On July 4, 1897, Independence Day, the Rev. Francis Hodur blessed the cornerstone of St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Cathedral in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

It was fitting that a Church which called men and women to the freedom given by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and which recognized that they had the freedom of citizens, to self-govern and to have a voice and a vote in the legislative governance of the Church, a say over how their hard earned contributions are used, such that it is to the glory of God and for their benefit in reaching heaven, would look to this feast of freedom as a symbolic day. The Polish National Catholic Church, founded in Scranton, Pennsylvania, saw this enlightened moment in American history for what it was, a recognition that our independence, our rights as free people are not something given by man.

The founders were clear in their effort to establish this country on what is from God. Man’s judgments and attitudes are changeable. One man may be in a moment a freedom fighter and in the next a dictator. Instead, as the founders wrote:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. —” That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —” That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Self-evident truths and unalienable rights are not man’s truths or the rights given by men, are not just a fashion for the times, or a changeable fad, but rather eternally established truths and rights, set forth by God, for the happiness and enlightenment of all people. As Samuel Adams stated:

—He who made all men hath made the truths necessary to human happiness obvious to all.— — from American Independence, a speech delivered by Samuel Adams at the State House in Philadelphia, August 1, 1776.

On this day which we honor as our birthday, the 234th anniversary of the founding of our nation, and a day on which we gather in churches throughout our country because we are free to do so by the very document signed this day, we also recognize that our Holy Polish National Catholic Church was established as a Church in which our freedom is honored, in which we have not only obligations, but rights. Let us exercise those rights and set forth to always put Jesus Christ first as He is our only mission, our only light, and the Word in which all freedom is established and found.

We thank Thee, Lord, for America, our home. We bless Thee for the liberty, the opportunity, and the abundance we share. But above all we praise Thee for the traditions which have made our country great, and for patriots who have laid the foundations through faith, courage, and self-sacrifice. Teach us in our own day the meaning of citizenship, and help us to be faithful stewards of the responsibility which Thou entrusted to us. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. — A Prayer for our Country from A Book of Devotions and Prayers According to the Use of the Polish National Catholic Church.