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…and Polish priests don’t like it either

From CathNews: Polish priests want to marry

Most Polish priests favour an end to celibacy and twelve percent say they are already in a relationship with a woman, a survey has found.

The research has dealt a blow to the country’s reputation as a champion of traditional Catholic values, the UK Telegraph reports.

A survey of over 800 priests carried out by Professor Josef Baniak, a sociologist specialising in religious affairs, found that 53 percent would like to have a wife, while 12 percent admitted that they were involved in a relationship. A further 30 percent said that they had had a sexual relationship with a woman.

Professor Baniak concluded from earlier research that the desire to have a relationship and a family was one of the key reasons for priests leaving the priesthood.

His latest research echoes an earlier survey carried out by the Tygodnik Powszechny newspaper. The conservative publication, aimed at Catholic intellectuals, found that as many as 60 percent of priests wanted the right to marry.

Professor Baniak’s survey, however, has come under fire from the Church. Bishop Wojciech Polak, chairman of the Church’s Vocations Council, described it as “full of generalisations”, adding that he found the “conclusions hard to agree with.”

Bishop Polak must not have access to the books and records as the auxiliary bishop of Gniezno. He’s obvioulsy missed the priests who have long-term “housekeepers,” have left to marry, have committed suicide because they cannot reconcile their conflicted relationships, or who have dumped their housekeeper and her (really their) children on the dioceses’ doorstep.

Of course “new trends” in Polish seminaries will change the balance. Perhaps Bishop Polak is concentrating on those changes.

More from Bishop Polak in Catholic Church in Poland reports sharp drop in vocations. Methinks that the Bishop has his fingers in his ears and is signing a hymn very loudly.

Perspective, Political, , , , ,

All for fear

From TPMCafe: Huntington revisited

After Professor Samuel Huntington passed away on December 24, I held off commenting on his work during the first 30 days of mourning out of respect for the norms that govern such a period. I believe we are now ready for a balanced review of his work.

The theme that runs throughout Huntington’s various works is best characterized as a theory of fear. His books typically identify a mounting threat, such as Mexican immigrants, Islamic civilization, or democratic proclivities, and then point to the need for strong national-unity building measures and mobilization of the people (including militarization) in response to the barbarians at the gates. Sometimes, the argument is formulated in basically analytical terms: If the required vigorous responses to the particular challenge at hand are not forthcoming, various calamities will ensue (e.g., the U.S. will lose a large part of its territory to Mexico and its Anglo-Protestant identity will be undermined) that will implicitly call for stronger countermeasures. In other cases, advocacy for powerful antidotes is quite explicit. As Huntington puts it in the Foreword to Who Are We?, he is writing as a patriot and a scholar, in that order.

Taken on its own, the threat-response thesis is unproblematic, a correlation the validity of which even people without social training can readily discern, and one that has often been repeated in the annals of social analysis. When the Nazis were about to overrun Britain, the country suspended habeas corpus. And few, even among the strongest supporters of Israel, would deny that while continuous threats from armed neighbors and terrorists and the responses to these threats have helped keep the segments of Israeli society together, they have also involved a measure of militarization and have imposed limits on civil rights.

The key issue then is to determine whether a nation truly faces particular threats or whether such concerns are largely drummed up, if not totally manufactured–say, in order to keep a nation under the control of one powerful elite or another and to make its citizens accept various governmental measures that they otherwise would not tolerate. These measures might include the curtailment of rights, economic belt-tightening, and discrimination against foreigners, among others. It is a familiar issue, seen for example in the debates over whether or not Saddam actually possessed nuclear weapons that could pose an imminent threat to the United States. Even more recently, it has been witnessed in the argument over whether or not Social Security is indeed in “crisis.” We must ask: If the various threats are real, what is their magnitude? And if the dangers are vastly exaggerated, what purposes are served by such a politics of fear…

A good read, putting our country’s trends in perspective. The only point I would make is that Huntington just represented one side of the fear mongering elitist class. It really isn’t left/right, liberal/conservative, Democrat/Republican. The sins are the same, the power grab in a different dress; with all the dresses from the same nation over individual dressmaker. Sadly, our rights diminish, our freedoms like sands through the fingers of a fear filled child.

Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , , , ,

Learning culture, from the family on up

From the Buffalo News: Dance troupe, trip to Poland connect teen to her roots

America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. But where did we come from? At one point in history, your ancestors likely emigrated to the U. S. from someplace else. Do you know from where —“and when —“ they came?

Nineteen-year-old Christina Slomczewski does.

Christina, a sophomore at Daemen College, takes great pride in her family’s history. She grew up in a home in Buffalo based on Polish traditions, and she often heard her grandmother speak the language.

—As a child, I always heard my grandmother talking to family and friends in Polish, and it always seemed like a bonding experience,— said Christina.

Christina’s great-great-grandparents emigrated to the United States. Even though her ties to Poland are not extremely close, the tradition has been passed down since those first relatives set foot on American soil. The family eats Polish foods such as ham, potatoes, pierogi a dough pocket filled with fruit, meat, cheese or potatoes and kielbasa, a Polish sausage. They also celebrate swenconka, or a blessing of Easter food the day before Easter.

So, naturally when Christina was offered the chance to travel to Poland, she jumped at the opportunity. Last summer Christina went to Poland for a month with the Kosciuszko Foundation. The foundation is an organization which helps children in Poland learn English from American teachers. Even without a teaching degree, Christina was able to spend her time in the city of Przypok, Poland, as a teacher’s assistant, teaching the English language to students ages 9 to 14.

—While I was there, the teacher and I did lessons with the kids until lunchtime. And in the afternoon we played games with them. It was a lot of fun and the children were really nice,— she says.

“Believe it or not, the U. S. and Poland are a lot more alike than most people think,— says Christina. —They have shopping malls like we have here —“ and they even have a lot of American based foods. [But] I realized how lucky we are to have so many things in the U. S.— Christina says: —Every day we take for granted the little things, like clean tap water and free public restrooms. In Poland you have to pay two dollars for a small bottle of water and 50 cents every time you needed to use the bathroom—

Christina is currently a member of Western New York’s largest Polish-American cultural and dance group, Harmony Polish Folk Ensemble. Harmony was founded by several families with Polish ties. They have upwards of 50 members, who range in age from four to 75.

Manya Pawlak-Metzler, president of Harmony, says she is always very impressed with Christina’s —ready-to-go— attitude. —Christina is reliable, dedicated, and eternally upbeat. Her ability to adapt to frequent change is unparalleled, and her skill in level of dance has recently resulted in her placement as a junior instructor for our organization,— said Pawlak-Metzler.

Harmony’s mission is to expose Western New York to Polish culture through traditional song, dance, and simple language lessons. But on a less dramatic scale, the group is also out to prove those who believe Polish dancing is all polka, very, very wrong.

—I think that the people who usually associate [our] dancing with polka all the time are surprised. They get to see the more traditional side of Polish dancing.— Christina said.

—I’m proud to show where my family came from every time I dance with Harmony. Just within the hour show we put on for people, they get to live as if they were one of those Polish villagers, and they take home with them a story which they can tell their families for generations to come.—

The article points to experiences much like my own (although, I was never a dancer…). Knowledge of ones roots, cultural connections, being in the family, and most especially the extended family. Those are the experiences that give us a core sense of warmth, connection, and of being grounded. As we mature those experiences blossom into a deeper knowledge, studied history, and all its intricacies. That knowledge doesn’t destroy our our starting point, it only deepens our understanding of it.

Beyond the family, the article points to the support of church and community, both of which are essential in establishing a sense of self.

Perspective, Poetry, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , ,

The great poets?

A great post from John Guzlowski at Everything’s Jake: Can American Poetry Be Great Again?

My friend Elizabeth Oakes, author of The Farmgirl Poems, sent me a New York Times article that she saw posted on the Women’s Poetry List about whether or not American poetry will ever be great again. It’s a good article that raises a number of important questions about poetry and reading and the audience for the written word.

He then points to the NY Times article from its On Poetry column: The Great(ness) Game

The problem is that over the course of the 20th century, greatness has turned out to be an increasingly blurry business. In part, that’s a reflection of the standard narrative of postmodernism, according to which all uppercase ideals —” Truth, Beauty, Justice —” must come in for questioning. But the difficulty with poetic greatness has to do with more than the talking points of the contemporary culture wars. Greatness is —” and indeed, has always been —” a tangle of occasionally incompatible concepts, most of which depend upon placing the burden of —greatness— on different parts of the artistic process…

What does greatness mean? What should it mean? How has poetry evolved within American culture? The article is an interesting exploration of those topics.

The author also takes a shot at the intrigue and exoticism of foreign poets living in the United States, particularly Czesław Miłosz. For all of their “greatness” a lot of their “not-so-great” gets glossed over. Using Miłosz as an example is particularly funny because Miłosz’ “greatness” occasionally exhibited itself in pseudo-class warfare, pitting him, and his ring of Polish intellectuals, against his base of support, the people who were forced to call him great, because he was one of us. For an investigation into that issue read Stanislaus A. Blejwas’ letter: Polish studies in America from the January 1995 issue of The Sarmatian Review.

Perspective, PNCC,

Bishop Kmiec provides a teaching moment

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It has come to my attention that some of the members of the former parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Brant, New York, are considering purchasing the parish property and re-opening as a parish of the Polish National Catholic Church. As Bishop of Buffalo and in my capacity as the Roman Catholic co-chairman of the dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church in the United States and the Polish National Catholic Church, I have a special interest in this case.

The relationship between our churches has improved enormously since the dialogue was established in 1984. A century of hostility has gradually given way to greater understanding of one another, and an experience of a deeper fellowship based on the mutual recognition of our sacraments, including the Eucharist and the ordained ministry in the Apostolic Succession. This understanding even means that in certain circumstances it is possible for the faithful of our churches to receive some of the sacraments in the other church. In May 2006 our dialogue issued a “Joint Statement on Unity” that reviewed the progress in our relations, and stated explicitly that the goal of our ongoing engagement is the re-establishment of full communion.

However, despite such progress, our churches remain divided, and there are still significant differences that must be overcome. In particular, it should be emphasized that the Polish National Catholic Church is not in communion with the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, and so is not a part of the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, the Roman Catholics in Brant or others in the area who are considering this move should be aware of the gravity of their decision.

The Code of Canon Law is clear about the penalties attached to those who leave the Roman Catholic Church. According to canon 751, “Schism is the withdrawal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or from communion with the members of the Church subject to him.” Canon 1364 provides that such a schismatic who deliberately and freely chooses to leave the Roman Catholic Church incurs an excommunication latae sententiae, meaning that excommunication takes effect immediately even if it is not formally declared. It should be pointed out that this applies to Catholics who join any other church; it is not directed against the Polish National Catholic Church as such.

For these reasons I call upon the Roman Catholics of the former parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel to consider very carefully the implications of any decision to join the Polish National Catholic Church. Excommunication is a very serious matter indeed, and would mean that they would no longer be able to participate in the sacramental life of the Roman Catholic Church, not even to the extent allowed occasionally to members of the Polish National Catholic Church who are not former Roman Catholics.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my fervent hope that the former parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish will remain within the Roman Catholic Church, and that our dialogue with the Polish National Catholic Church will progress to the goal of the reestablishment of full communion. On that happy day, our differences will have been definitively resolved.

Sincerely in Christ,

Most Rev. Edward U. Kmiec
Bishop of Buffalo

Rather than reacting against this letter, I would like to point out that everything Bishop Kmiec says is correct within the Roman Catholic Church’s understanding of these matters. For those who claim allegiance to the Roman Church he is spot on in his citing the Roman Catholic Church’s understanding of communion (i.e., the PNCC is not in communion with the Bishop of Rome — the sole sign of unity within the Roman Church). He correctly cites the Latin Church’s Code of Canon Law, and all the penalties that will be imposed on those who break its law.

Since all this is true one must examine the term the bishop uses for those who chose to leave the Roman Church: It is a grave decision. Indeed it is, but not the gravest decision.

I’ve been through this journey and I can speak from first hand experience. In coming to the PNCC I was asked to accept certain things, and to reject others. Can those of you who may be considering such a move do the same? Can you accept this grave (essentially important) decision?

To enter the PNCC you have to accept an understanding of man’s destiny and his relationship to the Holy Church. The PNCC describes these in the Eleven Great Principles and the Confession of Faith (see especially points 6, 7, and 8I BELIEVE in the need of uniting all followers of Christ’s religion into the one body of God’s Church, and that the Church of Christ, Apostolic and Universal, is the representation of this Divine community of mankind, which the Savior proclaimed for the realization of which all noble minded peoples labored, are still laboring and for which the soul of man yearns, desiring truth, light, love, justice and consolation in God.

I BELIEVE that the Church of Christ is the true teacher of both individual man as well as of all human society, that it is a steward of Divine Graces, a guide and a light in man’s temporal pilgrimage to God and salvation; in so far as the followers and members of this Church, both lay and clerical, are united with the Divine Founder through faith and life proceeding from this faith.

I BELIEVE that every true Christian should take an active and vital part in the spiritual life of the Church, through the hearing of the Word of God, through the receiving of the Holy Sacraments, through fulfilling the laws and regulations established by Christ and His Apostles, as defined and given to us by the Church.). In short, man’s destiny is unity with God, His creator, and to join with others who hold common cause to that end. The manner in which we join together, the way that leads to life in Christ, is defined by our way of life, our teaching, our adherence to Holy Scripture and the Councils of the unified Church. The Polish National Catholic Church stands as the earthly representation the Divine community of mankind. Our Church’s life reflects the community our Lord and Savior desired, the community He proclaimed, the community He established wherein all noble minded peoples may come to labor. The Polish National Catholic Church is the earthly representative of the community man desires — the community of the Kingdom of God. We are a community of truth, light, love, justice and consolation in God.

Man’s destiny — union with God — is not achieved through a series of laws, rules, and regulations laid down by far off, disconnected prelates, in tomes of man-made laws. Our destiny is written in our hearts. Our destiny calls us to seek the Lord while He may be found, to call to Him while He is near. That call is brought to fulfillment in the Holy Church, which teaches the truth and which respects his intellect, his drive, and his determination to work and struggle for the truth. It is the truth we find when we live in the manner our Lord lived and if we follow the teachings He left to us.

In entering the PNCC you must accept that excommunication, along with words such as schism, are nothing more than a bludgeon, attacking man’s freedom. The PNCC does not excommunicate. Rather we accept all who come to us seeking Jesus Christ. If one should choose to join with us, in our way of life, adhering to the Church’s teaching and joining in our journey to the Lord, then they are welcome. If they decide to leave, to find Christ elsewhere, via some other path, we bear them no ill will. We all seek our Lord and Savior, and are united to that end. We simply wish them well. As recent events illustrate, excommunication does nothing to purge man of sin, but rather is a means to discipline an organization’s membership; disciplining in a manner used against unruly children – the “time out.”

In entering the PNCC you must reject the notion that our Lord and Savior set one apostle above all others by creating a special and distinct office and charism. The Roman Church refers to this office as the papacy and the alleged charism is called papal infallibility. Can any reasonable person accept this notion? Rather, one must accept that our Lord and Savior granted a special charism to all of His apostles, with authority to guide, teach, and preside over the Church in His name. That charism is held by all bishops in a line of succession back to the Apostles and is passed on by the laying on of hands. The charism of infallibility is held by the Holy Church, in Council, something that hasn’t happened for nearly 1,000 years. We accept that the Church has created various offices, established for its good order, and for maintaing a solid organizational structure. Churches in Apostolic succession have various names for these man-made offices, Archbishop, Cardinal, Catholicos, Metropolitan, Patriarch, Prime Bishop, Pope. Whomever the man holding the office, all of them are bishops with the same authority to guide, teach, and preside over the local community. They, along with every bishop in their respective Churches, are in union with each other, as long as they hold to, teach, and preach the truth as defined by the Church. This is why we share far more than what divides us. In many ways we hold a common Catholic understanding on many issues whether Orthodox, Roman, Oriental, or Polish National.

The decision you face is grave. This is more than man made rules and man-made offices. It is a decision for freedom. You must be prepared to do more than pray slightly differently, to re-number the sacraments, to reject the fillioque, or to sing Tyle Lat, you must be prepared to accept a way of life. Our way of life leads to eternal life in God. Our way of life is freedom, it is joyous, it is hard work, and it is a struggle, but in the end we will be victorious. This is our testimony, this is my testimony.

The gravest decision you will make is the decision to freely follow Christ, to be regenerated in Him, and to follow Him without fear. Once you make this decision you will be challenged and changed in new ways. Can you set aside a fear of man-made laws, and the criticism of prelates, who can do nothing to throw you into Gehenna? Can you discard the label of schism as a shibboleth? What will lay heaviest upon you as you stand before our Lord and Savior, your adherence to the sayings of men or your way of life?

Read, and re-read the bishop’s letter. What do you see, what do you hear? How do you perceive its witness and its teaching? This is a teaching moment and says more than the words themselves.

Perspective

This is CYO ball?

My son plays CYO basketball sponsored by the local Roman Catholic parish. For those who don’t know, CYO stands for the (Roman) Catholic Youth Organization.

Here’s the annoying part. For the two years he has played I have never, not once, seen the parish pastor. There has never been a pre-game prayer. Where’s the local witness? It really makes one wonder, what’s so Catholic about the CYO?

Perspective, PNCC,

R.C. Diocese of Scranton announces church closings

The full announcement was recently posted. From a quick perusal of the listings it would appear that a large number of parishes, founded by Poles and Slovaks, are to be closed. One of the few to be saved is Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, which stands near the PNC Church’s cathedral. From the Times Leader: At least 19 Lackawanna churches will be closing

Cluster 3 – St. Francis of Assisi, St. John the Evangelist, and Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Scranton will consolidate at Sacred Hearts…

It would be simple to say that Bishop Hodur foresaw all this, that people would have the parishes they worked to build closed out from under them, but the faith and work of the PNCC is something far greater than that.

The Polish National Catholic Church, through the grace of God, is built by its faithful. The community’s ownership of its property, its control over parish assets, is greater than mere title, it is greater than the democracy we espouse. We believe in our role as the people of the Church. We know that our work, our struggle, our cooperation, and our ownership show forth our active participation in the building of God’s kingdom. You can speak to parish committee members from across the country. It is not an easy task. You can speak to any of us, the PNCC faithful, who take responsibility for God’s Church to heart. Our participation, our voice and vote, gives recognition to our partnership in making Christ known to the world.

It is our people, working with our priests, cooperating with our bishops. Our polity is one in which we recognize a common destiny. We are God’s people, focused on the kingdom. We are God’s people, a unified community, cooperating with each other, taught by the Holy Church, and led by Christ. We share one labor and look forward to our common destiny.

The R.C. Diocese of Albany called their consolidation and closing process “Called to Be Church.” As PNCC members we do not need such a call. We know that we are the Church.

Christian Witness, Media, Perspective, PNCC, , , ,

The best of the best

Two things I wanted to mention.

Everyone Prays at Holy Etchmiadzin

During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity our local ecumenical group held its meeting at St. Peter’s Armenian Apostolic Church. Fr. Bedros was the gracious host as always, providing for our needs, both spiritual and material.

Those who read my posts rather regularly might note that I have a great deal of love and admiration for St. Peter’s and its people and pastors (past and present — currently Fr. Bedros, and previously Fr. Stepanos, and Fr. Garen). The parish staff at St. Peter’s generously support our little ecumenical organization by looking after mailing lists and other administrative duties. In addition to all that – they always prepare a wonderful meal.

Fr. Bedros was good enough to provide for a viewing of Everyone Prays at Holy Etchmiadzin. The production was slated for viewing on ABC affiliates across the country. Unfortunately, our local ABC affiliate, WTEN, declined to air the film noting that they ‘don’t do religious programming,’ or words to that affect. The Capital Region lost because of that attitude.

I highly recommend the firm. It has a distinctly ecumenical overtone, and shows the Church as one with its faithful and its communities. One of the most moving parts was the descrioption of the Holy Muron and the visit of His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, to the United States. Imagine the Bishop of Rome visiting New Orleans, rolling up his cassock sleeves, and painting homes being built by Habitat for Humanity and you’ll get the picture. The film is available from St. Vartan’s Bookstore for only $20.

The Hours on your iPhone or iPod Touch

As you may have noted, I link to the Universalis site which provides the Liturgy of the Hours. I was pleased to learn that Universalis has published Universalis on the iPhone. The application is rather expensive, but well worth it (as opposed to buying the four volume set of the Hours) and it is reasonable in terms of the convenience the application provides.

It should be noted that a few of the readings for the Office of Readings are still missing, and the application is currently being updated so as to include all the antiphons. The updates are free. The other nice thing about Universalis is that you do not need 3G or Wi-Fi to access any of it, it sits right on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Universalis for the iPhone and iPod Touch (available at the iTunes store) has enhanced my ability to pray the hours wherever I may happen to be. It is convenient, easy to use, and works seamlessly with the accelerometer. If you have an iPhoe or iPod Touch I highly recommend this app.

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