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A Worker Justice Reader: Essential Writings on Religion and Labor

You can now pre-order Interfaith Worker Justice’s new book: A Worker Justice Reader: Essential Writings on Religion and Labor.

Next month Orbis Books is publishing A Worker Justice Reader: Essential Writings on Religion and Labor, an exciting anthology compiled by IWJ that will be a vital resource for seminaries, congregational study groups, social justice committees, labor unions, and beyond.

The book is organized into five parts:

  1. Crisis for U.S. Workers
  2. Religion-Labor History
  3. What Our Religious Traditions Say about Work
  4. Theology and the Ethics of Work
  5. The Religion-Labor Movement Today

I will be picking up a copy. I wonder if the role of the PNCC in Labor history will be included, as well as the role played by organizations like the Polish National Alliance (An interesting history, the PNA is generally non-sectarian and was a close ally of the PNCCMany PNCC Parishes had PNA Lodges, some more than one Lodge. The PNA and PNCC were united in their goals of organizing Poles in the United States for their own betterment, service to their homeland, and at the time independence for Poland. The PNA’s non-sectarian character (membership included Roman Catholics, PNC Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Poles of no denominational affiliation) led to accusations that it was communist, anti-clerical, engaged in organizing secret societies, and all sorts of other evils — generally from a cadre of Polish R.C. priests, most especially Rev. Wincenty Barzynski, a Resurrectionist priest in Chicago and co-founder of the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America. There were movements throughout the Alliance’s history to bar non-Roman Catholics from membership. They generally failed. As time has progressed, the Alliance while remaining non-sectarian, has assumed a more Roman Catholic identity. See Polish-American politics in Chicago, 1888-1940 By Edward R. Kantowicz, especially Chapter 3, ppg 28-37. in supporting Labor).

You can pre-order a copy online or by phone (call 800-258-5838 and use code WJR for FREE shipping) or through your local bookstore.

For suggestions on incorporating the Reader into your curriculum, contact Rev. April McGlothin-Eller, IWJ’s Student Programs Coordinator, at (773) 728-8400, ext. 21, or by E-mail.

Poland - Polish - Polonia, , ,

Poland and Austro-Hungarian history in one funeral

From Interia:

The funeral of the Rev. Joachim Badeni, the oldest member of the Dominican Order in Poland, who died March 11, 2010 at the age of 97. The funeral was held in Krakow and was presided over by Cardinals Stanislaw Dziwisz, and Franciszek Macharski. Until his death, Rev. Badeni lived in Dominican monastery in Krakow.

Rev. Badeni was born as Kazimierz Stanislaw hr. Badeni. The Badeni family was part of Polish nobility under the Boncza coat of arms (about 20% of the citizens of the Polish kingdom were nobility or gentry). The Badeni family’s political influence and land holdings extended over tracts of Eastern Poland and Ruthenia, then referred to as Galicia and Lodomeria. Kazimierz was named after his grandfather, Count Kazimierz Felix Badeni, Viceroy of Galicia and the premiere of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Rev. Badeni was the author of several books covering theological and existential themes. He was co-founder of the famous Krakow pastoral academic institute “Beczka“. Rev. Badeni was buried in the famous Rakowicki Cemetery in Krakow.

Notice two things in the photos below: In Poland funeral liturgies are generally performed in purple or black vestments. White is not a popular (or very proper) liturgical color for funerals. This unlike in the United States where we tend to psychologically and liturgically separate ourselves from the fact of death. Second, the Rev. Badeni’s sister, Maria Krystyna Habsburg, Arch-Dutchess of Austria, was in attendance.

Perspective, PNCC, , , ,

What’s wrong with this article?

PolishNews recently reprinted an article by Daniel Pogorzelski originally published in the July 2009 edition of the Northwest Chicago Historical Society’s Newsletter (see page 14). The article is quite interesting, and covers the history of Avondale and Chicago’s Polish Village.

Nestled between the stately Greystones of Logan Square and the weathered Victorians of Old Irving, Chicago’s Avondale community area, is filled with some of the Northwest Side’s most unique architecture with its characteristic mix of steeples, smokestacks and two-flats.

While today Avondale is chiefly associated with the famous “Polish Village” along Milwaukee Avenue centered around St. Hyacinth Basilica and St. Wenceslaus Church in the district’s western half, diverse ethnicities have contributed over time to the area’s rich narrative.

Avondale’s history begins as part of the quiet prairie area surrounding Chicago in what would be incorporated as Jefferson Township in 1850. Two of the old Native American trails through the area were planked, becoming the Upper and Lower Northwest Plank Roads, routes traversed largely by truck farmers en route to sell their goods at the Randolph Street Market. Known to us today as Milwaukee and Elston Avenues, these two diagonal thoroughfares break up the monotony of the city’s ever-present grid…

Well enough. Wondering what is wrong with the article? Here it is:

By 1894 St. Hyacinth’s Roman Catholic Parish was founded for Poles in an attempt to pre-empt the establishment of a schismatic parish by the Polish National Catholic Church.

While such a statement would be perfectly acceptable in a Roman Catholic publication, because it does represent the Roman Catholic point-of-view, it does not belong in a historical study or essay. What should a reader infer, especially in this day and age when fewer and fewer even understand the meaning of “schismatic?” This is, after all, supposed to be a history, not a discussion of Church politics, polity, or theology. Further, the article discusses other Parishes established in the area, including the Allen Church (an African-American congregation and the oldest church in the area) as well as German and Swedish Lutheran congregations. The article is conspicuous in not taking those congregations to task for the Reformation…

The article might have discussed the Kozlowski movement in Chicago, the fact that the Roman Catholic Church reacted to the PNCC by appointing the first native Pole as a Suffragen Bishop in Chicago in 1908, that in response to Bishop Hodur’s consecration in 1907, or any amount of historical data that might help a reader to understand the religious and political environment in the neighborhood.

From looking at the Historical Society’s mission statement, no where can I discern that this is a sectarian organization. As such, its newsletter and publications, if they are to reflect history, should be edited more carefully. In the alternative, articles should be labeled as personal opinion, or as biased sectarian histories.

The PNCC has had its role in the history of this neighborhood, and a proper historical exposition on the neighborhood should reflect balance while avoiding sectarian pejoratives.

PNCC,

Welcome home Fr. Walczak

From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: [Rev] Melvin Walczak rejoins St. Casimir

IRONDEQUOIT —” A priest who made headlines as the first married priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester has returned to the church of his first ministry, St. Casimir Polish National Catholic Church on Simpson Road.

Along the way, the Rev. Melvin Walczak, 62, has had quite a journey.

St. Casimir is part of the Polish National Catholic Church, which formed in 1897 by Polish nationalists who broke away from Roman Catholicism. The church, which according to its Web site has more than 25,000 members nationally, allows married priests.

The Roman Catholic Church typically does not, but policy does permit married priests ordained in another church to become Roman Catholics and continue to serve as priests.

Walczak served as pastor of St. Casimir from 1973 until 1985, when he switched denominations. He served at four Roman Catholic diocesan churches as well as at Rochester General Hospital, where he was director of pastoral care.

But after experiencing a —crisis of ministry,— Walczak left the diocese in 1996 and worked for the administrations of Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks and, before that, former county executive Jack Doyle.

Walczak retired last year and thought about moving to the South to be near his brother. But when he learned of financial problems at St. Casimir, Walczak contacted the church’s bishop, who reappointed him.

And last Sunday, for the first time in a quarter-century, Walczak celebrated Mass at St. Casimir.

A homecoming

—I was frightened by how comfortable it felt, but frightened by how nervous I felt,— Walczak said. —As it unfolded, God provided the grace to make it easier for me. The anxiousness comes from not surrendering to God, and the peace comes from saying, ‘It’s in your hands now.’— Parishioners at St. Casimir said they were thrilled with Walczak’s return.

—We consider Father Mel a friend as well as pastor,— said Gary Richardson of Penfield, who got married at St. Casimir in 1963, when the church was still on Ernst Street in Rochester. —He’s a take-charge guy, and that’s a good thing. We’re all delighted with Father Mel coming back. If anyone can save the church, it’s Father Mel.—

Maria Weldy of Irondequoit, who joined St. Casimir after Walczak left, has been fighting to keep the church open. Membership now is about 20 families, compared with about 200 families when Walczak first served there.

—When someone comes over and offers his experience, it’s incredible,— Weldy said. —We’re very grateful, and it’s very surprising.—

…

Walczak … retired in 2009 and planned to spend a year in retirement before making any —dramatic changes.—

Then he read about St. Casimir’s problems.

—I have a friend who said, ‘Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous,’ and I have leaned on that,— Walczak said. —I hope to appeal to folks who have not been going to church, and to people who are going but are disillusioned.

—I’m still not sure why I’m here. I’m not sure that I understand God’s plan. But there are a lot of God’s plans that I don’t understand.—

Welcome home Fr. Walczak. May God grant you great joy and perseverance in your ministry in the Polish National Catholic Church.

Perspective, Political,

A fall, big and fast

From the Los Angeles Times by Niall Ferguson: America, the fragile empire: Here today, gone tomorrow — could the United States fall that fast?

For centuries, historians, political theorists, anthropologists and the public have tended to think about the political process in seasonal, cyclical terms. From Polybius to Paul Kennedy, from ancient Rome to imperial Britain, we discern a rhythm to history. Great powers, like great men, are born, rise, reign and then gradually wane. No matter whether civilizations decline culturally, economically or ecologically, their downfalls are protracted.

In the same way, the challenges that face the United States are often represented as slow-burning. It is the steady march of demographics — which is driving up the ratio of retirees to workers — not bad policy that condemns the public finances of the United States to sink deeper into the red. It is the inexorable growth of China’s economy, not American stagnation, that will make the gross domestic product of the People’s Republic larger than that of the United States by 2027.

As for climate change, the day of reckoning could be as much as a century away. These threats seem very remote compared with the time frame for the deployment of U.S. soldiers to Afghanistan, in which the unit of account is months, not years, much less decades.

But what if history is not cyclical and slow-moving but arrhythmic — at times almost stationary but also capable of accelerating suddenly, like a sports car? What if collapse does not arrive over a number of centuries but comes suddenly, like a thief in the night?

Great powers are complex systems, made up of a very large number of interacting components that are asymmetrically organized, which means their construction more resembles a termite hill than an Egyptian pyramid. They operate somewhere between order and disorder. Such systems can appear to operate quite stably for some time; they seem to be in equilibrium but are, in fact, constantly adapting. But there comes a moment when complex systems “go critical.” A very small trigger can set off a “phase transition” from a benign equilibrium to a crisis — a single grain of sand causes a whole pile to collapse.

Not long after such crises happen, historians arrive on the scene. They are the scholars who specialize in the study of “fat tail” events — the low-frequency, high-impact historical moments, the ones that are by definition outside the norm and that therefore inhabit the “tails” of probability distributions — such as wars, revolutions, financial crashes and imperial collapses. But historians often misunderstand complexity in decoding these events. They are trained to explain calamity in terms of long-term causes, often dating back decades. This is what Nassim Taleb rightly condemned in “The Black Swan” as “the narrative fallacy.”

In reality, most of the fat-tail phenomena that historians study are not the climaxes of prolonged and deterministic story lines; instead, they represent perturbations, and sometimes the complete breakdowns, of complex systems…

…

If empires are complex systems that sooner or later succumb to sudden and catastrophic malfunctions, what are the implications for the United States today? First, debating the stages of decline may be a waste of time — it is a precipitous and unexpected fall that should most concern policymakers and citizens. Second, most imperial falls are associated with fiscal crises. Alarm bells should therefore be ringing very loudly indeed as the United States contemplates a deficit for 2010 of more than $1.5 trillion — about 11% of GDP, the biggest since World War II.

These numbers are bad, but in the realm of political entities, the role of perception is just as crucial. In imperial crises, it is not the material underpinnings of power that really matter but expectations about future power. The fiscal numbers cited above cannot erode U.S. strength on their own, but they can work to weaken a long-assumed faith in the United States’ ability to weather any crisis.

One day, a seemingly random piece of bad news — perhaps a negative report by a rating agency — will make the headlines during an otherwise quiet news cycle. Suddenly, it will be not just a few policy wonks who worry about the sustainability of U.S. fiscal policy but the public at large, not to mention investors abroad. It is this shift that is crucial: A complex adaptive system is in big trouble when its component parts lose faith in its viability.

Over the last three years, the complex system of the global economy flipped from boom to bust — all because a bunch of Americans started to default on their subprime mortgages, thereby blowing huge holes in the business models of thousands of highly leveraged financial institutions. The next phase of the current crisis may begin when the public begins to reassess the credibility of the radical monetary and fiscal steps that were taken in response….

Christian Witness, , ,

St. Nersess Armenian Seminary Second Annual 3K walk

From friend, Fr. Stepanos Doudoukjian, Director of Youth and Vocations for the Armenian Apostolic Church in the United States: The St. Nersess Armenian Seminary Second Annual 3K walk is just a few weeks away. The walk will take place on Sunday, April 11th following Badarak at 10am, a light lunch at noon, and the 3k walk beginning at 1pm.

The 3K walk has turned into a fun, healthy and spiritual way to raise money for St. Nersess Seminary which really needs your support right about now. There are 4 seminarians who will be graduating in May and who will be serving in parishes within the year. The seminary expects possibly four more new seminarians in the fall of 2010. It is an exciting time for St. Nersess and they could use your support.

If you wish to support the efforts of our friends at St. Nersess, please send your checks payable to St. Nersess and mail them to St. Nersess Armenian Seminary, 150 Stratton Road, New Rochelle, NY.

Christian Witness, , ,

Love not in word or speech, but in truth and action

The title above from 1 John 3:18. From the Salt Lake Tribune: Churches help folks find jobs

Good works » For many worshippers, helping Utah’s unemployed is a spiritual mandate.

Larry Adakai was out of options.

He lost his welder job after taking too much time off to care for his ailing wife through numerous surgeries. The Navajo father had no savings and few places to turn.

That’s when the Rev. Steve Keplinger and the good folks at St. David’s Episcopal Church in Page, Ariz., part of the Utah diocese, stepped in.

They offered him handyman work around the church and prepared dinners for the family. They paid his union dues so he could be hired at a nearby site. They faxed his application to the new company, then gave him gas money to go there and take the necessary welder exams.

It took six months, but now Larry Adakai has the job, Mary Ann Adakai is fully recovered, and their 14-year-old son, Marcus, is feeling good about life.

Today’s economic realities are prompting more and more workers like the Adakais to turn to their religious communities for encouragement, advice, contacts, training, financial aid, spiritual solace and, frankly, jobs.

More than 90,000 Utahns are out of work, up nearly 20 percent from a year ago, as the state’s unemployment rate jumped to 6.8 percent in January. Executives, students, hairstylists, truck drivers, builders, Realtors, people in every profession and at every level face an unknown future, many for the first time.

“We used to place 300 people a month,” says Ballard Veater, manager of LDS Employment Services, who has worked for the church since 1978. “Now it’s half that many.”

When a person loses work, it’s like a death in the family where the one who died is you, Veater says. A job is at the core of who we are.

For many people of faith, helping the unemployed is more than a kindhearted gesture. It’s a spiritual mandate.

“When I was scared, they talked to me,” says Mary Ann Adakai of St. David’s leaders. “When I lost all hope, they helped me with prayers.” Indeed, such assistance is the centerpiece of Keplinger’s theology.

“Trying to help people get back on their feet is the most Christ-centered thing we can do,” he says. “It is more important than worship.”

…

Joining religious forces

Sunday was hardly a sabbath, an unemployed Presbyterian woman told Anne Gardner last fall, because of the stress of not knowing what Monday would bring.

That comment prompted Gardner, a business executive, to launch the Park City Career Network, with a handful of faith leaders.

Gardner, a Catholic, invited Ellen Silver, the director of Jewish Family Services; Bill Humbert, an executive recruiter and a member of St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Parish; and Dale M. Matthews, a career coach and Greek Orthodox, to join her in a weekly workshop at Temple Har Shalom in Park City. Among other benefits, the effort helps job-hungry seekers define “The Brand Called You.”

The group offers people of all faiths free training similar to the LDS approach. It also provides monthly speakers, who might address such topics as debt negotiations, retirement planning and the emotional stress of job searching.

The typical job seekers are in their early to mid-40s, with either college or graduate education, working at a management level or above. They are not used to having to look for a job. The weekly meetings, begun last fall, attract about 15 people; 21 “graduates” have found jobs and another nine have started their own businesses through this effort.

“We encourage people to reach out in the community, to be active in the community, and make sure you continue your routines,” Gardner says. “We tell them to have faith in whatever their guiding principles are.”…

Current Events, , , ,

Textured Stories – African American Life

The Gallery of New York Folk Art is presenting Textured Stories: An Exhibition featuring the work of Denise Allen, folk artist and master craftswoman from Palatine Bridge, NY through March 26th at the Gallery of New York Folk Art, 133 Jay St., Schenectady, NY. The gallery hours are 10 a.m to 4 p.m.

As a folk artist who predominately focuses on themes of African American colonial life and country living, Denise Allen creates one-of-a-kind textured artwork employing various techniques, prints, dolls, and story cloths. Her work has been featured nationally and internationally. In February 2010, she unveiled her latest piece, a 9-11 story cloth that will be housed at the forthcoming 9-11 memorial in New York City.

For more information contact the New York Folklore Society website or call 518-346-7008.

Current Events, , ,

Addressing the Needs of Diverse Learners Through the Arts

The VSA Institute is hosting a workshop: Addressing the Needs of Diverse Learners Through the Arts at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Albany, NY on Wednesday, March 24, from 9AM to 4:30PM.

This participatory workshop will explore the different ways in which students with (and without) disabilities learn through the arts. The goal is to give participants functional and realistic strategies that can be applied immediately in classroom and educational practices. Presenters will focus on more than one art form and curriculum connections, and the wisdom amongst the participants in the room will be honored.

The workshop facilitators are Ms. Jaehn Clare, Director of Artistic Development, VSA arts of Georgia and Mr. Russell Granet, Director, Arts Education Resource. For more information and to register, please visit the New York State Alliance for Arts Education website.

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