Our Savior PNCC celebrates 80 years
From Mosinee Today: Church celebrates 80 years
Starting out truly as a “church in the wildwood” by a few Polish families in the town of Ried, this month Our Savior Polish National Catholic Church in Mosinee is celebrating its 80th anniversary.
Newly elected Bishop Anthony Kopka will visit Saturday to celebrate with the parish at the 5:30 p.m. Mass. Following the service, an evening meal, prepared by the members, will be served. The public is welcome.
For the past 20 years, the leader of Our Savior’s flock is The Rev. Marion Talaga, who is originally from Poland… Talaga is also is the pastor of St. Mary Parish in Lublin and Holy Cross Mission near Pulaski.
Our Savior has been growing aggressively to meet its needs. A home next to the church building was purchased for use as a rectory, new classroom area and handicapped accessibility added, the church worship area renovated and the lower level social gathering space updated.
According to the Polish National Catholic Church website, the church was founded in 1897 in Scranton, PA. Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, people who are divorced and remarried are openly welcomed to receive the Eucharist, a priest can choose to be married and all [baptized] believers are invited to partake in the reception of Holy Communion.
Our Savior’s is at 804 Jackson St., one block south of the high school and two blocks east of the Rec Center.
Weekend masses are at 5:30 p.m. Saturday evening and 10:30 a.m. Sunday. A social hour follows all Sunday masses.
Is it true that all baptized believers can receive holy communion in the PNCC? Is this essentially the same as the Episcopalians?
Jim,
Thank you for your question. Essentially, yes that is correct. The person receiving must be baptized and, this is important, they must have true faith and belief in the real presence of Jesus Christ under the appearance of bread and wine.
As a general rule there is no similar requirement, even for the clergy in the Anglican/Episcopal Church. While Anglo-Catholics might have that belief, it is not a required belief. I would also reference the “39” principals of Anglicanism that sets exactly that no specific belief is required or even encouraged.
I presumed that at the very least, there was the expectation that the person receiving communion believe in the real presence. Unfortunately, the story was not able, did not understand or was unwilling to make that rather critical distinction. I think it would be relatively rare that anyone other than a Roman Catholic, Orthodox or a very “Catholic” Anglican or Lutheran would be able to meet that criteria.
The second problem with that story was that it implied that divorce and remarriage was not an issue in the PNCC. It is my understanding that divorce and remarriage is possible, just as it is in the RC, but that there must be some form of approval, not annulment, but consultation and approval by the Bishop.
I am RC but very sympathetic to the PNCC. I enjoy following your blog to get some insights into the PNCC because the available sources of discussion are relatively scarce. Thanks for the work.
Jim
You are right, one of the reasons the Press gets such a bad rap on reporting religion stories is its lack of attention to detail.
The PNCC does in fact have an annulment process. Each diocese has a marriage tribunal and its recommendations go to the diocesan bishop for approval. There must be valid reasons for a marriage to be considered annulled or dissolved as the case may be. The PNCC document: The Sacrament of Matrimony in the Polish National Catholic Church [PDF file] discusses all this.
Thank you for your kind comment in relation to the blog.