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PNCC Bishop Anthony Kopka gives keynote at M.L. King Day service

From the Stratford Star: King Day speaker joins call to service

Echoing a call sounded 40 years ago by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and this week by President Barack Obama, Bishop Anthony Kopka Sunday rallied Stratford residents to come together in community service.

—I ask fellow town residents to join us in offering greater community service in the Town of Stratford. Individually and collectively let us do more from forest to shore,— Kopka, of St. Joseph’s of Stratford National Catholic Church, said during the Stratford Clergy Association’s annual service to honor King, hosted this year by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Bridgeport.

—How many of us in Stratford will strive to do more from forest to shore?— Kopka asked from the pulpit. —My fellow town citizens, I ask you to join my fellow clergy and me in committing to do more from forest to shore, through community service and our neighborly love for each other.—

Kopka, speaking two days before Obama took the oath of office as the nation’s 44th president, pointed out that the first black to hold the highest elected office in the land chose volunteering as the way to spend the holiday that honors King, and in a speech Obama urged others to do the same.

—With the election of an African-American to the presidency of the United States —” 40 years from the time of Rev. Dr. King’s death —” we have new hope that life can be better for all Americans,— Kopka said.

America can have a new beginning, Kopka said, because the citizens of this nation can choose to unite under Obama’s leadership to build on the legacy and accomplishments of King.

—Stratfordites, may we always pursue with one another both friendship and understanding,— Kopka said. —Remember, any one of us is capable of offering love to our neighbors and service in the community.—

…

Ansonia resident Peter Morse became a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church two years ago and is in the choir.

—It was a fabulous service,— said Morse. —There were a lot of wonderful things said and it all came together very nicely.—

Morse said of the Bishop’s speech, —He was fabulous,— and it is such an amazing time with the inauguration near.

—After all these years we had a woman and a black man running for president,— Morse said. —And one will get nomination and will the election; I was excited through out the election process.—

More added, —To have it happen right after Martin Luther King Day is an incredible thing to see.—

The following is the text of Bishop Kopka’s keynote: ‘Do More from Forest to Shore”

If you want to be important, wonderful! If you want to be recognized, wonderful! If you want to be great, wonderful! But, recognize that ‘he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.’ That’s a new definition of greatness … the thing that I like about it —” by giving that definition of greatness —” it means that: Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.

You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s Theory of Relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second Theory of Thermal Dynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love, and you can be that servant.

Those words were penned and proclaimed by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his sermon entitled, —The Drum Major Instinct.— You can see those words and hear him —preach it— on the King Center Web site.

The call to serve is also being made by President Barack Obama to the American people. President Obama asked that the celebration of the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr., be joined to his inauguration in order to make the community service and social justice accomplishments of the Rev. Dr. King a preeminent focus for Americans.

So we, the members of the Stratford Clergy Association, have agreed to do just that and we invite members of our congregations and our community to join us. On behalf of those clergy, I ask fellow town residents to join us in offering greater community service in the Town of Stratford. Individually and collectively let us do —more from forest to shore.—

In one of his last sermons the Rev. Dr. King spoke about what he believed made up a —full life.— He said of his own eventual passing that, —I’d like somebody to mention on that day: Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others.— In the —Drum Major— sermon he said, —I won’t have money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things in life to leave behind; but I just want to leave a committed life behind.—

Forty years later, we continue to say that he —gave his life serving others— and that he has —left a committed life behind.— His legacy of faith, courage, sacrifice and service; and his accomplishments for justice, peace and a better life for the poor and for the persecuted are what we honor today. May we give thanks to God for this legacy and for these accomplishments and then pledge to continue them.

With the election of an African-American to the Presidency of the United States —” 40 years from the time of the Rev. Dr. King’s death —” we have new hope that life can be better for all Americans. At the inauguration of this new president America can have a new beginning, because we citizens of this great nation can choose to unite under the leadership of President Barack Obama to build on the legacy and accomplishments of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Each of us can accept the Rev. Dr. King’s call to high school students in Philadelphia, when he asked —What’s Your Life’s Blueprint?— He said, —You have a responsibility to seek to make your nation a better nation in which to live. You have a responsibility to seek to make life better for everybody. And so you must be involved in the struggle for freedom and justice.—

Will you accept as your own responsibilities to make our nation a better nation and to make life better for everybody? It is all part of the Rev. Dr. King’s definition of greatness that he learned in the ninth chapter of the Gospel according to Mark where Jesus says to His disciples: —Whosoever will be great among you, shall be your servant.— When each of us serves one another, we can have genuine hope for a better nation and a better life for everybody. We are —great— when we serve each other and as Dr. King said, —Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.—

This kind of community service is based on love. A love that —seeks to preserve and create community— as Dr. King said in his speech entitled —Stride Toward Freedom.— He said: —… we speak of a love, which is expressed in the Greek word, agape. It is a love in which the individual seeks not his own good, but the good of his neighbor.—

That principle is based on the ancient Commandment of God: —Love your neighbor as yourself.— It is a code of conduct that is derived from the codes of the earliest civilizations that states one has a right to just treatment, just as one has the responsibility to treat others justly. It is what we know as the Golden Rule: —Do to others as you would have them do to you.— It is, therefore, an ancient truth; but one that has not yet been embodied and personalized by members of society thousands of years later.

Will we also accept failure for not abiding by this ancient civil right and responsibility? Or, will we try to love and serve our neighbors in our community? How many of us in Stratford will strive to do —more from forest to shore?—

In furthering his explanation of agape —” or the love we are to have for others —” the Rev. Dr. King said in his —Stride Toward Freedom— speech, —It is the love of God operating in the human heart.— He also said: —In the struggle for human dignity, the oppressed people of the world must not succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter or indulging in hate campaigns. To retaliate in kind would do nothing but intensify the existence of hate in the universe. Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate.—

He continued, —Love in this connection means understanding, redemptive good will.— About this agape love he said that it —…makes no distinction between friend and enemy; it is directed to both— and that it —discovers the neighbor in every man it meets.—

My fellow town citizens, I ask you to join my fellow clergy and me in committing to do —more from forest to shore— through community service and our neighborly love for each other.

To help us accomplish this in the times that disagreements may deter us, let us accept as our guiding principles the Six Principles for Nonviolent Social Change promoted by the King Center. They are derived from Rev. Dr. King’s essay, —Letter from Birmingham Jail.— Succinctly they are: 1. Information gathering, 2. Education, 3. Personal Commitment, 4. Negotiations, 5. Direct Action, and 6. Reconciliation.

In particular, during any kind of disagreement, let us be mindful of the following two principles:

In the fourth principle of Negotiations, we are challenged to look for what is positive in every action and statement made by anyone in disagreement. One can do this by not seeking to humiliate anyone who is in disagreement. Instead, one can call forth the good in the opposing person and look for ways in which the person on either side of an argument can come away with winning points.

In the sixth principle of Reconciliation, we are challenged to always seek friendship and understanding with all others. Stratfordites, may we always pursue with one another both friendship and understanding.

Remember, any one of us is capable of offering love to our neighbors and service in the community. As the Rev. Dr. King said, —You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.—

If we want to be sure to succeed and not fail, then, may we turn to God for help. In God we can certainly have a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love. Through and with God we can serve one another. United in God, we can offer —more from forest to shore.— Yes we can!

Current Events, Perspective, Political

Hey, President Nixon umm Bush

From The Guardian: US forces kill eight in helicopter raid on Syria

American helicopters flying from Iraq landed inside Syria yesterday and dropped special forces who killed eight people, the Damascus government said last night, as Washington admitted it had targeted “foreign fighters.”

Syria warned that it held the US “wholly responsible for this act of aggression and all its repercussions”.

It described the dead as Syrian civilians, five of them members of the same family. Syrian state television reported that the attack was against a farm near Abu Kamal, five miles from the Iraqi border. Doctors in nearby al-Sukkariya said another seven people were taken to hospital with bullet wounds.

The incident threatened to unleash a new wave of anti-American feeling in Syria and across the Middle East at a time when President Bashar al-Assad, already being courted by Europe, is looking forward to improved relations with Washington after the November 4 presidential election. News of the attack led bulletins across the Arab world last night – suggesting it will have wide resonance.

Syria summoned the US charge d’affaires in Damascus to explain the incident. It also called on the Iraqi government to prevent its airspace being used in this way in future.

Eyewitness accounts said eight US soldiers landed in two helicopters and that the dead were building workers. A senior Syrian source quoted by the official Sana news agency, said four helicopters violated Syrian airspace and described the target as a “civilian building under construction”.

In Washington an unnamed military official told the Associated Press the raid had targeted elements of a “foreign fighter logistics network”, and that, due to Syrian inaction, the US was “taking matters into our own hands”. It was the first known American attack on Syrian soil…

Reminiscent of President Nixon opening another front in Cambodia, which interestingly started with such raids. I wonder if a Christmas Day B-52 raid over Damascus is in the offing. That’s the problem with megalomaniacs. If they’re hunkered down on two fronts, they open a third.

Syria will draw closer to Iran, Hezbollah will be unleashed, Israel will get drawn into another conflict where civilians deaths will far outnumber combatant casualties, and all this on top of an already tense political-economic situation. The problem for folks like President Bush is that this will not unleash the Second Coming, it will only destroy more of God’s children.

God have mercy on us.

Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political, ,

Poland and the Ukraine – Ethnic Animosity in the U.S.?

mobtown mafioso posted an interesting commentary on an ethnic festival recently held in Baltimore. See: Baltimore Ethnic Festivals- Bringing Genocidal Enemies Together

Yesterday, I went to Baltimore’s Ukrainian Festival. For you who do not know, it is the weekend every year where Baltimore’s Ukrainian population gathers together and celebrates the good parts of their heritage like quality beers, potato pancakes, and meat filled dumplings, but otherwise demonstrating a studied ignorance of the relevant parts.

What was particularly ironic was the decision to hold the Ukrainian festival in front of the Count Pulaski statue. What made this ironic was the large-scale massacre of Poles by Ukrainians during WWII…

Yet, despite this history, the Ukrainian festival featured Polish sausages and a booth for the Polish National Catholic Church. Like I said, Baltimore Ethnic Festivals bring genocidal foes together.

What I wonder is whether the author: Was making an observation as to the ironies of history; Believes that people are just ignorant of past wrongs and now, so informed, should regurgitate these wrongs so to bring about a state of frenzied dislike within the remainder of old ethnic communities; or Thinks that every ethnic festival should include a display covering the darkest chapters of that group’s history.

Certainly Poles and Ukrainians have had a long history, living side-by-side and together throughout history. There are things that unite and some things that divide, but on the whole the relationship with the westward facing portion of the Ukraine has been generally positive. The eastern Ukraine is another story, but that is because the east faces east – toward Russia. For more on this see this RFE/RL article: Analysis: Ukraine, Poland Seek Reconciliation Over Grisly History.

A relatively unknown fact was that there was a civil war in Poland following World War 2. The remnants of the Armia Krajowa (AK – Poland’s underground army in World War 2) fought against the communist takeover of Poland. Some of these battles were along the Polish-Ukrainian border with the remnants of Bandera’s Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Much of what the author writes about reflects the World War 2 and the post World War civil war period.

Going back to things that unite and divide, the author might wish to study the history of ethic communities in his city and in the United States. He might find that some animosities from the old county come into play among more recent immigrants, but even there it’s less likely nowadays. Most modern Poles don’t carry around these types of grudges because they see their reflection in the eyes of the Ukrainians, slightly east, slightly poorer. As some have told me, ‘What America was to us, is what we are to the East.’ On the other hand Polish-Americans and Ukrainian-Americans who are heirs of the older generations (the pre-World War 2 immigration) have shared a common struggle here in the United States, attempting to maintaining ethnic identity, cultural and religious ties, and joining a common fight against natavist racial stereotypes.

I say great for Baltimore and the Ukrainian festival with Polish flavor. What we share is more than what divides – including kiełbasa or ковбаса. Irony only exists if yesterdays battles retain their relevancy. I would prefer to enjoy my вареники and the highlights of Ukrainian culture without a serving of ethnic remorse.

Christian Witness, Current Events, Perspective, PNCC, , ,

Ministry in time of war

At our recent Clergy Conference we heard a report from one of our diocesan priests who is assigned as a military chaplainThe PNCC has a strong tradition of vocations to the military chaplaincy. As of this writing there are at least four military chaplains that I know of.. His report was bracing and was a call to the vocation of military chaplain.

This priest has been to Iraq twice, and both times has been stationed in some of the worst areas of Iraq. He spoke at length about his ministry, especially as it relates to prayer, counseling, Bible study, suicide preventionSee this Washington Post article: Soldiers’ Suicide Rate On Pace to Set Record, interaction with local residents, program development, charity, and Ecumenical conflicts (sometimes greater than interfaith conflictsEven in the case of a long term absence of a Roman Catholic Chaplain, the former head of the Archdiocese for the Military refused to provide a time slot to this PNCC priest so he could minister to Roman Catholic soldiers – a direct contradiction of Canon 844(2) and a failure to provide for the flock. They chose rather to “provide” by appointing an “Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion!”).

He noted that our servicemen and women are heartened to know that the folks back home are praying for them. They also love to hear the chaplains read out the cards and letters sent in-care-of those chaplains. The prayers, cards, and letters brighten their difficult existence.

This priest was very supportive of me in my vocation and when he told me he was going full-time active duty I was not surprised. He definitely had the calling for this ministry. Based on his report I see why he was called. God does make sense, even in the midst of senselessness.

Whether or not you subscribe to the neo-con, Bush Administration line on this war (I do not), the men and women of the armed services need the ministry of these chaplains. It is a worthy vocation and true service in times of difficulty.

I encourage you to do several things: Pray for our servicemen and women and for the ministry of their chaplains. Consider the vocation to serve in this capacity. Send a card or letter in care of a chaplain. Let him or her know they can read it out to their congregation.

O, God, the strength of those who put their trust in Thee; Bless we pray, our soldiers, sailors, servicewomen, and airmen; our chaplains, doctors, nurses; and all enlisted in the service of our country. Give Thy holy angels charge over them to protect them from all harm; deliver them in all temptation, and if it by Thy gracious will, bring them safely home. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. —” A Prayer for Those in the Armed Forces from A Book of Devotions and Prayers According to the Use of the Polish National Catholic Church.

Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia,

In memory – September 1, 1939

From John Guzlowski’s Lighting and Ashes blog: September 1, 1939

69 years ago on September 1. 1939, the Germans invaded Poland. Their blitzkrieg, their lightning war, came from the air and the sea and the sky. By Sept 28, Warsaw, the capital city of Poland, gave up. By October 7, the last Polish resistance inside Poland ended.

…

The world had not seen anything like it, and it was the prelude to a lot of things the world had never seen before: the Final Solution, Total War, the concentration camps, the atomic bomb, the fire bombing of civilian populations, and brutality on a level that most people still don’t want to think about almost 70 years later.

When the Germans attacked on that September 1, My dad was 19 and working on his uncle’s farm with his brother Roman. Their parents had died when the boys were young, and their uncle and aunt took them in and taught them how to farm, how to prepare the soil in the fall and plant the seeds in the spring. My mom was 17 and living with her parents and her sisters and brothers in a forest west of Lvov in eastern Poland.

The summer had been hot and dry, and both of my parents, like so many other Poles, were looking forward to the fall and the beginning of milder weather.

The war turned my parents’ lives upside down. Nothing they planned or anticipated could have prepared them for what happened.

By the end of the war, they were both slave laborers in Nazi Germany, their homes destroyed, their families dead or scattered, their country taken over by the Soviet Union.

Read the whole thing and view the video links. Remember the cost of war, think of the the sacrifice of Poland, the waste, the lessons learned, pray for the dead, and moreover pray for peace.

Almighty God, by whose grace we look for the day when nation shall not any more lift up sword against nation, and when men shall live without fear in security and peace, grant to us in this time of strife the will to labor for peace even while our sword is drawn to resist the foe. Let not the evil we oppose turn us from our purpose, to achieve unity and concord among the nations of the earth, to Thy honor and glory. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. — Prayer for Peace from A Book of Devotions and Prayers According to the Use of the Polish National Catholic Church.

Current Events, Perspective, Political,

We are them

Rod Watson, a columnist for the Buffalo News gets it. From his column: Never happen here? Guess what — it has

As one of its many shifting rationales for starting a war, the Bush administration constantly reminded Americans about the freedoms we take for granted.

That argument will be much less compelling next time for one simple reason: We won’t have nearly as many freedoms left once this bunch leaves office.

The outrageous new policy of seizing electronic devices at the Peace Bridge and other crossings purely on the whim of a border agent is just the latest example of our government doing to us what we’d fight to the death to prevent a foreign power from doing.

Think about it: No warrant. No probable cause. No judge.

Just a vague suspicion —” real or fabricated —” is pretext enough to seize your laptop, cell phone or iPod and all of the personal or business-related information in it. A local entrepreneur’s trade secrets, a journalist’s confidential information from a whistle-blower, your private medical records —” all fair game for any snooping government agent.

No appeal. No ability to challenge it. And no idea when, or if, you’ll ever get it back.

If you walked into a room in the midst of a discussion of this abuse, the reaction would be, —Wow, I’m sure glad I live in America, where nothing like that could happen.— It’s the kind of story that, when it occurs in other countries, prompts U.S. leaders to wag their fingers.

In the last few years, slowly, silently, we’ve become those other countries.

While there have been protests as the administration’s oil buddies rob consumers to rake in record profits, we’ve been robbed of something much more precious with hardly a whimper…

Read the rest. It’s worth time in reflection because look at the next step. From today’s Washington Post: U.S. May Ease Police Spy Rules. More Federal Intelligence Changes Planned

The Justice Department has proposed a new domestic spying measure that would make it easier for state and local police to collect intelligence about Americans, share the sensitive data with federal agencies and retain it for at least 10 years.

The proposed changes would revise the federal government’s rules for police intelligence-gathering for the first time since 1993 and would apply to any of the nation’s 18,000 state and local police agencies that receive roughly $1.6 billion each year in federal grants.

Quietly unveiled late last month, the proposal is part of a flurry of domestic intelligence changes issued and planned by the Bush administration in its waning months. They include a recent executive order that guides the reorganization of federal spy agencies and a pending Justice Department overhaul of FBI procedures for gathering intelligence and investigating terrorism cases within U.S. borders.

Taken together, critics in Congress and elsewhere say, the moves are intended to lock in policies for Bush’s successor and to enshrine controversial post-Sept. 11 approaches that some say have fed the greatest expansion of executive authority since the Watergate era…

Funny they should mention Watergate. Of course that’s scarry to a lot of folks because it stood their trust of government on its head. At the time of Watergate Congress and the Press stood against an abusive Executive. They stood to defend core principals. That doesn’t happen so much anymore. In fact, it is non-existent. This is far scarier and, in comparison, Watergate was limited to a proverbial “Keystone Kop” affair through checks-and-balances.

These measures are not just an abuse of “Executive” authority, but a steady movement toward the authority of dictators. It is simply a license to do whatever the person in charge pleases without accountability.

Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political,

A candid look at Poles attitudes toward the United States

From the article Bye-Bye, America! as published in Transitions Online, originally from Polityka:

Not so long ago, Poland was said to be America’s Trojan horse in Europe and its 51st state. Indeed, America was our shield and our unattainable ideal. Did we suddenly stop liking it? Did the American dream recede in the minds of the Poles?

Studies of the Polish public’s favorable attitudes toward foreign countries show that America has lost 20 percentage points over the last four years. It is not fully clear when this happened, but let us recall two warning bells. In October 2006, [Foreign Minister] Radoslaw Sikorski, who was then defense minister in the Law and Justice [PiS] cabinet, wrote two surprising comments on a confidential memo about a U.S. diplomat’s visit to the prime minister’s chancellery. One —“ “we can do without it” —“ referred to a proposal related to the missile defense shield. The other —“ “traditionally cheeky” —“ referred to a person who represented Washington. These notes, even if they were made in self-defense as an alibi for the opinion of “the biggest American” in our [ruling] establishment, signaled that Warsaw’s love of Washington was no longer passionate.

Shortly after that, during an international seminar in Warsaw, Sikorski made the audience realize the shocking proportion between U.S. assistance and European support for Poland: $30 million from the United States and 90 billion (not million) euros (not dollars) from the EU. This comparison may have been stretched a little because it does not refer to the same things, but it does put the previous irritating question of whether Poland is more attached to America or to Europe in a different light. (Do you remember it? It was said to be as problematic as the question of who we love more, mom or dad.)

…Today, Prime Minister Donald Tusk is better at sensing the Polish likes. His compatriots understood and supported him when he announced on 4 July (which was not very clever, since this was a U.S. national holiday) that the missile defense shield served only the purpose of U.S. security and, in a word, hinted that the Bush administration had not cared about Poland’s security in the talks so far.

There is widespread conviction that we make bad deals out of business with the United States. Tusk reiterated that the Poles had so far never said “no” to their most important ally, but America had to try harder to win the Poles’ favor. And this assessment overlaps with a new street wisdom. Apparently, the Poles think that the Americans, who are indeed “traditionally cheeky,” took what they wanted from us, sold what they had, and gave us nothing in exchange…

Absolutely true. For all the promises to Poland none of its aspirations have have come to fruition. For all of Poland’s assistance in pursing the United States cause in Iraq and Afghanistan, and perhaps even in housing black sites, the only thanks has been an over-the-shoulder nod, ‘Nice going kid, now get lost.’ Case in point – U.S. aid to Poland is far less than U.S. aid to Turkey and dozens of other less than helpful countries.

In addition, the Iraqi intervention and the manner of managing Iraq have undermined the Poles’ unwavering belief that America —“ the world’s most powerful country, supported by the wisdom of the world’s best universities and renowned government analytical centers —“ plans all its steps perfectly and knows what it is doing. Meanwhile, it is visible to the naked eye that it was instead France and the West’s Arab allies that were right when they insisted, although to no avail, on pushing and isolating Saddam Hussein, but without opening up the Iraqi Pandora’s box.

[In] an important survey carried out by CBOS [publicly-funded opinion research center] in March 2007 [t]he Poles were asked which among the most powerful international organizations and countries had in their opinion a “mainly positive” or a “mainly negative” influence over changes in the world. The findings revealed a revolution that had taken place in the public’s opinions. In the case of the EU, 70 percent pointed to a positive influence and 3 percent to a negative impact. For the United States, only 38 percent replied in the positive, with as much as 24 percent of answers on the negative side. To put this into perspective, 10 percent pointed to a positive influence on the part of Russia, 49 percent to a negative one. When these results are compared with the findings of surveys taken in 2006, they show what can even be called a breakdown in favorable opinions about America, because in the preceding year the United States was 24 percentage points higher in terms of positive influence.

Dr. Elzbieta Skotnicka-Illasiewicz from the Polish Academy of Sciences has been studying the Poles’ attitudes towards European integration on a regular basis for 17 years… She points out the reasons for a decline in favorable attitudes toward America. These are not the only reasons, but they are important from the perspective of commonly held opinions. Almost all countries lifted visa requirements imposed on the Poles. However, the Americans did not. In this way, they showed lack of interest and sympathy. To put it simply, this can be summarized in a complaint that is repeatedly made in Poland: they could accept the support of Polish soldiers in Iraq, but they could not accept the same soldier as a tourist or even as a candidate for illegal work. Moreover, the very stories about visa procedures, about standing in lines, paying in advance regardless of the result of efforts, and questioning applicants in an aggressive manner reinforced the unfavorable image of the United States. …

Beyond the Iraq debacle, and Poles illusory love for Amerika, these are the sorts of bread and butter issues felt by the “man on the street.” In a way it is reminiscent of the communist era: ‘I work hard, and do what you ask, and I am treated worse?’

Likewise, the 9-million-strong Polish community in the United States, an important part of the American myth in Poland, has also shrunk or dwindled somehow. Wealthier Poles suddenly noticed that the Polish community in the United States is composed not of hordes of American millionaires, but —“ with all due respect —“ of descendants of the plebeian masses from Podhale and Podlasie, who failed to pursue the kinds of financial or political careers that the descendants of the Irish, Italian, German, or Jewish diasporas did. Apart from this, what power do they have?

If the Polish government had any influence with the Poles in the United States and their votes in America and if these votes formed a package, then everything really could be agreed with Washington.

But these are just pipe dreams. The old Polish community in the United States suddenly paled in comparison not with the old Polish independence-minded soldiers in London or the Parisian “culture,” but with the masses of young people who set off for England.

We suddenly saw that these are different worlds. The Poles in the United States voted for the PiS under the Kaczynski brothers, while those in Britain stood in lines to cast their votes in favor of Civic Platform. In Chicago, orchestras composed of the inhabitants of the Polish mountains played for we know who. Guided by his instinct, [Civic Platform leader] Donald Tusk promised tax breaks to emigrants at a rally in London, encouraging them to come back to Poland.

In other words what remains of American Polonia is disconnected from day-to-day life in Poland and Poland’s leadership has caught onto that. Most of what remains of activist Polonia is comprised of the Solidarity diaspora. The remainder is three or more generations removed from their Polonian ancestors. As the Young Fogey frequently points out, these ethnics (and by instance mostly Catholics) rarely if ever vote as a block. The last person ever widely supported by Polonia, as a block, was Edmund Muskie.

A relative decline in America’s significance is not merely a game of what are, after all, changing moods, but an obvious outcome of Poland’s historic accession to the EU. Europe is closer, and there are no borders. According to a recent poll, asked about their willingness and ability to take on work abroad, 48 percent of the Poles responded that they would go to Germany while —“ pay attention —“ 6.2 percent indicated the United States. Today, the inhabitants of the Polish mountains more frequently go to Israel as construction workers than to the United States, while Lomza and Mlawa have Brussels addresses.

Any data you care to name show that America is not competitive for the Poles in comparison with Europe. The map of the Poles’ (tourist) visits abroad in 2007 is as follows: Germany, 1.55 million people; Great Britain, 850,000; France and Slovakia, 450,000 each; the Netherlands, 400,000; Italy and Austria, 300,000 each, while fewer than 100,000 visited the United States. In 2007, remittances from Poles earning money abroad were as follows (according to National Bank of Poland estimates): Great Britain and Ireland, 4 billion zlotys [$2 billion] each; Germany, 1.5 billion and the United States, 450 million. Transfers from the United States, which accounted for as much as 13 percent of all financial transfers to Poland in 2004, fell to 4 percent last year. Among the students who went on scholarships abroad (for a period of no longer than one year) and somehow made it into the official statistics, 1,590 went to Europe and 61 to the United States. According to data from 2006, the Americans invested relatively little in Poland. The top spot was occupied by Luxembourg with 3.6 billion euros (probably pure capital), followed by Germany with 2.7 billion euros. Italy and the Netherlands ranked third at about 1.3 billion euros each. For the United States, the amount was 407 million euros…

Immigration is an economic engine. Attracting talent and labor are just as important as importing raw materials. The United States misses the mark here and Europe gains for our loss. Interestingly Poland is one of Europe’s economic engines while the U.S. engine is running out of gas.

Unfortunately, this [—divergence protocol—] has been extended considerably under the Bush administration: the Europeans are more critical about the president himself than about the United States, with the war in Iraq and the president considered the main reasons behind the worsening relations between the United States and Europe. Surveys demonstrate that if the Europeans had the right to vote in the upcoming U.S. elections, they would vote for Barack Obama. In any case, they expect better relations with the United States after Bush leaves office.

These divergence protocols have long demonstrated that the two sides of the Atlantic are inhabited by somewhat different races. “The Americans are more from Mars, the Europeans from Venus.” The Americans rely more on military power, the Europeans on democracy. They believe in individualism and liberal competition; we are more likely to talk about the quality of life and the need for social solidarity. In essence, the threats are the same, but the Americans are more afraid than the Europeans of excessive reliance on foreign energy resources, a serious economic crisis, and international terrorism, a situation in which Iran obtains nuclear weapons, and immigrants from Europe. The only thing that the Europeans fear more than the Americans do is the effects of global warming. With their opinions, the Poles are now closer to Western Europe than they were before. In this sense, we have joined the mainstream.

For a long time, America has been reopening wounds in relations with foreigners, sometimes complaining loudly that “they love us” or “they hate us.” Unfortunately, this country is not in the habit of making special efforts to win allies (especially under Bush’s tenure as president). If it reckons with anyone, this must be someone big. The Americans themselves know that they have wasted a large portion of the sympathy they have enjoyed since the 9/11 attacks, when Le Monde expressed the European mood by saying, “We are all Americans.”

Absolutely right. A wasted seven years, wasted good will, wasted relationships, wasted opportunities, and a wasting away of the U.S. social contract which was a key point of admiration especially in Poland. Sure we can delude ourselves in proclamations of self-love but eventually I hope we wake up and do our level best to reclaim what we were not too many years ago — in our own eyes and the eyes of the world.

Current Events, Perspective, Political,

Dissent: Voices of Conscience

From Albany Catholic: Col. (ret.) Ann Wright, author of Dissent: Voices of Conscience

Tuesday, August 12, 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Albany Public Library
161 Washington Avenue, Albany

Ann Wright will speak at the Albany Public Library while she is in the Capital Region for the Kateri Tekakwitha Peace Conference. Ann Wright’s new book, Dissent: Voices of Conscience, profiles of those in government and active-duty military who have spoken out, leaked documents, resigned, or refused to deploy to protest the war in Iraq. The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression named Dissent their book of the month for February 2008.

Daniel Ellsberg wrote the foreword. “This … illuminating and remarkably impressive … book should be leaked into the government. … This book could awaken … officials to withdraw their complicity and … tell the truth to [the public]. This country will not escape further human, legal, and moral catastrophes, or preserve itself as a democratic, constitutional republic, if that does not happen. If you’re at all like me, you will have a whole set of new heroes when you finish reading this. …Dissent: Voices of Conscience could change your life.“

Which in my opinion is the correct course. Those who protest should not do so by running away but by standing up. Of course you have to be prepared to suffer the consequences of standing up. Not something unfamiliar to those who understand the Christian way of life.

Christian Witness, , , ,

I’m a cracker too

The Young Fogey blogged this item concerning a hate filled article by Dr. PZ Myers of the University of Minnesota – Morris.

Dr. Myers is of the opinion that the Holy Eucharist is something to be desecrated. In fact he urges people to desecrate the Eucharist and further states that he will gladly do so himself if someone were to bring him a consecrated host (itself an act of desecration). Dr. Myers makes these assertions in his blog post: It’s a frackin’ cracker.

For my part I would like to alert Dr. Myers to the fact that we, the people of the Holy Church, consider ourselves to be members of the Body of Christ. St. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 (RSV):

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
If all were a single organ, where would the body be?
As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
On the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable,
and those parts of the body which we think less honorable we invest with the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,
which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part,
that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Logically, if Dr. Myers would like to desecrate the Body of Christ, he should be perfectly willing to desecrate any member of the Body. Members of the Church should hold no more value for him than what he claims is mere bread.

Since I am ordained member of the Body I have a particular role of witness in the Body of Christ, and since in Dr. Myers way of thinking I am just a “frackin’ cracker” too, I would like to personally invite him to meet me (he’ll have to come here as I have no ability to travel to Minnesota).

At our meeting Dr. Myers can take the opportunity to desecrate me as he would the Holy Eucharist. I won’t fight back. He can feel free to film the whole thing. He can even bring friends if he wishes. When he is done he can put me under his microscope and prove that my flesh is merely human flesh – no observable scientific difference. Dr. Myers?

Jesus, my God, I adore Thee in the Sacrament of Thy love.

Divine Redeemer, Who in Thy infinite goodness hast been pleased to leave us Thy precious body and blood in the Blessed Eucharist, we adore Thee with the most profound respect, and return Thee our most humble thanks for all the favors Thou hast bestowed upon us, especially for the institution of the Most Holy Sacrament. As Thou are the source of every blessing , we entreat Thee to pour down Thy benediction this day upon us and upon our relatives, friends, and benefactors; upon the Holy Church, our bishops, priests, and deacons; and upon all those for whom we offer our prayers. Let Thy blessings go forth far and wide. Let it be felt in the souls of the afflicted who cannot come to receive it at Thy feet. Let the weak and tempted feel its power wherever they may be. Let poor sinners feel its influence, arousing them to come to Thee. Grant to me O Lord and to all the members of Your Holy Church, a strong personal love of Thee, a lively horror of sin, a higher esteem of grace, great zeal for Thy honor and glory, for our own sanctification, and for the salvation of souls. Amen.

My Lord and my God!

Blessed and praised every moment be the most holy and divine Sacrament.

Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political

Iraq as the new Poland?

Stephen Schwartz wrote an interesting article about Iraq in The Daily Standard entitled The Poland of Islam? Iraq’s significance in the Middle East. In the article he writes:

Iraq is, rather, a central Islamic country; a keystone with the potential for influencing its powerful neighbors, Saudi Arabia and Iran. It shares a common Arab language and tribal traditions with the former, and the Shia interpretation of Islam with the latter.

Defenders of the intervention, concerned that proponents of retreat would abandon Iraq, have drawn more appropriate parallels. Senator Joe LiebermanNo patriot at all, but a shill for AIPAC and using American children as cannon fodder for someone else’s war. warned in 2006 that fecklessness in Iraq could reproduce the failure of the Western democracies to defend the Spanish Republic in that country’s 1936-39 civil war, an abdication that encouraged the totalitarian dictatorships of Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin on their paths of aggression.

Others have cautioned that newly-prolific proposals for negotiation with Islamist extremists–especially with the crazy Iranian regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — could result in Iraq, while increasingly succumbing to Iranian intrigues, becoming a Czechoslovakia. That country was sacrificed like Spain to the appetites of the dictators at Munich in 1938 and, let us not forget, left to bleed again when Soviet tanks rolled into Prague 30 years later. And finally, some have seen in Iraq a potential Yugoslavia–collapsing into bloody partition–or even a Romania, with its leadership, like Nicolae Ceausescu and his feral wife Elena, massacred.

There is, however, a more relevant and positive historical example evoked by the new Iraq, and it is that of Poland. Lest the metaphor be misunderstood, we must certainly guard against Iraq being divided between Saudi Wahhabis and Iranian radicals as the Polish Republic in 1939 was invaded and split by Hitler and Stalin.

But I have in mind the modern Poland of the last three decades. The new Iraq can play a role in the Muslim world similar to that seen when, at the end of the 1970s, the Polish nation, inspired by Pope John Paul II and the Solidarity labor movement, rose to challenge a Soviet power then viewed as invulnerable. Poland inaugurated an affirmation of popular sovereignty and intellectual freedom that spread first to countries like Hungary with which it shared a Catholic heritage, then to the rest of the Communist zone, and finally to the former Soviet Union itself, which then finally crumbled…

This is not to say that a Polish parallel in Iraq would bring instant gratification for a West, and a world, hungry for resolution of the Mideast crisis. In the 30 years that have passed since the beginning of the Polish national revival, that country has yet to fulfill its noble promise as a herald of democracy. It has contended with its own religious and national extremists, undergone disillusion with its hero Lech Walesa, and has even slid back, at times, into governance by its enduring “post-Communist” nomenklatura. But its role in the dissolution of Communist tyranny in Europe is inarguable.

Many wars fought by Americans were considered lost during the struggle. Washington at Valley Forge, the U.S. after the burning of the capital in the War of 1812 (which we did lose), Lincoln in the early period of the Civil War, Franklin Roosevelt before the Battle of Midway in 1942, all faced the specter of defeat. The Korean War ended without a clear victory, although the people of South Korea today enjoy freedom and prosperity thanks to the sacrifice of American forces. Many Americans have lost touch with our military history, and these examples may mean little to them as they ponder the conflict in Iraq.

But in living memory, it is impossible to think that President Ronald Reagan would have told the Soviet rulers, between 1981 and 1989, to dispose of a reborn, independent Poland as they saw fit. Reagan would not have called out, in an unamusing paraphrase, “Mr. Gorbachev, reinforce this wall!” The Poles, like the Iraqis, faced setbacks and disappointments, but they prevailed, and their example changed the history of the world. A firm commitment to the new Iraq from the next American president may do the same for the Muslim nations…

Now there is a certain amount of this that I disagree with, including its main point. That said, there are parallels that should be explored.

Firstly, I disagree with Mr. Schwartz’s idea that Poland has not lived up to its democratic potential. I believe he sees the election of what he refers to as “post-Communist” nomenklatura as a negative, perhaps because the election of those folks is not in line with his particular vision of Poland’s future or political makeup. What he doesn’t see is that the post-communist governments in Poland, regardless of their philosophical affiliation, have all agreed on core issues, things like EU membership, NATO, privatization, and sound economic principles. Where the governments diverged they diverged on cultural issues — and even there not so much. Still in all, the core of democracy in Poland is self-determination, and Mr. Schwartz should key more on that. Poles have always been at heart – self-determinant.

Secondly, while I agree that the idea of being self-determinant might work in Iraq, I do not see the current American model of supporting “self-determination” as accomplishing anything but disaster. Self — key on the word self — determination will only work if the United States gets out of the way.

True, the U.S. helped Poland’s Solidarność in great measure, but that help was financial and moral. We didn’t need to invade. We didn’t need to destroy large tracts of society, breaking down established roles and cultural boundaries, in order to bring change. Poland worked because the Poles had the key components already in place (cultural, religious, and ethnic unity as well as a common historical identity and understanding).

Mr. Schwartz suggests that our intervention works — but that is not true in the way he envisions, i.e., by setting the expected outcomes, by guarding “against” certain outcomes that do not fit our way of thinking. We cannot dictate outcomes or cultural/religious interaction, we can only accept them and move on with our lives, accepting self-determination such as it may exist.

I agree with Mr. Schwartz in saying that the U.S. needs to offer a firm commitment to Iraq, like it did vis-í -vis Polish freedom. What we must not misunderstand is that that support was quiet, minimalist, and almost entirely behind the scenes. Much of the Polish experience was built upon connections between the old and new country (Polish immigrants in England, the U.S., and Australia), trade union support, societal structures, culture, and strong touch points like the Church. It was after-all the natural outcome for Poland – an outcome envisioned and executed by Poles.

Lastly, the U.S. must start with a strong commitment to its own self-understanding. How are we to act in the world? Is the model the Polish model or the Iraq model? The results speak for themselves. A commitment to negotiation (yes it is long and painful), supporting indigenous efforts at resolving issues, and most of all a commitment, at all costs, to staying away from Bush style interventionism, is the key to success. That is where Reagan had it in spades. The big stick is there – but words are the better tool.

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