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PNCC, Poetry

December 28 – O Radiant Star of the Heavens

O radiant star of the heavens,
     Shed forth thy brilliant light,
Lead us on to the slumbering Saviour,
     Born unto us this night.
Arise, O sin-burdened mankind,
     LIft up your voice and sing,
This night is born your Saviour,
     This night is born your King!

Translation by the National United Choirs of the Polish National Catholic Church, Music Commission.

O gwiazdo Betlejemska,
zaświeć na niebie mym.
Tak szukam Cię wśród nocy,
tęsknię za światłem Twym.
Zaprowadź do stajenki,
Leży tam Boży Syn,
Bóg – Człowiek z Panny świętej,
dany na okup win.

O nie masz Go już w szopce,
nie masz Go w żłóbku tam?
Więc gdzie pójdziemy Chryste?
gdzie się ukryłeś nam?
Pójdziemy przed ołtarze,
Wzniecić miłości żar,
I hołd Ci niski oddać:
to jest nasz wszystek dar.

Ja nie wiem; o mój Panie,
któryś miał w żłobie tron,
Czy dusza moja biedna
milsza Ci jest, niż on.
Ulituj się nade mną, błagać Cię
kornie śmiem,
Gdyś stajnią nie pogardził,
nie gardź i sercem mym.

Czy zamieszkasz w tym sercu,
Zbawco mój i Panie,
Gdzie nędzniejsze ni w stajni
znajdziesz tam posłanie?
Ulituj się nade mną,
nad stworzeniem Twoim,
Jakoś stajnią nie wzgardził,
nie gardź sercem moim.

PNCC, Poetry

December 27 – In Midnight Silence

In midnight silence,
     Came a voice so clear:
Rise, I ye shepherds,
     Christ, your Lord, is here.

Leave your flocks, forsake your watchings,
In a manger wrapped in swaddlings,
Ye shall find the Lord.

‘Twas there they found Him,
     There in Bethlehem,
And with thanksgiving,
     They did worship Him.

And their hearts were filled with gladness,
As they knelt before God’s greatness,
For they saw their Lord!

Translation by the National United Choirs of the Polish National Catholic Church, Music Commission.

Wśród nocnej ciszy głos się rozchodzi:
Wstańcie, pasterze, Bóg się wam rodzi
|: Czem prędzej się wybierajcie,
     Do Betlejem pośpieszajcie,
     przywitać Pana. |

Poszli, znależli Dzieciątko w żłobie,
Z wszystkimi znaki, danymi sobie.
|: Jako Bogu cześć Mu dali,
     A witając zawołali,
     z wielkiej radości. |

Ach, Witaj Zbawco z dawna żądany!
Tyle tysiący lat wyglądany;
|: Na Ciebie króle, prorocy
     Czekali, a Tyś tej nocy,
     nam się objawił. |

I my czekamy na Ciebie, Pana,
A skoro przyjdziesz na głos kapłana.
|: Padniemy na twarz przed Tobą,
     Wierząc, żeś jest pod osłoną,
     Chleba i winia. |

PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Saints and Martyrs

Polish Catholic Church assists in the commemoration of the feast of St Gregory (Peradze)

From the website of the Polish Orthodox Church: Feast of St Gregory (Peradze) in Warsaw

The service of all night vigil started the celebration of the feast of St Gregory (Peradze) in Warsaw chapel of his name. It was also the day of St Nicolas.

During the service there guests from Georgia were also present, who came to Warsaw to participate in the feast and to take part in the Kartvelological Conference in the name of St Gregory (Peradze), which will start on December 7, on the University of Warsaw. There was also archbishop Andria of Samtavisi and Gori from Georgia present on the feast.

The service was celebrated in Polish language, which is quite unusual, as most parishes in Poland use Slavonic as their liturgical language.

After the vigil all the guests were invited for dinner, prepared by the parishioners of the chapel.

On the feast day Divine Liturgy was celebrated. There were more than 60 people present, which made it almost impossible to get inside the small chapel.

At 16.45, an hour of the death of St. Gregory (Peradze), a wreath was placed at the board, remembering professors of Warsaw University, who died during II world war. This board is placed on the area of the university and there is a name of St Gregory Peradze —“ who was the professor on this university before the war. During this celebration sang the choir of the chapel of St. Gregory. Archbishop Andria also participated.

St. Gregory (Peradze) was born in 1899 in Tbilisi (Georgia). He finished a spiritual seminary in Tbilisi. Then he started studies in Berlin (Germany). In 1927 he received PhD in philosophy.

After two years he organized a Georgian, Orthodox parish in Paris. In 1931 he became a monk and was a first parish priest in this parish. In 1933 he came to Poland to be a lecturer on the faculty in Orthodox Theology Section of Warsaw University. He worked there till the break of the war.

On May 5, 1942 St. Gregory was arrested by the Germans, who then occupied Poland. The reasons are not well known, but possibly he helped Jews and cooperated with the Polish resistance movement. After half a year he was moved the the concentration camp in Auchwitz (Oswiecim). He died there on December 6, 1942. The reasons for murdering him are not well known. A witness said, that he had volunteered for the death instead of other man there. He stood barefoot on the snow, he was bitten by fierce dogs, and then he was poured with fuel and fired. Till today it is not known, what happened with saint’s body.

St Gregory was canonised by the Georgian Orthodox Church in 1995. He is also well known and worshipped in Poland, as he spent many years, made a lot of his work and died there.

The chapel of St. Gregory (Peradze) was established by the metropolitan Sawa (the head of the Polish Orthodox Church) in 2006. Then regular services in Polish language started to be celebrated regularly. Now all the major feasts services are celebrated there also in Polsih. From September 2009 Sunday school started to operate for 10 children. About 60 people regularly attend Sunday services, and it is maximum which are able to get to the small chapel.

The chapel belongs to the Polish-Catholic church and is used by permission by Orthodox community.

Saint Gregory became a patron of the community because he is very close to young people, who are the members of this community. He lived not long ago in Warsaw and was active in similar spheres as people from the community (like science, conferences, university lectures etc.). This saint also attracts many Georgian people, who live in Warsaw or come there on different goals —“ they are often present on the services.

Perspective, PNCC, ,

Talking about the rules

…to fellow commentors at the Buffalo News in relation to their story: Anglican church considers Catholic transition: West Seneca congregation interested in pope’s overtures

They worship in a former Catholic sanctuary, led by a former Catholic priest.

And if any congregation in Western New York were to take up Pope Benedict XVI’s recent landmark overture to Anglicans, it most likely would be St. Nicholas Anglican Church in West Seneca.

The small, “Anglo-Catholic” congregation uses a liturgy that mirrors a traditional Catholic Mass, adheres to a male-only clergy and has parishioners open to the possibility of entering into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

“This would be very typically the type of congregation the pope is targeting,” said the Rev. Gene Bagen, rector of St. Nicholas…

The comment list is here.

PNCC, Poetry, ,

December 25 – God is Born by Franciszek Karpiński

God is born, rejoice, O sinner,
Christ the Lord has come to save us.
Raise your hearts and souls to greet Him,
Holy Infant ever precious.

In a manger poor and lowly,
Lies the Lord of all creation.
What great myst’ry here confronts us.
Can this Child grant us Redemption?

He has come to give the promise of
     His mercy full and gracious.
For the Word was made Incarnate,
And in truth, has dwelt amongst us!

Translation by the National United Choirs of the Polish National Catholic Church, Music Commission.

Bóg się rodzi, moc truchleje,
Pan niebiosów, obnażony,
Ogień krzepnie, blask ciemnieje,
Ma granice Nieskończony.
Wzgardzony, okryty chwałą,
Śmiertelny Król nad wiekami!

A Słowo Ciałem się stało,
I mieszkało między nami.

Cóż masz niebo,
nad ziemiany ?
Bóg porzucił
szczęście swoje.
Wszedł między lud ukochany,
Dzieląc z nim trudy i znoje.
Niemało cierpiał, niemało,
Ześmy byli winni sami.

A Słowo Ciałem się stało,
I mieszkało między nami.

W nędznej szopie urodzony,
Żłób Mu za kolebkę dano !
Cóż jest, czym był otoczony,
Bydło, pasterze i siano.
Ubodzy, was to spotkało,
Witać Go przed bogaczami!

A Słowo Ciałem się stało,
I mieszkało między nami.

Podnieś rękę, Boże
Dziecię,
Błogosław Ojczyznę miła.
W dobrych radach, w dobrym bycie,
Wspieraj jej siłę swą siłą.
Dom nasz i majętność całą
I wszystkie wioski z miastami.

A Słowo Ciałem się stało,
I mieszkało między nami.

Christian Witness, PNCC, ,

Rejoicing was heard

From the Buffalo News: Worshippers rejoice as closed church reopens with Christmas Eve service

With its plain white clapboards and a cross atop a small steeple, the former Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Brant looks every bit like a postcard country church.

Since closing last year, it has been little more than an image.

But on Christmas Eve, the building at 10708 Brant-Angola Road reopened as an active house of worship for the first time in 18 months.

And many of the same faithful Catholics who had worshipped there showed up to celebrate the unique holiday gift.

—God knew how hard we struggled or how much we wanted this, and we thought we were going to be able open on Thanksgiving,— said Joan Reickart, a longtime parishioner. —But I think God gave us our Christmas gift. This was our Christmas gift. I truly believe that. And it’s a wonderful Christmas gift, the best we could hope for.—

About 50 people were expected at the inaugural Mass of the Parish of Our Lady—”a new congregation affiliated with the Polish National Catholic Church.

—Opening on Christmas Eve seems pretty divine,— Brant Supervisor Leonard Pero said. —I’m just thrilled we save our community church. The community is getting a wonderful Christmas present, and the thing is, we’ll always have it.—

The congregation, composed of several people who were once part of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, purchased the building last week from the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo for $75,000.

—The excitement among the people is just unbelievable,— said John Chiavetta, who with Pero led efforts to reopen the church.

Some members of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which was merged with St. Anthony Catholic Church in Farnham, openly objected to their church’s closure and immediately sought a way to keep it open.

—I was praying all the time to the Blessed Mother,— Pero said. And at the final Mass, Pero sat in the front row and cried.

Reickart said she felt —kind of lost— since the church closed.

—I’ve really been hurting for a place to go,— she said.

Ultimately, Pero organized a meeting between potential parishioners and officials of the Polish National Catholic Church, a denomination formed in 1897 as a result of splits within Catholic communities of Polish-Americans from the Roman Catholic Church in disputes over property and lay governance.

Unlike the Roman Catholic tradition, in which bishops make property decisions, individual congregations in the Polish National Catholic Church, as in many Protestant traditions, control such matters.

Bishop Thaddeus S. Peplowski of the Buffalo Pittsburgh Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church has assured Buffalo Bishop Edward U. Kmiec that the church won’t actively seek to recruit former members of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Any Roman Catholic who joins the Polish National Catholic Church is considered excommunicated in the eyes of the Vatican.

—People who are fearful of that, we’re telling them, ‘Just attend,’ — Chiavetta said.

Some former Our Lady of Mount Carmel members aren’t bothered by the prospect of excommunication, but —for others, yes it has been difficult,— he said. —Especially for older people, they hear this thing excommunication, and they think that’s a very serious matter.—

But church laws were far from the minds of most worshippers Thursday.

After Mass, they celebrated in the church hall with a sausage dinner and a birthday cake in honor of Jesus.

—Christmas, it is the birth of Christ and a new beginning here,— Reickart said. —It’s wonderful.—

Christian Witness, PNCC, ,

My wish for you

To all my loyal readers, visitors, well wishers, and all who happen to come this way,

Today I share with you the opłatek, the Christmas wafer, symbolic of the bread of angels. In this sharing I wish you are yours every blessing this Christmas and throughout the year ahead. May the precious Christ child abide with you and in this abiding bring you every grace as well as the gifts of health, happiness, and a love that cannot be measured or earned, but that is freely given so that we may live forever.

Wesołych Świąt Bożego Narodzenia!
O joyous day! The Lord has come.

Christian Witness, PNCC

Christmas and the Sanctity of Our World

A reflection from Fr. Randy Calvo of Holy Name of Jesus Parish in South Deerfield, MA:

I have been attending sporadically a Jewish Midrash and myth Bible study group at Schoen Books here in South Deerfield on Wednesday evenings. The group has extended an invitation to me and has been wonderfully patient with my ignorance of the Hebrew terminology and teachers. I have found it extremely interesting to hear readings of the same texts that I have read since I was a child in a wholly different light, and maybe most amazingly of all is that I have found the readings enlightening to my Christian faith in an unexpected way. Sometimes as Christians we may approach the Old Testament with an air of condescension based upon the belief that we know a fuller meaning of the text than its original recipients because we recognize that it all points to the coming of Jesus as the Messiah.

I thank my teachers of the historical-critical method of Old Testament study, Fr. Michael Barone and Rev. Bruce Dahlburg, for helping me to read these books in their own right. These Midrash classes have helped me to deepen that insight. The closest parallel I can offer is that Midrash treats the biblical word in similar fashion to Christian patristics. Midrash uses the inspired text as a springboard to further spiritual insight and theological exploration. It is some of these musings that have led me to a deeper appreciation of the Incarnation, of God’s entrance into human history at Christmas.

Maimonides, the great Jewish philosopher of the 12th century, expounded on the idea of —good— as repeated numerous times in Genesis 1. He concluded that creation is good in and of itself. The goodness of what God has made is not dependent upon how it serves humans. Their goodness is intrinsic as made by God. He further stated that the repetition of the word implied that the whole of creation is good in a way that is greater than any isolated part of that creation could ever be alone.

Six hundred years later Shneur Zalman, again expounding on Genesis 1, speaks of God’s creation of the dry land of the earth on the third day. Zalman believed that the earth manifested the presence and power of God more than the rest of creation because it held the power to make things grow, and he found this in the verse: —Let the earth put forth vegetation …— (Genesis 1:11) The rest of creation is created by God, but the earth creates like God. Zalman imagined that God’s radiance from on high shown down through all of existence, but that when it reached the bottom, the earth, it reflected back toward God through the earth’s power to create. The presence and power of God, therefore, are most clearly expressed not only in the goodness of creation, but especially in the goodness of the miracle of the process of life.

Genesis is the creation story of the Jewish people. We have adopted it as our own, but it was born in the Jewish faith. I find it bothersome that Holy Scripture tells us of the inherent goodness of creation and also of the goodness of the process of life, and then some of the teachers of the church would insist that we profess instead that creation is inherently evil and that this evil is passed from generation to generation through the process of life. Zalman was fleeing from the armies of Napoleon and a certain death sentence when he wrote these words. He was not naïve. That the world is not perfect does not equate with the world is evil. That the world has been created by God, and has been called —good— by God, does mean that creation and life have been sanctified. The church does a disservice to this revelation when we insist on having people believe in original sin and all that accompanies it.

When God physically enters creation in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, He testifies to the holiness of ordinary life. Christmas is a time to remember that the presence of God not only showers down upon us, but is reflected back towards God in the goodness of this creation. Perfection belongs to heaven, but Christmas reminds us that there are sparks of the divine, that there is hidden holiness, all around us. Being able to see that again is part of the joy and wonder of the season of Jesus’ birth and one of God’s greatest Christmas gifts to us all.

…and I would add that our baptismal regeneration and membership in the Church requires just this sort of witness. It is the building up of man and woman in light of Jesus’ salvific action. That action began at His incarnation and will end when our plea of Maranatha is answered. Christ’s entry into human life forever changes our relationship to life — to the eternal.

PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Interesting historical coincidences

On October 11, 2009 Bishop of Rome, Benedict XVI, proclaimed five new Roman Catholic saints among which was Archbishop Zygmunt Szczęsny Feliński of Poland. Among his virtues was the defense of the Polish subjects of Russian occupied Poland in the lead up to the January Insurrection of 1863 (Powstanie Styczniowe), which was brutally put down by Russian troops. Abp. Feliński was Archbishop of Warsaw at the time and protested in vain to the Czar. When his protests fell on deaf ears he resigned from the appointed City Council and soon was exiled from Russian-ruled Poland to what is now Ukraine where he remained for over twenty years. After being granted a czarist amnesty he was required to remove himself to Austrian-ruled Poland where he spent the remainder of his life mainly in a small community tutoring children.

In the photo to the left, taken a few weeks before his departure for the United States, Seminarian Franczisek Hodur (front center) is seen with three of his closest friends. Second from left is Gerard Feliński, nephew and ward of Archbishop Feliński. Abp. Feliński died in 1895 and it is quite possible that Seminarian Hodur had met him while a student in the Kraków seminary, attached to the Jagellonian University. According to Vincentian sources it is reported that conditions in that seminary, managed by the Vincentians, were quite harsh.

Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC, Political,

Mixing religion, politics, and gross over reaction

Mike Rasberry who blogs at Ponderings discusses the National Council of Churches in National Council of Churches–A leftist Group of Individual Denominations.

Mr. Rasberry indicts each and every member of the organization, from the Orthodox and PNCC to the Quakers. He paints each and every Church as grossly liberal and supportive of every sort of evil, including abortion, although he does give a bye to American Conference of Catholic Bishops calling it a “rare exception to this group.”

The problems here are obvious and really enlightening as to the ignorance among certain Christians. Some Christians know nothing of their brothers and sisters. That ignorance starts in a refusal to study the policies and theologies of other Churches. Couple that with this mix of personal politics and religion and you get just this sort of diatribe. Of course Mr. Rasberry sees Roman Catholics as ok because they happen to have a good PR team which focuses almost solely on one or two hot issues — at least he’s read that in the MSM. If he really went deeper and understood the Roman Church’s anti-war, anti-death penalty, justice for immigrants, and pro-labor stances he would equally tar them as leftist whack jobs.

Lesson to be learned – if you are going to criticize thirty-five of thirty-six different Churches and encourage people to refuse their support, all based on personal politics – you will find yourself in a very lonely place. If you are going to deny Christian fellowship with the vast majority of those who still identify as Christians in this country then you might as well join the Westboro Baptist Church — Fred Phelps will welcome you.

Rather, I highly suggest study so you at least know what you’re criticizing. Learn what Churches really stand for. They just might agree with you on most things (or not). Then again, its easier to pick at the speck your perceive in someone else’s eye (Matthew 7:3-5).

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