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SOLIDARNOŚĆ: Poland’s Struggle for Freedom at Wayne State

Lech Walesa to Visit Wayne State University In Detroit
By Raymond Rolak

DETROIT– The Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University will be opening a new exhibit, SOLIDARNOŚĆ: Poland’s Struggle for Freedom.” The former President of Poland, Lech Wałęsa will be making an appearance to bring attention to the 30 year anniversary of the Solidarity labor movement.

The exhibit will open October 27, 2010 and run until July 1, 2011. The Reuther Library at 5401 Cass Ave. is across from the Main Detroit Public Library. “We are just the ambassador’s as so many people helped including the Office of the President, at Wayne State,” said Michael Smith.

Smith, Director of the Reuther Library at WSU and Marcin Chumiecki, Director of the ‘Polish Mission’ at St. Mary’s Schools in Orchard Lake got together last February and went to Miami to invite Lech Wałęsa to help kick off the exhibit.

October is also Polish Heritage Month in America. Smith added, “Wayne State invites the whole community to view the displays during the run. It is concise, informative and historical. The exhibit will be open to the public starting at 9:00 A.M. on Wednesday October 27.”

“The Reuther Library has a strong tradition of reaching out into the community to document our labor history,” Smith added. “We will have some very rare photos and artifacts from Soldiarnosc in the exhibit.”

The Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs at WSU is the largest labor archive in North America. Its mission is to collect, preserve and provide access to the heritage of the American labor movement. Reuther was the long time leader of the United Auto Workers and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 1995 by President Bill Clinton. In Metro Detroit the I-696 Freeway is named the Walter P. Reuther Freeway in his honor.

Reuther and his wife May were killed in a 1979 plane crash near Pellston, Michigan.

Smith and Chumiecki also travelled to Poland to research and document the background for the exhibit. There are first person accounts, which are the most valuable in a history account. Some items are on loan from the Polish Mission. Smith added, “Wałęsa said he was honored to come to Detroit to announce the opening of this exhibit. He was genuinely enthused and of course added insights that only he could do. This is living history.”

Wałęsa was President of Poland from 1990-95. He was front and center for the “Solidarity” trade union movement that eventually changed Poland and led to the break of control from Russia. This was the catalyst for the political changing of the borders of the USSR.

A former welder at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 for his human rights efforts throughout Europe.
Wanda Strozyk, President of Fiat Solidarity Union in Poland will also be appearing in Detroit. Her visit just happens to coincide with a historic labor vote that will affect the aviation industry. Thru November 3, the Delta Airlines Flight Attendants and the former Northwest Airlines F/A’s are voting to determine if there is going to be representation by the Association of Flight Attendants-Communication Workers of America (AFL-CIO). Delta is now the largest commercial airline in the world.

Wałęsa, who will be on a restricted schedule during his Detroit visit, was the first democratically elected president in postwar Poland. During his area stay, he will meet privately with labor and community leaders. On October 28, he will travel to Chicago for a fundraiser.

Groups can make arrangements to view the Reuther Labor Library Detroit exhibit at 313-577-4024, starting October 27.

Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC, , , , , ,

Will you buy me?

As some may know, there has been a great deal of stress, sadness, and consternation in Cleveland over the closing of many of the area’s Roman Catholic Parishes. A new website, Endangered Catholics, highlights many of the issues of concern.

I previously wrote about one of the Cleveland Parishes who, with a large share of their membership and priest, have formed their own church in: “What will happen next?” These people are taking concrete steps in an effort to do what the PNCC did over 100 years ago, establish that those who support and work for the Church have a say in its management.

People are finding the courage to speak out. The Rev. Donald Cozzens recently editorialized in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Why our priests remain silent:

In her letter to the editor, “Silence of the priests” (July 31), Frances Babic lamented the silence of Cleveland’s priests in the face of church closings by the Catholic bishop of Cleveland, Richard Lennon.

For some time now, Bishop Lennon has been the target of heated and often cutting criticism for the closing and merging of 50 of Cleveland’s Catholic parishes. But the strongest cries of protest arose over the closing of perhaps 10 to 12 parishes whose spiritual vitality and ability to meet their bills appeared evident. No satisfactory rationale, it was claimed, was ever extended to these parishioners explaining why their churches had to close their doors — only the oft-repeated talking points of demographic changes, financial realities and the shortage of priests.

But the silence of Cleveland’s priests, with the exception of the Rev. Bob Begin (“Priest sends public challenge to bishop on church closures,” The Plain Dealer, March 13), goes beyond the fate of closed and boarded churches. We priests have remained silent because it is our way of life.

We priests have remained silent as evicted parishioners of closed parishes coped with feelings of disorientation and spiritual abandonment while searching for new parish communities — and others decided not to search at all.

We priests have remained silent about our own tattered morale and the widespread spirit of discouragement in the people of our diocese.

I suspect Frances Babic and other Catholics are thinking: What have you priests got to lose? You have no family to support, no mortgage to pay off, no children to educate, and you enjoy unparalleled job security. Why do you remain silent?

Here is why I think we priests remain silent…

In times of crisis, and I believe it is clear that the Catholic Church of Cleveland is in crisis, mature believers need to ask what they can do to help their church regain its equilibrium and renew its spirit. This is especially true of its leaders, its priests.

A few weeks back I spoke with members of a closed Parish in St. Johnsville, New York, courageous folk who have been hurt. Others in the Albany, New York area have made quiet inquiry. Having just spent a few days at Synod, I heard more on the numbers of disaffected Roman Catholics opening talks with the PNCC so that they might found their own parishes; Parishes where they democratically control the parish property and where each member gets a voice and a vote over their parish’s administrative, managerial, and social matters:

In administrative, managerial and social matters, this Church derives its authority from the people who build, constitute, believe in, support and care for it. It is a fundamental principle of this Church that all Parish property, whether the same be real, personal, or mixed, is the property of those united with the Parish who build and support this Church and conform to the Rite, Constitution, Principles, Laws, Rules, Regulations, Customs and Usages of this Church. — Constitution of the Polish National Catholic Church, Article VI, Section 3

The National Catholic Reporter recently did an article on The ‘had it’ Catholics. The article’s slant toward liberalism aside (no, you cannot change defined Doctrine in any of the Catholic Churches), the statistics reported therein are alarming. The goings-on in Cleveland exacerbate the loss of R.C. adherents. As I have noted on previous occasions, people may not necessarily leave the R.C. Church after a forced closing, but their attendance rate drops. They stay nominally R.C. so that they might be buried from the Church. For those who do leave, and desire Catholic truth in a Church where they have a voice and vote, the PNCC should be seriously considered.

When a group of Christians decide that the idea of this Church answers its convictions and desires to organize a Parish, representatives of said group shall communicate with the Bishop of the Diocese and make known its intention. The Bishop of the Diocese, after investigation and being satisfied of the group’s intention and convictions, shall authorize the giving to the group all manner of assistance, furnish it suitable Church literature, legal requirements, a copy of the Constitution and Laws of the Church and a model charter. This action shall be done in concurrence with the Prime Bishop. — Constitution of the Polish National Catholic Church, Article V, Section 2

This Sunday marks both the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C) and the observance of Heritage Sunday in the PNCC. We mark this Sunday as a day to honor the heritage of our members which now spans the ethnic and cultural diversity of this nation and others. As I reflected today, I felt sorrow over the report at the Endangered Catholics site noting that many of the items from Parishes to be closed are being sold off, even while there are appeals before the Vatican over the closings (anyone get the idea that the Bishop already knows that the response to the appeals will be a pro forma “No”). These items are more than glass, plaster, wood, and cloth. They are the pennies of our ancestors and their heritage, the Church Triumphant. They are now the tears of those who have no say over the fruits of their labor, the Church militant. Looking at them, we have to ask, Who will buy me? Who will cherish me? Who will see more in me than outward appearances?

St. Stanislaus Kostka missing the Crucifix he usually carries
St. Wenceslas with Brass Flag

You can have St. Stanislaus Kostka sans Crucifix for $875 and St. Wenceslas with his brass flag for $3,750.

And I said to them: If it be good in your eyes, bring hither my wages: and if not, be quiet. And they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver. — Zechariah 11:12

Events, PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , , , , , ,

Events

Polish-American Buffet at the Albany Polish Community Center, 225 Washington Ave Ext., Albany, NY on Friday, October 8th from 4-8pm. Call 518-456-3995 for more information.

Film Screening: The American Polish Central Committee of Lawrence County will show the movie “Nine Days That Changed the World — Pope John Paul II” at 5 p.m. Sunday, October 10th at Holy Trinity Polish National Catholic Church, 1708 S. Jefferson St., New Castle, PA as a part of the October celebration of Polish-American Heritage Month. The documentary is about Pope John Paul II’s historic nine-day pilgrimage to Poland in June 1979 just before the disintegration of Communism in Eastern Europe. The public is invited to the free showing, and refreshments will be served. More information about the American Polish Central Committee.

Ziti Dinner and Basket Raffle: Saturday, October 16th, 5-7 p.m at Resurrection of the Lord Polish National Catholic Church, 35 Zerby Ave., Edwardsville, PA. Adults pay $8; $4 for children 10 years old and younger. Salad, meatballs, ziti, bread, homemade deserts, and beverages served. Takeouts available. For more information call Margaret, 570-288-9350, Dorothy, 570-287-5843, the Rev. Pawel, 570-283-2686, or Rich Manta, 570-696-3668.

Harvest Festival/Dożynki at the Albany Polish Community Center, 225 Washington Ave Ext., Albany, NY on Sunday, October 17th from Noon until 8pm.

PNCC, , , ,

Coverage of the XXIII General Synod

At the Citizens Voice: Regional PNCC head elected church’s seventh prime bishop

Bishop Anthony Mikovsky, the leader of the Scranton-based Central Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church, was elected on Tuesday to the denomination’s highest post.

The New Jersey-native, who has spent his 13-year priesthood serving in the city, was elected prime bishop during the 23rd General Synod in Niagara Falls, Ontario, by a two-thirds majority of the ordained and lay delegates, including the prime bishop-elect’s father.

Mikovsky has been bishop of the Central Diocese and pastor of St. Stanislaus Cathedral since 2006. Before becoming bishop, he served as the assistant pastor at St. Stanislaus, the mother church of the denomination, beginning in 1997.

In his new post he will move less than two blocks from the East Locust Street cathedral to the seat of the Polish National Catholic Church on Pittston Avenue.

“I’m overwhelmed,” he said by phone Tuesday, not long after the vote. “When people put trust in you to lead them in God’s field, and in going forward to build up the church, it’s a very humbling experience.”

The Rev. Jason Soltysiak, assistant pastor at St. Stanislaus, learned the news of the vote on Tuesday from “about 150 text messages” from church members, but he spread the word in the traditional way – by ringing the cathedral bells.

“That’s, I guess, our version of the white smoke,” he said, referring to the signal that indicates the selection of a new pope in the Roman Catholic church.

An elderly parishioner, hearing the bells, called Soltysiak and left a message.

“He said, ‘By those bells ringing I can only assume that our pastor is now the prime bishop,'” Soltysiak recalled Tuesday afternoon. “As he choked away tears he said, ‘I’m so happy I could cry.'”

Current Prime Bishop Robert M. Nemkovich must retire from the position because of age limits set by church law. He was elected in 2002.

Also at the Times Tribune and an earlier article here.

Perspective, PNCC, ,

Another sad tale

From the MyWebTimes: Small church many called home

Stefan and Teresa Pazur came to Streator (IL) with their family from Poland 27 years ago.

Since the first day they set foot in the United States, St. Casimir Church on Livingston Street has been their home.

“I didn’t know anybody,” Stefan said. “I didn’t know anything about Streator. I didn’t speak English. My family didn’t speak English.”

The smallest of Streator’s four Catholic churches made them feel at home because of its rich Polish heritage.

In 1916, a group of families of Polish descent requested the formation of St. Casimir’s parish. The parish purchased a church from the Beulah Baptist congregation at the corner of Livingston and Illinois streets.

The wooden Russian Orthodox Catholic Church was a gift from Czar Alexander III of Russia for the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. At the conclusions of the exposition, the building was dismantled, shipped to Streator and reassembled. It was used by a Russian Orthodox congregation until the baptists [sic] purchased it.

St. Casimir’s first Mass was celebrated on Christmas Eve in 1916. Dedication ceremonies were in April 1917 with Bishop E.N. Dunne. The Rev. Mieczyslaus T. Szalewski was the organizer and first pastor of St. Casimir Church.

Shortly afterward, an addition to the church provided two classrooms for parish children to attend school. The Franciscan Sisters ran the school until it was discontinued in 1931.

In 1962, the Rev. Marion Switka was appointed to the parish. He realized there was a need for extensive renovation or a new building.

The old building was razed and a new building, which currently stands, was constructed.

Parishioner Diane Safarcyk Crawford recalls the construction.

“It was sad to see the old church go, but it was no longer functional,” said Safarcyk, who played organ during high school for $1 a Mass. “I remember them raising the steeples and cleaning up after the carpenters.”

During construction of the new building, Masses on Sundays and holy days were in the Polish National Hall across the street and weekday Masses in the basement of the rectory.

Finally, the first Mass at the new church was celebrated on Christmas Eve in 1964. The Rev. George Dzuryo conducted the blessing and consecration of the altar.

The new edifice is of ultramodern pie-fold architecture.

The altar is made of gray granite, slightly tapered from top to bottom, and rests on a base of gray granite forms that create crosses encircling the altar. The altar signifies the firm, solid foundation of the Catholic faith.

Services were suspended in 2004 due to the Rev. Monsignor Jerome Ham’s health. Parishioners conducted a weekly Divine Mercy Novena on Wednesdays.

The church will now be closed to consolidate into St. Michael the Archangel, along with St. Anthony, St. Stephen and Immaculate Conception churches.

“It’s sad,” said Grace Gura, whose husband Ed has a strong Polish heritage. “My husband helped building it. Our daughter was the first one christened in the new church and we were the last ones married in the old one.”

Another Parish where the people honored and kept the presence of Christ, even in the absence of a priest. Sad that they could loose what they had built. Ownership by the laity goes a long way to stopping such closures — part of why the PNCC exists, and why many former Roman Catholics are approaching us after their parishes are closed against their will.

Christian Witness, PNCC, , , , , ,

Annual procession of the Lord of the Miracles, Christ of Pachacamilla of Peru in Perth Amboy

The Fraternity of the Lord of the Miracles of Perth Amboy held its annual traditional Mass and procession of the Lord of the Miracles, Christ of Pachacamilla (Señor de los Milagros, Cristo de Pachacamilla) Sunday at Saints Cyril and Methodius National Catholic Church, 600 Jacques St in Perth Amboy, NJ.

The 10:15 a.m. Mass was followed by a five-hour procession around the church which began around 12:30 p.m. Our Lord of the Miracles of New York Choir performed. During the procession dancers of Peruvian culture of the Andes performed and there were tributes by Peruvian fraternities from New York and New Jersey.

Alejandro Beoutis, Peruvian general consul for New Jersey, was invited to attend along with Perth Amboy Mayor Wilda Diaz.

From the Courier Post: Peruvian procession hits Peth Amboy’s streets

PERTH AMBOY — A centuries-old Peruvian tradition took on its own form in the center of Perth Amboy’s streets Sunday afternoon, as a crowd massed outside the Saint Cyril Church to celebrate the Lord of the Miracles procession.

In Peru, October brings this same procession to the country’s capital city, Lima, where thousands take to the streets dressed in purple and clutching flower offerings during this holy day of atonement.

A mural of Jesus Christ remains the focal point for any of these processions, each parading a rendition of this 17th century painting that is said to have been the work of a Black slave.

Shortly after its creation, the painting survived a massive earthquake that nearly wiped out the entire city and drew in the faithful and followers alike.

“This is a tradition that we want to continue,” said Maria Moran, a spectator, who attends these processions throughout the state.

While Sunday’s crowd was minuscule compared to Peru’s procession; the dedication of parishioners was immeasurable, as they stood under trees and huddled in doorways suffering through the afternoon’s downpour.

“For me it’s everything – it’s my beliefs, it’s my background,” said Katherine Miraval, who took cover under a tent at the rear of the procession. “(Jesus) does perform miracles.”

A recent endeavor for St. Cyril, the procession has brought many Peruvians throughout the community closer to the church, said Father Mario Zochowski.

Prior to flooding the streets, many of the parade-goers attended a mass, where a few additional hymns and even more new faces extended services by about half-an-hour, he said.

“It’s something you have to see for yourself,” Zochowski said, watching approximately 25 men harmoniously shuffle their feet while balancing the mural’s altar gracefully on one shoulder.

Every few yards, the mural would be passed along to a new group of men, or a Fraternity of the Lord of the Miracles, whose members spent months preparing for their role in the procession, if only to get the footwork down to a science.

Christian Witness, Political, , , ,

IWJ’s Organizing for Worker Justice Training

Register is open for IWJ’s Organizing for Worker Justice Training to be held October 3-7, 2010 in Chicago, IL.

The training is for those who may be:

  • Board members, leaders, or volunteers of an interfaith organization
  • Organizers with a faith-based organization or worker’s center
  • Religious or community outreach staff of a union

The training is designed to assist in understanding religious and labor structures, learning how to strengthen partnerships between religious and labor leaders, understanding the fundamentals of Direct Action Organizing, designing creative interfaith actions, developing strategies for building your organization and effective fundraising strategies, and framing the message about religious values and workers’ rights to the media.

Information and registration can be found at the IWJ Conference website. The deadline for registration is September 15th.

Christian Witness, Poland - Polish - Polonia, ,

Church and State in Poland

From Reuters: Poland’s cross wars revive debate on role of church

A simple wooden cross honouring victims of a plane crash that killed Poland’s president in April has spurred demands that the influence of the powerful Roman Catholic Church be pared back to forge a more secular Poland.

The Roman Catholic Church was a focus of Polish national resistance over centuries of foreign occupation. Most recently, it provided protection for the Solidarity trade union in its battles with Soviet-backed communist rule in the 1980s.

Churches were packed after an air crash on April 10 killed conservative President Lech Kaczynski and 95 other people, mostly senior state figures. Many Poles gathered spontaneously to honor, and often pray for, those who died.

A scout group set a crucifix outside the presidential palace in Warsaw, which turned into a shrine for the victims.

Four months later, the three-meter-high cross is still there, festooned with candles and flowers despite attempts by the state and some clergy to move it to a nearby church. The “cross defenders” stood their ground, squabbling with police.

The cross debate reflects political divisions. It has become a rallying point for radical rightists backed by the main opposition, the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party led by Kaczynski’s twin brother, Jaroslaw.

“The problem of too close links between church and politics exists here for so long that many people don’t even see it,” said Jacek Kucharczyk, head of the Institute of Public Affairs.

Poland, a country of 38 million people, is one of the few strongholds of Catholicism in a largely secular European Union.

A 2009 survey by the Polish episcopate’s statistics body showed 41.5 percent of Poles attended Sunday mass, a number that has been gradually falling since the survey started three decades ago, but still much higher than elsewhere in the 27-nation EU.

PROBLEMS WITH SECULARISM

For many Poles, the cross is as much a cultural and traditionally Polish symbol as it is a religious one.

“At times of occupation, this symbol of Polish identity was relatively safe. And by some strange paradox, this habit from times of oppression is approved today in a free country as a symbol of a free nation,” said Zbigniew Mikolejko, philosopher of religion at Poland’s Academy of Sciences.

Crosses hang on the walls of schools, hospitals and state buildings throughout Poland as well as in parliament, something many Poles find natural despite the fact that the constitution guarantees the separation of church and state.

The Polish Church itself is deeply split between a moderate clergy and a more nationalist-minded hierarchy. Many from the latter group openly backed Jaroslaw Kaczynski in this year’s presidential election triggered by his brother’s death and now call on their supporters to prevent the removal of the cross.

“This is an absolutely unacceptable role of church in a democracy. It damages the state as much as the church,” said Marcin Krol, political philosopher at Warsaw University.

Kaczynski polled 47 percent in losing the presidential poll to Bronislaw Komorowski, the candidate of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pragmatist Civic Platform (PO). Analysts said the “cross wars” could drive PiS support back down to levels seen before the crash, which occurred in Smolensk, western Russia.

“Now he can only come down toward some 25-35 percent of society constituting his core supporters,” Kucharczyk said.

Analysts saw the PO’s rating as stable, despite the row.

Adam Boniecki, a priest and a leading Catholic intellectual, said the cross had split Poles along political lines of PO versus PiS.

“There is a difference between fighting for a cross and fighting with it. This row has started a reflection about the role of the church,” he added.

SECULAR STATE

The raised voices of the “cross defenders” have led to calls for a more secular state and the elimination of religious symbols from public life.

In an interview with the weekly Polityka published on Wednesday, Komorowski said he still hoped the cross would be moved.

“The current situation is politically risky and difficult for everybody. It is particularly so for the Church, I believe, which is already paying a price for this conflict and will continue paying it in the longer term.”

A survey by the ARC institute showed in July nearly 60 percent of Poles believed no religious symbols should be shown in public places, while about 30 percent took the opposite view.

About 63 percent believed religions other than Catholicism were getting worse treatment in Poland, it showed.

“The cross row unblocked a discussion that has been a taboo — the fact that a large part of the society is tired with the Church’s permanent political engagement,” Kucharczyk said.

Poland’s leftist opposition, the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), is drafting proposals to entrench secular standards and analysts say it may win political points in this.

“We must hold a discussion in Poland, which many other European countries already have behind them,” SLD spokesman, Tomasz Kalita, said. “We care for the Polish constitution to be respected. At present, it’s not.”

The best quote being from Fr. Boniecki: “There is a difference between fighting for a cross and fighting with it.”

This is all too familiar, from the role of Churches in political life in many countries to the mosque debate. Faith, informed through the light of the Church, must guide the conscience of believers. It is incumbent on pastors and deacons to teach, to impart, those life lessons – of how to make faith active for the good of the community and the world. From there, the Church must put its faith in the strength of its catechesis.

A secular state is fine, with rights for all, and Church can be all that it is in such a state. A secularist state that militantly fights against all faith (excepting those that co-opt themselves by getting behind the state’s agenda) is not good for anyone. On the other hand, its opposite, a theocracy, does little to guide the lives of believers because they can only see the Cross and the Word as a weapon.

Current Events, Perspective, PNCC, ,

What will happen next?

From The Plain Dealer: Parishioners, priest from closed St. Peter Catholic Church defy bishop, celebrate Mass in new home

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Defying the authority of their bishop, parishioners and their priest from the closed St. Peter Catholic Church in downtown Cleveland celebrated Mass Sunday in leased commercial space they transformed into a church independent of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese.

The move by the new Community of St. Peter puts members in danger of excommunication because they had been warned by Bishop Richard Lennon, who shuttered St. Peter’s in April, not to hold worship services in places without his approval.

Still, about 350 people, joined by their spiritual leader, the Rev. Robert Marrone, gathered for their first Mass and communion in their new home — a newly renovated, century-old building on Euclid Avenue and East 71st Street.

“This feels real good,” said parishioner Bob Kloos of Cleveland Heights. “This is the handiwork of hundreds of people over many, many months.”

Group leaders emphasize that they see themselves as traditional Catholics and are challenging the closing of St. Peter’s, not the tenets of their faith.

“Here, enlightened by Christ . . . we can renew our dedication to the traditions of our faith which we hold as precious,” Marrone said in his sermon. “Today is a day for action, not reaction; imagination, not fear.”

He added, “I know it has not been an easy journey for you as it has not been an easy journey for me. But standing here today, I am filled with gratitude, peace and confidence.”

…

The St. Peter rebellion is unique because unlike in Boston, where five congregations, in defiance of the archdiocese, have been illegally occupying closed churches for up to five years, the Cleveland group has created its own worship space complete with a new altar, baptismal fount and sacred icons.

…

The group’s annual budget for rent, staff and a reserve fund is about $200,000. So far, about 325 people out of 700 parishioners at the old church have made the switch to the Community of St. Peter.

The congregation, made up mostly of suburbanites, had been quietly considering the breakaway ever since Lennon announced in March 2009 that he was closing their 151-year-old church building on the corner of Superior Avenue and East 17th Street.

The bishop’s order was part of a downsizing that saw the closings of 50 churches over the last year because of dwindling collections, fewer parishioners and a shortage of priests.

…

They told Lennon that the non-profit corporation was set up as a means to raise money to continue their social service and education programs after their church closed. The leased commercial space, they said, was for social gatherings to keep the congregation together. They did not tell the bishop they were setting up a church because at the time the community was still exploring the idea and had not made a decision.

Still, the bishop sent letters at the end of March of this year to each member of St. Peter’s, suggesting their salvation was in jeopardy if they conducted worship services outside of a sanctioned church.

…

Despite the bishop’s admonishment, many in the congregation pushed on after their church closed in April, meeting every Sunday at Cleveland State University to pray and collect money for their new space.

But much of the flock was vexed with two gnawing questions:

Will Marrone come with us?

Are we willing to be excommunicated from the Catholic church for breaking off from the diocese in disobedience to the bishop?

Some left the group. Some stood by undecided. Some moved ahead.

But for months, Marrone, who has been on an extended leave of absence from the diocese since St. Peter’s closed, stayed silent, talking only to those closest to him.

At age 63, he had spent his whole life immersed in the Catholic culture. He entered a seminary at age 13, was ordained at age 26 and lived his whole adult life under a vow of obedience to Catholic hierarchy.

Now Marrone had to decide whether to be faithful to the congregation he had inspired and nurtured for more than 20 years, or to the bishop who closed his church.

…

Marrone, in the earlier interview, described the Catholic church as being “in deep conflict with itself” and St. Peter’s split as “a tragic comedy.”

“None of us wanted to be in this position,” he said. “We did not seek this out. There just comes a point when you stand up and say, ‘We can’t do this.'”

“This is a sociological story,” he added, “not just a religious one.”

“It’s an ongoing story. It’s an evolving story. In my last sermon at St. Peter’s I said, ‘The exodus begins. Come, let us go.'”

As a member of the PNCC I absolutely understand the struggle these folks are facing, and on a personal level I know the hurt they feel. Doors will now start slamming and papers will be flying (interdict and excommunications). Smaller hurts will grow into bigger hurts and people will say: “This is Church?” That said, I do hope that these folks are able to hold onto their Catholic faith. I also pray that they find their way through this difficult time to a renewal of their faith.

Now for my prognostications. Based on the evolution at St. Stanislaus in St. Louis, those attending are likely to fall out in three groups — and my prediction is that they will evolve as follows:

Roman Catholics who are angry, upset, and feel stymied by an intractable bishop. These folks love the Am-Church Catholic culture with communion in the hand, the required eucharistic minister (just look at the pictures), and the remainder of the kumbaya experience of the American Church model. That is home for them. This group will eventually fade back into their local suburban parishes once they get tired, or will just stop going because of the hurt. Many will end up as nominal, paper only, Roman Catholics so someday they get the Church wedding for their kids, baptism for their grandkids, or their own funeral. Probably about 65% of the current contingent. They will disappear from the scene.

Liberal Catholics (quasi-Protestants for the time being), those who want to make-over the Church in their image, to suit their agendas. In about a year, they will be joined by other dissenters and will push for womenpriests, gay marriages, and whatever else fits their image of Church. Probably about 25-30% of the current contingent. They will grow.

People with ethnic connections to their faith, and others who have a traditional Catholic understanding, but reject the idea of bishops who can take their property. They will find a home in the PNCC or in other more conservative Churches because it makes sense for them, an infallible Church with solid teaching and a proper bishop, but where they won’t be manipulated and pushed around. The remainder of the current contingent, 5-10%. They will disappear from the scene.

The same thing is happening at a parish in the Albany, New York diocese, albeit on a smaller, slower scale. The bishop’s play in Albany was to close an extremely liberal parish and merge it with an extremely conservative parish. Funny bishop. I imagine he’s not there mediating any of the parish council meetings.

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