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Reflection for the 18th Ordinary Sunday 2025

Christian Witness

Reflection for the 18th Ordinary Sunday 2025

Christian Witness

Reflection for the 18th Ordinary Sunday 2025

Poland - Polish - Polonia, Xpost to PGF,

Evan Lysacek names Sports Ambassador

U.S. State Department Names Lysacek as Sports Diplomat
By Raymond Rolak

The 2010 Olympic gold medalist in men’s figure skating, Evan Lysacek, has left for Europe to be a sports ambassador in association with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. He will visit Stockholm, Sweden, and Minsk, Belarus.

File photo
Lysacek won the gold medal in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games and was named the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Sportsman of the Year in 2010. That year he was also named the Amateur Athletic Union’s Sullivan Award winner, given to the most outstanding U.S. amateur athlete of the year. The prestigious honor is given for accomplishments, leadership skills, character and sportsmanship. Lysacek did not compete in the U.S. Nationals this year.

While in Sweden, Lysacek will hold ice skating clinics, organized in cooperation with the non-governmental organization, Sports Without Borders. He will conduct clinics with the Skating Union of Belarus in Minsk and speak with students at the University of Physical Culture about the importance of sports in society.

The trip to Sweden will give him a chance to visit old friend Natalia Lopatniuk-Brzezinski. They used to skate together in Chicago. Lopatniuk-Brezinski is the wife of new U.S. ambassador to Sweden, Mark Brzezinski. Mark Brzezinski wrote the 2000 book “The Struggle for Constitutionalism in Poland.”

[AMAZONPRODUCT=0312231962]

Earlier this month, while in Boston, Lysacek spoke about his upcoming trip before the Skating Club of Boston’s Ice Chips show. Lysacek was the headliner at Harvard’s Bright Arena during the 100th Anniversary of the famed skating club’s showcase and extravaganza. Fittingly, the theme of this year’s production was ‘100 Years of Excellence’. “I’ve been checking the weather in Sweden and Belarus every day,” he said. One of the choreographers for the giant ice extravaganza was Tom Lescinski. Lysacek used New York based fashion designer Vera Wang for his costumes.

“As a figure skater, I have always been proud to represent the United States at competitions around the world,” Lysacek said. “I am honored to be named a Sports Envoy and look forward to supporting the goals set by Secretary (Hillary) Clinton through sports diplomacy.”

Spokesperson Shep Goldberg of Northville, Michigan said Lysacek had recently given clinics in Saudi Arabia to overwhelming crowds.

Lysacek has said in skating circles that the 2014 Olympics were his next big goal. The U.S. Figure Skating Association and Lysacek were recently at odds over endorsement contracts regarding product category sponsorships. He is scheduled to perform at Kim Yu-Na’s ice show in South Korea this May. Yu-Na was the women’s 2010 Olympic gold medalist and is a pivotal spokesperson for South Korea’s efforts in hosting the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang.

Michele Kwan was the most recent figure skater who served as a public diplomacy ambassador for the State Department. Since 2005, the U.S. has sent more than 200 U.S. athletes to over 50 countries to participate as Sports Envoy’s in their Sports United programs.

Christian Witness, PNCC, , ,

To comfort in the midst of sadness and violence

From the Chicago Tribune: Family, friends gather at Brighton Park home of slain 13-year-old

On the quiet Southwest Side block where many of the kids spend their days playing outside, faces were grim Sunday as more than 50 neighbors gathered around the steps where 13-year-old Adrian Luna was shot and killed.

“It is very hard to lose a loved one,” the Rev. Jose Rojas told the crowd, warning that the community should come together to prevent such violence from happening again. “Today, it happened to them. Tomorrow, it could be any of us.”

Adrian, whose full name was Roberto Adrian Luna though he went by his middle name, was hanging out with two friends Saturday night on the steps to his Brighton Park neighborhood home in the 4600 block of South Spaulding Avenue.

“Chillen like a villain,” Luna posted on Facebook just before 9 p.m. Saturday.

An hour later, the teenager was dead and two of his friends wounded after two gunmen apparently emerged from a gangway and started shooting at the trio, police and family said.

Adrian’s older brother, Mario Lopez, 29, was a few houses away and ran towards his fallen brother.

“I ran screaming his name. I saw him in a fetal position,” Lopez said, tears welling in his eyes. “… He stopped breathing in my arms.”

Family said the Irene C. Hernandez Middle School 7th-grader was a happy-go-lucky kid who excelled at math and loved horror movies. On Easter Sunday, Adrian had planned to prank his family on by hiding oranges instead of eggs for the hunt, family said.

“He was just a baby,” said Erik Lopez, 28, another of Adrian’s brothers. “They took a kid full of life, a kid full of joy.”

Among Adrian’s close friends are the two others wounded in the attack. A 15-year-old boy was shot in the forearm and thigh, and a 16-year-old boy was shot in the arm, but their relatives said their injuries are not life-threatening.

The mother of one of 16-year-old victim said her son told her one of the gunmen emerged from the gangway next to Adrian’s home and asked the teens what gang they were in. The teens told the gunman they were not in a gang — something police corroborated, though they said the shooting may be related to gang conflicts in the area.

“Even so, he shot them,” the victim’s mother said. “You’re not safe anywhere.”

Police said no one was in custody Sunday evening.

As Adrian’s family tearfully looked out at the gathered crowd, Rojas, the pastor at St. John the Baptist National Catholic Church (Parroquia San Juan Bautista), sprinkled holy water on the steps where Adrian died.

With that, neighbors reached into their pockets and donated money to help Adrian’s family bury the teenager.

“It’s not about revenge,” the priest told the crowd. “It’s about prevention.”

Dale Señor el descanso eterno.
Brille para él la luz perpetua.
Descanse en paz. Amén

Homilies

Easter Reflection

Yippie!!!!!!!!!
Did our team score?

“Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here.”

Yippie, alleluia, celebrate, rejoice, dance, sing, shout out, jubilate, glorify, praise, laud, revel, feast, exalt, delight, smile, rise up, laugh, cheer, make merry!

Our team has scored, we have won, and we didn’t even have to play.

One person – the God-man Jesus Christ stuck with it the entire time, He sacrificed, fought hard, laid out our strategy for success, and gave His all, His very life so that our team would win.

Jesus’ victory is the reason we celebrate today. On Good Friday He completed the course. His sacrificial death washed us in His blood. We are no longer bound to sin and death, but freed. When the Father looks at us, His children, He sees His Son Jesus in us. He loves us so much – in the very same way He loves His Son.

Today, Jesus has shown us the promise – what we will be like forever. Since we are in Him and He is in us, we know that we will be exactly like Him in the resurrection.

The VICTORY? – The power of death has been overcome. Death is no more. The devil has been crushed and he holds no power over us.

What does this victory, nearly 2,000 years ago mean for me today?

Christ’s victory means all of the following and much more:

  • We will live forever.
  • The world cannot tell us that this is it; there is nothing else.
  • We have nothing to fear.
  • We have true power and freedom.
  • We are beautiful in God’s eyes.
  • We have a path and a plan that makes our lives wonderful here on earth.
  • We have reason to celebrate.
  • We are all family – as God’s children, Jesus’ brother and sisters, and as community to each other for we have one faith and hope.

We have reason to proclaim this message: God came to save us and did redeem us. We have won because Jesus won the ultimate victory. He has risen, death is no more for us, GUARANTEED!

Poland - Polish - Polonia, ,

Scholarship Opportunity: East European Studies Junior Scholars’ Training Seminar

East European Studies Junior Scholars’ Training Seminar (JSTS) Program Scholarship

Deadline: The deadline for receipt of this year’s JSTS applications and supporting materials is April 15, 2012. Applicants will be notified approximately six weeks later.

Background Information: East European Studies of the Woodrow Wilson Center and the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research are soliciting applications for the twenty fourth annual training seminar for junior scholars in East European studies, to be held during August, 2012. All domestic transportation, accommodation and meal costs will be covered by the sponsors.

Eligibility: These scholarships are available to U.S. citizens. While Southeast Europe remains a primary focus, projects on Central Europe and the Baltic states are again eligible. Projects should focus on fields in the social sciences and humanities including, but not limited to: Anthropology, History, Political Science, Slavic Languages and Literatures, and Sociology. All projects should aim to highlight their potential policy relevance.

Disciplines represented at JSTS 2011 included: anthropology; history; political science; and, sociology.

Program Description: JSTS successfully combines formal and informal meetings to promote a variety of intellectual exchanges.

Additional Requirements: Successful applicants are expected to submit a five-page paper no later than July 1 on the sources and methodology of their report and the wider significance of their work. (In other words, what was researched, how it was researched, and what it all means.) This paper will serve as the basis for discussion at the seminar.

Application Information: To apply for the Junior Scholars’ Training Seminar (JSTS), the applicant must submit the following:

  • – a completed application form a curriculum vitae (which must include social security number and full date of birth, institution where degree is expected or was received, title of dissertation/thesis, and name and department of academic advisor);
  • – a single page, single-spaced statement of the work you wish to discuss – either the dissertation/thesis or another project;
  • – one letter of recommendation from academic advisor.

Please mail application materials for all grants to:

East European Studies
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
One Woodrow Wilson Plaza
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004-3027

OR send them by E-mail.

Christian Witness, Homilies, ,

Reflection for Palm Sunday

Our Brother did this for us.
No words can express our gratitude.

“Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.”

How would we thank a brother or a sister who gave their all for us, who sacrificed everything? How would we recognize their gift, a gift so wonderful and remarkable that it gave us complete happiness, fulfillment, and a great life that lasts forever?

Our Lenten theme has focused on family. Now we are at the pinnacle of that Lenten journey. We enter Holy Week recognizing already that at the end we will walk away with a tremendous gift – a gift that our brother gave us.

Jesus said many times, “this is what I have come to do.” He came to sacrifice His life so that we would have life. He came to bear our sins in the form of a heavy cross, scourging, nails, mockery, and abandonment. This was NO ACCIDENT.

Jesus came with a plan – to show us that we have a heavenly Father who loves us so deeply that He would offer up His Son for us. He didn’t do this for show, but to create a real relationship, to break down the barriers we create to separate ourselves from Him.

St. Paul worked hard to convince the Romans of the power of what Christ had done. He said:

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

Our Brother came at the right time. He came to a family that either didn’t recognize their Father, or thought they were smarter than their Father. He came to a family that didn’t recognize Him. He came to a family that bickered with their Brother, and eventually killed Him. That’s all of us. And in return…?

In return we know we will live forever, are saved, washed clean. We know we are members of God’s family.

Let’s take time this Holy Week to sit with our Brother, to keep Him company in His time of suffering, abandonment, and need. Let’s take this time to whisper a thank you next to His grave so that on Easter morning we can greet the new day – the day we received our Brother’s gift.

Homilies,

Reflection for Passion Sunday

Mom, Dad, tell him to stop bugging me!
Can’t you get along?

“He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”

On Monday morning, October 2, 2006, a gunman entered a one-room Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. In front of twenty-five horrified pupils, thirty-two-year-old Charles Roberts ordered the boys and the teacher to leave. After tying the legs of the ten remaining girls, Roberts opened fire on all of them, killing five and leaving the others critically wounded. He then shot himself as police stormed the building. His motivation? “I’m angry at God for taking my little daughter,” he told the children before the massacre.

The story captured the attention of broadcast and print media in the United States and around the world. By Tuesday morning some fifty-television crews had clogged the small village of Nickel Mines, staying for five days until the killer and the killed were buried.

The blood was barely dry on the schoolhouse floor when Amish parents brought words of forgiveness to the family of the one who had slain their children. The outside world was incredulous that such forgiveness could be offered so quickly for such a heinous crime.

Three weeks after the shooting, “Amish forgiveness” had appeared in 2,900 news stories worldwide and on 534,000 web sites.

Fresh from the funerals where they had buried their own children, grieving Amish families accounted for half of the seventy-five people who attended the killer’s burial. Roberts’ widow was deeply moved by their presence as Amish families greeted her and her three children. The forgiveness went beyond talk and graveside presence: the Amish also supported a fund for the shooter’s family.

Today we are presented with the gift of forgiveness. As the family of God we are offered this wonderful gift, this chance, and not just once, but over and over. Jesus did become the source of salvation to all who obey Him, and the words we must obey, as the family of God, are to forgive. We are to forgive as the Amish did.

Next week the crowds will greet Jesus with adulation, and we will strike the cross with our sins. We will then hear Jesus say clearly: “Father forgive them…” for no sin is so great that it cannot be overcome by His love. Let us stand in awe – and always remember that regardless the burden, God’s heart is open to us.

Poland - Polish - Polonia, Xpost to PGF, , ,

Ś+P Tadeusz Sawicz laid to rest

The Last ‘Battle of Britain’ Aviator Laid to Rest
By Raymond Rolak

TORONTO– Tadeusz Sawicz, a former Polish World War II Air Force Officer, was honored with full military ceremonies when his remains were flown to Warsaw, Poland from Toronto, Canada for a state burial recently.

Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak, Polish Air Force troops, and soldiers from Britain’s Royal Air Force attended the arrival. Siemoniak said with reverence, “General, welcome in Poland, we shall always remember what you have done for the Republic of Poland.”

The honor ceremonies were historical because Sawicz was the last surviving Polish aviator that flew combat in the “Battle of Britain.” Brig. Gen. Tadeusz Sawicz died October 19, at the age of 97. He had been confined to a suburban Ontario nursing home. His ashes arrived at the military airport near Warsaw and his remains were interred at the military Powazki cemetery. His widow Jadwiga and daughter Anna attended the solemn event. The memorial started with a Catholic Mass.

With the RAF Queen’s Color Squadron present, Polish military spokesperson Czeslaw Mroczek said that Sawicz gave us an example of “true patriotism.”

He got his wings at the Aviation Cadet School in Dęblin, Poland in 1935. At the start of World War II in 1939, Sawicz flew in Poland’s air protection against the invading German Nazis. He was a member of the famed “Pursuit Brigade” which defended Warsaw in September of 1939. After the formidable power of the German Luftwaffe collapsed Warsaw’s air defenses, he joined Polish pilots fighting in France. Shortly after, when Paris surrendered, he joined thousands of Polish airmen, soldiers and sailors who traveled to Britain to take up the fight once again.

In the summer of 1940, General Władysław Sikorski – the head of Poland’s Government in Exile in London – signed an agreement with the British Government to form a Polish Air Force in Britain.

Sawicz served with distinction in the Polish Air Force in Britain from the 1940 “Battle of Britain” until 1947, and was credited with shooting down three German aircraft. He had been awarded Poland’s highest military honor, the Order Wojenny Virtuti Militari in 1943 and numerous other British, U.S., and Netherland aviation medals.

During the “Battle of Britain” German bombers devastated England’s airfields, cities and ports in a bid to destroy its defenses in preparation for a planned invasion. The Nazi’s had hoped they could bomb Great Britain into submission for surrender or a favorable negotiated peace.

In preparation for the invasion, Adolph Hitler had written in his famous Directive #16, “The English air force must have been beaten down to such an extent morally and in fact that it can no longer muster any power of attack worth mentioning against the German crossing.”

During the “Battle of Britain” the highly trained and battle hardened Polish airmen had the highest kill rates of all the RAF pilots that took part in this specific window of WWII. They were credited with 203 confirmed airborne kills.

Sawicz had time with the famous 303 Polish Fighter Squadron and also the 315. The 316th Warsaw Squadron, which flew Hawker Hurricanes, was under his direction in 1941. He also served under the Polish-American ace Francis Gabreski in the 56th Air Group. Sawicz suffered injuries in a 1944 on ground airfield collision when another Spitfire ran into him. He then was Polish Wing Commander at Coltishall, England and later in France coordinating advanced bombing raids into Germany.

Gabreski had been assigned to the Polish Squadron right after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 in Hawaii. His mission was to learn the 303 Kosciusko Squadron tactics because of their high German kill rate. Aggression and Nazi hatred was the key to the Polish airmen’s success. They also had the faster Spitfire. The Spitfire was built for speed which allowed it to accomplish its mission so successfully against enemy aircraft. With its sleek elliptical wings which had a thin cross-section, it allowed for a higher top speed than other fighters of its time, including that of the Hawker Hurricane.

Gabreski, known famously as Gabby, stayed in the U.S. service and later commanded a wing of F-86 Sabres at Selfridge Air Force Base in Macomb County during the Korean conflict in 1950. The two would periodically rendezvous and last got together for a reunion and aviation art exhibit in Toronto in 2000. Gabreski passed in 2002.

Sawicz also commanded the 131 and 133 Polish Wings and was demobilized as a Major in 1947. He stayed on in England after the war because of Russian occupation of his home area. He emmigrated to Canada in 1957. He was both a gentleman farmer and had worked for a Regional Canadian Airline. In 2006 he was named an honorary Brigadier-General by Polish president Lech Kaczynski.

There is a dedicated Polish War Memorial monument in the London Borough of Hillingdon that honors the Polish Airmen that defended Britain. In 2010 the monument was refurbished for the 70th anniversary celebration honoring those that participated in the “Battle of Britain.”

The 145 Polish aviators honored in London in the official RAF Role of Honor that had flown in the ‘Battle of Britain’ are now known affectionately as the “The Few.” This is from a phrase made famous by a Winston Churchill speech. There is a special stained glass window in Westminster Abbey honoring them.

'Battle of Britain' memorial stained glass windows at Westminster Abbey in the Polish RAF Aviators alcove, London, England.
Homilies,

Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Lent

Are we there yet?
its only 5,615 miles…

Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me, and he has also charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people, let him go up, and may his God be with him!”

We’ve all heard or seen those instances on a trip where someone in the car or airplane asks: “Are we there yet?” It is usually a small child who is impatient with the trip.
Our Lenten journey can be like that. By the time we close in on Easter we might ask ourselves (or others), “Are we there yet?”

If we were saying that now, it wouldn’t be uncommon because from a time perspective we are more than half way there. Yet we may still be at the bottom of the hill.
The Jewish people had been exiled from Jerusalem for 70 years.

They longed to return. They lost their music, their joy, and in their penance found reconciliation with God.

We must continue on our journey to find reconciliation with God. We may need to refresh and renew our Lenten sacrifice. We may need to reconnect to where we should be, and get back on the road.

The days ahead will be an uphill struggle. Penance will increase. We will find it harder to comply with the Church’s requirements and with our best intentions.

This is where family becomes essential to our journey. We do not need to travel 5,615 miles to get to Jerusalem the city or to family. The city is of no matter because it is only a place. Where we’re headed is the new and heavenly Jerusalem. This is our family dwelling, the house that belongs to us because we are His children.

We can be assured that our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, in faith, has put us on the road. Our membership in the family of faith, the Church, gives us the love and support we need to get there.

“Are we there yet?” Yes. “Are we still on the road?” Yes, that too. We have both a home and a family to support us as we journey there.

Homilies, PNCC,

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Institution of the PNCC

If I’m part of the vine…
can I drink more wine?

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

We have been studying family as our Lenten theme. Today, we lighten our Lenten practice a bit and engage in a celebration of – no wait – yes family. Amazing isn’t it?
Today we celebrate the organization of our Holy Polish National Catholic Church.

Church can be a lot of things to a lot of people, but one thing it certainly isn’t is a stagnant shell of a corporation based on dusty old books.

Church is the reality of our relationship as family in Christ. There are so many quotes about that, but a key one is taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 4:4-6:

There is one body and one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all.

We have been grafted onto Jesus. He is the vine and we are the braches. That makes us one being, one entity, and sharers in His nourishment and love.

If Church were dusty old books, it would not be a living entity. If it were a stagnant shell, we would have no reason to be part of it, or feel alive in it.

Being part of the vine does give us reason to celebrate, to become intoxicated with the happiness that comes from being part of the living body of Christ.

Our Holy Church is a beacon and the joy of life. It is a place of happiness, reconciliation, mutual labor and support, the one place where we can endeavor together to reach God.

In the Holy Church we find ourselves already connected to God, part of Him, members of His family – and as St. Paul focuses on, one in every aspect of who we are.

We are not strangers who bump into each other on occasion. We are Polish National Catholics who live and abide in Jesus Christ, who bring His life filled Church, His life-giving message, to the world. There we will gather and join others to the life-giving vine, the place where we will all drink the wine of joy!

PNCC,

Ś+P Bishop Jan Dawidziuk

The Bishop Emeritus of the Western Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church has entered into his eternal rest. The Rt. Rev. ś.p. Jan Dawidziuk passed the morning of Tuesday, March 6th.

Arrangement are as follows:

St. Mary’s PNC Church in Parma, Ohio

Wake/Viewing: Thursday, March 8th from 4 – 8 p.m.
Requiem Vespers: Thursday, March 8th at 7 p.m.
Funeral Mass & Burial: Friday, March 9th at 10 a.m.

More information to follow.

Eternal rest grant unto your servant, priest, and bishop Jan and may the perpetual light shine upon him. Amen.

May he rest in peace.

Boże, któryś pośród Apostolskich Kapłanów sługę Twego Jan biskupią–kapłańską–godnością obdarzyċ raczył, a teraz łaskawie z ucisku i walk tego świata wyprowadził, spraw, prosimy Cię, ażeby z Twego Miłosierdzia w poczet świętych Twoich zaliczony został. Przez Chrystusa Pana naszego. Amen.

Wieczny odpoczynek racz mu dać Panie
A światłość wiekuista niechaj mu świeci.

Niech odpoczywa w pokoju. Amen.

Bishop Emeritus Jan Dawidziuk, former Bishop Ordinary of the Western Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church died Tuesday, March 6, at Parma Community General Hospital. He was 74.

Bishop Dawidziuk, had served parishes in Illinois, Wisconsin, and St. Louis before his assignment as pastor of St. Mary’s Polish National Catholic Church in Parma, Ohio in 1986. In 1999, he was elevated to the office of bishop after being elected to the office at the Church’s Special Synod that same year. He served as Diocesan Bishop of the Western Diocese, which includes parishes in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Florida, Missouri, and Washington from 2003 to 2009. In his retirement he assisted by serving at St. Mary’s parish.

“The church is the same everywhere, and people are almost the same,” Bishop Dawidziuk told the Mosinee Times of Wisconsin in 1983.

St. Mary’s current pastor, Rev. Stanley Bilinski, said Dawidziuk was a peacemaker. “He hated conflict. He sought to see all sides. He always sought resolution and collaboration.”

Bishop Dawidziuk was born in Kolczyn, Poland and raised mostly in Siedlce. The Germans invaded before he turned 2. He graduated from a seminary in Seidlce and was ordained in Poland in 1960. He earned master’s and doctoral degrees at the Academy of Catholic Theology in Warsaw, doing some of his research in Rome. Besides his native Polish, he learned Latin, Greek, Hebrew, German, Italian and English. He taught at the academy and high school levels in Opole, Poland.

In 1981, Bishop Dawidziuk emigrated to the United States with his family. He also joined the Greater Cleveland Ministerial Association and held many positions in the Polish National Catholic Church, including delegate to its Supreme Council in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Bishop Dawidziuk retired in 2009 and moved to Berea, Ohio. Survivors include his wife, the former Anna Fedorowicz, a daughter and a grandson.

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