Almighty and everlasting God, by Whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified, receive our supplications and prayers, which we offer before Thee for all estates of men and women who labor and seek justice for workers, that each in their vocation, ministry, and labor may truly and godly serve our society to Thy greater glory and his own sanctification and salvation. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.
Today we celebrate a call to be changed, to offer ourselves to God in all we do, and in doing so to make His kingdom a reality.
How will we make this change real? How will we respond and get to work? What will we do to be transformed into people completely focused on carrying out God’s will for humanity?
Our Holy Church has designated this Sunday as Youth Sunday. Our youth will be returning to school. They will study and grow in knowledge so that they may take their place in society, contributing their work and effort – but to what end?
If their studies are self-focused, if they are taken up without due consideration of God’s call to be changed and to change the world, they will only make their lives small and self-serving. They may achieve earthly success, but in the process lose their souls. If however, their study and growth remain focused on God’s call to change and affect change in accord with His call, their lives will be glorious and complete. They will use what they have gained to come into union with God and to carry out His will. We must help them by our example, prayer, and support. Our duty is to continually assist them in realizing that everything they learn and do is a gift from God and requires a response to His call to change.
This weekend we also celebrate Labor Day. Our work and labor must also been seen in light of the call to be changed and change the world. Paraphrasing our organizer, Bishop Hodur: ‘The time will come when our heroes emerging from the homes of farmers and laborers will sweat and sacrifice not for kings or the rights of the privileged or a single class, but will battle and work for freedom and the rights of man. Let us gather and strive to be first in good and last in wrong. Then shall we bring ourselves, our nation, and the whole world closer to happiness and salvation.’
We are thus called to change ourselves and the world, to transform life away from the money-driven values of this world to the bringing of the kingdom of God.
We are called to make change real in the lives of our youth and in our lives. This is true worship: “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice” Do not live the status quo. It is not enough! Jesus put His body on the line for us. So we must put our lives on the line, changing them for Him and working for the coming of His kingdom.
Been to the parish. Very dedicated and loving people. Congratulations on your anniversary! Dwieście lat!!!
SOUTHINGTON, CT — Marilyn Folcik and her sister Arlene Strazzulla looked at a black and white photo pinned on a corkboard inside the Holy Trinity Polish National Catholic Church on Summer Street Thursday afternoon.
Strazzulla leaned into the picture from 1957 to get a better look and then pointed to a little girl among a crowd of people standing outside the church.
“That was me and that was my sister,” she said.
Then she pointed to a man in the back.
“And that was my grandfather,” she added.
Folcik and Strazzulla’s grandfather, John Knapp, along with 16 other men, helped build the church 100 years ago. It opened its doors in July of 1914.
Rev. Joseph Krusienski, pastor of Holy Trinity Polish National Catholic Church, stands with long-time parish members Arlene Strazzulla, left, of Southington, and Marilyn Folcik, right, of Bristol, Thursday, July 24, 2014. The church, located on Summer St. in Southington, is celebrating its 100th year anniversary. | Dave Zajac / Record-JournalIn October, the church and its parishioners will celebrate the anniversary with a Mass followed by a banquet at the Aqua Turf Club.
The first Polish National Catholic Church was formed in 1897 in Scranton, Pa. after many Polish immigrants were longing to have Mass spoken in their native language.
“It was one of the original reasons why we broke away from the Roman Catholic Church,” said Folcik who is also the chairman of the church’s Parish Committee.
“They wanted a Polish-speaking priest,” Strazzulla added.
One of the major differences is that Polish Catholic priests are encouraged to marry and have families. The Holy Trinity Polish National Catholic Church also doesn’t consider the Pope to be infallible. Some of the seven sacraments have also been modified.
Folcik said she remembered her grandfather saying he wanted Polish people to be able to become priests and bishops and wanted Mass in their native language. The desires prompted some Polish members of the Southington community to form their own church.
A short history of the church written by Folcik for the anniversary, says the foundation of the building was “dug by hand by these sixteen men and others.”
After 1958 all Masses were in English.
“Even though ‘Polish’ is in the name of the church, that’s because it’s our heritage,’” said Strazzulla. “But it’s open to all nationalities.”
In April 1944, a fire tore through the building. Strazzulla and Folcik said the cause of the fire was never determined, though many speculate it could have started from a candle left burning from a wedding ceremony earlier in the day.
After the fire, parishioners joined together to salvage the church. Many made donations.
The Rev. Joseph Krusienski, who has been with the church for 43 years, went to the front of the church Thursday to retrieve old receipts from the repair work.
“The main altar, it was $1,050 to repair,” he said pointing to the typewritten receipt.
He added that each stain-glass window had to be replaced, costing $200 apiece.
“Now they’re worth a couple thousand,” Krusienski said.
In the 1960s the church underwent renovations that included new carpeting, paint on the walls, new pews, and new altar railings. A lot of the help came from parishioners who donated money to keep the church going.
The church’s properties, which include a rectory next to the church and a cemetery on Prospect Street in Plantsville, are owned and maintained by the parish. The parish committee and pastor make decisions regarding the properties.
Strazzulla and Folcik, both born and raised in Southington and now nearing or in their 50s, reminisced on the many years they spent in the church. As the third generation, they remembered being baptized, having their communion, confirmation, and even getting married in the church. The church’s 100th year anniversary is important, they said.
“It’s a really warm feeling,” Strazzulla said.
“We’re proud,” Folcik added.
“We’re very proud and honored to carry on what our ancestors started,” Strazzulla said.
LOWELL — It may be one of Lowell’s best kept secrets, particularly for those who love traditional Polish foods like pierogi (dumplings), golabki (cabbage roll) or kapusta (braised sauerkraut or cabbage with bacon, mushroom and onion).
At a church kitchen and hall on Lakeview Avenue, volunteers who know their way around a dough pressing machine as well as the tricks to producing the perfect cabbage roll lend their talents a few times a month to their church, St. Casimir’s Polish National Catholic Church.
The team effort of these volunteers, who range in age from pre-teens to their 90s, results in hundreds of handmade pierogi and golabki, plus dozens of quarts of kapusta — all later frozen and sold in their parish store.
On Sundays from 11 a.m. to noon, St. Casimir’s Parish Store is open to the public. Pierogi sell for $11 per dozen, kapusta is $6 per quart, golabki $18 a dozen. Proceeds benefit the parish.
“This is a labor of love. We make these the old-fashioned way, with so many steps that it’s time-consuming. People often don’t have the time today,” said Joanne Menzia, who took part in the pierogi assembly line on Tuesday, along with more than a dozen other volunteers.
“People use pierogi as a side dish, a main dish, or even as an appetizer,” said Janice Klimczak. “We sell quite a lot of them.”
The store also sells for $12 each the parish’s new cookbook, A Taste of Heaven, featuring traditional Polish recipes from church members as well as recipes contributed by the church’s many non-Polish members.
Doing his own part in the pierogi assembly line was the pastor, the Rev. Andrzej Tenus, a native of northern Poland who came to the United States in 2006 speaking no English.
Tenus, a former Roman Catholic priest, born in 1972, and a current beekeeper, musician, husband and father of four, went to Pennsylvania to study English for three months at the Polish National Catholic Church headquarters. He was preparing for his new role as a pastor within the Polish National Catholic Church in the U.S.
He did pretty well with the Pennsylvania dialect; then he came to Lowell, where the Boston accent made it a little more difficult, he said, smiling. Today, Tenus has only a trace of a Polish accent, which belies the fact that he’s spoken English for less than a decade.
One of the questions he’s often asked from those outside the community is how the Polish National Catholic Church differs from the Roman Catholic Church. Many find it hard to grasp, he said, how a Catholic church in Lowell is not connected to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, that its bishops and priests (since 1921) are allowed to marry, and the church is democratic. Its governing board chooses the pastor, controls the finances, and the parish owns its assets.
The Polish National Catholic Church, according to its website, is a Christian denomination formed in 1897 in Scranton, Pa. While it serves the spiritual needs of its members, it also welcomes all people who wish to follow Christ. Today, there are more than 25,000 members in the United States.
The National Catholic movement, which encompasses more than the Polish National Church, resulted from the division in the Christian Church that similarly initiated the Protestant movement. However, according to the St. Patrick Catholic Church website, a National Catholic Church in Rhode Island, it differs from the Protestant divisions in that it kept its belief in the Mass and the priesthood necessary to have the Mass, as well as other Catholic rites and rituals.
The liturgy, especially the contemporary liturgy that Tenus is initiating at St. Casimir, closely resembles that of the Roman Catholic Church. Standing inside St. Casimir’s Church, which was built in 1908 for the then-large Polish community in the city’s Centralville neighborhood, is like standing inside any Roman Catholic Church.
“We keep the same beliefs. The difference is only in the administration level. We’re not connected to Rome,” said Tenus.
Tenus leads a busy life while living next to the church with his wife, Agnes, who followed her husband to the United States three months after his arrival. In Poland, Agnes trained as a nutritionist and professional cook. She creates recipes from her home country and often bakes desserts for home and the church with the honey Tenus harvests from three bee hives located at St. Casimir Cemetery in Pelham. Beekeeping was a hobby Tenus started in Poland and has since resurrected.
Their children, Karina, 13, Jonah, 9, Christoper, 6 and Amelia, 3, consider St. Casimir’s close-knit parish family as surrogate aunts, uncles and grandparents, Tenus said. Likewise, the parishioners love having them here, he added.
Tenus has many ideas to keep the small parish active within and outside the community, including a busy youth group that produces an annual talent show. He emphasizes the importance of welcoming others to their church.
“No matter your background, ethnicity or denomination, we don’t look at that. Just people with good will looking for some place to fill out their souls,” he said. “If you need comfort, a place to pray, this is the place. We do not judge — it’s not up to us to judge.”
Sunday Mass is offered at 10 a.m. at 268 Lakeview Ave., Lowell, followed by fellowship hour. For more information, visit the parish website, call 978-453-0742, or send an E-mail.
Our Holy Church has been specially blessed with dedicated, hard working, and faithful shepherds in our Bishops. Please remember them in your prayers – Prime Bishop Anthony, Our Diocesan Bishop Bernard, Diocesan Bishops Paul, Stanley, and John. Bishop Roald in Norway, Bishop Wiktor in Poland, Our retired Prime Bishops John and Robert, and Retired Bishops Thomas, Anthony, and Thaddeus.
O God, the pastor and ruler of all the faithful, mercifully look upon Thy servants, Anthony, Bernard, Paul, Stanley, John, Roald, Wiktor, John, Robert, Thomas, Anthony, and Thaddeus, whom Thou has been pleased to set as Bishops in Thy Church; grant them we beseech Thee, to be in word and conversation wholesome examples to the people committed to their charge, that they with them may attain everlasting life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
From the Observer-Reporter: 94 year old not slowing down
Energetic 94 year-old helps local church with fish fry deliveries
Every Friday during the Lenten season … the volunteers at Holy Trinity National Catholic Church fish fry dash around the kitchen, frying and cooking sandwiches, cabbage and sauerkraut, pierogies and french fries.
And every week, parishioner Ted Sikora, who celebrates his 94th birthday today, shows up, ready to deliver lunch orders.
Sikora might be the most popular delivery man in Washington County.
Customers enjoy it when Sikora cheerily arrives, carrying brown bags filled with fish, and spends a few minutes chatting.
“He’s never met a stranger. People are amazed by the fact that he’s 94,” said Sikora’s son, Tom, who helps coordinate the parish fish fry. “He loves talking to people.”
Sikora said he’s cut back the amount of deliveries he makes to four or five on Fridays, but he enjoys making his rounds.
“I like to be active around the church and help around the fish fry,” said Sikora, who served as an altar boy at the church for more than a decade as he was growing up.
He shows no signs of slowing down. Sikora gets up at about 7 a.m. every morning and hits the gym, exercising for about two hours at the Cameron Wellness Center. Three times a week, he takes Zumba classes and he swims daily.
Sikora lives on his own, in the house that he built in Washington in 1949 (“I did everything but the plaster and the furnace; I nailed every board, laid every brick, and I’m proud of it,” he said) and he plants a garden every spring.
He’s fit and healthy, and the only concession he’s made to getting older is wearing a pair of hearing aids. And he also enjoys indulging in cookies.
Sikora is also one of the most optimistic and happy men you’re likely to meet.
“I’m very happy with the life I led, and not may people can live a long life and be so happy,” he said.
He and his wife, Mildred, were married for 61 years before she passed away in 2007, and Sikora credits her for much of his happiness.
The two met at Washington Park, where Sikora had gone to listen to an orchestra. He thought she was pretty, so he asked her to dance.
“The next thing you know, we were getting married. I had a very happy marriage,” said Sikora. “My wife and I raised four kids and we had a happy time doing it. She had a tough time at the end and I took care of her for the past several years, but I owed it to her. She was quite a wife and we had a great marriage.”
Sikora worked as a machinist for the Pennsylvania Transformer and served as a mechanic in the U.S. Air Force during World War II.
Sikora’s mother lived to be 103, and he currently holds the title as the oldest parishioner.
He attends mass every Sunday, and then hosts a brunch at his house.
And, of course, looks forward to the fish fries.
“I’ll keep on doing that for a long time,” said Sikora. “It’s been a bright life. I love my family and my friends. I have a lot of friends, and that makes me feel great.”
Reflect on deepening our year long efforts at prayer and sacrifice, check out the agenda for this Fall’s Holy Synod, and enjoy news from throughout our Church.
Articles for the April issue are being accepted now through April 1, 2014. You may E-mail items and photos or send them to:
God’s Field
Polish National Catholic Church
1006 Pittston Avenue
Scranton, PA 18505
Throughout the month of March, clergy, community, and labor allies will come together to call for a faithful New York State budget that values every member of society, prioritizes the common good, and lifts the burdens of poverty. Our many faiths call us to reject tax breaks for the wealthy and demand a budget that serves the people.
In Albany- March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 at 12 PM – Gather at the War Room on the 2nd floor of the NYS Capitol for a vigil led by clergy and faith leaders as well as those directly impacted by cuts to education and the social safety net as well as reductions in wage theft enforcement. More details at the Coalition’s Facebook page here.
In NYC – March 3, 10, 17, 24 at 11 AM – Gather in silence at the lobby of the Millenium UN Plaza Hotel, 44th St. and First Ave, proceed to the governor’s office at to protest and to pray.
Additional events are shaping up for Binghamton, Rochester and other New York cities starting March 10th. For more information or for help setting up a Moral Monday event near you, please contact Joy Perkett.
Our Holy Church has been specially blessed with dedicated, hard working, and faithful shepherds in our Bishops. Please remember them in your prayers – Prime Bishop Anthony, Our Diocesan Bishop Bernard, Diocesan Bishops Paul, Stanley, and John. Bishop Roald in Norway, Bishop Wiktor in Poland, Our retired Prime Bishops John and Robert, and Retired Bishops Thomas, Anthony, and Thaddeus.
In Albany- March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 at 12 PM – Gather at the War Room on the 2nd floor of the NYS Capitol for a vigil led by clergy and faith leaders as well as those directly impacted by cuts to education and the social safety net as well as reductions in wage theft enforcement. More details at the Coalition’s Facebook page here.It was Sunday Mass on Feb. 9 when a parishioner fell ill.
