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Month: July 2010

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Events, PNCC, ,

Around the Central Diocese – good eats

Holy Mother of Sorrows PNCC, 212 Wyoming Ave., Dupont, PA will be holding its 47th Annual Open Pit Chicken Barbecue on Saturday, July 17th from 12-6 p.m. on the church grounds. Dinner includes: half chicken, french fries, homemade coleslaw, beverage, cake, and rolls from Cwikla’s Bakery. Tickets are available at the door or can be purchased in advance at the recory or from any YMSofR member. Tickets are $9.

Good Shepherd Polish National Catholic Church, 269 E. Main St., Plymouth, PA will hold a pierogi sale on Sunday, July 25th. Varieties include potato with cheese and potato with jalapeno peppers. Cost is $7 per dozen. Call 570-690-5411 to order. Pickup potato and cheese orders from 3-5 p.m.; potato and jalapeno from 5-6 p.m.

The Ladies Adoration Society of St. Mary’s Polish National Catholic Church, 200 Stephenson St., Duryea, PA will have spaghetti dinner Sunday, July 25th from 1-3 p.m. at the church. Takeouts will be available from 12-1 p.m. The menu includes salad, spaghetti and meatballs, and rolls with butter. Beverages and desserts are extra. Tickets are $8 and can be purchased in advance by calling Ladies Adoration Society President Dolores Biscontini at 570-457-9381. You may also place an advance order for takeout meals by calling Mrs. Biscontini.

Poland - Polish - Polonia, ,

More on the 600th Anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald

The 600th Anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald, considered one of the most important battles of Medieval Europe, will be celebrated in Poland on July 13, 2010 with reenactments.

King Władysaw Jagiełło lead an alliance of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, against the Knights of the Teutonic Order. The Order was decisively defeated in this battle and never regained its previous power.

In the painting, by Jan Matejko, one of Poland’s greatest artists, you find the Grand Master of the Order at the middle left being slain. King Jagiełło is in red to the right.

Current Events, ,

Job Dislocation Brochure For Unemployed Workers – avoiding scams

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has developed unbiased financial advice for dislocated workers in a brochure that tells them how to protect themselves from investment fraud, avoid job scams and keep their finances on track during a period of unemployment.

Through an affiliation and partnership with NASWA, FINRA is printing up 300,000 copies of their brochure “Job Dislocation Making Smart Financial Choices after a Job Loss,” [NOTE: large pdf] and will ship between 2,000 to 8,000 copies of this brochure to every state free of charge to give out to the States’ unemployed citizens.

FINRA is the largest non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business in the US and oversees 4,700 brokerage firms covering 635,000 registered securities representatives. FINRA was created in 2007 through the consolidation of a number of organizations including components of the New York Stock Exchange.

The brochure includes specific advice for unemployed individuals on how to check the background of investment professionals and find information about potential job scams from FINRA, and the state and federal regulators as well as other consumer protection agencies. The brochure also outlines how to prepare financially for a period of unemployment, how to make decisions to preserve retirement funds and what steps to take to start the search for a new position once your company announces a planned layoff.

In addition NASWA recently asked FINRA to add and highlight in the brochure some key pieces of information and advice to UI claimants. Two specific items were added to page 3 of the brochure. One points out to UI Claimants that they are required to register with the state’s employment office to begin the job search process immediately upon filing their claim. The second item highlights that it is important to let their state Unemployment Insurance agency know as soon as they return to work to eliminate the potential of a possible overpayment on their UI Claim.

Christian Witness, , , , ,

Coptic Solidarity

Shepherd of Believers from the David Ensemble

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
thou who leadest Joseph like a flock!
Thou who art enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
before E’phraim and Benjamin and Manas’seh!
Stir up thy might,
and come to save us!
Restore us, O God;
let thy face shine, that we may be saved!

The founding members of Coptic Solidarity, held a conference, June 19th-20th, to launch the activities of their new organization.

The gathered members elected Adel Guindy as president, and a ten-member Executive Committee. Attending and speaking were Dr. Dwight Bashir, deputy director of USCIRF; Tina Ramirez, congressional fellow; Taniel Koushakjian, director of Grassroots at the Armenian Assembly; Pierro Tozzi, senior legal counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund; and Dr. Walid Phares, professor of political science and senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

Coptic Solidarity’s overall mission is to “empower the Copts in Egypt to help them attain full and inalienable citizenship rights and equality, under secular constitution and laws; drawn in accordance with current international standards set by Human Rights conventions.”

For more on the persecution of Coptic Christians (and the reason for the Coptic tattoo tradition) see Missing the point of Coptic tattoos from GetReligion.

Art, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , , ,

Poland’s Hurdy-gurdy builder

From Interia: Najstarszy w Polsce wytwórca lir korbowych (An Elderly Pole Manufacturers Hurdy-Gurdies)

In Haczów, Poland 83 year old Stanisław Wyżykowski has been hand crafting Hurdy-gurdies. He has built more than sixty since 1967.

Mr. Wyżykowski built his first Hurgy-gurdy for the late actor, Wojciech Siemion. It was modeled after an instrument owned by his family.

His instruments are primarily purchased by music groups, museums, and fans of the instrument in Germany, Sweden, the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Hungary, Ukraine, and Slovakia.

Mr. Wyżykowski is a carpenter by profession. For several years he played in folk bands. In addition to Hurdy-gurdies he produces cymbals, double bass, and classic violins which look like sticks. He has also trained several students.

Here is Andrzej Nixon playing the Hurdy-gurdy at a dance workshop (from Maciej Cierliński’s Hurdy-gurdy page)

[audio:https://www.konicki.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/AnrzejNixon.mp3]

W Haczowie na Podkarpaciu żyje najstarszy i jeden z nielicznych w Polsce wytwórca lir korbowych. 83-letni Stanisław Wyżykowski od 1967 roku zbudował ponad 60 lir, które znalazły nabywców w kraju i za granicą.

Pierwszą lirę zbudowałem dla świętej pamięci Wojtka Siemiona. Wzorowałem się na instrumencie, który był własnością mojej rodziny – powiedział Wyżykowski.

Większość wyprodukowanych przez niego instrumentów trafiło do zespołów muzycznych i muzeów.

Wśród nabywców są miłośnicy tego instrumentu z Niemiec, Szwecji, Stanów Zjednoczonych, Nowej Zelandii, Australii, Węgier, Ukrainy, Słowacji. Wielokrotnie liry korbowe Wyżykowskiego były wypożyczane jako rekwizyty do filmów i spektakli.

Wyżykowski z zawodu jest stolarzem. Przez kilkadziesiąt lat grał także w kapelach ludowych. Najczęściej można go spotkać w jego pracowni w Haczowie.

Nie brakuje mi zamówień. Bywa, że pracuję po kilkanaście godzin dziennie. Dzięki Bogu zdrowie dopisuje – mówi 83-latek.

Oprócz lir wytwarza także cymbały, kontrabasy i oryginalne skrzypce. Te ostatnie swoim wyglądem przypominają laski. Wykształcił kilku uczniów.

Lira korbowa znana była w Europie od wczesnego średniowiecza. Jej popularność przypada na X-XIV wiek, później stała się instrumentem muzyków ludowych. Do dziś można ją spotkać w składach niektórych kapel ludowych Ukrainy, Białorusi, Słowacji czy wschodnich regionów Polski.

Instrument posiada gitarowy korpus rezonansowy i skrzynkę z komorą kołkową, wyposażony jest w 1-2 struny melodyczne oraz 2-4 struny boczne. Wszystkie struny pocierane są nie smyczkiem, lecz wmontowanym w instrument drewnianym kółkiem natartym żywicą i obracanym za pomocą korbki.

The Hurdy-gurdy has been present in Europe since the early Middle Ages. It became an instrument of folk musicians. To this day it can be found among traveling folk bands from Ukraine, Belarus, Slovakia, and eastern Poland. It is still is played by professional, often blind, itinerant musicians known as lirnyky. Their repertoire is primarily para-religious in theme, although it includes many historic epics known as dumy and folk dances.

These itinerant musicians were heavily persecuted by Russian authorities up to 1902. The persecution reached its peak during the 1930’s when Soviet authorities deemed Ukrainian traveling musicians who played the Hurdy-gurdy to be an “undesireable” element. They organized an ethnographic conference for the lirnyky, and at that conference the 250-300 lirnyky attending were executed.

Here is Andrey Vinogradov playing and chanting at traditional Russian round dance:

Homilies

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time – C

First reading: Deuteronomy 30:10-14
Psalm: Ps 69:14,17,30-31,33-34,36-37
Epistle: Colossians 1:15-20
Gospel: Luke 10:25-37

—No, it is something very near to you,—¨
already in your mouths and in your hearts;
you have only to carry it out.”

Blessings and curses:

Moses’s instruction on God’s blessings and curses takes four chapters in the Book of Deuteronomy, Chapters 27 through 30.

In Chapter 28 Moses says:

“When you hearken to the voice of the LORD, your God, all these blessings will come upon you and overwhelm you
But if you do not hearken to the voice of the LORD, your God, and are not careful to observe all his commandments which I enjoin on you today, all these curses shall come upon you and overwhelm you—

…and he goes on to list these blessings and curses related to living in the presence of the Lord. The community, the country, the society that lives in the Lord will be fruitful and strong while the one that forsakes the Lord will be disease-ridden, weak, powerless and enslaved.

So, how do we achieve God’s blessings and avoid His curses? How do we become a fruitful and strong community, a society living in accord with God’s commands? How do we get there today?

What is in our nature:

In today’s first reading, Moses tells us that we have the power to live in God’s presence and according to His commandments because doing that is already part of who we are. That is a strong comfort isn’t it?

Think of how awesome God’s wisdom is, that He would make us with the built in ability of avail ourselves of His blessings and avoid His curses. Hearing this, with ears of faith, we know that we will be rich in the rewards that God gives. Look to our Christian life in this community, how we interact with each other, how we welcome all, our generosity, our commitment, our work, our worship, our adherence to the truths of God. We are not flashy about it, and we don’t blow a horn in front of us as we live the Christian life. We are simply here in the moment.

Confusion and fear:

Unfortunately, we sometimes fall into confusion. Of course we want God’s blessing, and for all our life we want to avoid the curses that come from separating ourselves from Him. Sometimes we may over-think and overdo. We confuse ourselves by wondering about the past, focusing on what we have done or have failed to do. We sometimes set to living there, pondering and re-hashing. At other times we live in fear of the future. That’s a big fad nowadays. The economy, jobs, children, wants and needs and we stand in fear of what is to be. Sometimes we even fear our tomorrow with God. We somehow doubt we are going to get there, to heaven.

Confusion and fear, we get caught up in them. We place them ahead of our present — our place with God today. That is one of the greatest mistakes we can make. Jesus asks us to put aside the sins of the past and our worry for the future. We are to live in His presence today.

Past and future:

Everyone knows the story of the Good Samaritan. Now I want you to imagine the traveler lying there in the ditch. He’s been robbed and beaten. He is alone, and no one is stopping to help. How did past and future impact this traveler?

Was the traveler lying there considering God’s blessings and curses? Was he recounting all the wrong he had done, looking to the past to figure out why this happened? Was he thinking about his journey, where he was supposed to be? How his not reaching Jericho affected some aspect of his life? What would happen to his wife and children? What about his business? Was he going to see God? Is there a God?

Was the traveler considering the confusion of the past or living in the fear of the future?

Choosing:

What was the traveler’s choice, living in the past or the future, and in both to focus on the potential of curses from God. I don’t know if that is where he was at, but our experience tells us that in the most difficult of circumstances we do not have that luxury of choosing to think of past or future. When the trouble is big, it is all about the here-and-now. I think the traveler was thinking about the right now.

Isn’t it interesting that God tells us nothing about the future. Remember that even Jesus knew nothing of the end, but that was reserved to the Father. Similarly, God does not count the past against us. Isaiah tells us:

I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.

Our experience, and what is in us, tells us that in considering blessings and curses we need to focus on the present, on now. Our choice in seeking the blessings of God and avoiding the curses associated with failing to recognize Him, all has to do with today. Our choice has to be for today.

Doing:

Many of you remember my do-be-do-be-do homily. It was about taking action as Christians. It was about doing good, and the parable of the Good Samaritan is certainly about that, but not only.

The Samaritan certainly did by stopping. We remember that he comforted the traveler, poured oil and wine to cleanse his woulds, picked him up and placed him on his animal, took him to an inn, paid his room and board. The Samaritan did a lot, but we also have to think about what the Samaritan did not do in the here-and-now.

Quiet:

The Samaritan lived today. The Samaritan did not stop to consider past or future. He did not ask the cost. He did not ask the traveler’s political preferences, style of worship, theology, or family status. The Samaritan lived in the quiet moment of now, amid the turmoil — and God’s blessings were poured out. The traveler’s now was filled with blessings from God because of the Samaritan’s now.

So, how do we achieve God’s blessings and avoid His curses? How do we become a fruitful and strong community, a society living in accord with God’s commands? How do we get there today?

We do it by living today, in the moment. There are no questions to ask. There is no consideration of what was or what will be. We know that God’s blessings will come to us if we believe in Him, live, and yes, live today in accordance with the greatest commandment:

—You shall love the Lord, your God,
—¨with all your heart,
—¨with all your being,
—¨with all your strength,—¨
and with all your mind,
—¨and your neighbor as yourself.”

In doing that we need not consider the past or the future, the cost or the price. We need not tie ourselves to the concerns of the world. In faith we believe what God has promised for those who live with Him, for He promised:

When you hearken to the voice of the LORD, your God, all these blessings will come upon you and overwhelm you:
“May you be blessed in the city, and blessed in the country!
“Blessed be the fruit of your womb, the produce of your soil and the offspring of your livestock, the issue of your herds and the young of your flocks!
“Blessed be your grain bin and your kneading bowl!
“May you be blessed in your coming in, and blessed in your going out!
“The LORD will beat down before you the enemies that rise up against you; though they come out against you from but one direction, they will flee before you in seven.
The LORD will affirm his blessing upon you, on your barns and on all your undertakings, blessing you in the land that the LORD, your God, gives you.
He will establish you as a people sacred to himself, as he swore to you;
so that, when all the nations of the earth see you bearing the name of the LORD, they will stand in awe of you.
The LORD will increase in more than goodly measure the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil, in the land which he swore to your fathers he would give you.
The LORD will open up for you his rich treasure house of the heavens, to give your land rain in due season, blessing all your undertakings, so that you will lend to many nations and borrow from none.
The LORD will make you the head, not the tail, and you will always mount higher and not decline

That is God’s promise for those who obey His greatest commandment. He blesses us because we are not confused or fearful, because we do not live in the past or the future, but are alive and living in Him today. We are filled with His blessing today. We are sure in that this now is where we will meet God and we are blessed. Amen.

Events, PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , ,

Bell Festival in New York Mills

Happening today, Saturday, July 10th (from the Rome Sentinel): Bell Festival in New York Mills

NEW YORK MILLS —” The annual Village Bell Festival will be held today and Saturday in the Main Street park. Food, rides, and games will be going on throughout the weekend. There will be an two-day long villagewide garage sale and craft fair starting at 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. respectively.

The festival is a family affair and no alcoholic beverages will be allowed on village property.

Saturday

Starting at noon and lasting all day:

The Sacred Heart of Jesus Polish National Catholic Church will offer various Polish dishes.
The New York Mills Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary will offer hot dogs, beverages, and a summer basket raffle.
The Red Knights will offer strawberry shortcake, a snowmobile trailer raffle, and a variety basket raffle.
Malson-Jones VFW Ladies Auxiliary will offer fruit turnovers.

Noon – 9 p.m. Kiddie rides and games.
Noon – Chicken barbecue sponsored by the New York Mills Lions Club
4 p.m. Hot air balloon walk and balloon tethering, weather permitting.
5 p.m. Gigantic Parade
6 p.m. Citizen of the year award
7-8:30 p.m. Joe Angerosa Elvis impersonator show in Veteran’s Park.
Dusk – Fireworks display from Twin Ponds Hill.

For more on the Bell Festival see my prior post: New York Mills PNCC Parish Continues to Support Its Community.

Poland - Polish - Polonia, ,

Commemorating and celebrating

From the AngloPolish Blog – July 15th marks the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald, a major turning point in European history, when the combined forces of Poland and Lithuania turned aside the hegemony of the Teutonic Knights and their falsified claim on Polish and Lithuanian lands.

…and another in the series

The Battle of Grunwald was one of the largest battles in Medieval Europe. It took place on July 15, 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respectively by King Jogaila (Władysław Jagiełło) and Grand Duke Vytautas (Witold), decisively defeated the Teutonic Knights, led by Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen. Most of the Teutonic leadership was killed or taken prisoner. While defeated, the Teutonic Knights withstood the siege on their capital in Malbork and suffered only minimal territorial losses in the Peace of Toruń (1411). Territorial disputes lasted until the Peace of Melno of 1422. However, the Knights never recovered their former power and the financial burden of war reparations caused internal conflicts and economic decline in their lands. The battle shifted the balance of power in Eastern Europe and marked the rise of the Polish–Lithuanian union as the dominant player in the region.

More from Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

Christian Witness, PNCC, , , , ,

Praise God for His gift of liberty

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.

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