Thoughts and opinions from a Priest in the PNCC
A huge retrospective on the fall of Communism led by Poland’s Solidarity revolution. Stories include:
Blog: Poles thrive in new Europe
Starting tomorrow, June 1st, CNN will present a week of programming focused on the changes in Poland over the past 20 years.
St. John’s Cathedral Parish in Toronto, Ontario, Canada has been reconciled to the Polish National Catholic Church. Praise and thanks to the Holy Spirit who grants us the grace to reconcile in all things.
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.
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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.
From the Rt. Rev. Thaddeus Peplowski from the May – June – July 2009 Issue of ACTS, a publication of the Buffalo-Pittsburgh Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church:
We are all familiar with the saying: “Actions speak louder than words!” It reminds us that when positive things are being done, then the words that introduced the actions need not be repeated, since they are being manifested.
When Jesus spoke of His death and resurrection, they were mere words to the Apostles who did not even want to hear them; but when Christ died on the cross, that action stung the hearts of these men, who seemed to be completely lost in their sorrow. The resurrection from the dead of our Savior and His multiple appearances to His disciples, made them reassess everything that Jesus said during His three-year ministry in a new light of faith and truth. Before the resurrection, they were just ordinary men with ordinary fears, but after He rose from the dead and breathed upon them the gift of the Holy Spirit, they were transformed into superheroes, men who feared nothing, even death itself. The kind of faith that they professed as missionaries caused the fledging Church to grow by leaps and bounds – nothing could restrain the power of the Word that caused the spontaneous growth of the Church.
That is the kind of faith and spirit that needs to be revived in the Church today. The Holy Spirit is guiding us to a variety of groups of people, not only here in our country, but even in far-off Italy, who are seeking to create parishes modeled after the example of the Polish National Catholic Church. The so-called “hidden treasure” of our ecclesial structure is being sought after as the ideal form of establishing National Catholic Parishes that resemble early Christian communities. Yes, just speaking about our faith is not enough, we need to share it in outward form of helping others to establish congregations regardless of their ethnic, national or racial background, so that our words may produce actions.
Recently, we have been responding to the pleading of Catholic people who are desperately seeking to establish parishes within the PNCC. We are accepting their challenge and going forth to help them. Just like St. Paul accepted the call of the Macedonians, so we too must reach out and assist those who are seeking to become one with us in faith and service. If we fail to answer their call, we are also failing our Lord Jesus Christ who in the Great Commission delegated His Apostles to “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
We too, like the Apostles, are commissioned to continue the same missionary call of bringing those who are abandoned and lost back into the fold of the Church. It is wrong to proselytize members of other churches, but it is good to respond to the call of people who are seeking to become members of our Church, and come to us on their own. On Pentecost, when Peter converted over 3,000 Jewish men, he did so because they came to him, seeking the Word of Life and seeking conversion and baptism on their own. We need to do more than speak about the blessings that God has bestowed upon the National Catholic Movement; we need to open our hearts and minds to welcoming into our fold those who wish to be brothers and sisters with us in the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church that the Polish National Catholic Church professes to be in doctrine and practice.
…Opportunities are always being presented to us, all we need to do is respond to the plea of people who are seeking to become National Catholics. We need to embrace them with the same welcoming love that each one of our parishes received when they were accepted into the Polish National Catholic Church.
Pray for the continued success of our Mission and Evangelism Program … that it may bring new members to our existing parishes, as well as inspiring groups of believers who are seeking to establish new PNCC congregations. It is only through the Words of encouragement that our Prayers and Words of faith precipitate the Actions of organizing new Parishes, proving that Actions do speak louder than Words.
In follow-up to an earlier posting, The story of Polish Catholics in Duluth, here is a video production covering the history of the parish. The video was produced by Kendra Richards, a student at the University of Minnesota.
Some of the photos used in the production:
St. Josephat’s is located at 417 North Third Ave., East. They can be contacted at 218-722-7819.
Welcome to the PNCC. I wish you every blessing in your mission, ministry, and witness.
The parish was formed by former members of the Convocation of American Churches in Europe (TEC) who had worshiped at St. James Parish in Florence and who subsequently left TEC to become members of the Episcopal Orthodox Mission in Italy under the Diocese of Ruvuma, Anglican Church of Tanzania.
On January 25, 2009 the Rt. Rev. Thaddeus Peplowski of the Buffalo-Pittsburgh Diocese of the PNCC, who has oversight of the churches in Europe, conditionally ordained Fr. Claudio Bocca
The parish serves Americans, Poles, and Italians amongst the beauty of Tuscany. Fr. Bocca’s wife Alicia is originally from Poland.
NOT John Lennon’s horrid song – but a television ad produced for use in PNCC parishes.
…and an invitation:
From EuropeanVoice: Between the pope and the patriarch by Vitali Silitski
The public-relations plan pursued by Alyaksandr Lukashenka will make Belarus’s exclusion from the EU’s Eastern Partnership seem minor.
The launch of the Eastern Partnership in Prague on Thursday (7 May) will lack one of the characters who played a principal role in the run-up to the summit: Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the president of Belarus. His absence will please many EU foreign ministers. But nor will Lukashenka mind greatly.
Lukashenka is not used to harsh words being delivered to his face and he would probably have found too few Western leaders willing to shake hands with him for him to be able to turn the visit into a propaganda triumph.
But there is a second reason why Lukashenka will not mind greatly: he has already achieved a public-relations coup, by meeting Pope Benedict and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Lukashenka’s visit to western Europe over the past 12 years have been restricted to skiing holidays and medical treatment in Austria, so the visit to Rome was a breakthrough.
It may also prove to be a breakthrough for him in domestic politics. Lukashenka’s audience with the pope went down very well with Belarus’s two million Catholics, among whom, according to independent opinion polls, opposition to Lukashenka is three times greater than it is among the country’s Orthodox majority and nearly twice as great as it is among Protestants. In other words, Lukashenka may have managed to disarm the largest bloc of opposition to him in Belarusian society.
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But to view Lukashenka’s success in Rome as merely compensation for the Prague snub would be wrong. When he met the pope, Lukashenka had a far more ambitious agenda in sight: he was pursuing an opportunity to be the man to arrange a meeting between the pope and the Russian patriarch, and thereby to mend the 1,000-year-old schism between Eastern and Western Christianity.
This might sound implausible. For much of his presidency, for political and geopolitical reasons, Lukashenka has acted as a buttress for Russian Orthodoxy. He suppressed the development of the Greek Catholic (Uniate) Church from its stronghold in Ukraine, suppressed attempts to build Belarus’s own orthodox church independent from Moscow and adopted a repressive law on religion that discriminated against Protestant denominations. His championing of Orthodoxy was symbolised in 2001, when he played host to the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church at exactly the same time that Pope John Paul II was paying a visit to Ukraine.
But Lukashenka has quietly pursued a policy of building up political capital through ecumenism since at least 2002 —“ a year in which he explicitly declared that he would like to bring the Catholic and Orthodox churches together.
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But the real opportunity to pursue the strategy of ecumenism came this February when Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk became head of the Russian Orthodox Church, replacing the traditionalist Aleksey II. Kirill is no traditionalist: he is polished yet outspoken, open to ecumenism, and PR-minded. Kirill previously served as head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s foreign-relations department. He has already met Pope Benedict, when he was a metropolitan. For many, the question now is not whether, as patriarch, he will meet Benedict, but when.Lukashenka’s entourage has rushed to explore that possibility.
In the months before Lukashenka’s visit to Rome, Lukashenka met the Catholic archbishop of Belarus and paid a surprise visit to Patriarch Kirill. Viewed in the context of Lukashenka’s strategy, it now seems clear that he was trying to secure Kirill’s (and Kremlin’s) his consent for a visit to Rome and to discuss the possibility of a meeting between Kirill and Benedict —“ and, since his return from Rome, Lukashenka has mused publicly about the pope and the patriarch meeting.
If Lukashenka manages to persuade Russia to accept a visit by Pope Benedict to Belarus —“ an offer to which the Vatican gave a measured response —“ Lukashenka would prove himself to be a master of political brinkmanship, for the Russian Orthodox Church considers Belarus to be its ‘canonical territory’. But if he manages to bring Kirill to Belarus when the pope is there, he would secure a place in a history as one of the men who ended the schism between eastern and western Christianity. That could guarantee his legitimacy for years to come, both in domestic politics and in relations with Russia.
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Lukashenka’s strategy of ecumenism gives another twist to a simple fact: Lukashenka is uniquely placed to play games between the West and the East. It is nearly impossible to isolate him. Lukashenka will find his way to Europe, be it via Rome, Prague or via some other route. That is the third reason why Lukashenka will not mind not being in Prague too much.
Nonetheless, Lukashenka would, of course, like to have as many roads to Europe as possible. By blocking off the route that leads through Prague, both the Belarusian opposition and its Western supporters have therefore lost a real opportunity to force Lukashenka into a serious dialogue on human rights, to set conditions and to extract real political concessions.
Pope Benedict may now have an opportunity to make such demands of Lukashenka. Europe should strive to ensure that the pope, if he visits Minsk, speaks out about democracy and human rights as passionately as his predecessor did. Given that Lukashenka believes that now is the time to play the ecumenism card, Europe should start working on convincing Benedict immediately.
From the Kennebec Journal: Celibate priests: boon or bane?
I won’t go on to quote from the article. It’s the usual set of arguments and some of the typical confusion between man-made laws like celibacy and other teachings that people would like to change even though they are immutable. I cite the article only because it contains a reference to the PNCC.
Personally, I think that the media would be just as disenchanted with the Catholic teaching of the PNCC as they are with the Roman Church’s teachings on secular culture’s hot-button issues.
If a writer were to set aside those big red arguments and develop some sort of columnar list of agreed points and differences I think they would be able to develop a compelling piece on Churches’ varied approaches to the human condition and Their understanding of God’s relationship to mankind. Of course it would take time and a lot of research. Anyone out there?
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
It has come to my attention that some of the members of the former parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Brant, New York, are considering purchasing the parish property and re-opening as a parish of the Polish National Catholic Church. As Bishop of Buffalo and in my capacity as the Roman Catholic co-chairman of the dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church in the United States and the Polish National Catholic Church, I have a special interest in this case.
The relationship between our churches has improved enormously since the dialogue was established in 1984. A century of hostility has gradually given way to greater understanding of one another, and an experience of a deeper fellowship based on the mutual recognition of our sacraments, including the Eucharist and the ordained ministry in the Apostolic Succession. This understanding even means that in certain circumstances it is possible for the faithful of our churches to receive some of the sacraments in the other church. In May 2006 our dialogue issued a “Joint Statement on Unity” that reviewed the progress in our relations, and stated explicitly that the goal of our ongoing engagement is the re-establishment of full communion.
However, despite such progress, our churches remain divided, and there are still significant differences that must be overcome. In particular, it should be emphasized that the Polish National Catholic Church is not in communion with the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, and so is not a part of the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, the Roman Catholics in Brant or others in the area who are considering this move should be aware of the gravity of their decision.
The Code of Canon Law is clear about the penalties attached to those who leave the Roman Catholic Church. According to canon 751, “Schism is the withdrawal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or from communion with the members of the Church subject to him.” Canon 1364 provides that such a schismatic who deliberately and freely chooses to leave the Roman Catholic Church incurs an excommunication latae sententiae, meaning that excommunication takes effect immediately even if it is not formally declared. It should be pointed out that this applies to Catholics who join any other church; it is not directed against the Polish National Catholic Church as such.
For these reasons I call upon the Roman Catholics of the former parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel to consider very carefully the implications of any decision to join the Polish National Catholic Church. Excommunication is a very serious matter indeed, and would mean that they would no longer be able to participate in the sacramental life of the Roman Catholic Church, not even to the extent allowed occasionally to members of the Polish National Catholic Church who are not former Roman Catholics.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my fervent hope that the former parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish will remain within the Roman Catholic Church, and that our dialogue with the Polish National Catholic Church will progress to the goal of the reestablishment of full communion. On that happy day, our differences will have been definitively resolved.
Sincerely in Christ,
Most Rev. Edward U. Kmiec
Bishop of Buffalo
Rather than reacting against this letter, I would like to point out that everything Bishop Kmiec says is correct within the Roman Catholic Church’s understanding of these matters. For those who claim allegiance to the Roman Church he is spot on in his citing the Roman Catholic Church’s understanding of communion (i.e., the PNCC is not in communion with the Bishop of Rome — the sole sign of unity within the Roman Church). He correctly cites the Latin Church’s Code of Canon Law, and all the penalties that will be imposed on those who break its law.
Since all this is true one must examine the term the bishop uses for those who chose to leave the Roman Church: It is a grave decision. Indeed it is, but not the gravest decision.
I’ve been through this journey and I can speak from first hand experience. In coming to the PNCC I was asked to accept certain things, and to reject others. Can those of you who may be considering such a move do the same? Can you accept this grave (essentially important) decision?
To enter the PNCC you have to accept an understanding of man’s destiny and his relationship to the Holy Church. The PNCC describes these in the Eleven Great Principles and the Confession of Faith (see especially points 6, 7, and 8
I BELIEVE that the Church of Christ is the true teacher of both individual man as well as of all human society, that it is a steward of Divine Graces, a guide and a light in man’s temporal pilgrimage to God and salvation; in so far as the followers and members of this Church, both lay and clerical, are united with the Divine Founder through faith and life proceeding from this faith.
I BELIEVE that every true Christian should take an active and vital part in the spiritual life of the Church, through the hearing of the Word of God, through the receiving of the Holy Sacraments, through fulfilling the laws and regulations established by Christ and His Apostles, as defined and given to us by the Church.). In short, man’s destiny is unity with God, His creator, and to join with others who hold common cause to that end. The manner in which we join together, the way that leads to life in Christ, is defined by our way of life, our teaching, our adherence to Holy Scripture and the Councils of the unified Church. The Polish National Catholic Church stands as the earthly representation the Divine community of mankind. Our Church’s life reflects the community our Lord and Savior desired, the community He proclaimed, the community He established wherein all noble minded peoples may come to labor. The Polish National Catholic Church is the earthly representative of the community man desires — the community of the Kingdom of God. We are a community of truth, light, love, justice and consolation in God.
Man’s destiny — union with God — is not achieved through a series of laws, rules, and regulations laid down by far off, disconnected prelates, in tomes of man-made laws. Our destiny is written in our hearts. Our destiny calls us to seek the Lord while He may be found, to call to Him while He is near. That call is brought to fulfillment in the Holy Church, which teaches the truth and which respects his intellect, his drive, and his determination to work and struggle for the truth. It is the truth we find when we live in the manner our Lord lived and if we follow the teachings He left to us.
In entering the PNCC you must accept that excommunication, along with words such as schism, are nothing more than a bludgeon, attacking man’s freedom. The PNCC does not excommunicate. Rather we accept all who come to us seeking Jesus Christ. If one should choose to join with us, in our way of life, adhering to the Church’s teaching and joining in our journey to the Lord, then they are welcome. If they decide to leave, to find Christ elsewhere, via some other path, we bear them no ill will. We all seek our Lord and Savior, and are united to that end. We simply wish them well. As recent events illustrate, excommunication does nothing to purge man of sin, but rather is a means to discipline an organization’s membership; disciplining in a manner used against unruly children – the “time out.”
In entering the PNCC you must reject the notion that our Lord and Savior set one apostle above all others by creating a special and distinct office and charism. The Roman Church refers to this office as the papacy and the alleged charism is called papal infallibility. Can any reasonable person accept this notion? Rather, one must accept that our Lord and Savior granted a special charism to all of His apostles, with authority to guide, teach, and preside over the Church in His name. That charism is held by all bishops in a line of succession back to the Apostles and is passed on by the laying on of hands. The charism of infallibility is held by the Holy Church, in Council, something that hasn’t happened for nearly 1,000 years. We accept that the Church has created various offices, established for its good order, and for maintaing a solid organizational structure. Churches in Apostolic succession have various names for these man-made offices, Archbishop, Cardinal, Catholicos, Metropolitan, Patriarch, Prime Bishop, Pope. Whomever the man holding the office, all of them are bishops with the same authority to guide, teach, and preside over the local community. They, along with every bishop in their respective Churches, are in union with each other, as long as they hold to, teach, and preach the truth as defined by the Church. This is why we share far more than what divides us. In many ways we hold a common Catholic understanding on many issues whether Orthodox, Roman, Oriental, or Polish National.
The decision you face is grave. This is more than man made rules and man-made offices. It is a decision for freedom. You must be prepared to do more than pray slightly differently, to re-number the sacraments, to reject the fillioque, or to sing Tyle Lat, you must be prepared to accept a way of life. Our way of life leads to eternal life in God. Our way of life is freedom, it is joyous, it is hard work, and it is a struggle, but in the end we will be victorious. This is our testimony, this is my testimony.
The gravest decision you will make is the decision to freely follow Christ, to be regenerated in Him, and to follow Him without fear. Once you make this decision you will be challenged and changed in new ways. Can you set aside a fear of man-made laws, and the criticism of prelates, who can do nothing to throw you into Gehenna? Can you discard the label of schism as a shibboleth? What will lay heaviest upon you as you stand before our Lord and Savior, your adherence to the sayings of men or your way of life?
Read, and re-read the bishop’s letter. What do you see, what do you hear? How do you perceive its witness and its teaching? This is a teaching moment and says more than the words themselves.