Recent Posts

Most Used Categories

Category: PNCC

You are Here :
PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , ,

Polish heritage in the Pittsburgh area

From The Valley Independent: Polish community celebrates centennial of former church

Sto lot (100 years) was celebrated by persons of Polish descent in Monessen on Sunday.

The former St. Hyacinth Catholic Church was founded in 1909 by people who emigrated from Poland, and Sacred Heart of Jesus Polish National Church had its beginning in 1929.

The observance, held in St. Vincent de Paul Jozwiak Hall, featured many ties to their Polish heritage, including the food, entertainment and homage to Our Lady of Czestochowa.

The Rev. Dennis Bogusz, a former pastor of St. Hyacinth Church before it was merged into Epiphany of Our Lord Church, along with other Monessen parishes, was keynote speaker.

“I enjoyed my time at St. Hyacinth,” the priest said.

He reminded the audience that May 3 is a significant day in Poland – marking Polish Constitution Day, signed in 1791.

“This is a very important day for Poles,” he said, “as we also honor Mary, Queen of Poland.”

Dan Zyglowicz, Greater Monessen Heritage Museum board chairman, was master of ceremonies.

He credited Dorothy Jozwiak with the successful Monessen Polish heritage exhibit at the museum. It may be viewed until June 1, Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Jozwiak spoke of the history of Our Lady of Czestochowa as a tribute was presented at her icon.

Led by Dolores Yonek, four children – Mary Grace Steffy, Stephen Palli, Gianna Gaul and Sarah Palli – placed flowers in front of the icon.

Dorothy Janol and Irene Babinski lit candles at the shrine as Jozwiak paid tribute to: Polish immigrants, founders of the churches and schools, clergy and religious, parish and civic organizations, fraternal groups, business establishments, veterans, and people buried in St. Hyacinth Cemetery…

Perspective, PNCC, , ,

The PNCC and Labor – an old/new opportunity

A wonderful article from the Boston Review: God’s Work: What can faith-based activism do for labor?

—I came to Washington to work for God, FDR, and the millions of forgotten, plain, common workingmen,— recalled Frances Perkins. And so she did. From 1933 to 1945, Perkins helped create the core features of the New Deal state: minimum wage and maximum hours laws, legal guarantees for workers’ rights to organize and join unions, prohibition of child labor, Social Security, unemployment compensation, and fair labor standards. For all of the New Deal’s limitations, its laws and programs tamed Upton Sinclair’s —Jungle,— encouraged broad economic security and prosperity, and created, in economic terms, the most equitable America in history. And it was promoted and protected not only by strong unions but also by religious leaders, thanks to the prominence of a social gospel in the Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish traditions at mid-century. During her twelve years as secretary of labor, Perkins herself spent one day a month in contemplative retreat at a convent. For her, the reference to God was not simply a rhetorical flourish.

Since the 1970s economic inequality has surged to levels not seen since the 1920s, Dickensian abuses of workers have returned, and deregulation has enabled the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression. President Obama’s Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, faces challenges not unlike Perkins’s. Yet today, as in the 1930s, crisis also creates the opportunity for a bold new direction—”a New New Deal, potentially more inclusive of the nation’s diverse labor force than Perkins could have imagined. Might the nation’s churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples again have a role in rescuing a wayward economy?

In addressing this question, Solis can learn much from Kim Bobo, founder and Executive Director of Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ). Bobo’s goal is to revive America’s justice-seeking prophetic tradition, with a particular focus on economic justice…

The PNCC has a strong tradition as an advocate for working men and women. Its immigrant and democratic roots were formed by men and women who were workers, who knew degradation at the hands of mine bosses, and who looked forward to a brighter, more democratic future. John J. Bukowczyk covers a lot of history in the Labor, Radicalism, and the Worker chapter in his book: Polish Americans and Their History: Community, Culture, and Politics.

The PNCC connection is both historic and full of opportunity. Knowing what I know from my 9-5 job, Ms. Bobo is correct in her assessments:

Labor laws today are such a mess that they bewilder and deter those who need them most. As Bobo notes, they are —woefully inadequate,— —incredibly confusing,— and barely enforced. She tells the story of Anka Karewicz, a twenty-year-old Polish immigrant to Chicago who, in order to stop a single employer from cheating and demeaning her and her fellow workers, would have had to contact three different federal agencies (the Department of Labor, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and two state agencies. Karewicz gave up.

Whatever a person’s ethnic background, whatever their status, the Church, our democratic Church, cannot stand by as the exploitation of working men and women continues. We are to stand with them, pray for them, and work together for a brighter future for all of God’s children.

PNCC, Poetry

May 7 – In the evening by Franciszek Karpiński

Holy God, who from Your largesse
Gave the light and gives the darkness,
Let this pray’r arise before You;
even let our sleep adore You.

As the day to night is fading
May Your deep care, all pervading,
ward us in your mighty keeping.
Guard the wakeful, guard the sleeping.

Turn aside night’s fear and terror,
Keep us safe from shame and error.
May Your mighty arm defend us,
peaceful dreams and hope attend us.

Let us rise upon the morrow
Free from worry, free from sorrow;
yet should death to life awake us,
then to reign in glory take us.

God, beyond our comprehension,
Trinity, beyond dimension,
Be our joy, our adoration,
Without limit or cessation.

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

[audio:https://www.konicki.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/02-bernard-ladysz-wszystkie-nasze-dzienne-sprawy.mp3]

Evening Prayer of a Farmer -- Artur Grottger

Wszystkie nasze dzienne sprawy
Przyjm litośnie, Boże prawy,
A gdy będziem zasypiali,
Niech Cię nawet sen nasz chwali.

Twoje oczy obrócone
Dzień i noc patrzą w tę stronę,
Gdzie niedołężność człowieka
Twojego ratunku czeka.

Odwracaj nocne przygody,
Od wszelakiej broń nas szkody,
Miej nas zawsze w swojej pieczy,
Stróżu i Sędzio człowieczy.

A gdy już niebo osiądziem,
Tobie wspólnie śpiewać będziem,
Boże w Trójcy niepojęty,
Święty, na wiek wieków Święty.

Perspective, PNCC,

10 reasons I’m a National Catholic —” Reason 3: We worship beautifully

This post closely follows and expands upon my last post which focused on the Church’s sacramental life, especially as it relates to the Holy Mass.

The sacraments are the key constitutive elements in the grace filled communication that exists between God and man. The sacraments are the foundational parts of our worship structure while the liturgy, the process or worship, is the dynamic structure in which they live. Worship surrounds the sacraments like the beauty of a monstrance surrounds the ultimate beauty of our Lord and Savior in the Holy Eucharist. As a monstrance reflects our human effort at giving glory, worship, and praise to God, our worship gives glory and praise to God.

Imagine, if you will, a liturgical experience that simply covers the core. In the PNCC you would have an imparting of penance and absolution, the reading, psalm, epistle, gospel, and homily, an epiclesis and institution narrative, and the distribution of the Eucharist. There’s a lot there, and I don’t mean to downplay the fact that those elements are essential, but such a liturgy would be sparse, like a museum with beautiful works of art set against unfinished walls (no offence to avant garde displays).

A little bit on my personal history ties in here. I was raised in Buffalo’s Kaisertown section, and grew up in the shadow of the glory that was St. Casimir’s R.C. Church — Byzantine architecture, glorious altar, art, statuary, pipe organ, seating 1,500 congregants. My church life began prior to the abuses that followed Vatican II. When I began serving at the altar the priests still opened drawers, one for each color of fiddleback chasuble. They vested slowly, with care. Each experience of the Holy Mass, each extra-liturgical service, conveyed what was intended, the sadness of the penitent; the glory of the resurrection. The chalice was a chalice, the priests keen on proper liturgy. As one of my college professors once stated: ‘The architecture of the church is about lifting ones eyes and hearts to the light of God.’ They had that and more spot on.

Needless to say, my journey post 1980 was a procession of disappointments. It wasn’t the architecture of the churches I was in, since in Buffalo nearly every city parish was a near cathedral. In the older churches the disciplined priests were gone; at least those disciplined enough to care about the Church as something greater than them. In the newer churches it was rather that the liturgy mimicked their architecture — thrown together, undisciplined, made up, wing-it on the fly liturgy. Moving to Albany I found it only got worse. Those of us who have been around long enough to know the difference saw it coming in dribs and drabs. We weren’t lifting our eyes and hearts to God in the liturgy any more; we cared more about ourselves and our show.

Not to be a quitter I kept looking. I explored parishes. I sought, but I didn’t find. I even tried R.C. indult MassesThe older, pre 1962, form of the R.C. Church’s Rite which is now more generously allowed for. The allowance for offering this Rite is available to all Roman Catholic Western Rite priests excepting those in the dioceses of the various bishops who ‘illegally’ oppose it (many). This Rite of the Holy Mass is still offered in Latin, and as I have posited, the Latin will act as an impediment to broader acceptance and understanding. It will remain a cold relic unable to speak its beauty to the vast majority of the faithful who would otherwise accept it.. Maybe that was the turning point. I had romanticized it, thought it would speak to me again, but it was cold —“ a cold language done with cold gestures for the sake of gesture. I was acclimated to and desired entertainmentWhy many Roman Catholics, especially in the U.S., will miss out on what is being conveyed in the older Rite. They want entertainment and what they perceive as relevancy. The brainwashing has been effective.. I was there for me —“ not for God. I felt something had been stolen from me.

People may say that the Holy Mass is all about disposition, using your intellect as a remedy to overcome the failings of the priest and the architect. We’re supposed to be there for God after all! Those who believe that intellect is the arbiter see man as a dichotomy, as an intellect in opposition to the body. That argument is false on its face. God speaks to man as a whole. God’s desire was the very reason God became incarnate. God didn’t come to us as body alone or intellect alone, but as man —“ to speak to man.

The Church needs to unite man’s mind and body, bringing the totality of our being before God. We cannot overcome a Church’s failing through intellect alone. We cannot reason our way out of a forced dichotomy, a dichotomy where the Church says one thing, but does something entirely different (on a regular basis). The liturgy is that place in which the Church unites man’s mind, body, and soul in praise of God.

My search continued until my wife stumbled upon a PNCC parish that was holding all the traditional rites, blessings, and liturgies for Holy Week and Easter. I thought: well ok, perhaps. I wasn’t sure —“ and my Roman Catholic fears jumped right up to confront me. Would I go straight to hell if I tried this, even once? It’s silly in retrospect. Unfortunately many in the Roman Church live at that level; they fail to take the chance to free themselves from worship that leaves them cold, confused, or uncertain.

I sat in Church expectant, hungry, and there it was: liturgy, beautiful liturgy, in English, with solemnity that befitted the worship of God, and that was carried out with a genuine heart. The parish’s architecture was a blending of old and new. It was beautiful, not a cathedral, but beautiful. Best of all the Rites and the Holy Mass weren’t banal. It wasn’t off-the-cuff. The priest said the black and did the red, but with love for the Church’s worship. The parish cared, the priest cared. Wow!

The PNCC does worship beautifully. I experience the beauty of God in the Church’s liturgy, in its extra-liturgical devotions, in every manner from the way our bishops and priests vest to the way they pray. In big and small ways our liturgy is all about lifting our eyes, our hearts, our voices, and our minds to God. We meet God in our liturgy and we meet him as men and women who are body, mind, and soul. When you visit a PNCC parish, pick up a pew missal. You can actually follow along because no one is winging the Holy Mass.

I am blessed, as are many PNCC parishes, in that my priest offers the different Rites for the Holy Mass (Traditional, the Hodur Rite, and the Contemporary). By offering the different Rites, in the yearly cycleNot many Roman Catholics can say that they’ve experienced, or even know about, the different Rites available in their own Church, from the Byzantine and the various Eastern Rites to the Mozarabic, Ambrosian, Dominican, Bragan, Carmelite, or Carthusian, we keep in touch with the larger prayer of the Church, i.e., the totality of the Church’s prayer. Our priest offers the Holy Mass facing the liturgical East regardless of the Rite, and it works. We all face God in our prayer.

Our liturgies are beautiful. Our liturgies are that glorious monstrance with Christ at the center, surrounded by the Holy Mass and further gloried by those dear devotions (May Crowning, Marian, Sacred Heart, Precious Blood, Rosary, Bitter Lamentations, Stations of the Cross, processions, special blessings, so much more) which highlight, worship, praise, and glorify the multitude of God’s aspect.

Current Events, PNCC,

Supporting each other in tough times

From the Monroe News: Support in troubling times

TEMPERANCE, MI – Chris Cremean wants the unemployed to know they are not alone.

The Toledo resident has created a new support group for those who have lost their jobs.

The nondenominational group meets for one hour beginning at 10 a.m. each Wednesday at Resurrection Polish National Catholic Church, 1835 W. Temperance Rd. between Jackman and Douglas Rds.

For Mr. Cremean, job loss is personal. In October, he was let go after 33 years in the home care industry. In December, he launched his own company, Caregiver Resources Group LLC and became a resource specialist offering services to caregivers.

He approached his fellow church members about creating a group targeted at those who have lost their jobs.

“I saw a lack of support groups for those who have lost their jobs,” Mr. Cremean said. “Michigan is hit hardest of all the states because of the auto industry.”

The support group will help participants cope with job loss, network with fellow job seekers and share job leads, information about unemployment and the services available through Michigan Works!, United Way and other resources.

Mr. Cremean is hoping to attract job seekers to the meetings by spreading the word. He encourages people to come because they are not alone.

“There are so many others out there who are going through the same thing,” he said.

The church was looking for a mission, and Mr. Cremean said this was a practical way to reach out to the community.

“This is so big,” he said of the job loss in the area. “It was obvious to us there was a need for this.”

For more information about the support group for the unemployed, call (419) 206-5979.

Christian Witness, PNCC, ,

Prayer vigil for Blue Star families

From the Stratford Star: Prayer vigil April 26 for Blue Star Families

1bluestar

The Blue Star Mothers and Families of Stratford Inc. will hold its fourth annual prayer vigil service honoring the men and women of the U.S. military Sunday, April 26, at 4 at St. Joseph’s of Stratford National Catholic Church, 1300 Stratford Road.

The theme for the vigil is —Wake Up the Pride,— and will include patriotic songs and religious hymns, interfaith prayers, a candlelight ceremony, and brief addresses by state and local officials.

The ceremony is open to the public.

Mothers and fathers, spouses and children of local military personnel will be recognized during the prayer vigil in the church, then will be received at a coffee and cake fellowship in the parish hall.

The Blue Star Mothers and Families of Stratford was founded in 2003 by mothers who had children serving overseas as a support group for the families of servicemen and servicewomen. It is not affiliated with the Blue Star Mothers of America.

Among its activities, the Blue Star Mothers and Families of Stratford Inc. collects goods to send to soldiers overseas. The organization also maintains an honor board on the green of the Stratford Town Hall that bears the names of those who are currently serving from the town and some nearby communities.

This is the third time this annual vigil has taken place at St. Joseph’s of Stratford National Catholic Church. Several mothers from the parish are active in the Blue Star Mothers and Families of Stratford.

More information may be obtained from Kathy M. Sullivan at (203) 377-0676.

Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC,

10 reasons I’m a National Catholic — Reason 2: Penance, The Word, The Eucharist

There’s a lot of emphasis on the indicia that mark a denomination of believers as Catholic, even as a Church. Often times it boils down to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and the key phrase toward the end of the Creed – One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic (we Nat’s like to tack on the word “democratic” to the end of One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic in our advertising and websites since it gets our point across). While those key constitutive elements, clearly stated in the Creed, tend to be the agreed markers of the Catholic Church, they loose their efficacy as a definitive statement once a believer gets past the lessons taught in his or her catechism class, or gives up on the theological debates among on-line pundits. What then makes us Catholic?

For me, the Polish National Catholic Church’s focus on the sacramental life brings the reality of Catholicism home and does so each week. The three core sacraments of Penance, the Word, and the Holy Eucharist are central to reinforcing believers’ Catholicism; to making it completely real in their lives. The sacraments present Christ over and over in a reality that sets us free, builds us up, and nourishes us. They do this, not as an exercise, not as jumble of words, but in the doing, in the physical markers that impart forgiveness, educate and enlighten, and feed.

The key to Catholicism is its reality. The Catholic sacraments are not an exercise aimed at mimicry, at pretense, some sort of fantasy re-enacting of a thing done long ago. The sacraments aren’t words for debate or recitation. We’re not passing bread and grape juice (I like it, but it isn’t what Jesus drank) for the sake of being good Christian buddies. The Sacraments are, by definition and by faith, the fullness of Catholic reality.

As the priest or bishop gives penance, and stretches out his hand to impart absolution, we are forgiven. That forgiveness is real and is spoken on behalf of God and the community. The slate is clean and we are free from sin. We are as washed as were the disciples that night in the upper room. We are given the grace necessary to bring about amendment in our lives. As the deacon, priest, or bishop proclaims the Gospel, and teaches, our minds are enlightened. We hear Jesus teaching us, Jesus making the Gospel as real today and it was when He walked the earth. The Gospel is applied to our lives, to our community, to our families, work situations, neighborhoods, and conflicts. We are enlightened and filled with the grace necessary to do as Christ would have us do. As the Holy Eucharist is placed on our tongues (by a bishop, priest, or deacon) we receive the fullness of Jesus Christ. His body, blood, soul and divinity enter us. We take Him and eat Him so that we may be more and more like Him. By the grace of that taking and eating we are transformed into the food we have received — His body.

As National Catholics we gather for Holy Mass. At each Holy Mass we receive these three sacraments — Penance, the Word, and the Holy Eucharist. Our Catholicism is made real and present in our lives — a Catholic reality that is ever proportionate to our sacramental life. Not only are we real, but real in the manner Christ desired. We come to the table clean, instructed by His word, and feed on Him.

I am National Catholic because I abhor unreality and pretense. With my whole heart and soul I desire to be washed clean, to be taught, and to be made one with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I desire the fullness of the sacramental life left to us in the Catholic Church. I desire to be Catholic.

Desiring that fullness I found the National Church, the Church where the sacraments are guarded faithfully, where their reality is accepted. I found a Church that will not, and cannot, change them for the sake of fashion or modern day exigencies.

In a recent forum a Roman Catholic writer suggested that the PNCC should have gone the way of Utrecht, or that it should admit (formerly) Episcopalian/Anglican/etc. priests to Holy Orders. These are obviously the thoughts of someone who thinks the National Church can just go about doing whatever it pleases; one who is confused by the Catholicism of the PNCC — ‘How can you be Catholic if the Pope doesn’t guide you?’ To that writer I would say: The way others have gone is the path away from the Catholic faith. Those who do such things envision a church with all the modern conveniences, modeled on themselves and their interpretations, rather than the Catholic reality of sacraments given us by Jesus Christ. The question the National Church asks, when it comes to the sacraments, when it comes to Orders, when it comes to a believer’s acceptance of the Catholic faith is: “Do you hold the Catholic faith in this regard?” If you hold the Catholic faith, if you are Catholic, then be National Catholic. If you do not hold the Catholic faith, if you only wish to remain where you are, only under a proper Church for the sake of externals, then God bless you, fare thee well, seek Him where you might find Him. Our Lord instructed:

“Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” — Matthew 7:21.

The sacraments are our guide posts and our strength along the path to doing the will of the Father. I am National Catholic because the sacraments ground me and guide me in my Catholicism. They are the reality of Christ in my life, touching my life, healing my life, regenerating my life, bringing me home to eternal life with Him in heaven.

PNCC

PNCC buys former RC Parish in Western New York

From the Am-Pol Eagle: PNCC buys Our Lady of Grace Church

For the past few months, members of the Polish National Catholic Church in Western NY have anticipated the possible purchase of two closed Roman Catholic churches —“ Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Brant and Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in Woodlawn. On Fri., March 27 a final decision was made by the PNCC to purchase Our Lady of Grace while the decision to purchase Our Lady of Mount Carmel was put on hold.

The decision to purchase Our Lady of Grace is a cause for celebration for the parishioners at Holy Trinity Parish in Lackawanna whose church was victim to a lightening strike last August that resulted in severe fire and water damage. Holy Trinity has been leasing the church for Sunday worship ever since the strike.

Our Lady of Grace, closed by the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo last summer, became a convenient alternative, being only about two miles away from Holy Trinity and members considered it a blessing because not one Sunday of worship was missed. Our Lady of Grace will now officially be renamed Holy Trinity Parish and serve as the official church for its parishioners.

As for the site in Brant, which was also closed by the Roman Catholic Diocese last summer, PNCC Bishop Thaddeus Peplowski is hopeful saying, —It looks like we are going to be getting both churches. They haven’t made a final decision on it, but it looks good.—

He said, —People down there want to organize a parish and the church is for sale. Rather than having to build a place this place is for sale, so why not buy this one.—

He said the purchases could attract more members. —I think it might because we have quite a few people that live in the suburbs,— said Bishop Peplowski. —We don’t have a church down there so it’s difficult for them especially in the winter to travel north to the Buffalo area, so this will be a big help for them.—

Bishop Peplowski declined to comment about whether any former parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel or other members of the Roman Catholic Church would join the PNCC once the Brant parish is established.

Bishop Edward Kmiec, the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Buffalo, sent a letter out to priests on Feb. 6 to warn Roman Catholics that they would be excommunicated if they joined the Polish National Catholic parish if a sale of the property was consumated…

The Polish National Catholic Diocese, similar to the Roman Catholic Church in many of its teachings, continues to draw in more and more people. One reason for this seems to be the fact that its parishes decide for themselves whether they should close meaning the diocese will never force a church to close…

Perspective, PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia

Closing the book on the Rev. Marek Bozek (and St. Stans)

From St. Louis’ FOX Affiliate KTVI: Controversial St. Stanislaus Pastor Marek Bozek Dismissed From Priesthood

Pope Benedict XVI has dismissed Marek Bozek from the clerical state. Therefore, he may no longer function as a priest, with the exception of offering absolution to the dying. The dismissal from the clerical state focuses solely on Bozek, and does not address the status of the St. Stanislaus Kostka Corporation…

As I had noted over multiple posts, the Rev. Bozek took his parish off the deep end, and as far from Catholicism as possible (excepting certain externals). I had initially hoped that the parish would look to the PNCC as its model. Unfortunately, they decided to retain all the extravagances so much a part of Rome’s Novus Ordo Ameri-church. Eucharistic ministers, communion in the hand, etc, would have made for a very poor fit with the PNCC. Those extravagances coupled with the Rev. Bozek’s liberal views will soon have St. Stans in the hands of the vagante’s (or as some parishioners hope — and what would likely be best — back under Rome).

The parishioner’s initial understanding of responsibilities was correct: lay control over the parish’s assets and a democratic lay structure, which were provided to them in response to the PNCC’s growth in St. Louis, and adherence to the Catholic faith. With that they would have been able to recognize themselves in the mirror. As it is, they and their ancestors (if they exist) will never know who their grandparents were, nor what they represented. In attempting to save their way of life they destroyed it — regardless of how things turn out.

All Right Reserved © 2005 - 2023