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New blog post: A class on the cusp http://bit.ly/nqb4n [#]
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From the Buffalo News: For Class of 1969, a priestly era fades
After 40 years of seismic shifts in Catholic Church,once-plentiful shepherds reflect on what they’ll leave
It took two Buffalo cathedrals and a basilica in Lackawanna to accommodate the ordination Class of 1969. On a bright spring morning 40 years ago this week, 25 young men made solemn vows to serve as Catholic priests in the Diocese of Buffalo.
Afterward, they stood for photos shoulder to shoulder in their pressed white vestments, looking with pious expressions at the camera, as if peering into the future.
Little did they know at the time what was in store.
Most of them ended up as respected pastors and are now approaching retirement. A few left the priesthood and got married. One of them was elevated to bishop and Tuesday will be installed in the Diocese of Syracuse.
The Class of 1969 was one of the largest ever in the Buffalo diocese —” and a stark contrast to the state of priestly vocations now. In many ways, it was a class on the cusp.
Its members were called into a whole different priesthood than the one they ended up learning and practicing. Not that they minded.
—We really did think there was going to be a major change in the direction of the church,— said the Rev. George L. Reger, pastor of Blessed Trinity Church.
The country was in upheaval over the Vietnam War, inner-city riots and campus protests, and the Catholic Church in the United States was in the midst of its own drama, adjusting to a new Mass in English, along with other liturgical and philosophical changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council.
—The sands were shifting under our feet in the institution we were committing ourselves to,— said the Rev. John J. Leising, senior associate pastor of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Clarence.
…
The Rev. Patrick H. Elis, pastor of St. Rose of Lima, even remembers talk of more dormitories being built when he was a theology student at the East Aurora seminary, now known as Christ the King.
—We were unaware of the future dissolution of numbers. We just thought it was going to continue on,— he said…
The sad fact is that most of this class still fails to acknowledge the downside of Vatican II. They expected that they would turn the Church on its head, and that everything would change. It was pure naivete. Things did change and the change was on balance negative because the core elements that had fostered their vocations were thrown out like the proverbial baby with the bath water. The good that came out of Vatican II remains overshadowed by the destruction its purveyors wrought.
The picture (click on it for a larger version) that accompanies the article, of the portion of the class ordained by the Rt. Rev. Pius Benincasa, was likely the last of its kind, with the new ordinands in Roman chasubles. Those chasubles were thrown out as easily as were the foundations of their vocations.
I know many of these men. Many are personable, kind, and hard working. They are great administrators, great with the people, but attend one of their liturgies — well at least the lectors read what’s in Lectionary. The rest is dodgy.
Thankfully the PNCC offers the tradition that fosters vocations as well as the advances many of these men sought — which we instituted in the early twentieth century. The PNCC made necessary changes, like the abolition of mandatory celibacy, the Holy Mass in the vernacular, and enshrining the democratic rights of each member, in a natural, unforced way. It is why I can call the PNCC home as opposed to the R.C. Church in the United States. The R.C. Church is still trying to gain its footing, something likely to take generations, and not all that certain to occur.
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New blog post: Daily Digest for May 25th http://bit.ly/hPFtA [#]
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New blog post: In Rememberance http://bit.ly/skOve [#]
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New blog post: Seventh Sunday of Easter – B http://bit.ly/vSxBr [#]
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The photo is from a photo essay by Danel J. Wood.
Heavenly Father, Whose care and guidance brought our forefathers to this great land, and led them through faith, courage and self-sacrifice to build the foundations of a great democratic nation, dedicated to Thy service and the rights of man, lead us, O God, in our day, as Thou didst lead our forefathers, and help us to be faithful stewards of the heritage which Thou hast entrusted to us.
Reverently, on this Memorial Day, in Thy holy presence, we pay our tribute of respect to the memory of those who gave their lives in the service of our country. We pray, that the souls of these, our heroic dead may have found perfect rest in Thee, and received the crown of an unfading life. O Thou, Eternal Lover of souls, cherish and bless them, we entreat Thee, and give unto us, the living, peace and hope as we think of them in this solemn hour.
Before Thee, O Lord God, we humbly acknowledge our debt to them, and beseech Thee to give us the strength, to go on towards the ideals for which they fought and died. Take, O Lord, the veil from their hearts, and join us in one communion with all Thy saints on earth, and in the life beyond.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. — From Memorial Day Prayers according to the Ritual of the Polish National Catholic Church
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New blog post: Daily Digest for May 24th http://bit.ly/Bvagd [#]
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New blog post: May 25 – Sir Sinclair by Edvard Storm http://bit.ly/e7Tza [#]
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Sir Sinclair sail’d from the Scottish ground,
To Norroway o’er he hasted;
On Guldbrand’s rocks his grave he found,
Where his corse in its gore is wasted.Sir Sinclair sail’d o’er the blue, blue wave,
For Swedish pay he hath sold him,
God help the Scot, for the Norsemen brave
Shall biting the grass behold him.The moon at night shed pale its light,
The billows are gently swelling;
See a mermaid merge from the briny surge,
To Sir Sinclair evil telling.“Turn back, turn back, thou bonny Scot:
Thy purpose straight abandon:
To return will not be Sir Sinclair’s lot,
Should Sir Sinclair Norroway land on.”“A curse on thy strain, thou imp of the main,
Who boding ill art ever!
For what thou dost preach, wert thou in my reach,
Thy limbs I would dissever.”He sail’d for a day, he sail’d for three,
With all his hired legions;
On the fourth day’s morn Sir Sinclair he
Saw Norroway’s rocky regions.On Romsdale’s sands he quickly lands,
Himself for a foe declaring;
Him follow’d then twelve hundred men
Such evil intentions bearing.They vex’d the people, where’er they rov’d,
With pillage and conflagration;
Nor them old age’s feebleness mov’d,
Nor the widow’s lamentation.The child was slain at the mother’s breast,
Though it smil’d on the murderous savage:
But soon went tidings, east and west,
Of all this wo and ravage.From neighbour to neighbour the message runs,
On the mountain blaz’d the beacon;
Into lurking-holes crept not the valley’s sons,
As the Scots perchance might reckon.“The soldiers have follow’d the King to the war,
Ourselves must arm us, brothers!
And he who here his life will spare
Shall be damn’d as a cur by the others.”The peasants of Vaage, of Laxoe and Lom,
With axes sharp and heavy,
To the gathering at Bredaboig, one and all, come,
On the Scots fierce war to levy.A pass, which all men Kringe call,
By the foot of the mountain goeth;
The Lauge, wherein the Scots shall fall,
Close, close beside it floweth.The aged shooters are taking aim,
Each gun has been call’d into duty;
The Naik his wet beard uplifts from the stream,
And with longing expects his booty.Sir Sinclair fell the first, with a yell
His soul escap’d him for ever,
Each Scot loud cried when his leader died;
“May the Lord-God us deliver!”“Now fierce on the dogs, ye jolly Norse-men,
To the chine strike down and cleave them!”
Then the Scots would fain be at home again,
Their vaunty spirits leave them.Filling their craws to their hearts content
‘Midst carnage the ravens wander’d;
The Scottish maids shall long lament
The young blood on the Kringe squander’d.Not a single man escap’d, not one,
To his landsmen to tell the story;
‘Tis a perilous thing to invade who wone
On Norroway’s mountains hoary.A pillar still towers on that self-same spot,
Which Norraway’s foes defyeth;
To the Norman wo, whose heart glows not
When he that pillar eyeth.
Translation from Targum – Or Metrical Translations From Thirty Languages And Dialects by George Borrow. Provided under a Project Gutenberg license.
Herr Zinklar drog over salten Hav,
Til Norrig hans Cours monne stande;
Blant Gudbrands Klipper han fant sin Grav,
der vanked sí¥ blodig en Pande.
– Vel op fí¸r Dag,
de kommer vel over den Hede.Herr Zinklar drog over Bí¸lgen blaa
For Svenske Penge at stride;
Hielpe dig Gud du visselig maa
I Gresset for Nordmanden bide.Maanen skinner om Natten bleg,
De Vover saa sagtelig trille:
En Havfrue op av Vandet steeg
Hun spaaede Herr Zinklar ilde.Vend om, vend om, du Skotske Mand!
Det gielder dit Liv saa fage,
Kommer du til Norrig, jeg siger for sand,
Ret aldrig du kommer tilbage.Leed er din Sang, du giftige Trold!
Altidens du spaaer om Ulykker,
Fanger jeg dig en gang i Vold
Jeg lader dig hugge i Stykker.Han seiled i Dage, han seiled i tre
Med alt sit hyrede Fí¸lge,
Den fierde Morgen han Norrig mon see,
Jeg vil det ikke fordí¸lge.Ved Romsdals Kyster han styred til Land
Erklærede sig for en Fiende;
Ham fulgte fiorten hundrede Mand
Som alle havde ondt i Sinde.De skiendte og brændte hvor de drog frem,
Al Folket monne de krænke,
Oldingens Afmakt rí¸rte ei dem,
De spottet den grædende Enke.Barnet blev dræbt i Moderens Skií¸d,
Saa mildelig det end smiled;
Men Rygtet om denne Jammer og Ní¸d
Til Kiernen af Landet iled.Baunen lyste og Budstikken lí¸b
Fra Grande til nærmeste Grande,
Dalens sí¸nner i skjiul ei krí¸b
Det mí¥tte Hr. Zinklar sande.Soldaten er ude paa Kongens Tog,
Vi maae selv Landet forsvare;
Forbandet være det Niddings Drog,
Som nu sit Blod vil spare!De Bí¸nder av Vaage, Lessí¸e og Lom,
Med skarpe í˜xer paa Nakke
I Bredebí¸igd til sammen kom,
Med Skotten vilde de snakke.Tæt under Lide der lí¸ber en Stie,
Som man monne Kringen kalde,
Laugen skynder sig der forbi,
I den skal Fienderne falde.Riflen hænger ei meer paa Væg,
Hist sigter graahærdede Skytte,
Ní¸kken oplí¸fter sit vaade Skiæg,
Og venter med Længsel sit Bytte.Det fí¸rste Skud Hr. Zinklar gialdt,
Han brí¸led og opgav sin Aande;
Hver Skotte raabte, da Obersten faldt:
Gud frie os af denne Vaande!Frem Bí¸nder! Frem I Norske Mænd!
Slaa ned, slaa ned for Fode!
Da í¸nsked sig Skotten hjem igien,
Han var ei ret lystig til Mode.Med dí¸de Kroppe blev Kringen strí¸ed,
De Ravne fik nok at æde;
Det Ungdoms Blod, som her udflí¸d,
De Skotske Piger begræde.Ei nogen levende Siel kom hjem,
Som kunde sin Landsmand fortælle,
Hvor farligt det er at besí¸ge dem
Der boe blandt Norriges Fielde.End kneiser en Stí¸tte pí¥ samme Sted,
Som Norges Uvennner mon true.
Vee hver en Nordmand, som ei bliver heed,
Saa tit hans í˜ine den skue!
“For it is written in the Book of Psalms:
‘May another take his office.’—
History:
I always find a particular comedy skit funny, You know the type. There’s either a group of military inductees or a group of new citizens gathered together, and they’re going to take an oath. Everyone raises their right hand and the master of ceremonies begins the oath… —I [state your name]— Everyone replies: —I state your name.—
This is what today’s lesson is all about.
The band of Apostles had a vacancy, and they needed to fill it. It came down to Judas called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, or Matthias. The Apostles prayed and then lots were drawn.
It is interesting to note that in Jewish culture lots were cast using stones, but the casting of lots was limited to priests. William Silverman and Iain Chalmers in Casting and drawing lots: a time-honoured way of dealing with uncertainty and for ensuring fairness wrote:
Although the masses were forbidden by Jewish law to cast lots for divination —“ which was the prerogative of the priests – God’s authorities on earth were allowed to use lottery devices to guide judgements. Thus the chief priest carried sacred stones inside his breastplate, through which he sensed divine intentions. The stones gave God’s answer, determined when the ‘Yes’ or the ‘No’ stone was drawn out.
Matthias chose the yes stone and was counted among the Apostles. Matthias won the lottery.
The lottery:
How did we come to win the lottery, to be Christians, to be part of the Holy Polish National Catholic Church?
Now certainly some of us are Polish or have a Polish heritage, but many do not. Background doesn’t matter. Some were born into the Church, others came to the Church later in life. Birthright doesn’t matter. Regardless of background or history, each of us won the lot, the yes stone. We have been chosen to be on the inside, to be part of the Holy Church.
Doesn’t it feel great to know that we won the lottery?
Getting stoned:
We are lucky and blessed to be Christian, to have won the lottery, and are part of the true Church, but we must remember that winning comes with sacrifice.
Think about the method of casting lots by which Matthias won. According to Jewish priestly practice the Apostles, the new priesthood of the Holy Church, used stones.
Think about that. They used stones, which can remind us of stoning. Choosing the stone, winning the lottery, being Christian requires that sort of sacrifice. Several chapters later in Acts we will read of the stoning of Stephen. Chapters later the Jews and their Gentile sympathizers attempt to stone Paul at Ico’nium and again at Lystra.
What does it mean?
Would could reduce Christianity to winning, to being right and leave it at that. We could reduce Christianity to sacrifice, to getting stoned, to being a martyr, and leave it at that. Those two things are only the beginning and ending points to our Christian life. We begin by winning and we end winning. We begin with knowledge of sacrifice and we end in sacrifice. Our Christianity is everything that comes between those two points. The practice of Christianity is all the things that add to our winning and add to our sacrifice.
What adds:
What adds to our sacrifice and to our winning is the love that comes in-between, the love that is the marker of the Christian life. Our Lord and Savior prayed, saying:
They do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
We do not belong to the world because by winning we have been freed from the constraints of the world. The world wants to tell us how we should —love.— The world wants to dictate who we may and may not love.
Thankfully we’re not part of the cheap love, the merely romantic or sexual love the world dictates. Our how of loving is a love that acknowledges the core value and dignity or each and every human being, every human, from the beginning of life and into eternal life.
Thankfully we do not have to choose sides in our loving. The world would have us love some and hate others. We love the lovable, who can be too annoying to love, and we love the broken, who can be too damaged to love. We love because as St. John says:
Beloved, if God so loved us,
we also must love one another.
Our loving is all that occurs between the bookends of winning and sacrifice.
Not complex:
Our loving is not complex and we don’t have to break out the journals and ledgers to count the complexities of loving. We are not part of an accounting/bookkeeping exercise where we enumerate our good deeds. Rather, our Christian life is one where loving, a lifestyle defined by loving, never counts the costs or keeps balances. As the ads say, we JUST DO IT.
Taking our place:
We have won. Our Holy Church and each and every one of us has the assurance St. John spoke of:
—¨This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us,
that he has given us of his Spirit.
We have won and the Spirit of God in us, in our work, in our loving. We have taken our place in the Holy Church. The place that was prepared for us has been filled. Let us never forget the value that our winning adds. When we won the vacancy that could only be filling by our winning was filled. Jesus prayed:—¨—¨
As you sent me into the world,
so I sent them into the world.—¨
We have won and have taken our place, the place we need to be so that Jesus could lead us in filling the vacancies that still exist. There is a vacancy in this pew and that, there is a place for everyone in our Holy Polish National Catholic Church. By the love we carry, by the witness we bear, many more will come to win, to sacrifice, and to love.
We have taken our place. Our winning, our sacrifice, our living lives defined by love wins the victory we all long for, the coming of the Kingdom of God, where we will stand together with all who have sacrificed and have loved. Amen.
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New blog post: Daily Digest for May 23rd http://bit.ly/aWMXE [#]
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New blog post: May 24 – A Prayer by Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov http://bit.ly/114AA7 [#]
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Faithful before thee, Mother of God, now kneeling,
Image miraculous and merciful — of thee
Not for my soul’s health nor battles waged, beseeching,
Nor yet with thanks or penitence o’erwhelming me!Not for myself,– my heart with guilt o’erflowing —
Who in my home land e’er a stranger has remained,
No, a sinless child upon thy mercy throwing,
That thou protect her innocence unstained!Worthy the highest bliss, with happiness O bless her!
Grant her a friend to stand unchanging at her side,
A youth of sunshine and an old age tranquil,
A spirit where together peace and hope abide.Then, when strikes the hour her way from earth for wending,
Let her heart break at dawning or at dead of night —
From out thy highest heaven thy fairest angel sending
The fairest of all souls sustain in heavenward flight!
Russian Lyrics: Songs of Cossack, Lover, Patriot, and Peasant by Martha Dickinson Bianchi
Я, матерь божиÑ, ныне Ñ Ð¼Ð¾Ð»Ð¸Ñ‚Ð²Ð¾ÑŽ
Пред твоим образом, Ñрким ÑиÑнием,
Ðе о ÑпаÑении, не перед битвою,
Ðе Ñ Ð±Ð»Ð°Ð³Ð¾Ð´Ð°Ñ€Ð½Ð¾Ñтью иль покаÑнием,Ðе за Ñвою молю душу пуÑтынную,
За душу Ñтранника в мире безродного;
Ðо Ñ Ð²Ñ€ÑƒÑ‡Ð¸Ñ‚ÑŒ хочу деву невинную
Теплой заÑтупнице мира холодного.Окружи ÑчаÑтием душу доÑтойную;
Дай ей Ñопутников, полных вниманиÑ,
МолодоÑÑ‚ÑŒ Ñветлую, ÑтароÑÑ‚ÑŒ покойную,
Сердцу незлобному мир упованиÑ.Срок ли приблизитÑÑ Ñ‡Ð°Ñу прощальному
Ð’ утро ли шумное, в ночь ли безглаÑную –
Ты воÑприÑÑ‚ÑŒ пошли к ложу печальному
Лучшего ангела душу прекраÑную.
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New blog post: May 22 – To write poetry inspired by the poetry of Jan Rybowicz http://bit.ly/IcG4H [#]
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New blog post: Actions Speak Louder Than Words! http://bit.ly/3NUEu7 [#]
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New blog post: Dr. Laurence Vance – Christianity and War, Other Aspects of the Warfare State http://bit.ly/kHolu [#]
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New blog post: May 23 – untitled by Juozas MaceviÄius http://bit.ly/12q8fL [#]
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