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Day: June 18, 2008

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Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC

2,001 and representin’

This is my 2,001st posting. It took 2 years and 10 months to get here.

All-in-all I feel pretty good about this accomplishment and the fact that I have been strengthened in my knowledge and love of the Church through this effort. Of course there are things I’ve said that could have been said better – and at times not at all. It’s definitely been a lesson in charity and focus. I pray that our Lord will act mercifully toward me, will wash away my sins, and recognize the love I bear for Him even though my efforts in witnessing to Him are poor.

I would like to thank you, my readers, and all who have written to me personally expressing support, entering into discussion, or who have asked questions about the PNCC. I pray that vocations have been and will be fostered through these efforts and that many will come to know and love the Polish National Catholic Church as a bulwark of Christian faith, both in these uncertain times and into the future.

PNCC

An excerpt from a “Short Context and Commentary on the Declaration of Scranton”

As can be seen in its content, the Declaration of Scranton of 2008 is modeled heavily on the Declaration of Utrecht written in 1889 by the Old Catholic Churches. This is true not only in its content, but also in the reason for its coming to fruition.

The Declaration of Utrecht was written in 1889 as a statement of faith for the Old Catholic Churches. The Churches that were involved in its writing were the Old Catholic Churches of Holland, Germany and Switzerland. Its decisions were later accepted by the Church of Austria which was also in existence at the time. The Declaration of Utrecht served as a model of union for these Churches and from it the Union of Utrecht was born. From that point forward, the Declaration of Utrecht served as a point of focus for those churches which approached the Old Catholics for acceptance into the Union of Utrecht as well as to seek consecration of bishops to become new national Churches.

In 1907 before his consecration, Bishop Francis Hodur was required to assent to the tenets of the Declaration of Utrecht and subsequently it has served as a basis of the faith for Polish National Catholics up to the present time.

Unfortunately, many of the Old Catholic Churches have begun to look upon the Declaration of Utrecht as merely a historical artifact and not as a document of faith. This view has led to these Churches deviating from the faith of the ancient church, which was expounded in the Declaration of Utrecht, by the ordination of women to the priesthood and the solemnization of same-sex marriages.

Because of this situation within the Union of Utrecht, the Polish National Catholic Church is now separated from the other Churches of the Union. As it would seem, the Polish National Catholic Church is the only remaining Church that still holds the Declaration of Utrecht as a true document of faith for Old Catholics.

In the time period around this separation from the Union of Utrecht, the Polish National Catholic Church had been approached by other Church bodies that wished to retain the traditional Catholic beliefs and practices of the ancient church including the Polish National Catholic view of the papal office. In doing so they are hoping to become new national Churches.

The Polish National Catholic Church now finds itself much in the same position the Church of Holland did in 1889. That Church had existed since 1724 and had remained constant in their profession of the traditional catholic faith. When they were faced with other Churches that wished to unite with them in that understanding but have separate autonomous churches, they needed a document that would formulate this understanding between them.

In the same way the Polish National Catholic Church has been in existence since 1897 and has always stood strong in its acceptance of the traditional catholic faith. Now that we are being faced with other churches and ecclesial bodies that are approaching the Polish National Catholic Church to share in its understanding of the faith and seeking to have separate autonomous national churches of their own, the Polish National Catholic Church found it necessary to expand the Declaration of Utrecht to make clear some points of catholic understanding that were not a part of the original declaration, especially those dealing with the issues that brought about the fracture in the Union of Utrecht. It was for this reason that the Polish National Catholic Bishops have accepted this present Declaration of Scranton and hold it as a point for future agreements with those who wish to share our understanding of the traditional catholic faith…

Christian Witness, PNCC,

The Declaration of Scranton

A Profession of Faith and Declaration formulated by the Polish National Catholic Bishops Assembled at Lancaster, New York April 28, 2008As published in God’s Field, the Official Organ of the Polish National Catholic Church, Vol. 86, Number 11, June 10, 2008.

We faithfully adhere to the Rule of Faith laid down by St. Vincent of Lerins in these terms: “Id teneamus, ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est; hoc est etenim vere proprieque catholicum.” (We hold that which has been believed everywhere, always, and of all people; for that is truly and properly Catholic.) For this reason we persevere in professing the faith of the primitive Church, as formulated in the ecumenical symbols and specified precisely by the unanimously accepted decisions of the Ecumenical Councils held in the undivided Church of the first thousand years.

Therefore, we reject the innovations of the First Vatican Council that on July 18, 1870 promulgated the dogma of papal infallibility and the universal Episcopate of the Bishop of Rome, which contradict the Faith of the ancient Church and which destroy its ancient canonical constitution by attributing to the Pope the plenitude of ecclesiastical powers over all dioceses and over all the faithful. By denial of his primatial jurisdiction we do not wish to deny the historic primacy which several Ecumenical Councils and the Fathers of the ancient Church have attributed to the Bishop of Rome by recognizing him as the Primus inter pares (first among equals).

We also reject the dogma of the Immaculate Conception promulgated by Pius IX in 1854 in defiance of the Holy Scriptures and in contradiction to the Tradition of the first centuries.

We further reject the dogmatization of the Catholic teaching of the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Pius XII in 1950 as being in defiance of the Holy Scriptures.

We reject the contemporary innovations promulgated by the Anglican Communion and the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht. We also regard these innovations as being in defiance of the Holy Scriptures and in contradiction to the Tradition of the first centuries, namely: the ordination of women to the Holy Priesthood, the consecration of women to the Episcopate and the blessing of same-sex unions.

Considering that the Holy Eucharist (Holy Mass) has always been the central point of Catholic worship, we consider it our duty to declare that we maintain with perfect fidelity the ancient Catholic doctrine concerning the Sacrament of the Altar, by believing that we receive the Body and the Blood of our Savior Jesus Christ under the species of bread and wine. The Eucharistic celebration in the Church is neither a continual repetition nor a renewal of the expiatory sacrifice which Jesus offered once for all upon the Cross, but it is a sacrifice because it is the perpetual commemoration of the sacrifice offered upon the Cross; and it is the act by which we represent upon earth and appropriate to ourselves the one offering which Jesus Christ makes in Heaven, according to the Epistle to the Hebrews 9:11,12, for the salvation of redeemed humanity, by appearing for us in the presence of God (Hebrews 9:24). The character of the Holy Eucharist being thus understood, it is at the same time, a sacrificial feast by means of which the faithful in receiving the Body and Blood of our Savior enter into communion with one another (1 Corinthians 10:17).

We hope that Catholic theologians, by maintaining the faith of the undivided Church, will succeed in establishing an agreement in regard to all such questions that have caused controversy ever since the Church became divided.

We exhort the priests under our jurisdiction: to teach the essential Christian truths by the proclamation of the Word of God and by the instruction of the faithful; to seek and practice charity when discussing controversial doctrines; and in word and deed to set, in accordance with the teachings of our Savior Jesus Christ, an example for the faithful of the Church.

By faithfully maintaining and professing the doctrine of Jesus Christ, by refusing to accept those errors that have crept into the Church by human fault, and by repudiating the abuses in ecclesiastical matters and the tendency of some Church leaders to seek temporal wealth and power, we believe that we will effectively combat the great evils of our day, which are unbelief and indifference in matters of faith.

Most Rev. Robert M. Nemkovich
Rt. Rev. Thomas J. Gnat
Rt. Rev. Thaddeus S. Peplowski
Rt. Rev. Jan Dawidziuk
Rt. Rev. Sylvester Bigaj
Rt. Rev. Anthony Mikovsky
Rt. Rev. Anthony D. Kopka
Rt. Rev. John E. Mack

Fathers, PNCC

June 18 – St. Constantine the Great, A prayer that all may be Christians, but that none be compelled

My own desire is, for the common good of the world and the advantage of all mankind, that thy people should enjoy a life of peace and undisturbed concord. Let those, therefore, who still delight in error, be made welcome to the same degree of peace and tranquillity which they have who believe. For it may be that this restoration of equal privileges to all will prevail to lead them into the straight path. Let no one molest another, but let every one do as his soul desires. Only let men of sound judgment be assured of this, that those only can live a life of holiness and purity, whom thou callest to a reliance on thy holy laws. With regard to those who will hold themselves aloof from us, let them have, if they please, their temples of lies: we have the glorious edifice of thy truth, which thou hast given us as our native home. We pray, however, that they too may receive the same blessing, and thus experience that heartfelt joy which unity of sentiment inspires.

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