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Current Events, Perspective, PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Sad end to a rich history

It appears that seven predominantly Polish R.C. parishes will be closing on Buffalo’s East Side. For more check out Seven Buffalo churches to merge into two: East Side closings stir some protests from the Buffalo News.

Among the churches to be closed is Holy Apostles Saints Peter and Paul, my mother’s home parish and the parish my grandparents helped to found. It was initially a mission parish for St. Stanislaus, the mother church of Buffalo’s Polonia – a parish designed to serve the Poles who had moved to farther flung neighborhoods.

The most shocking closure is that of St. Adalbert’ Basilica.

Yes, a Basilica.

St. Adalbert’s was the first church designated as a basilica in the United States (1907). You don’t find many of those laying about in the United States.

The genesis of the independent Catholicism in Buffalo occurred at St. Adalbert’s as noted in the history section of the Holy Mother of the Rosary Cathedral website:

An Independent Polish Catholic parish was first established in Buffalo in August, 1895, when a rejected group of parishioners at St. Adalbert’s Parish decided to form a separate church just a block away. These discontented souls were forced to decide their own fate when their requests were rejected by the Roman Catholic Bishop and his advisors.

More on the history of St. Adalbert’s and its tie in to the PNCC here, here and here.

As a grade school student I attended a magnificent Mass at St. Adalbert’s. It was held in honor of the International Eucharistic Congress which took place in Philadelphia in 1976. I had family who attended Holy Mother of the Rosary and St. Adalbert’s.

It would appear that those who chose to have a voice and a vote in the destiny of their parish made a better choice. Their parish still exists.

Here’s a photo from St. Adalbert’s 120th Anniversary celebration in 2006. The next to last celebration.

adalberts_120.jpg

Current Events, Perspective

Tingling ears – gnats or drats

I couldn’t resist this one 🙂 .

Shawn Tribe, of the very classy NLM Blog, posted Roman Ears are tingling on June 25th.

This is, of course, about the long awaited Motu Proprio from the Bishop of Rome re-establishing the Tridentine form of the Holy Mass for (most) Roman Catholics.

His article points out that ‘sources’ were convinced that the Motu Proprio was being printed and was ready for release.

According to the NY Times, BBC, AP and others the sources were right, at least in part: Pope Tightens Voting Rules for Election of Successors

ROME, June 26 —” Pope Benedict XVI has changed the rules for electing a pope by reinstituting the traditional requirement that two-thirds of the cardinals in the conclave agree on a candidate, no matter how long the process takes.

…

In a document [given Motu Proprio], in Latin, Pope Benedict said he was returning to the traditional voting norm, requiring a two-thirds majority throughout. The document was signed by the pope and dated June 11…

Should the other Motu Proprio ever come, I imagine it won’t be for a while. They don’t release these things like candy…

Then again, I haven’t been left wanting. I already have the Traditional Rite of the Holy Mass, in the vernacular, as has always been practiced in the PNCC.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings,
and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths.

Current Events,

Assistance for Darfur

My sister forwarded a link to a CHF International project that helps to protect the women and children of Darfur.

I have found CHF to be a worthy organization. At one time I had considered working in one of their housing development projects in Poland, and I have kept up with their efforts in some of the poorest areas of the world.

As you may well know, recent stories have circulated concerning gang rapes of women who must hunt down scarce firewood. These women must forage for firewood that is used for cooking.

Women must leave the (relative) safety of their refugee camps, and their husbands and children, often traveling tens of miles to find wood. The men cannot leave the camps as they would most likely be killed, or forcefully conscripted.

CHF is trying to supply special stoves that require less fuel and that use fuels readily available in the camps. I ask that you consider supporting this project.

More information and an on-line donation option is available at: Building Stoves and Saving Lives in Darfur, Sudan – The Fuel-Efficient Stoves Project.

Current Events, Perspective, Political

Of Joe and Paris

…or it’s all about being handled.

I really don’t have much to say about the whole Paris Hilton saga, but…

I felt the typical outrage as I saw a system that’s supposed to be relatively blind kowtow to money, sex, and celebrity.

Not that I’m so naive to think the system isn’t played on a daily basis (OJ with that thought anyone) by those with money and a cult of celebrity. Nevertheless, I still believe that some semblance of what is core to the civil justice system will prevail and am disappointed when it doesn’t.

More than the outrage at a corrupt system, for me, it was really the utter disgust at the thought of all the pre-release crying, wailing, psycho mumbo-jumbo and the sheriff’s tie in to his feelings on those matters.

I understand dear, here’s a pass.

Of course that doesn’t apply to the prostitute they arrested while he or she was trying to make enough to feed their crack habit, or the petty thief who hears voices and sees visions.

Ask anyone in the criminal justice field and they will tell you that the majority of the incarcerated are drug addicted and/or mentally ill. They are welcome to partake of ‘state services’ or worse yet, contracted out state services (jails being a big industry in the U.S.).

The whole post-release breakdown thing appeared to be a reaction, not to the sentence or the process, but rather to the lack of handlers. Mom and Dad, no help. Makeup artist, couldn’t find ’em on one minutes notice. Clothing, not runway chic. Paris lost her security blanket.

It took about two days for her handlers to overcome the shock. Then we had Barbara Walters and the whole I’ve found God mockery going on.

I don’t know, a night in jail and her catechetical learning was resurrected? Oops, none of that back there. Her cellmate, a black woman from Louisiana, she brought Christ to Paris? Oh, that’s right, no cellmate. Maybe the Gideons left a bible for her?

My daily blog reads have worthy comments on the whole Paris issue. From the Young Fogey see: Picking on Parish Hilton and from Fr. Martin Fox’s Bonfire of the Vanities see: Reality is a harsh mistress.

On to Joseph Lieberman, Senator for the State of Connecticut.

The press typically places an “(I)” after his name to denote the fact that he is an “independent” i.e., not a Democrat or Republican. Well, independent would be an oxymoron in his case. I’m thinking that “(I)” stands for Israeli stooge.

The Senator found himself in the hands of the handlers this past weekend. He knew just how to look, and just what to say. The script was clear – threaten Iran with a military strike. Interestingly enough:

Over the weekend, Israel officials indicated that a strike against Iran was an option being considered if diplomacy fails.

You can read the whole sorted tale at the Christian Science Monitor in: Talk of attacking Iran escalates tensions.

I’m just wondering when, and if ever, the handlers are going to get a grip on reality.

There’s plenty of money in reality.

Earn it in helping the mentally ill, the incarcerated, the addicted. Rush to the front lines in defense of our borders, not Israel’s or Albania’s, or Korea’s, or Sudan’s, or…

The handlers are at heart cowards, afraid to step into the light and even more afraid of taking a stand. They live in hollow places that only God can fill. May God have mercy on us all and may He fill the vacuum in their lives.

Perhaps Judge Reggie Walton poked a little hole in their air filled arguments when he called on the handlers and the handled to step up to the plate on behalf of the poor and defenseless. From the Boston Globe see: Law scholars appeal to judge for Libby

WASHINGTON — A dozen of the country’s most respected constitutional scholars have leapt to the aid of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby , asking a federal judge if they could try to convince him about critical legal questions that favor letting Libby remain free while he appeals his conviction in the Valerie Plame Wilson leak case.

Within hours of Friday’s filing from the scholars, US District Judge Reggie Walton wrote back , granting their request . In a footnote, he said he was delighted to know that such a distinguished group was available to help argue on behalf of criminal defendants on “close questions” of the law.

Walton promised he’d ring them up soon when — instead of Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff facing the threat of incarceration — there might be poor defendants who need big legal minds to avoid imprisonment…

Christian Witness, Current Events, Perspective, Saints and Martyrs

More martyrs

As linked to by the Young Fogey from AsiaNews: A Chaldean priest and three deacons killed in Mosul:

Fr Ragheed Ganni, 34, was hit by gunfire in front of the Church of the Holy Spirit. Three deacons, who served as his aides, were also killed.

Baghdad (AsiaNews) —“ An armed group gunned down and killed Fr Ragheed Ganni and three of his aides. The murder took place right after Sunday mass in front of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul where Father Ragheed was parish priest. Sources told AsiaNews that hours later the bodies were still lying in the street because no one dared retrieve them. Given the situation tensions in the area remain high…

…which follows on his links to Iraq’s Catholics are being crucified.

The Assyrian News Agency reports that the martyrs are:

Father Ragheed Ganni,
Sub-deacon Basman Yousef Daud,
Sub-deacon Wahid Hanna Isho, and
Sub-deacon Gassan Isam Bidawed

Eternal rest grant onto them O Lord, and may the perpetual light shine upon them.

Lord, welcome home your martyrs who have washed their robes and made them white in Your blood.

Blame the Muslims? Certainly they bear responsibility for their inhumanity and the murders they have committed. But as several have pointed out, this didn’t happen under Saddam.. but rather right under the nose of George Bush’s regime.

This further supports my contention that Evangelicals of Mr. Bush’s ilk and his neo-con supporters cheer as Catholics die.

But woe…

Then he will say to those at his left hand, `Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;
for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
Then they also will answer, `Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?’
Then he will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’
And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Christian Witness, Current Events, Perspective

OK, I’m confused

As I noted in my article, Rules are rules, especially if we don’t like you, The Roman Catholic Church uses its prerogative (which it is perfectly entitled to) to discharge folks who don’t follow its beliefs.

There have been numerous articles on the subject. Examples include the firing of unmarried pregnant teachers and the subject I wrote on, the firing of a devoted church youth music director (who happens to be the wife of a PNCC priest on active duty with the U.S. Air Force), and so on.

My feed reader caught two articles today that show the discrepancies and unequal treatment practiced from diocese to diocese.

From NineMSN: Catholic schools in bid to ban non-Catholics

Tasmanian Catholic schools have applied for an exemption to the state’s Anti-Discrimination Act in a bid for the power to turn away non-Catholic students.

Archbishop Adrian Doyle has outlined the new plan, which aims for all Catholic schools to have at least 75 percent Catholic students.

He said the policy would ensure “very strong Catholic ethos and vision” in Tasmanian Catholic schools, and would be slowly rolled out across the state…

— versus —

From RTí‰: Presbyterian gets top Catholic Church post

The Catholic Church in Ireland has appointed a Presbyterian as the head of its child protection unit.

Ian Elliot, Director of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in Belfast, is to become the first Chief Executive of the Church’s National Board for Child Protection.

When he takes up his duties in a month’s time, he will have completed two years on secondment to Northern Ireland’s civil service where he has led a major reform programme for child protection services.
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Church sources say he is the first non-Catholic to be appointed to such a senior post in Irish Catholicism.

OK, so there’s a shortage of Roman Catholics in Ireland!?!

I get that I’m being sarcastic, but doesn’t the Roman Church’s inconsistent treatment of folks make it look all subjective and vindictive?

Again, no problem if the Church chooses to solely hire Roman Catholics, and solely Roman Catholics who follow Church teaching. That might actually represent something – a strength of witness. Instead it looks like it is all ends justify the means Machiavellian. That’s unfortunate.

Current Events, Perspective, Political, Saints and Martyrs,

Doing the devil’s work

From the AP via the International Herald Tribune: Iraq’s Christian minority flees from violence

BAGHDAD: Despite the chaos and sectarian violence raging across Baghdad, Farouq Mansour felt relatively safe as a Christian living in a multiethnic neighborhood in the capital.

Then, two months ago, al-Qaida gunmen kidnapped him and demanded his family convert to Islam or pay a US$30,000 ransom. Two weeks later, he paid up, was released and immediately fled to Syria, joining a mass exodus of Iraq’s increasingly threatened Christian minority.

“There is no future for us in Iraq,” Mansour said.

Though Islamic extremists have targeted Iraqi Christians before, bombing churches and threatening religious leaders, the latest attacks have taken on a far more personal tone, with many Christians being expelled from their homes and forced to leave their possessions behind, police, human rights groups and residents said.

The Christian community here, about 3 percent of the country’s 26 million people, is particularly vulnerable. It has little political or military clout to defend itself, and some Islamic insurgents view it as a fifth column —” calling Christians “Crusaders” —” whose real loyalty lies with the U.S. troops they are fighting.

Many churches are now nearly empty during religious services, with much of their flock either gone or too scared to attend. Only about 30 people sat scattered among the pews at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in the relatively safe Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah during this week’s Sunday Mass. About two dozen worshippers took communion in the barren St. Mary’s Church in the northern city of Kirkuk on Sunday…

After I had read that article, I came across an article on church closings at the Buffalo News. In Under canon law, Catholic parishes rarely ‘close’ I found the following:

Closing a parish is a rare and rather involved legal process that extends all the way to the Vatican.

…

—No parish is really ever closed unless there are no Catholics left there,— said Litwin. —In reality, what seem to be closings are not really closings. You’re closing buildings perhaps, but you’re merging parish boundaries.—

The Vatican clarified the issue last summer in a letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in which Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, a high-ranking prelate, wrote: —Only with great difficulty can one say that a parish becomes extinct.—

—A parish is extinguished by the law itself only if no Catholic community any longer exists in its territory, or if no pastoral activity has taken place for a hundred years,— Hoyos wrote, according to the Catholic News Service…

President Bush has done quite the job in ridding Iraq of Christians. By 2108 the Canons regarding church closings will become operative. No Christians, no pastoral activity, no churches in Iraq.

Mr. Bush is the real problem, not the jihadists pushing dhimmitude, who in reality have been given license to run rampant under the ‘government, we don’t need no stinkin’ government’ situation in Iraq.

I would say, beyond much doubt, that President Bush considers the Christians of the Middle East anything but Christians, maybe dogs, but certainly not Christians.

You see, our President is firmly aligned with the Evangelicals whose rhetoric, practice, and belief, denies the fact that anyone of the ‘catholic’ persuasion is a Christian at all.

  • Christians in Lebanon – nope.
  • Christians in Iraq – nope
  • The Orthodox, Romans, Orientals – who dat.
  • Christians in Israel – just those awaiting the rapture

Mr. Bush, pay attention to scripture. A house divided and all…

You are working against these ancient communities of faith, and the responsibility for their fall lies at your feet. You’ve just about accomplished what the Roman Emperors, the Hun, the Horde, the Sultans, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Kim Jong-il, all combined couldn’t accomplish. You’ve just about rid a huge chunk of the earth of Christianity.

Current Events, Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia

Majówka – what we’re all in need of

This past Saturday, April 28th, was the beginning of Majówka.

Stanislaw Kamocki, Blossoming Apple Tree, 1906, Lviv Art Gallery, Lviv, Ukraine

Majówka is a nine (9) day weekend enjoyed by Poles.

A nine day weekend you say? How can that be?

The nine day weekend encompasses two full weekends (4 days) plus the Public holidays of May 1st, the “State holiday” (formerly known as Labor Day during the communist oppression) and May 3rd, the anniversary of the Polish Constitution of May 3rd, 1791 (2 days).

May 2rd is Polish Flag Day. While May 2nd is a National Holiday, it is not a prescribed Public holiday or ‘day off.’ Nevertheless, most businesses are closed May 2nd. (1 day).

Adding two personal vacation days during the week (2 days) grants you a total of 9 days off.

Now that doesn’t happen every year. The 1st and 3rd have to fall properly on the calendar, during the workweek, as they do this year.

What to do — na Majówka?

Pretty much anything but stay home.

Head to the mountains or the shore, hit the road for a countryside holiday. Get out to your działka (a country garden – many city dwellers in Poland own a small country plot that they use for gardening) and get your plantings in.

Can you imagine something like that happening in the United States? The production drumbeat goes on, often to the detriment of family, health, and communal wellbeing.

Christian Witness, Current Events, Perspective, ,

To our Armenian brothers and sisters

We stand with you today and always. Once the truth is acknowledged we can truly say: Never again!

The Young Fogey sums it all up in 92 Years ago.

Armenian genocide chain poster

Guard me, O Christ my God, in peace
Under the shadow of your holy and venerable cross.
Deliver me from the visible and invisible enemy.
Make me worthy to give you thanks and glorify you
together with the Father and the Holy Spirit now
and always. Amen.

— From the Divine liturgy of the Armenian Church

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