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PNCC

The PNCC in the Press

Two recent articles on Polish National Catholic parishes and PNCC distinctives. Please note, as with any Press article, not every item mentioned in the articles is accurate. For more info on problems with the Press’ understanding of religion see Get Religion.

From the Toledo Blade: Polish National Catholic Church has found a home

Nearly 2 1/2 years after holding its first Mass, and after meeting in members’ homes and several different rented spaces since then, Resurrection Polish National Catholic Church has found a home.

The parish was founded by about a dozen people whose parishes were closed by the Toledo Catholic Diocese in 2005 as part of the diocese’s major realignment of parish boundaries.

On May 31, a Dedication Mass will be held at 11 a.m. at Resurrection PNCC in its new location, 1835 Temperance Rd., Temperance.

The Rev. Jaroslaw Nowak, Resurrection’s administrator, will preside at the Mass with two PNCC hierarchs, the Rev. Robert Nemkovich, prime bishop of the Polish National Catholic Church, and the Rev. Jan Dawidziuk, bishop of the western diocese.

The brick building, which has about 5,400 square feet of space, can seat approximately 80 people in the sanctuary and also features a community room where it will hold church gatherings, Polish dinners for the community, and other events.

“There were two things we were looking for in starting up a parish: that it is traditionally Catholic, and that it belonged to us,” said Chris Cremean, a founding member of Resurrection whose previous parish, Toledo’s St. Jude, was closed by Bishop Leonard Blair…

From the Standard-Times via South Coast Today: A different kind of Catholic Church in Fall River

FALL RIVER —” The parishioners own the church building, manage the finances and decide whether to sell or hold parish property.

Blessed Trinity Church in Fall River is not your typical Catholic parish.

The church was formed in 2000 after parishioners of two Polish National Catholic Church parishes in Fall River voted to merge. The parishioners sold property and built a new church that was dedicated in 2005. Three years later, the laity continues to run the parish, which is debt-free.

“It wasn’t the bishop that imposed this on us, it was the will of the people,” said the Rev. Robert M. Nemkovich, 38, Blessed Trinity’s pastor. “We have a church that, when it comes to making decisions on material things and administration, the people have a voice and a vote.”

Joanne Oliveira, who serves on Blessed Trinity’s parish committee, described her church as being a sort of “Ellis Island for Catholicism.”

“I just feel that way because of the acceptance and welcoming of the parish in not denying people the sacraments. It’s just such a free experience,” Ms. Oliveira said.

However, although its administration is democratic, its priests can marry, and divorced parishioners can receive the Eucharist, Blessed Trinity should not be confused with a liberal, mainline Protestant denomination.

The teachings of the Polish National Catholic Church —” the communion to which Blessed Trinity belongs —” are similar to those of the Roman Catholic Church, which the PNCC split from in the late 19th century.

Blessed Trinity celebrates the same seven sacraments Roman Catholics do. Mass is celebrated every Sunday. Scripture is interpreted through the church’s canonical authority, not the personal judgments of the faithful. There are no female priests. Same-sex unions are not recognized.

The major difference between the two churches lies in authority. The Polish National Catholic Church recognizes the pope as the bishop of Rome, the successor to St. Peter, but does not believe he has authority over the universal church.

“We don’t see authority being in one person,” Rev. Nemkovich said. “We see it as being shared, going back to the early church model we read about in the Scriptures where decisions were made in councils whenever there was a challenge.”

In addition to scripture and tradition, PNCC teachings are founded on the first seven church ecumenical councils; the gatherings of bishops that defined doctrine until 1054, the year the Christian church split into the Roman Catholic West and the Orthodox East…

Perspective, Political

Advice from the Rabbi?

From Christian Newswire: I Stand with Pastor John Hagee

Pastor John Hagee is a towering leader in the Evangelical Church who has dedicated a great part of his enormously successful ministry to reaching out in love and loving-kindness to the Jewish people and the State of Israel. He has admirably defended our right to our historic homeland even when our enemies have attempted to disgorge us from our homes and drive us into the sea; he has praised the Lord for having imbued us, the “post- Holocaust dry bones of Ezekiel,” with renewed life and vigor… He has organized Christian lobby groups for the only true democracy in the Middle East across the length and breadth of the United States even when a former American President and professors from Harvard and Chicago Universities have denounced our own lobbying efforts as un-American and anti-Democratic.

Pastor Hagee has expressed his profound affection for us even when it has been most unpopular to do so. Can we, the recipients of his heart and goodwill, dare be silent now, when the political frenzy of primary elections hysterically seeks to defame and discredit one of the greatest voices on behalf of Christian-Jewish healing and cooperation? No, for the sake of Jerusalem and for the sake of the God of love and peace we must raise our voices in support of and friendship for the very individual who has never faltered in his support and friendship for us!

Does this mean that I must necessarily agree with all of the theological positions taken by Pastor Hagee? Not at all! True friendship means that I continue to love and even partner with my friend, despite disagreeing with him on even fundamental positions of theology and ideology – as long as his views do not threaten the life or limb of innocent human beings…

We are living in a world divided between those who believe in a God of love and peace, and those who believe in a Satan of Jihad and suicide bombers. Any attempt to marginalize and slander leaders of the camp of the former will only serve to strengthen the camp of the latter, with the future existence of the free world perilously hanging in the balance. And so I continue to proudly shout from the rooftops that this rabbi in Israel stands firmly alongside -his beloved friend, a true friend of Israel and the free world, Pastor John Hagee.

Shlomo Riskin
Chief Rabbi of Efrat, Israel
Founder: Ohr Torah Stone Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding & Cooperation.

Three things:

First, I guess it is that easy – all us good, all them Muslim and assorted other folk bad.

Second, who are the innocent human beings the Rabbi wishes to protect? Only those he deems innocent or worthy? That does not count all them there bad people (who are just all bad) I guess.

Third, check out the YouTube video below, especially from time mark 2:13 forward. I’ll take advice from the one Rabbi that matters and not from Rabbi Riskin. See the Ohr Torah Stone Center’s About Us page where he says:

Over two decades ago, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin dreamt of inspiring a new movement of Jewish leadership which would successfully synthesize Halachic commitment with the needs of contemporary Western life, and work toward the unification of the Jewish world by promoting a Judaism based on tolerance, openness and inclusion. In 1983, Rabbi Riskin embarked upon the process of realizing his vision with the founding of Ohr Torah Stone Colleges and Graduate Programs.

The words —Ohr Torah— literally mean —the Torah is light,— and refer to the enlightening beacon which radiates from a true combination of Torah values, Zionist ideals, and a dedication to tikkun olam…

So the Rabbi seeks to tell us that the Torah will enlighten us? I prefer having Christ Who is our light. Faith tells me I am enlightened far beyond anything any man can provide.

“Everyone needs a Rabbi? We have one. His name is… Jesus. I don’t need this guy.” 😉

Fathers, PNCC

June 2 – St. Gregory Nazianzus from an Exposition of the Character of the Priestly Office

Of external warfare I am not afraid, nor of that wild beast, and fulness of evil, who has now arisen against the churches, though he may threaten fire, sword, wild beasts, precipices, chasms; though he may show himself more inhuman than all previous madmen, and discover fresh tortures of greater severity. I have one remedy for them all, one road to victory; I will glory in Christ namely, death for Christ’s sake. — Paragraph 87.

PNCC

Polish National, Roman Catholic Churches Address Doctrinal Issues At Spring Meeting

Posted at the USCCB:

Doctrinal issues led agenda items at the spring session of the Polish National Catholic (PNCC) —“ Roman Catholic Dialogue, May 19 and 20, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The meeting was held at the PNCC’s National Church Center and hosted by Bishop Robert Nemkovich, the PNCC Prime Bishop. Bishop Edward U. Kmiec of Buffalo and Bishop Anthony Mikovsky of the PNCC Central Diocese co-chaired the meeting.

Two new Roman Catholic members joined the group: Bishop Mitchell Rozanski, Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore, and Bishop Matthew Ustrzycki, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of Hamilton, Ontario. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops became an official participant in the dialogue at the meeting.

Dialogue members considered the situation of PNCC military chaplains and the options for sacramental sharing in combat zones. Members also heard an update on a proposal to permit PNCC faithful to act as sponsors at Roman Catholic baptisms, and to require the dispensation of form for liceity only in the case of mixed marriages in the PNCCFrom the March 2008 BCEIA and SEIA Report:

Our dialogue with the PNCC has not met since the last meeting of the Administrative Committee; the next session is scheduled to take place in Scranton, Pennsylvania, May 19 and 20. I mentioned in my last report that Bishop Skylstad had written to Cardinal Kasper regarding two incremental steps forward (allowing PNCC faithful to serve as godparents at Catholic baptisms in addition to a Catholic godparent, and requiring the dispensation from canonical form for liceity only when a mixed marriage takes place in a PNCC ceremony). We later learned that these matters should be raised directly with Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. We are now consulting with the Committees on Doctrine and Canonical Affairs regarding these steps.

.

Msgr. Thomas Green of The Catholic University of America School of Canon Law reviewed presentations from the 1996 dialogue regarding the canonical status of former Roman Catholic clergy and faithful who have joined the PNCC and the 2006 statement by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts regarding the formal act of leaving the [Roman] Catholic Church.

Members also re-examined two previous agreements between Roman Catholics and Old Catholics of the Union of Utrecht regarding the transfer of clergy from one church to the other: the agreement signed in 1996 between Cardinal Edward Cassidy, then President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and Archbishop Antonius Jan Glazemaker of Utrecht (later withdrawn) and the 1999 agreement between the German Bishops’ Conference and the Old Catholic Diocese in Germany. The PNCC members also shared the text of the Declaration of Scranton, a document intended to clarify the doctrinal position of the PNCC on several issues.

Members also considered the April visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United States and local examples of misunderstandings between members of the two churches. The next meeting is slated for November 6-7, in Baltimore.

The Polish National Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Church have been meeting for a semiannual dialogue since 1984. Current PNCC members include Bishop Anthony Mikovsky (Co-Chairman), Bishop John E. Mack, Very Rev. Marcell W. Pytlarz, Very Rev. John Z. Kraus, Very Rev. Paul Sobiechowski, and Father Robert M. Nemkovich Jr. Roman Catholic members include Bishop Edward U. Kmiec (Co-Chairman), Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Florida, Auxiliary Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski of Baltimore, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Matthew Ustrzycki of Hamilton, Ontaro, Msgr. John Strynkowski, Msgr. Thomas J. Green, Father Phillip Altavilla, and Paulist Father Ronald G. Roberson (staff).

Fathers, PNCC

June 1 – St. Ignatius from The Epistle to Polycarp

Give heed to the bishop, that God also may give heed to you. My soul be for theirs that are submissive to the bishop, to the presbyters, and to the deacons, and may my portion be along with them in God! Labour together with one another; strive in company together; run together; suffer together; sleep together; and awake together, as the stewards, and associates, and servants of God. Please Him under whom you fight, and from whom you receive your wages. Let none of you be found a deserter. Let your baptism endure as your arms; your faith as your helmet; your love as your spear; your patience as a complete panoply. Let your works be the charge assigned to you, that you may receive a worthy recompense. Be long-suffering, therefore, with one another, in meekness, as God is towards you. May I have joy of you for ever! — Chapter 6. The duties of the Christian flock.

Christian Witness, PNCC

Testing the Call to Priesthood – Weekend of Spiritual Discernment

Attention Young Men and Teenagers

Do you have any idea how God goes about calling men and boys to serve as priests in the Church? Do you believe the Lord is calling you? Are you not sure if you are being called to the priesthood in the Polish National Catholic Church? Do you know of any others of the same age who are thinking the same way as you are?

Our church needs more priests to minister to her people and to help our church thrive and grow.

The P.N.C.C. is trying to bring together young men whom God may be calling. We know that God would not call our church into being without continually calling men to serve as priests. Prime Bishop Robert M. Nemkovich and the Board of Savonarola Theological Seminary are reaching out to males from the ages of 15 through 25 who are members of this church. Please read the following:

On June 20-22, 2008, our Church will bring together males from the ages of 15 through 25 who are members of the Polish National Catholic Church for a “Weekend of Spiritual Discernment.” What does that term mean? We are trying to assemble are create peer groups (boys and men of similar ages) for both those who believe they are being called to the priesthood and those who think they may be called but are not sure. We will then help them test their calling, that is, spiritually discern, whether or not they are truly being called to the Priesthood of Christ in the Polish National Catholic Church.

The Weekend for Spiritual Discernment will start with registration and room assignment from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Friday, June 20, at the seminary of the Polish National Catholic Church: Savonarola Theological Seminary, 1031 Cedar Avenue, Scranton, PA. Supper will be served at the seminaly at 6:00 p.m., then the opening session and an introduction to the seminary program for the priesthood will begin at 7:00 p.m., followed by a service in the seminary chapel and fellowship.

On Saturday, June 21, Holy Mass will be offered at the seminary chapel at 8:00 a.m., followed by breakfast. Sessions on spiritual discernment for vocations to the priesthood, Jerome Savonarola and Bishop Francis Hodur, the life and ministries of priests in the P.N.C.C., the highlights of the origin and development of St. Stanislaus Cathedral Parish and the P.N.C.C. will be offered throughout the day and evening. These will be interactive sessions with an emphasis on discussions and plenty of time for questions and answers. Discernment (or figuring out what God wants us to do) occurs primarily through prayer and the asking of questions. Lunch and supper will be provided and the evening will conclude with fellowship and prayer.

The weekend will conclude with Holy Mass at St. Stanislaus Cathedral on Sunday, June 22, followed by breakfast and the closing session. Names, addresses, e-mails and phone numbers will be exchanged with the hope of establishing a collegial community of teenagers and young men who someday may be interested in enrolling in the seminary for education and training to become priests. The Prime Bishop, bishops and clergy who participate in the Weekend of Spiritual Discernment will become part of a network of support and encouragement for the young men and boys who may aspire to become priests.

The Weekend of Spiritual Discernment is being sponsored by the Seminary Board and organized by Bishop Anthony Kopka. Members of the board who will be presenting the sessions are: Seminary Rector, Prime Bishop Robert Nemkovich; Seminary Vice Rector, Father Czeslaw Kuliczkowski; Seminary Professor, Bishop Anthony Mikovsky; and Bishop Kopka. Father Ramzi Musallam, a more recent seminary alumnus, will also present a session.

The Office of the Prime Bishop will provide financial assistance for males between the ages of 15 and 25 (inclusive) who are members of the P.N.C.C. to participate in the Weekend for Spiritual Discernment. The P.N.C.C. will cover the costs of meal and lodging at the seminary, however, participants must bring their own bedding or sleeping bags. The P.N.C.C. will also provide grants up to $200 for one-way air travel and for one-way mileage (40.5¢) over 50 miles. Parishes, dioceses and church organizations are asked to help finance the balance of expenses for travel for those they support and encourage to consider sacred vocations.

Dress is sort of “business casual,” in other words, participants are expected to wear long pants, collared shirts and dress or casual shoes, not sneakers or open footwear. Again, please pack bedding or sleeping bags (pillows are available); also bring personal toiletry, towels and soap. The Polish National Union of America will provide materials needed for the sessions.

To register for the weekend of Spiritual Discernment and to inquire about the financial grants for travel, please contact no later than June 13:

Bishop Anthony Kopka
275 York St.
Stratford, CT 06615
(203) 377-9901 or (203) 913-0543

Homilies,

Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus said to his disciples:—¨
—Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’—¨
will enter the kingdom of heaven,—¨
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.—

These words, from God, call us to forcefully acknowledge the true source of our life, the thing that sets us apart and makes us a people of God. That thing is lived faith in Jesus Christ. As St. Paul tells us:

They are justified freely by his grace
through the redemption in Christ Jesus,—¨
whom God set forth as an expiation, —¨
through faith, by his blood.—¨
For we consider that a person is justified by faith

St. Paul begins by recounting the fact that all have sinned. Even the saints sinned. Paul himself was tortured by temptation to sin, even after he received the revelation of Christ and put his old ways behind him. The presence of sin and temptation to sin is a constant, and without our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus we would be without hope.

St. Paul tells us that God’s answer to his prayer that temptation leave him was: “My grace is sufficient for you.” In like manner we have God’s grace. Like Paul we must not stop at having grace, but rather we must respond to grace, we must act upon it.

By God’s grace we are not left orphaned and alone, left out on an open sea, to be buffeted all the day and night, with no hope of ever reaching the shore. By this gift of grace we have all that we need to respond in the way that guarantees everlasting life.

Faith then is the wise person’s response to God’s grace, to God calling us to Himself. Faith is the entry way to a transformative existence, an existence that makes all that Jesus Christ said and did real and powerful in our lives, and in the life of the world. Faith is the acknowledgment of God as our Father, His will as our will, and heaven as our home.

Brothers and sisters,

We are called to transformation, to being the actual and present people of God in this world. To do so we need to consciously understand Jesus Christ as reality.

Christ is real and alive. Jesus is in heaven and is among us. Unfortunately, in our Western way of thinking, in our conditioning at school and at work, we tend to look at things as — things. It is very easy to fall into that way of thinking when we consider Jesus, Holy Scripture, and the Holy Church. We tend to view Jesus, Scripture, and the Church as something outside of us, rather than as something that is part of us, part of our very being.

We might be tempted to look at Jesus as far removed, as no longer existing in our realm. After all, we saw Him ascend to the Father. We may see Him as removed from our reality, up there, rather than as the One who lives in and walks with us.

We might be tempted to see Holy Scripture as a nice piece of writing, interesting stories and poetry, and a sort of treatise best left to historical analysis and philosophical inquiry.

We might be tempted to look upon the Holy Church as an out-of-touch corporation, governed by committees and men in funny looking clothes.

That is what Moses cautioned against. When he said:

—Take these words of mine into your heart and soul.
Bind them at your wrist as a sign,
and let them be a pendant on your forehead.—¨

…he meant to tell us that we must keep the reality of God ever before us. To this day Orthodox Jews wear Tefillin so that the Word of God becomes part of them, so that it is attached to them and is ever before them.

The Tefillin are symbolic of what must occur in our lives, as part of the new and everlasting covenant. In the new covenant Jesus lives with us, transforms us into His body, the Church, and teaches us through Holy Scripture. Our response in faith is our transformation; into people who do something vital, that is the work of God. We are to live and act as people of God, making what we know real and apparent to the world.

My friends,

Our faith response makes us free, from sin, from disbelief, and most of all from apartness from God. We become new men and new women, people who live as if Jesus Christ were standing right next to them — because He is. By our act of faith we are regenerated and by that faith we live new lives. In those new lives we bear witness, to our families, to our co-workers, to our club members, to the world.

Moses said:

—I set before you here, this day, a blessing and a curse—

The blessing is making the choice for God, being regenerated, being transformed into people who actively live and do what God wills and teaches. The curse is living in captivity to the world and to our base selves, to living as if God is far off and apart from us, something that doesn’t see or hear, and may not even exist.

The choice, the regeneration, the transformation, our being called by the grace of God, and our response in faith, are the keys. Those who grab hold of those keys and live in and with God, who really live as children of the Father, and who do so actively, will be the ones who hear Jesus say:

You are the wise one who listen[ed] to these words of mine and act[ed] on them. You built your house on rock.

Amen.

Fathers, PNCC

May 31 – St. Ignatius from the Epistle to the Magnesians

Study, therefore, to be established in the doctrines of the Lord and the apostles, that so all things, whatsoever you do, may prosper both in the flesh and spirit; in faith and love; in the Son, and in the Father, and in the Spirit; in the beginning and in the end; with your most admirable bishop, and the well-compacted spiritual crown of your presbytery, and the deacons who are according to God. Be subject to the bishop, and to one another, as Jesus Christ to the Father, according to the flesh, and the apostles to Christ, and to the Father, and to the Spirit; that so there may be a union both fleshly and spiritual.

Knowing as I do that you are full of God, I have but briefly exhorted you. Be mindful of me in your prayers, that I may attain to God; and of the Church which is in Syria, whence I am not worthy to derive my name: for I stand in need of your united prayer in God, and your love, that the Church which is in Syria may be deemed worthy of being refreshed by your Church. — Chapter 13 and 14.

Fathers, PNCC

May 30 – St. Ignatius from the Epistle to the Magnesians

Be not deceived with strange doctrines, nor with old fables, which are unprofitable. For if we still live according to the Jewish law, we acknowledge that we have not received grace. For the divinest prophets lived according to Christ Jesus. On this account also they were persecuted, being inspired by His grace to fully convince the unbelieving that there is one God, who has manifested Himself by Jesus Christ His Son, who is His eternal Word, not proceeding forth from silence, and who in all things pleased Him that sent Him.

If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord’s Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death—” whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith, and therefore endure, that we may be found the disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Master… — Chapter 8 and 9a

Christian Witness,

Pope Shenouda III’s New Book

From Christian NewsWire: Pope Shenouda III’s New Book, Have You Seen the One I Love, Portrays the Soul’s Quest for Jesus Christ

On May 20, 2008, Have You Seen the One I Love, an exegetical book on the Song of Songs (Song of Solomon) by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, will be released for sale to the general public. Pope Shenouda draws upon his many years of contemplation as a monk in the ancient desert of Scetis, Egypt to develop his commentary on the human soul as found in the Song of Songs. The book is a translation and transcription of a lecture series given by Pope Shenouda in the 1970s. In contrast to many modern authors who seek to paint the Song of Songs as a book of sensuality and physical intimacy, Pope Shenouda captures the true spiritual essence of the Song of Songs, drawing upon the wisdom and writings of the early Church fathers. Pope Shenouda explains that the Song of Songs is a meditation of the human soul while she searches for her Beloved, mirroring the spiritual love of Jesus Christ for His Church. It is only with an understanding of our spirituality that we may embark on our voyage leading to our Lord.

Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria is the 117th Pope of Alexandria and the Patriarch of the Holy Apostolic See of Saint Mark the Evangelist of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

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