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7:57pm |
Posted a tweet on Twitter.
New blog post: The Word empowers us and calls us to action http://tinyurl.com/9la6zg
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7:57pm |
Updated status on Facebook.
Deacon New blog post: The Word empowers us and calls us to action http://tinyurl.com/9la6zg.
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8:52pm |
Posted a tweet on Twitter.
New blog post: Ethnic trees in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania http://tinyurl.com/9w74j9
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8:52pm |
Updated status on Facebook.
Deacon New blog post: Ethnic trees in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania http://tinyurl.com/9w74j9.
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9:29pm |
Posted a tweet on Twitter.
New blog post: The fruits of American intervention http://tinyurl.com/7gowhg
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9:29pm |
Updated status on Facebook.
Deacon New blog post: The fruits of American intervention http://tinyurl.com/7gowhg.
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11:38pm |
Posted a tweet on Twitter.
New blog post: Protest the closing of your parish and the PNCC way http://tinyurl.com/8fhktn
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11:38pm |
Updated status on Facebook.
Deacon New blog post: Protest the closing of your parish and the PNCC way http://tinyurl.com/8fhktn.
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12:14am |
Posted a tweet on Twitter.
New blog post: January 10 – Safe Treasure by Jan Andrzej Morsztyn http://tinyurl.com/9ktfat
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12:15am |
Updated status on Facebook.
Deacon New blog post: January 10 – Safe Treasure by Jan Andrzej Morsztyn http://tinyurl.com/9ktfat.
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1:42am |
Posted a tweet on Twitter.
New blog post: January 11 – If ever in that my Country by Juliusz Słowacki http://tinyurl.com/8d2r6g
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1:42am |
Updated status on Facebook.
Deacon New blog post: January 11 – If ever in that my Country by Juliusz Słowacki http://tinyurl.com/8d2r6g.
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A thief will break into your Gdansk coffers,
A promised harvest will turn out much worse,
Lightning will burn down your barns and your rest,
A poor debtor won’t pay cash with interest,
The ruined peasants will not pay their lease,
Grain barges will sink in a stormy breeze;
But what you have given to every friend,
Fortune won’t claim – it’s surely your stipend.
Translated by Michal J. Mikos
Złodziej ci gdańskie powyłupa skrzynie,
Plon cię w zagonie obiecany minie,
Pioron popali dwory i stodoły,
Nie odda lichwy z sumą dłużnik goły,
Czynszow zniszczeni nie popłacą chłopi,
Szkuty ze zbożem nagły wiatr potopi;
Lecz tym, coś rozdał między przyjaciele,
Szczęście nie władnie; to swym nazwi śmiele.
From just across the border, east of Albany in The Berkshire Eagle: Vigil at St. Stan’s to be featured in Time magazine
ADAMS —” The St. Stanislaus Kostka parishioners’ vigil to keep their church open
Also see St. Stanislaus Kostka, Braving the storm. is featured in the next edition of Time magazine hitting newsstands Monday.In fact, the growing effort to prevent Catholic church closings is garnering growing media attention, including a front-page story that appeared last week in The New York Times about the ongoing vigils in Boston titled “Quiet Rebellion.”
And a news crew for WNYT, Albany television channel 13, stopped into St. Stan’s Friday for interviews and footage.
In particular because the WNYT is building up for a similar occurrence here in Albany when the Roman Catholic diocese closes a large number of parishes next weekend.
St. Stan’s parishioners —” who’ve been keeping vigil since the morning of Dec. 26 and beyond the church’s Jan. 1 closing —” are glad they’re getting the widespread attention, but they aren’t sure it’s going to help.
“I think it’s indicative of what’s going on in Catholic churches across the country,” said Adams resident Paul Demastrie as he stood vigil in the church Friday afternoon. “It’s a major story because it’s national, not just a community issue. And if the church winds up closing anyway, at least we can say we did our best.”
“It’s getting the word out nationwide and even worldwide of what’s happening with the churches,” said Francis Hajdas, a spokeswoman for the St. Stan’s vigil. “As far as we’re concerned, there’s no reason to close our church, outside the fact that they need the money to pay off lawsuits for clergy abuse.”
The vigil movement has had mixed results.
Of nine vigils in Catholic churches in Boston, four churches have been reopened, and five vigils are ongoing. Vigils that started in October to keep two churches in New Orleans open were ended earlier this week when the diocese put an end to the sit-in. Police there forced their way into the buildings, and two parishioners who locked themselves in and refused to leave were arrested.
The closings of St. Stan’s and St. Thomas Aquinas was announced in August, and went into effect at the first of the year. Those two churches are being merged with Notre Dame under a new name.
‘It was heartbreaking’
…
Although owned by the Diocese of Springfield, St. Stan’s was funded and built in 1905 by Polish immigrants, and has been decorated, enhanced and added to using donations from the local Polish community ever since. Parishioners contend the diocese is trying to take away the spiritual and cultural center of their community that was paid for, built and maintained by generations of their families.
Yes, the Diocese is, but as every Roman Catholic should acknowledge, parishioners and parish councils, even pastors, have little power other then that delegated by their bishop. Roman Catholic bishops in the United States own everything, and most particularly each parish’s property. Therein lies the real power. It is their right to demand that parishes close or merge, to sell the property, and take charge of the property’s contents, determining its distribution.
This is exactly the thing that the parishioners of Sacred Hearts in Scranton rallied against in 1897, and the very reason for the organization of the Polish National Catholic Church. Bishop Hodur and the members of the PNCC enshrined the democratic character of the PNCC in its constitution and in its life so that this wouldn’t happen.
On August 25, 1907 Bishop Hodur presented a speech at the blessing of the Polish National Church in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania:
Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)
These words came to mind today and I would wish them to cling also in your hearts and thoughts and when you return to your homes that they might occur to you and strengthen you in your faith and love in the national wandering in the diaspora. For these words are for us of more particular attention because they are the source of that value of sanctifying humankind about which bishops and priests speak so little, and which always pose a fundamental difference between the old Roman Church and the Polish National Church.
In the old Church may often be heard: Prayer, the Sacraments, the Holy Mass, are valid in this place conducted by such a bishop or priest and by that one are even more valid, but we feel that the great significance of the Holy Mass comes from Christ, from God. Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.
If, therefore, God abides everywhere, then why build churches?
Because the church is a collective place to honor God, it is a visible monument of the love and gratitude of the nation in serving the Most High Being, and the Church is also the nation’s school. God likes to visit temples raised by human hands.
The National Church lives by these ideals to this very day. By working together in a democratic society which seeks to fulfill our Lord and Savior’s instruction to us, we build and support parish churches. Those parishes are owned and operated by their parishioners, because they are a visible symbol of God dwelling among us and our collective cooperation with God.
We support parish churches and see them as the center of our communal life. The building of a church, its establishment, its life, is more than a legal deed and a bishop’s power. It is the people’s power, their work and support, which raises a living monument to love and gratitude. More so, it is our school, where the teachings of Jesus Christ take root. God visits us there. A parish’s presence in our community bears witness to the world. Closing a parish may be practical and financially sound, but its diminishment is a blow to community, to man’s striving, and to our ability to meet with and learn from the Word. It is an insult to the faith of those who support the witness of faith in the local community.
The PNCC has many small parishes, but regardless of size, their life is a direct result of the love, dedication, and hard work of their parishioners. The people of the parish work together as part of a free society of believers.
The Roman Catholic faithful who formed Resurrection PNCC in Temperance, Michigan went through three church closings before they left the Roman Church. Now they are building their monument of love and gratitude – a place that is theirs, where Christ lives in their midst. That opportunity is open to everyone who wishes to buildup rather than tear down.
From the transcript of America and Islam After Bush, a symposium sponsored by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life:
George W. Bush has been, objectively speaking, the most pro-Shia president in American history. Granted, it’s not a title most American presidents have traditionally competed for, but by any measure, he has done more for Shia empowerment, and Shia religious empowerment in particular, just by the invasion, which opened up Najaf and Karbala, the pilgrimage cities, than any other American president. I know he didn’t set out to be the pro-Shia president.
That’s just one small piece from a very long transcript. The key points relate to huge shift in the Middle East. The conflict and the issues once thought of as important, i.e., Israel, now matter very little. The key area of conflict, brought about by the power shift enabled by the American intervention in Iraq, is the emergence of Shia power and the reaction of the Sunni power centers, now on the decline. Vali Nasr states:
The world has changed significantly since 2003, as we know. The Middle East has changed in a very significant way. Part of the problem is we have never really understood we are dealing, post-Iraq, with Middle East 2.0: that there are some fundamental, and in my opinion irreversible, shifts in the balance of power of the region.
First, there is a palpable, significant, and, I think for the time being, irreversible shift of power and importance from the Levant —“ the area of Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Egypt and Syria —“ to the Persian Gulf and the Afghanistan/Pakistan corridor. The region that for 50 years was the basis of our foreign policy —“ we thought its conflicts mattered most, our alliances there mattered most —“ does not matter as much to peace and security anymore. When the Lebanon war happened in 2006, the country that had most to do with it was not in the neighborhood. It was Iran. The countries in that neighborhood could do nothing to stop the war, and this was attested to by Israel, the United States and the regional powers themselves.
Everybody today thinks the Palestinian issue has to be solved because it is a surrogate to solving a bigger problem, which is somewhere else in the region. Once upon a time we used to think —“ and some people still do —“ that the Arab-Israeli conflict is the key to solving all the problem of the regions: terrorism, al-Qaeda, Iran or Iraq. I don’t believe so. I think the Persian Gulf is the key to solving the Arab-Israeli issue. All the powers that matter —“ Iran, Saudi Arabia, and even the good news of the region: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, et cetera —“ are all in the Gulf. And all the conflicts that matter to us —“ Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran —“ are in the Gulf and then to the east.
So the Arab-centeredness of the Muslim Middle East is gone. We haven’t caught up to that in our foreign policy. The Middle East now is far more Iranian and Pakistani and Afghani in terms of the strategic mental map we have to deal with. Trying to deal with the Middle East as if we’re in 2002, before the Iraq war, is one of the main reasons why we haven’t been able to bring the right force to bear on the problems in the region.
The second shift, connected to this, is a palpable movement from the Arab world toward Iran. The Arab world has declined very clearly in its stature and power; Iran is a rising force. …you don’t hear a single Iranian leader express any kind of anxiety; in fact, in a very patronizing way they constantly say to Arab countries, —Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you. You don’t need to rely on the United States; we’ll protect you.—
…It’s clear that the balance of power —“ and a lot of power is a matter of perception —“ has moved eastward. The center of gravity has moved eastward. It’s a problem for us because most of our alliance investments were to the west, in the Arab world. Now, those alliances have not done for us as much as we hoped they could, even in the Arab-Israeli issue, where they were supposed to be the ones providing all the help.
The third and, again, connected shift is that after Iraq there is a palpable shift in the religio-political sphere from the Sunnis to the Shias, a sect of Islam that has been completely invisible to us. We all of a sudden discovered them, but I don’t think we quite understand what we discovered and what it means for us going forward. A fourth, related shift is that many of the conflicts we are dealing with, in both Iraq and Afghanistan, involve insurgent Sunni forces.
The losers in America’s battles in this region are not evenly distributed among the actors I’m mentioning. The Sunni powers, the Arab powers, have clearly lost as a consequence of our wars of choice and necessity in Afghanistan and Iraq. Iran and its allies and the Shia forces have clearly gained.
In this respect the United States enabled a shift in power that has long term geopolitical consequences. It isn’t about the Israelis and Arabs anymore. That’s a minor conflict to be used for cred in a larger religio-political power struggle.
The other fascinating part of the discussion centers around the differences between the Shia and the Sunnis. Mr. Nasr does a good job of drawing parallels, although slightly uninformed parallels, to differences between the Churches of the East and the West, as well as between the Catholic and Protestant Churches. He touches on parallels to Christian issues such as biblical interpretation, inerrancy, and the development of doctrine argument and how these play into the Shia-Sunni power struggle.
In reading of the conflicts between Shia and Sunni I couldn’t help but to think of the Young Fogey’s references to the on-line religious arguments that he avoids, occurring in various fora. Think of those arguments as arguments on steroids, backed up with massive armaments, bit players, and enough bloodshed to drown whole cities. If only his discipline in avoiding the on-line conflicts, a common sense approach, would transfer to our leaders in Washington. Our uninformed actions have, as in prior instances, release forces we never expected. Here’s to a non-interventionist foreign policy.
From The Morning Call: Ethnic trees in Bethlehem a success
The South Bethlehem Historical Society thanks all those who made the Nov. 30 Ethnic Tree Lighting Ceremony a rousing success. The staff of the Comfort Suites was most welcoming and more than helpful by preparing each tree with lights, then setting up the tables for refreshments for all to enjoy.
Ahart’s Market, Weis-King, Giant, Wegman’s and BJ’s Wholesale Club contributed cookies and pastries, as well as individual bakers. Via helped with red, white and blue ornaments for the new American tree.
Entertainment was by the string ensemble from Holy Infancy School under the direction of Rosemary Fry; Liberty High School pipes soloist Tyler Albright; and the Greek folk dancers led by Tammy Pappas and Panagiota Papalopoulos.
The Rev. Ron Rice of Advent Moravian Church offered ”Moravian Traditions,” Mayor John Callahan spoke, Frank Podleiszek led a carol sing, Rev. Wayne Killian of the Holy Ghost parish offered the invocation, and Rev. Carmen Bolock of Our Lord’s Ascension Polish National Catholic Church closed with the benediction.
We thank all those who attended the event in hopes that they will join us again next Christmas season.
From Holy Name Parish in South Deerfield, Massachusetts and Fr. Randy Calvo: Not Compliant, But Challenge
January marks the beginning of a brand new year, and it also marks the 100th anniversary year of the declaration of the Word of God Heard and Preached as a sacrament of our church. This unique sacrament of our church, which the diocese will formally celebrate this summer at the Cathedral of the Pines, and which we at Holy Name will honour throughout the centennial year on the pages of our monthly newsletter, heralds in a most profound way that we are called to be a new kind of religious organization. Bp. Hodur set about trying to recreate the organizational structure of the earliest church which dynamically combined the formal structure of office with the equally valid charism of baptismal authority.
The earliest church was judged by the world at large as an enthusiastic sect of Judaism. Enthus-iastic in its original meaning was not comparable to a fan’s support of an athletic team. It is derived from the Greek words en and theos, meaning in God, possessed or inspired by God. The Jewish faith was highly regulated either by Temple authorities, or by legal and/or pious scholars of the religious law. The earliest Christian communities, by contrast, trusted in the immediacy of the Spirit for its legitimacy (cf. 2 Cor. 3:5-6). Consensus was the paradigm. Office holders had leadership authority within the community not above it, and they derived their authority from the community not vice-versa (cf. 1 Cor. 12:27-31 where leadership is listed as the seventh of eight charisms, and the —still more excellent way— is the gift of Christian love expressed poetically in 1 Cor. 13.).
Based upon the earliest church, Bp. Hodur had idealistic hopes for the future. He wrote in 1930: —The priesthood of the future will not be a cast of men mercenaries growing rich and fat, but rather it will be a free association of individuals dedicating themselves to higher purposes. It will be a brotherhood of men and women chosen by God, prepared and ordained for this purpose …— (Apocalypse, p. 219) In the meanwhile, he pushed for practical measures that would begin to empower all church members with the ability to participate fully in church life. And a fundamental reform instituted by our church was the elevation of the Word of God Heard and Preached to the dignity of sacrament. The Ordained ministers of the church would teach and advocate so that all in the church would be informed and thus prepared for the decision making responsibility of a church democracy, of restoring the pristine church’s respect for the authority of consensus.
Church, therefore, cannot be a spectator sport. Church demands involvement and participation. During this first month of the year, I fill out my yearly calendar, and as I look at so many of the events listed I am disappointed by the amount of apathy associated with them. Let me ask if I may, will you participate in Mass on New Year’s Day, Epiphany, Feast of the Presentation, Ash Wednesday, Stations of the Cross, our Ecumenical Lenten Discussions, the annual congregational meeting, Holy Week, Ascension Day, May Devotions, Corpus Christi, Memorial Day, Bible study, the Cathedral of the Pines, Feast of the Dormition, All Saints and All Souls Days, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Ecumenical Service, Divine Love, the Advent Penitential Service, even Christmas or the days the follow it? Or count the Sundays you actually attend Mass, the principal gathering and purpose for our parish church. Are you proud of the number? How often is your name listed as a volunteer worker at the church? We have had to discontinue Advent and Lenten retreats for lack of interest. We have canceled Mid-Week Worship for the same reason. Will we continue down this path, or does faith require more not less from us? Does such a church as ours require more not less from us?
As we begin a new year, please do not take this inquiry as complaint, but as a challenge. We are supposed to be a different kind of church, one based on choice and consent. We are not forced or scared into church membership. We are to be sufficiently informed to choose to follow this church and to be capably empowered to affect this church. To be uninvolved, inactive and unconcerned is to be opposed to the direction and hope of our institution, which is to be a —free association— of believers seeking after the —higher purposes— of religion. The Word of God is essential in this quest because it empowers us to act, but all is for naught if we watch church rather than participate in church.