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Upcoming local and national events – let’s go!!!

What Matters to Girls

The Schenectady League of Women Voters is hosting the Working Group on Girls Community Forum, “What Matters to Girls” on Wednesday, May 22nd at 7pm at the 1st Reformed Church, 8 North Church St., Schenectady NY. The Forum is dedicated to empowering middle and high school girls and will provide information on Girl’s Day Out and Girl’s Circles programs for student participants and adult volunteers. Topics will include increasing self esteem, making healthy choices, valuing education, and expanding girl’s vision of the future.

Connecting Faith-Based Groups with the Affordable Care Act: What You Need to Know about Changes in Health Insurance for Your Members

Congressman Paul Tonko is hosting a workshop on Connecting Faith-Based Groups with the Affordable Care Acton Wednesday, May 29th at The Crossings of Colonie, 580 Albany Shaker Rd., Loudonville, NY from 1—3pm. The focus of the workshop will be on providing up-to-date information on federal health insurance programs available to members of Faith-Based organizations. Representatives from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Region II U.S. Department of Health & Human Services will be available to provide information and resources that can help make it easier to understand health insurance options.

Medicare (health insurance for people 65 and older or with long- term disability or end-stage renal disease), Medicaid (health insurance for people with limited income), and new options for expansion of health insurance that will soon be available under the Affordable Care Act will be discussed.

You may pre-register online or by calling 518-465-0700.

Youth Forum

Schenectady Youth Boxing & Fitness is sponsoring a Youth Forum on June 13th, 10am-12pm at the Fenimore Gallery at Proctors Theater, 432 State St., Schenectady, NY. The forum includes a roundtable discussion with members from community youth focused programs with a focus on sharing goals and information as well as information on upcoming summer plans. A light lunch and opportunities for networking will follow. For more information please contact Schenectady Youth Boxing & Fitness or Judy Decker by E-mail.

2013 Kurs Youth Encampment

The 2013 Kurs Youth Encampment sponsored by the Young Men’s Society of the Resurrection of the Polish National Catholic Church will be held from June 29th through July 6th at the Bishop Hodur Retreat & Recreation Center, 596 Honesdale Road, Waymart, PA. This is by far the best summer youth event anywhere. Our young people are encouraged to attend as well as to invite friends and parishioners for a summer event that builds up faith and friendships that last a lifetime.

Click on the links below for further information and forms:

National United Choirs 2013 Music Workshop

The National United Choirs 2013 Music Workshop and Convention will be held from July 24th to 27th at St. Mary’s Polish National Catholic Church, 5375 Broadview Road, Parma. OH. Click here for details and a registration form.

Polish National Union Trip to Poland

The Polish National Union (Spójnia) is sponsoring a trip to Poland in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Żarki (Libiąż) Poland, the birthplace of Bishop Francis Hodur. The parish was built through the generosity of members of the Polish National Union. The trip will run from September 18th through 25th and includes tours of southern Polsnd including noted attrations in Kraków, Zakopane, and Żarki. For details please see the current issue of Straż. Reservations are due by June 10th.

Events, PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political, , ,

Happy Polish Constitution Day

On May 3rd Poland, and members of Polonia worldwide celebrate Polish Constitution Day. This day is also a day of celebration for all who believe in the principals of democracy, a pluralistic society, and the heritage and life of our democratic Church.

Konstytucja_3_Maja

The annual commemoration of Polish Constitution Day commemorates the spiritual and moral renovation of the Polish nation, after a period of stagnation caused by foreign influences under the Saxon kings. This day has become a proud and integral part of the civic and patriotic activities for Poles and those of Polish descent in many cities throughout the world.

To the Poles and their descendants May 3rd is a national holiday for it bestows upon the Pole a priceless heritage of humanitarianism, tolerance and a democratic precept conceived at a time when most of Europe lived under the existence of unconditional power and tyranny exemplified by Prussia and Russia.

Poland’s parliamentary system actually began at the turn of the 15th century, but a series of defensive wars, internal stresses, outside influences, widespread permissiveness and excessive concern for the rights of dissent brought Poland to the brink of disaster and anarchy in the 18th Century. Urgently needed reforms became imperative.

The May 3rd, 1791 Constitution was the first liberal constitution in Europe and second in the world, after the Constitution of the United States.

Following the American pattern it established three independent branches of government – executive, legislative and judiciary. Throughout the constitution runs philosophy of humanitarianism and tolerance, such as perfect and entire liberty to all people, rule by majority, secret ballot at all elections, religious freedom and liberty.

The constitution curtailed the executive power of the King and State Council. It forbade them to contract public debts, to declare war, to conclude definitely any treaty, or any diplomatic act. It only allowed the Executive Branch to carry on negotiations with foreign courts, always with reference to the Diet (Parliament).

In terms of democratic precepts, the May 3rd Constitution is a landmark event in the history of Central and Eastern Europe.

The Polish Constitution was deemed too dangerous by the tyranny of absolutism still rampant in Europe. Thus Russia, Prussia and Austria decided to wipe out “the Polish cancer of freedom” from the face of the earth. In 1795 partitioned Poland ceased to exist as a state and in terms of national life, she lost the entire 19th Century, being reborn in 1918 at the conclusion of World War I.

You can read more at Wikipedia or the Polish American Cultural Center.

Homilies, PNCC, ,

Reflection for the Sixth Sunday of Easter

Acts-Sermon-Title-042410

Not another meeting!!!
Yes, just like the apostles.

And when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.

Any organization faced with questions and debate can choose between several courses of action. They can choose to let the boss decide. They can appoint a committee to study the issue and make recommendations. They can have open debate and discussion and still let the boss decide the outcome. They might meet and reach a consensus decision and act in accordance with that decision.

The early Church was not immune to questions and debate. How did they settle those?

We read that Paul and Barnabas were faced with questions and debates in the faith communities they served. They didn’t play the ‘I’m the apostle and I say so’ card. They didn’t appoint a commission to study the issue and give recommendations. Rather, they returned to the center of the Church in Jerusalem where the Church gathered in Council (or Synod) to decide on the matter collectively.

There is one key reason for doing this. The Church can only decide on important issues when it is assembled as one. When it exhibits this physical unity – gathered in Holy Synod – it also exhibits the fact that it is more than a corporation, company, club, or group. It shows the unity it has in the Holy Spirit. In Holy Synod the Church exhibits the unifying and guiding power of the Holy Spirit. The Church does not decide for itself just because. It decides as the Holy Spirit guides it to decide.

Our Holy Church closely adheres to the principals of the early Church in its democratic process. At the local level we gather during annual meetings and regular parish committee meetings to decide as guided by the Holy Spirit. We seek input and guidance from each member of the parish, because the Holy Spirit lives in us individually and most importantly as a collective body – the Body of Christ. Our diocese and the entire Church gather regularly in Holy Synod to exhibit both our physical unity and the underlying unity we have in the Holy Spirit. We trust that when gathered in meetings like these we are more that just a parish, just an organization. We are the Body of Christ, the Holy Church.

Another meeting, question, or debate? Greet each with joy as His disciples, His body, and see the Holy Spirit at work.

Christian Witness, Events, PNCC, Work, ,

A prayer for Workers Memorial Day

Workers Memorial Day is celebrated each year on April 28, the anniversary of passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970. It is an opportunity to remember and honor the people who are killed or injured in workplaces, as well as a chance for people to recommit to making workplaces safer and healthier. Our organizer, Bishop Francis Hodur, strongly supported the aspirations of Labor and the Labor movement, but always with an eye toward God’s role in man’s work and striving. The following prayer for Workers Memorial Day is composed and offered by the Interfaith Worker Justice organization.

Scripture

Lamentations 5:1-5

Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us; behold, and see our disgrace! Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to aliens. We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows. We must pay for the water we drink, the wood we get must be bought. With a yoke on our necks we are hard driven; we are weary, we are given no rest.

Litany

Throughout history widows and orphans symbolized the fragility of life, the vulnerability of people. Widows and orphans became metaphors for the struggle for survival in the face of unjust situations. But they were also tangible and real – neighbors, friends, or family members. Everyone knew a widow and an orphan.

Grant us memory of widows and orphans.

Often women became widows, and children became orphans, because their husbands and fathers died while working in the fields of the wealthy or building the palaces of the rich.

Grant us memory of workers and their families.

As society progressed, the workplace became increasingly more dangerous – machines moving at treacherous speeds, workers scaling higher heights and digging deeper depths. Every second of every day was measured, with ever-increasing expectations. And managers began to view personal interaction between workers as “time theft.” So, in the midst of this the widows and orphans still labor and have no rest. Unjust managers deprive workers of basic human dignity and contact.

Grant us awareness of the widows and orphans.

Stress in the workplace increases animosity and alienation among co-workers. Fewer workers are expected to accomplish more work. The pace is unhealthy. Whether autoworkers or hotel workers, expectations exceed possibilities for safe completion of the work. So, in the midst of this workers are still injured and even killed in their workplaces.

Grant us awareness of these injured workers.

Our prophets continue to remind us to treat widows and orphans fairly, to take seriously their circumstances when considering how we distribute our wealth, and to watch their interests in the halls of power.

Grant us the compassion and wisdom to be advocates for the widows and orphans.

Our prophets continue to remind us that we are to be the voice of those injured in their workplaces. We are to stand with those unable to stand. We are to raise our voices to protect other workers from the same fate.

Grant us the compassion and wisdom to be advocates for our sisters and brothers in the workplace.

Our calling as God’s people is to be hope for the world.

Let us fulfill the hopes of the widows, the orphans, the workers who are injured in the workplace. Amen.

Prayer

Creator God, you formed the world and its people with your hands. As we use our hands, our heads, and our hearts in co-creating the world in our many and varied vocations, we are especially aware of our vulnerability and fragility. We suffer with those injured at the workplace. We mourn with the families of the killed and injured. But our mourning will be hollow without a change in our lives. Awaken our passion for justice for those workers who come in contact with dangerous chemicals, fast-moving machines, and long hours. And grant us hope. Amen.

StandFirm

Perspective, PNCC, , , ,

On the varieties of Catholicism

From The Christian Century: Catholics without popes by Julie Byrne

On February 11, comedian Stephen Colbert asked historian Garry Wills if he was in favor of the next pope being not John Paul III or Benedict XVII but “Nobody the First.” Wills smiled and said, “Ah, very good idea.”

For some Catholics, this idea is more than a joke. For them, the question is not who should be the next pope. It’s whether there is or should be a pope at all.

With the retirement of Benedict XVI, the seat of Peter is empty—sede vacante. But for Catholics past and present, the papacy is only one possible center of faith. A wider look at Catholic history—wider than media obsessions during the conclave—shows that the pope’s centrality has long been a highly contested topic.

Official papal theology about itself has long put the pope at the center.

As the 16th-century Protestant Reformation and the 18th-century French Revolution unfolded, popes theorized that the strongest church was the most centralized church. Protestant denominations proliferated, and ancient monarchies toppled. But if one pope stood above all nation-states, Roman Catholicism would thrive.

The 1870-71 council of Vatican I made papal infallibility a doctrine, but voting was a hotly contested matter:

A straw poll showed that approximately 10 percent of the bishops opposed papal infallibility.

Before the final vote, about 60 prelates left Rome rather than defy the Vatican.
Not all local priests and parishes were ready to give in. In Germany and Austria, a new body arose called the Old Catholic Church. It patterned itself on another Catholicism—eastern Orthodoxy—and established leadership by a council of bishops. Almost immediately it celebrated mass in the vernacular. Within several decades, its priests could marry.

Eminent Catholic theologian Hans Küng—who recently hoped in the pages of the New York Times for a “Vatican Spring”—writes that Old Catholicism “continues to be Catholic but is Rome-free.” Doctrinally ancient but also modern, Küng says, “this little bold and ecumenically open Old Catholic Church from the beginning anticipated reforms of the Second Vatican Council.”

Today, Old Catholicism has churches in ten countries from the Netherlands to Croatia. It ordains women and is in communion with Anglicanism.

Old Catholicism has also generated several hundred small independent Catholic churches in the U.S., including the historic Polish National Catholic Church and the African Orthodox Church. Some, such as the Ecumenical Catholic Communion, the Church of Antioch and Ascension Alliance, open the sacraments to all comers, including marriage and ordination. The list also includes formerly Roman parishes, such as St. Stanislaus Kostka in St. Louis and Spiritus Christi in Rochester, New York.

But even among those who stayed with Rome, there exist hugely differing views on the papacy. These Catholics take sides not on Vatican I but on Vatican II, the 1960s council that gave the church a modern makeover.

On the strong right of the U.S. church are opponents of Vatican II, who say the council’s documents are so out of step with tradition that its leadership must have been hijacked. John XXIII, the convener of Vatican II, was no true pope. Starting with him, the Roman popes have been impostors.

On the strong left are progressive Roman Catholics like Wills, whose pursuit of “the spirit of Vatican II” goes so far as to question the need for priests and popes at all.

The disagreements expose a wide and diverse Catholicism, in which overall affirmation of Vatican authority has declined. According to one recent survey fewer than three out of ten U.S. Roman Catholics says that the “teaching authority claimed by the Vatican” is “very important” to them.

U.S. Roman Catholicism is now fully one-third Latino, and this is another group that does not simply accede to papal centrality.

The vitality of devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe, the mother of Jesus manifested at Guadalupe, often far surpasses concerns for the pope. Especially among Mexican-Americans, who make up more than 60 percent of U.S. Hispanics, she is the living center of faith. Only half jokingly, some Latino Catholics say they are not Romans, but Guadalupeans. Among Guadalupeans, this beloved Mary with brown skin and a golden aura wins any popularity contest with the pope.

The election of the next pope is a fascinating spectacle on Vatican Hill. But if we look closely, the roil of Catholic opinion on the ground is the real show.

The author, Julie Byrne, is the Hartman Chair of Catholic Studies at Hofstra University. She is the author of O God of Players (Columbia University Press, 2003) and The Other Catholics (forthcoming from Columbia).

[AMAZONPRODUCT=0231127499]

A generally good article that touches very lightly on the issues of Catholic Churches that are not Roman Catholic. Of course there is great divergence from what is considered “Catholic” and in line with the traditions of the entire Church from the first millennium. On one side are the Roman Church, Orthodoxy, the PNCC, and certain smaller “Old Catholic” Churches not recognized by Utrecht (but who maintain solid adherence to principals and doctrine). On the other Old Catholicism, certain portions of the Anglican Church, and some of the other smaller Churches that label themselves “Old Catholic” but are not recognized by Utrecht. They have veered in various degrees.

Good points on Rome’s self view of the Bishop of Rome (thankfully Francis uses this term) and its use of “infallibility” as a defense against the breakdown of other authority structures — to which at least a portion of the representatives at Vatican I did not agree. Also on the general view among (the majority I believe) of Roman Catholics who either think Rome has fallen to pieces (note the bubbling revolt among traditionalists against Francis), or pay little heed to anything coming out of Rome. Those who pay little heed like their local parish and ignore what doesn’t matter to them, whether it comes from their pastor, bishop or from Rome.

Art, Christian Witness, Events, PNCC, ,

Encountering Christ in drama

From the Time Tribune: Dramas bring Easter to life

The apostle Peter sang his welcome to the audience in the darkened hall at the Rock Church Worship Center during dress rehearsals last week for the congregation’s annual Easter drama.

He was on a stage set with vine-covered walls, an open tomb and a wheel-shaped stone that foretold his story’s ending.

“The son of God has come and I’m a witness,” he sang.

In churches throughout the region, accounts of Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection have stepped out of Scripture onto stages in recent weeks as parishes dramatize the defining event of Christian history, turning audiences and actors into witnesses. The displays range from modest wooden tombs set up on church lawns to elaborate stage dramas with dozens of cast and crew members.

“We all need to be reminded that Jesus came and gave his life for us,” Rock Church pastor Bill Smalt said before calling his performers to their places. “We can read it in the Bible. But there’s something when you see it acted out that’s more powerful sometimes than just reading it.”

Performances of Christ’s suffering and resurrection originated in the Middle Ages, with Easter and Passion plays that grew out of the already dramatic elements of church-based worship.

The Rev. Gerald Gurka, a Roman Catholic priest in Larksville who has written more than 30 Passion plays or less elaborate living stations of the cross, said the medieval plays, like stained-glass windows, were used to share the Gospel with a public that could not read or write. The teaching tools were also beautiful and affecting.

The practice persists because it still works, he said. This year, a cast and crew of about 100 people put on his newest Passion play for a packed audience at St. John the Baptist Church.

“Every year, something wonderful happens,” he said. People return to church or patch over personal grievances. Once, an alcoholic father of children who were acting in the play checked himself into rehab after the performance was over.

“I don’t look for that to happen,” he said, “but I think it’s the way God’s message speaks to people through that art form.”

Other Christian holidays also lend themselves to dramatic recreation. Christmas pageants and living nativity scenes abound. But area pastors say that Easter dramas, and dramatic aspects of Easter religious rituals, emphasize the proper center of the faith and enliven the long period of reflection that precedes and follows the holiday.

The 90-day season of Lent and Easter “is the whole core and heart of the Christian faith,” said the Right. Rev. Bernard Nowicki, bishop of the Central Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church and pastor of St. Stanislaus Cathedral. “Then the church spends the rest of the year discussing what all that means.”

Easter dramas, like the living stations of the cross performed at the cathedral during Lent, continue to be instructive for seekers, he said, and offer the parish youth a leadership role in worship. They are also vivid and emotionally moving.

“The action taking place – Christ falls once, twice, three times, quite a crash when the cross hits the floor – it makes it almost visceral.”

At Peace Lutheran Church, which is located on a busy stretch of Main Avenue, the congregation uses its high-profile space to reenact Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday.

Costumed parishioners walk with a Jesus character bearing his cross for several blocks then act out the crucifixion near the church steps.

“We want to use it as a witness for the rest of the world passing by,” the Rev. Kristian Bjornstad said.

At times, they have been ridiculed for it. People in passing cars shouted obscenities during past years’ performances.

“Sometimes when we read the text, we don’t get a clue what it was really like for Jesus to be mocked and made fun of,” he said, “until we’re reenacting it and they do it to us.”

However uncomfortable, the portrayal helps bring Christianity’s most important historical moment into the present, he said.

“To reenact that is to affirm its reality in our lives today.”

Christian Witness, PNCC, , , ,

PNCC Member featured as Northeast Woman for charity work

From the Times Tribune: Need to nourish Throop woman lives faith, helping to create One Hot Meal

Supplies were running low for Carol Nasser and her fellow volunteers at One Hot Meal as they doled out warm meals to people in need.

It was meatloaf day, and there was just one loaf left. But, somehow, that loaf kept giving, and they fed everyone who came by seeking nourishment with one slice to spare.

Mrs. Nasser has not forgotten that moment from the early days of One Hot Meal, the program she and a few others started at their church, St. Stanislaus Polish National Catholic Cathedral in Scranton, on New Year’s Day in 2008.

“That was in God’s hands,” said Mrs. Nasser of Throop, who often shares the meatloaf story. “It was like the loaves of bread (Bible story).”

A couple hundred people sit down to a warm, homemade meal every month thanks in part to the dedication of Mrs. Nasser, who knows many people could use the help, especially in the current economic climate. Funded entirely by donations, the program provides meals to anyone who wants them on the first Saturday of every month from 1 to 3 p.m. at the cathedral’s youth center, 530 E. Elm St.

“We opened it up for anyone in need of a meal,” Mrs. Nasser said.

Feeding the hungry

Jesus said to feed the hungry, Mrs. Nasser pointed out, and even before One Hot Meal began, she noticed a need in the community and set out to remedy it. She was known to whip up a pot of chili or soup and take it to the Scranton Rescue Mission, and she even would take her leftovers from a restaurant and hand them out to people in need on the street.

“I love doing it,” said Mrs. Nasser, who also pointed out that she wishes more people would know One Hot Meal is there to help. “I’ve always had the passion, I guess, for the homeless (and) feeding people.”

Helping drive this desire to help nourish the hungry is Mrs. Nasser’s love for cooking, a love she inherited from her late mother, Sophie Zanghi.

“Growing up, I did a lot helping my mother, and it was sort of my thing,” she said.

Her father’s Sicilian heritage – which left her with recipes like those for her grandmother’s sauce – led to the start of an Italian dinner at her church, which raised money for One Hot Meal. She cooked for that first benefit and hopes to hold another one soon.

Mrs. Nasser, who also used to help with Catholic Social Services’ annual angel tree, has even expanded her charitable work beyond the kitchen again. She and her church community also have reached out to the needy by collecting clothing, accessories like scarves and gloves, and nonperishable food for them.

A stay-at-home mom and grandmother with three grown daughters and an infant grandson, Mrs. Nasser expects nothing in return for anything she does, said her friend Kathy Kotula, who nominated her for Northeast Woman.

“She has a good heart,” Ms. Kotula said.

Helping hands

One Hot Meal has grown since Mrs. Nasser helped launch it five years ago, and volunteers prepare 200 meals per month these days. They have a great group of helpers, too, she said, and they help in a myriad of ways, from cooking to donating food to delivering meals.

“We have dozens of volunteers that help us, like parishioners and even people who aren’t from our parish,” said Mrs. Nasser, whose family members also pitch in.

In addition to handing them out at the center, community members also deliver meals to people who are homebound or elderly, to shelters and to other community organizations that feed people in need.

“I just wish more people would know what we’re offering and come,” Mrs. Nasser said.

Christian Witness, PNCC, , ,

Congratulations Fr. Jerry

From the StarCourier: Father Jerry is Ambassadors’ 2013 Citizen of the Year, Pastor of Holy Trinity Church

Kewanee — The Rev. Jerry Rafalko is the 2013 Citizen of the Year. Rev. Rafalko was selected by the Kewanee Chamber of Commerce’s Ambassadors Club. He will be honored at a community dinner reception which will be scheduled in the next few weeks.

Fr. Jerry RafalkoRev. Jaroslaw “Jerry” Rafalko was born and educated in Poland. He was ordained into the priesthood in 1980 in Poland, and came to the United States in 1989 to join his mother and sister, who lived in Chicago.

In March 1990 he was assigned by the bishop of the Western District of the Polish National Catholic Church as pastor of Holy Trinity Parish in Kewanee.

The parish has been part of the Kewanee community for 85 years, meeting the needs first of Polish immigrants and later of many local residents.

Moving to the United States opened new opportunities and presented new challenges for Father Jerry. He studied English and computer science at Black Hawk East College.

As a priest, his pastoral ministry includes spiritual and psychological counseling. Since 1999 he has been chaplain and bereavement coordinator first for Kewanee Hospital Hospice and now for OSF Hospice in Kewanee, offering spiritual comfort to those who are dying and grief support to their family members.

Father Jerry does a monthly radio show offering information on hospice and conducts weekly support group meetings at Kewanee Hospital and at Courtyard Estates in Galva.

Father Jerry’s community honors have included recognition by the Kewanee Kiwanis Club, the DAR and Kewanee Care, where he was named volunteer of the year in 2004. He also has received the Ambassadors Club Meritorious Service Award and the Elks Distinguished Citizenship Award for outstanding and meritorious service to humanity.

Father Jerry’s wife Leslie is a registered nurse in the emergency room and critical care unit at Kewanee Hospital.

Christian Witness, PNCC,

Ecumenical Activity with the Anglican Continuum

An excerpt from Virtue Online: Classical Anglican Jurisdictions Enter New Phase of Cooperation: Six Continuing jurisdictions see healing with fresh talks of unity prompted by Global Realignment by David W. Virtue DD

FACA IN SOUTH CAROLINA

A recent meeting of FACA in April 9, 2013, at the Cummins Memorial Theological Seminary in Summerville, SC drew two special guests including the beleaguered Bishop Mark Lawrence of the Diocese of South Carolina, and Archbishop Peter Robinson, of the United Episcopal Church.

Bishop Lawrence told his story of “leaving Egypt,” and wanting to work with FACA. The bishop invited FACA leaders to the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul for an evening visit with four bishops from East Africa and a reception.

Archbishop Robinson expressed his desire to see closer relationships throughout the continuum, and told members about the UEC’s partnerships with the Province of Christ the King and the Anglican Catholic Church.

Fr. Kevin Donlon, canon lawyer with the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA), reported on a visit he made to the Mission Province in Sweden last October, setting the stage for a meeting with Lutheran Bishop Walter Obara in Kenya (who helped give the Mission Province its episcopate) and Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini. Donlon also talked about the Anglican Mission’s extensive networks with young Anglican bishops in Africa and Southeast Asia. “We all need to be moving toward conciliar governance, whereby we live within the theology, the ministry and the disciplines of Holy Scripture and the Councils of the undivided Church,” he noted.

The Anglican Church in America and the Anglican Province in America are working toward a closer relationship, reported Bishops Walter Grundorf and Brian Marsh on their progress and on the “speed bumps” to unity. “By going slowly the two jurisdictions can marinade their lives together, leaving behind a template, or model, for others to follow,” commented The Rt. Rev. Paul C. Hewett, Bishop of the Diocese of the Holy Cross who moderated the conference.

Bishop David Hicks (REC) reported on the Task Force to study Holy Orders in the Anglican Church in North America. This study, now in its first phase, will recommend to ACNA’s College of Bishops whether the ordination of women is possible, based on Scripture and Tradition. Anglo-Catholics have long held the view that this is the major stumbling block to unity with the ACNA if this issue remains unresolved. The task force noted that the two sides of this issue come at the matter from quite different ecclesiology.

Former TEC Bishop Keith Ackerman, president of FiF-NA and Bishop Vicar in the Diocese of Quincy, encouraged all traditional, orthodox Anglicans to magnify the lay office of deaconess. The REC’s training program for deaconesses is fully operational as is the Anglican Deaconess Association.

Four continuing bishops recently sent an appeal to ACNA’s College of Bishops, asking to have only men in Holy Orders and to use an historic Anglican liturgy. Archbishop Mark Haverland (ACC), Peter Robinson (UEC), Bishop Brian Marsh (ACA), Bishop Walter Grundorf (APA), and Bishop Paul Hewett (DHC) all signed the appeal.

“It was an example of continuing church bishops speaking with one voice, and of seeking the reforms in ACNA that will allow FACA to be in communion with everyone in ACNA, at which point FACA’s jurisdictions and societies could join the ACNA,” Said Hewett.

On May 24 – 25, the Fellowship of Concerned Churchmen, (FCA) meeting in Fredericksburg, VA, will make “The Appeal” the subject of its presentations. Bishop Ray Sutton (REC) highlighted the breakthroughs of the Task Force on ecumenical relations with (ACNA), the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, the Roman Catholic Church (a recent audience with the Pope), and the Russian Orthodox Church (an invitation to visit Patriarch Kyril in Moscow in 2014). Bishop Hewett proposed a delegation to visit Hieronymos II, the Archbishop of Athens, Greece, in the autumn of 2014, to strengthen ties with the Greek Orthodox, both in Greece, and North America.

Bishop Richard Lipka (Missionary Diocese of All Saints, Forward in Faith) announced the upcoming Forward in Faith/North America Assembly, July 17 – 19, in Belleville, Illinois, where the guest speaker will be the Rt. Rev. Michael Nazir Ali, former Bishop of Rochester, England. A delegation of bishops and clergy from the Polish National Catholic Church will be part of that week’s meetings.

FORWARD IN FAITH

There are now five dioceses in Forward in Faith/NA: Ft. Worth, San Joaquin, Quincy, Missionary Diocese of All Saints and the Diocese of the Holy Cross. Bishop Ackerman noted that Forward in Faith/NA is an organism that serves all traditional, orthodox Anglicans, to teach the faith and order of the undivided Church, and to reveal the essential unity of the Body of Christ.

Bishop Hewett gave a report on the new federation emerging in the UK, with the Free Church of England (Bishop John Fenwick), the Nordic Catholic Church (Norway, Bishop Roald Flemestad, part of the Union of Scranton), the Polish National Catholic Church, and the REC’s burgeoning work in Europe. He noted that the Free Church of England is now canonically recognized by the Church of England. The Anglican Association, a Forward in Faith/UK think tank, is assisting in putting this federation together. One of the Anglican Association’s leaders, Canon Geoffrey Neal, Forward in Faith/UK Dean of the Ouse Valley, will speak at the Diocese of the Holy Cross Synod in Winchester, VA on April 19.

In a major new development, all parties unanimously agreed to a motion that whenever parishes want to change jurisdictions, their respective bishops will confer. A committee on standards of preparation for ordained ministry was also established.

“There was a sense at this meeting that FACA has become ever more important to everyone in it, as a way of living together as “continuers,” and as a catalyst for a single fully traditional, orthodox province for us all, upholding the Catholic Faith and Apostolic Order of the undivided Church,” observed Hewett.

“We need to take the 39 Articles seriously and Newman’s Tract 90 the purpose of which was to establish the contention that the fundamental ecclesiological identity of the Church of England was Catholic rather than Protestant. He has given us a way to talk to one another. The Chicago Quadrilateral is also part of our patrimony.”

Christian Witness, PNCC, ,

Transfiguration Parish renews a community and bears witness

From TribLive: Mt. Pleasant Township church to mark 5th year at current location

Just over five years ago, parishioners of Transfiguration of Our Lord Polish National Catholic Church began the parish’s first official Mass at its current location in near darkness.

Prior to the start of the Mass on Dec. 8, 2007, a vehicle accident occurred in the vicinity of the place of worship on Bridgeport Street in Mt. Pleasant Township in which a utility pole was struck, knocking out power to the edifice.

“The Mass began with emergency lighting and candles,” said Ann Rosky, the parish’s council secretary. “We didn’t even have an organ.”

The congregation — led by the Rev. Joseph S. Lewandowski, the church’s administrator at the time — pressed on nonetheless.

Soon after, something extraordinary happened.

As the parish began singing the hymn titled “Gloria,” power was restored to the building bringing light back the facility where its members had worked for roughly three years renovating it for worship.

“That’s such a joyous song. I’ll never forget how that was when the lights came back on,” Rosky recalled. “Tears came to my eyes, because all of our work up to that point was visible again to all.”

The need for such work was borne out of what Rosky and Daniel Levendusky, chairman of the church’s council, both referred to as a situation in which their parish was left with “nothing.”

Its members found their way back with a similar sense of resolve.

In September 2002, Transfiguration Roman Catholic Church in Mt. Pleasant Borough was closed after structural engineers determined the building was unsafe and could collapse.

A $2 million estimate to make repairs prompted the parish’s pastoral and finance committees to ask the Diocese of Greensburg to raze the building.

When the building was razed in 2003, the church’s parish was dissolved and its members were forced to seek out other local churches.

“The flock was scattered, and we basically wanted to reestablish our own church,” Levendusky said.

Levendusky’s son, Alan, subsequently told him about the Holy Family Polish National Catholic Church in McKeesport, which is part of the Pittsburgh-Buffalo Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church.

Levendusky and his wife, Carrie, attended a service there. Soon after, the couple and other former members of the dissolved parish worked to become a member of the church’s Pittsburgh-Buffalo Diocese.

In October 2003, the Right Rev. Thaddeus Peplowski, bishop of the Diocese of Buffalo-Pittsburgh, issued a warrant declaring the parish a member of the church.

The newly formed parish then found a temporary home at the First United Church of Christ in Mt. Pleasant, where it leased space and many of its members reconvened to conduct its Saturday Masses and fundraisers.

“The accepted us with open arms,” Levendusky said.

In early 2004, parish members set out in earnest to find their very own place of worship.

In fall of 2005, the parish learned that the site formerly occupied by Rainbow Gardens — a bar and banquet hall — was for sale by owner Kathleen Fatla, Levendusky said. By December of that year, the parish approved the purchase of the building for $135,000, he said.

In spring of 2006, roughly 10 of the parishioners began working together to renovate the facility.

“We had to frame the Sacristy, the choir room, we did all the wiring and the plumbing,” Levendusky said. “God gave us the skill to do this. I lived down here for about two years.”

The group located pews out of state and received a donated podium, choir hymn boards, tabernacle and bell.

On April 19, 2008 — about four months after the “Gloria lighting” — the church’s official dedication was held.

Since then, the parish’s members have worked hard to serve the surrounding community and to build a strong bond with the diocese on both a regional and a national level, said the Rev. Bruce Sleczkowski, who this month is marking one year as the parish’s administrator.

“With the faith and devotion of the people attending, I am totally amazed,” Sleczkowski said. “They’re growing slowly, and they’re not only demonstrating their faith, they’re sharing their faith and doing things for others in the community.

Locally, the parish members assist the Salvation Army with ringing the Christmas bell. Nationally, its members recently sent ceramic angels to Newtown, Conn., to comfort the survivors of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.

“That’s admirable,” Sleczkowski said.

Parishioner Diane E. Cheek, a biology professor at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, serves on the Buffalo-Pittsburgh Diocesan Council.

Teen member Kristen Yanuck attended a national youth conference last year held in Niagara Falls.

In addition, Levendusky has served previously as a delegate representing the parish at Diocesan synods in Carnegie and Erie and at a national synod in Manchester, N.H. Synods are legislative bodies of the church which address the financial workings of the church.

“They’re finding a niche in our church,” Sleczkowski said. “And the parish is embraced by the diocese and the national church. We have a very positive direction we are going and we have a very bright future.

“I, myself, enjoy celebrating the Eucharist with them; they’re wonderful people,” he said.

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