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The PNCC in Springfield and Westfield, MA

From CBS3 Springfield: Roman Catholic Alternative

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield announced this summer that 19 Catholic Churches are closing leaving many fighting to keep their places of worship open or looking for another church. We found local Catholic churches that are not part of the Roman Catholic diocese but are Catholic and run their church democratically.

Laurie Costello, member of National Catholic Church, says, “We came from the Roman Catholic Church and we just weren’t happy with the way things ran.”

Laurie Costello and her family changed churches 5 years ago when the Springfield Diocese closed the Roman Catholic school she grew up in.

Costello says, “We did fight to keep it open and we came to find out that no matter what you were going to do it has been decided.”

But at St. Joseph’s National Catholic Church in Westfield parishioners claim that would never happen to their church because they don’t answer to the Springfield Diocese or the Vatican.

Costello says, “The parish won’t close unless we vote on it.”

Susan Teehan, a life-long member of St. Joseph’s says, “The church is a democratic church. We own the property, the buildings.”

Teehan’s grandparents helped found St. Joseph’s 80 years ago. She’s been going to mass here since she was a little girl.

Teehan says, “I think other people feel they come to Sunday Mass and they leave and they have no voice in the church whereas we feel as if we are an important part of the church.”

Father Sr. Joseph Soltysiak says, “The people of this church have very much a say in the affairs that go on.”

Father Sr. Joseph Soltysiak has been the priest at St. Joseph’s for more than 15 years. He says everyone gets one vote, including him. But it’s very much a Catholic church.

Father Sr. Soltysiak says, “We are a very high church. We are a Catholic Church. Our main method of worship is the Holy Mass Eucharist.”

The National Catholic Church was founded in Pennsylvania in the late 1800’s by Polish-Americans who broke away from the Roman Catholic Church partly because of disputes over who owned church property. Currently, there are 8 churches in Massachusetts and have 25-thousand members in the United States. It used to be called the Polish National Catholic Church until recently. They changed the name to welcome all people.

Father Sr. Soltysiak says, “The majority of people coming here and who become part of our family are people who left their Catholic faith and they can find it again here but not under the jurisdiction of Rome.”

That’s exactly what Laurie Costello and her family did and they found a new religious home.

There are differences between the National Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Church. One of the most obvious is the priests can marry. Father Joe has several kids. One of them is also priest.

…

The National Catholic Churches in Western Mass are in Chicopee, Northampton, South Deerfield, Ware and Westfield.

Perspective, PNCC,

Protest the closing of your parish and the PNCC way

From just across the border, east of Albany in The Berkshire Eagle: Vigil at St. Stan’s to be featured in Time magazine

ADAMS —” The St. Stanislaus Kostka parishioners’ vigil to keep their church openAlso see St. Stanislaus Kostka, Braving the storm. is featured in the next edition of Time magazine hitting newsstands Monday.

In fact, the growing effort to prevent Catholic church closings is garnering growing media attention, including a front-page story that appeared last week in The New York Times about the ongoing vigils in Boston titled “Quiet Rebellion.”

And a news crew for WNYT, Albany television channel 13, stopped into St. Stan’s Friday for interviews and footage.

In particular because the WNYT is building up for a similar occurrence here in Albany when the Roman Catholic diocese closes a large number of parishes next weekend.

St. Stan’s parishioners —” who’ve been keeping vigil since the morning of Dec. 26 and beyond the church’s Jan. 1 closing —” are glad they’re getting the widespread attention, but they aren’t sure it’s going to help.

“I think it’s indicative of what’s going on in Catholic churches across the country,” said Adams resident Paul Demastrie as he stood vigil in the church Friday afternoon. “It’s a major story because it’s national, not just a community issue. And if the church winds up closing anyway, at least we can say we did our best.”

“It’s getting the word out nationwide and even worldwide of what’s happening with the churches,” said Francis Hajdas, a spokeswoman for the St. Stan’s vigil. “As far as we’re concerned, there’s no reason to close our church, outside the fact that they need the money to pay off lawsuits for clergy abuse.”

The vigil movement has had mixed results.

Of nine vigils in Catholic churches in Boston, four churches have been reopened, and five vigils are ongoing. Vigils that started in October to keep two churches in New Orleans open were ended earlier this week when the diocese put an end to the sit-in. Police there forced their way into the buildings, and two parishioners who locked themselves in and refused to leave were arrested.

The closings of St. Stan’s and St. Thomas Aquinas was announced in August, and went into effect at the first of the year. Those two churches are being merged with Notre Dame under a new name.

‘It was heartbreaking’

…

Although owned by the Diocese of Springfield, St. Stan’s was funded and built in 1905 by Polish immigrants, and has been decorated, enhanced and added to using donations from the local Polish community ever since. Parishioners contend the diocese is trying to take away the spiritual and cultural center of their community that was paid for, built and maintained by generations of their families.

closed churchYes, the Diocese is, but as every Roman Catholic should acknowledge, parishioners and parish councils, even pastors, have little power other then that delegated by their bishop. Roman Catholic bishops in the United States own everything, and most particularly each parish’s property. Therein lies the real power. It is their right to demand that parishes close or merge, to sell the property, and take charge of the property’s contents, determining its distribution.

This is exactly the thing that the parishioners of Sacred Hearts in Scranton rallied against in 1897, and the very reason for the organization of the Polish National Catholic Church. Bishop Hodur and the members of the PNCC enshrined the democratic character of the PNCC in its constitution and in its life so that this wouldn’t happen.

On August 25, 1907 Bishop Hodur presented a speech at the blessing of the Polish National Church in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania:

Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)

These words came to mind today and I would wish them to cling also in your hearts and thoughts and when you return to your homes that they might occur to you and strengthen you in your faith and love in the national wandering in the diaspora. For these words are for us of more particular attention because they are the source of that value of sanctifying humankind about which bishops and priests speak so little, and which always pose a fundamental difference between the old Roman Church and the Polish National Church.

In the old Church may often be heard: Prayer, the Sacraments, the Holy Mass, are valid in this place conducted by such a bishop or priest and by that one are even more valid, but we feel that the great significance of the Holy Mass comes from Christ, from God. Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.

If, therefore, God abides everywhere, then why build churches?

Because the church is a collective place to honor God, it is a visible monument of the love and gratitude of the nation in serving the Most High Being, and the Church is also the nation’s school. God likes to visit temples raised by human hands.

The National Church lives by these ideals to this very day. By working together in a democratic society which seeks to fulfill our Lord and Savior’s instruction to us, we build and support parish churches. Those parishes are owned and operated by their parishioners, because they are a visible symbol of God dwelling among us and our collective cooperation with God.

We support parish churches and see them as the center of our communal life. The building of a church, its establishment, its life, is more than a legal deed and a bishop’s power. It is the people’s power, their work and support, which raises a living monument to love and gratitude. More so, it is our school, where the teachings of Jesus Christ take root. God visits us there. A parish’s presence in our community bears witness to the world. Closing a parish may be practical and financially sound, but its diminishment is a blow to community, to man’s striving, and to our ability to meet with and learn from the Word. It is an insult to the faith of those who support the witness of faith in the local community.

The PNCC has many small parishes, but regardless of size, their life is a direct result of the love, dedication, and hard work of their parishioners. The people of the parish work together as part of a free society of believers.

The Roman Catholic faithful who formed Resurrection PNCC in Temperance, Michigan went through three church closings before they left the Roman Church. Now they are building their monument of love and gratitude – a place that is theirs, where Christ lives in their midst. That opportunity is open to everyone who wishes to buildup rather than tear down.

Perspective, PNCC,

Rulers or democratic governance?

Bishop Hodur understood that the Church – something that is fixed and infallible – and democratic governance in issues of church property are not mutually exclusive. Members of a closed parish in rural Kansas, Ohio see it that way too.

From the Toledo Blade: Ex-parish members seek help from court to oust Toledo bishop as trustee

LIMA, Ohio – A group of ex-parishioners from a closed Catholic church in rural Kansas, Ohio, yesterday asked an appeals court to remove Toledo Bishop Leonard Blair as trustee of the former church’s property and finances.

The ex-members argued that the bishop failed to act in their best interests.

Nicholas Pittner, representing the St. James Parish ex-members, and an outside expert both said the Ohio 3rd District Court of Appeals case could set precedent if it restricts Catholic bishops’ ability to sell property and transfer funds of parishes – closed or otherwise – in Ohio and possibly nationwide. “If the parishioners win, the bishops will be trembling in their pants,” said Stephen Brady, president of Roman Catholic Faithful, an activist lay group based in Petersburg, Ill. “But I think the parishioners have a tough row to hoe.”

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, and Sally Oberski, communications director for the Toledo diocese, both said that to their knowledge, it is the only lawsuit of its kind.

Mr. Pittner, of the Columbus firm of Bricker & Eckler, told the appellate court during oral arguments yesterday that the

St. James situation was not the typical court case of a disaffected faction seeking ownership of church property after a schism.

“In this case, the church left the plaintiffs; the plaintiffs did not leave the church,” he said.

About 15 ex-parishioners of St. James attended the hearing.

Thomas Pletz, of Toledo’s Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick law firm, represented the diocese, which has 301,000 members in 19 northwest Ohio counties.

Arguments on both sides centered on Bishop Blair’s role as the trustee of parish property.

“It has nothing to do with the restoration of Kansas St. James as a parish in the Roman Catholic Church. That issue is over and done with,” Mr. Pittner said.

He acknowledged the Vatican upheld Bishop Blair’s decision to close the parish. “We don’t ask the court to tread into religious matters of that nature.”

At issue are the rights of ex-parishioners as beneficiaries of a trust under Ohio civil law, Mr. Pittner said. “Property made to a bishop of the Catholic Church is made in trust for the benefit of the parish or congregation.”

Presiding Judge Stephen Shaw and Judge John Willamowski tossed numerous questions at Mr. Pittner and Mr. Pletz. The third judge was Judge Richard Rogers.

The ex-members appealed after losing in Allen County Common Pleas Court earlier this year.

Mr. Pletz argued that civil and church law “are not mutually exclusive” and that their combination gives the bishop the right to make administrative decisions for the good of the diocese.

“[The] rural fashion of living, and traveling with horse and buggy has changed and you may not be able to maintain small, family, rural, greatly beloved churches in many highways and byways,” he said.

“I do not believe there is any vested perpetual right to be entitled to have your church – and really what they want to keep is their church – forever in their place and bind the hands of the trustee inexorably forever to maintain that church,” Mr. Pletz said.

Mr. Pittner argued that trusteeship of church property is a matter of civil law alone, and Canon Law does not apply because it is not an internal religious issue.

Mr. Pittner said the plaintiffs hope to have the bishop replaced with “a trustee who will abide by the interests of the congregation and allow them to worship in their building.”

The court would name the trustee, he said, but the preference would be for someone linked with the former parish or a nonprofit corporation formed by ex-members, called the Kansas St. James Parish of Ohio Inc.

One of them, Ginny Hull, said afterward the ex-parishioners have spent “well over $100,000” on legal fees, but have not decided what they would do if they win. “We’ll deal with that when we come to it.”

St. James, the only Catholic church in Kansas, about 40 miles southeast of Toledo, was founded in 1889 and had about 215 members when Bishop Blair closed it as part of a diocesewide realignment 2005.

The ex-parishioners meet every Sunday for prayer at a Methodist church in Kansas – the village’s only other church – and celebrate Mass once a month with a priest from the Polish National Catholic Church in Detroit.

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