy NLM Blog, posted Roman Ears are tingling on June 25th.

This is, of course, about the long awaited Motu Proprio from the Bishop of Rome re-establishing the Tridentine form of the Holy Mass for (most) Roman Catholics.

His article points out that ‘sources’ were convinced that the Motu Proprio was being printed and was ready for release.

According to the NY Times, BBC, AP and others the sources were right, at least in part: Pope Tightens Voting Rules for Election of Successors

ROME, June 26 —” Pope Benedict XVI has changed the rules for electing a pope by reinstituting the traditional requirement that two-thirds of the cardinals in the conclave agree on a candidate, no matter how long the process takes.

…

In a document [given Motu Proprio], in Latin, Pope Benedict said he was returning to the traditional voting norm, requiring a two-thirds majority throughout. The document was signed by the pope and dated June 11…

Should the other Motu Proprio ever come, I imagine it won’t be for a while. They don’t release these things like candy…

Then again, I haven’t been left wanting. I already have the Traditional Rite of the Holy Mass, in the vernacular, as has always been practiced in the PNCC.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings,
and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths.

Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Annoying Polish spam

The Young Fogey has written a few posts commenting on the spam he receives.

As a person attached to organizations with the word “Polish” in them, being part of Polish newsgroups, and perhaps by my Polish last name alone, I get hit with Polish E-mail spam.

Everyone knows something of the Nigerian scams, the I’m the wife, daughter, girlfriend, cousin, of a deposed dictator, and the have we got meds, potions, cures, and ‘enhancers’ for you pitches.

As Serge has often said, the poorly crafted language is enough to let you know these aren’t genuine.

Anyway, let me tell you about Polish scams.

In a way, they are the most devious and cruel of all scams.

They play on the long tradition in the Polish-American community of helping our poor, suffering, downtrodden brothers and sisters in the old country.

We all recall grandma and grandpa, or a parent, or an aunt or uncle sending money to cousin Jan. You may have known Jan as your poor rural cousin, down on the farm. He allegedly had nothing and needed everything. In many cases this was true in the years following the Second World War and under communism. í‰migrés were exceedingly generous, and those dollars stored in cupboards or in the mattress really helped in bringing Poles out from under the economic destruction caused by the Communist system.

The typical Polish scam has these lowlights and variants:

  • The person lives in a small community (although I’ve seen a few from major cities).
  • The family is poor and the father (if one exists) is unemployed.
  • Someone has a serious medical condition (typically a small child, sometimes a woman with several children – and the husband is desperate).
  • There is a picture of the sick person (typically black and white, with a seal or stamp of some type in the corner of the picture – hey it must be authentic…).
  • There is cryptic medical documentation attached, and sometimes a lot of it (statements from doctors, usually from the big city, clinics, specialists – all stamped, sworn to in front of a notary, and certified).
  • There is a request for money so little Magda can get medicine, rehabilitation, or specialized therapy.
  • There is information regarding a bank account and instructions for initiating an electronic transfer of funds to help the poor waif.

Just prior to leaving for Poland for the first time, back in 1991, our group leader, Dr. Ryszard Sokolowski (Ричард Соколовский) (the link is from the Tver/Твери group he founded), gave me some of the best advice I ever received. “Don’t be romantic about Poland” or words to that affect. He joked that we wouldn’t be met by girls in ethnic costumes dancing the Polka.

The communist system in Poland had just breathed its last breath a year-and-a-half before. There weren’t many consumer goods, that is, there wasn’t a vast selection of stuff. But there was stuff. I remember buying cans of Coke for about thirty cents off the back of a truck. There were VCRs in almost every home. There were mini satellite dishes on homes and apartment buildings (how many folks in the U.S. had mini dishes in 1991? Back then we were still buying the giant dishes that took up your whole backyard).

In other words, our perception of our poor cousins was part truth and part the fabrication of cold war propagandists. I’m not downplaying the suffering that existed and the repression that was very real, but we tend to paint things very black and white, and they weren’t.

If you are ever hit by one of these Polish scam artists looking for help ask this all important question: If they are so desperate for help, and entangled in illness and suffering, how did they find the time to establish a bank account, set-up electronic transfers, and mass spam thousands of folks (with scanned documents) from their poor rural village? The bandwidth alone would eat-up their life savings…

Homilies, ,

The Solemnity of the Nativity of John the Baptist

All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,
—What, then, will this child be?—
For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.

Faith! Faith is about our lives and what we do with them.

As we come to the end of the month of June, a month dedicated to Sacred Vocations, it is wise to stop and consider life, and our choice of vocation, in light of St. John the Baptist’s example.

Isaiah sets the tone:

The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.

As Catholic Christians we are about life. We know that the Lord creates life. We joyfully cooperate in the creative act, and we ponder the mystery of it all.

How and why is life given? What is the particular moment at which life is given? Once given, why is there suffering and pain?

Frankly, any answer that exists apart from faith is lacking.

Can we fathom the depths of God’s wisdom? Can we answer all the questions? Can we, in our weakness, even grasp the answers to the questions that wend their way through our lives?

God pointedly told Job:

Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

God’s majesty is beyond our comprehension and His ways are far beyond our ways. The questions we ask and the answers we seek are meaningless groaning.

Yet, Isaiah found hope in God’s promise to Israel:

Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
yet my reward is with the LORD,
my recompense is with my God.

Jesus came as the fulfillment of God’s promise; as we are knit together in our mother’s womb, so too Jesus was knit together in Mary’s womb. As Paul points out:

From [David’s] descendants God, according to his promise,
has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.

Jesus took on human life and human form, and by doing so showed us the awesome respect and dignity with which we must hold every human life.

He gave us all the answers we need.

Life is valuable. Carrying out the Father’s will is our call. Suffering, when it comes, holds salvific power.

John came to us, the forerunner of the Christ. He came to do God’s will. He came, not as an angel, but as a man, also knit together in Elizabeth’s womb. He came to suffer as well.

In light of what he knew, he suffered for seeing Israel’s corruption. In light of what he knew, he allowed himself to be subjected to ridicule, insults, arrest, and ultimately martyrdom.

His life, and his choice of God’s way holds immense value for all of humanity.

The Gospel closes with two lines.

The first:

—What, then, will this child be?—

In hindsight we know the answer to the question that haunted the hill country of Judea. He shall be the forerunner of the Messiah.

The second:

For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.

The hand of the Lord was with John because he chose to do the Father’s will.

That, my friends, is the question the Holy Church asks you. Will you do the Father’s will? Will you allow us to teach you, to show you the way to best accomplish the Father’s will?

Look around you my friends. In Iraq, our Christian brothers and sisters have the hand of the Lord upon them. Christian women are being raped. Young Christian men are being tortured and killed. The old are being held for ransom and are later made refugees, with no home to return to. All for Christ.

In North Korea and China Christians are being tortured and killed, for the name of Christ.

In this country speaking out as a Christian subjects one to derisive laughter. You are scorned because you will not allow the killing of children, the mentally ill, or the old. You believe in things like sin and God’s promise of salvation from sin through repentance and conversion of life.

Brothers and sisters,

The hand of the Lord is upon you. You need only recognize the call you have received. It is a call to conversion of heart. It is a call to build God’s kingdom. It is the call to bring all to Jesus Christ.

To our young men, and men on their second or third careers, the hand of the Lord is upon you. You are being called to serve, to proclaim the Kingdom of God, as John did. To baptize, claiming all who come, as members of Jesus’ body, His Holy Church.

Being a Catholic Christian, certainly the questions will persist, but the answers are here and they are true.

On this Solemnity ponder the third to last line of the Gospel:

All who heard these things took them to heart.

Allow St. John’s proclamation to reach you. Go, and do as he did. Leap for joy, for the Christ is among us.

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