Prime Bishop, the Most Rev. Dr. Anthony Mikovsky, accompanied by the Rev. Gregory Młudzik visited Poland from August 13th to the 23rd.
Prime Bishop Mikovsky and his party first visited Warsaw, attending Holy Mass at Good Shepherd Parish, accompanied by the Rt. Rev. Sylvester Bigaj, Bishop of the Canadian Diocese of the PNCC.
Following Holy Mass, the group attended by a contingent of Scouts laid a wreath and offered prayers at the tomb of PNCC Bishop and Martyr Joseph Padewski.
The Prime Bishop next visited the Polish Catholic Parish of St. Barbara in Bolesław (Krzykawa-Małobądz) on August 15th for their Dożynki (Harvest) Festival. The Prime Bishop also visited the birthplace of our first Bishop, and organizer of the Polish National Catholic Church, the Most Rev. Francziszek Hodur in Żarki as well as the Parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and monument to Bishop Hodur in Libiąż.
The Prime Bishop ended his visit at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Strzyżowice on September 20th where he took part in the Parish’s 50th Anniversary Holy Mass and celebration. Rev. Młudzik was baptized and raised in the parish at Strzyżowice.
The retired pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is the Very Rev. Eugene Stelmach. Fr. Senior Stelmach served the parish for forty-nine years and was also Dean over five parishes in his Seniorate. Fr. Senior Stelmach was also active in ecumenical circles, serving as Vice-chair of the Silesian branch of the Polish Ecumenical Council. The Parish’s current pastor is Rev. Adam Stelmach, the son of Fr. Senior Stelmach.
The jubilee celebration was attended by representatives of the Churches in the Silesian branch of the Polish Ecumenical Council (PRE) including: the Protestant cathedral choir “Largo Cantabile” from Katowice, Bishops from the Evangelical Lutheran Church Dioceses of Katowice and Cieszyn, the honorary chairman of the Silesian branch of the PRE, the Rev. Jan Gross of Cieszyn, and representatives from the Mariavite parishes in Gniazdów and Sosnowiec. Faithful from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Czech Republic from Czech-Cieszyn as well as guests from across Poland, the United States, and France were also in attendance.
From the Washington Post: George de Wrzalinski, GSA librarian and Polish emigre
George de Wrzalinski, a retired General Services Administration librarian and the scion of an aristocratic Polish family who during World War II was pressed into forced labor in a German aircraft factory, died Aug. 13 at the Powhatan Nursing Home in Falls Church.
He was 85 and died of complications related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure and the effects of a stroke suffered in May, said his executor and friend, Margaret Shannon.
Mr. Wrzalinski (pronounced “Jalinsky”) retired from the GSA in 1997 as chief librarian of the technical division of the National Capital Region. This job included oversight of architectural, engineering and other blueprints for federal buildings in the Washington area, including the White House.
He came to the United States in 1954 and was naturalized as a citizen in 1960. His neighbors said he flew a U.S. flag at his house in Arlington County every day, but he also retained his Polish roots and Old World mannerisms.
“When he greeted me, he always kissed my hand,” said Shannon, who lived next door to Mr. Wrzalinski for 36 years.
Jerzy Ludwik de Wrzalinski was born Jan. 30, 1926, in Poznan, Poland. His father was a colonel in the Polish army and would later become mayor of Gniesno. His mother was a concert pianist, and a grandmother was a Polish princess. A twin sister died at birth.
In 1940, he was a 14-year-old high school student in Gniesno when the occupying Germans shipped him to an aircraft factory near Breslau, where he reinstalled oxygen lines in damaged aircraft. He would later tell friends that he began smoking in those years because laborers who smoked were allowed cigarette breaks. (He quit smoking in 1983.)
Near the end of the war, he was relocated to a forced labor camp at Aschersleben, which was a subcamp of Buchenwald. He was liberated by the British there in April 1945.
After the war, Mr. Wrzalinski lived in displaced persons camps in Germany for several years. He was fluent in German, Polish, English, French and Russian, and he had various translating jobs.
Upon immigrating to the United States, he settled in St. Paul, Minn., where he worked in the personnel office of Remington Rand, the business-machine manufacturer. He had said he was once denied a pay raise there with the explanation that “he can be happy that he’s in America.” He studied English at the University of Minnesota’s extension division.
When he became a U.S. citizen in St. Paul, he changed his first name, Jerzy, to its anglicized version, George.
He moved to the Washington area in the early 1960s and became a cataloguer and analyst for a College Park documentation company. Later he was a documents and information specialist for a NASA contractor. He joined the GSA in 1984 and retired in 1997.
Mr. Wrzalinski never married, and he had no immediate survivors.
In the last years of his life, his neighbors in Fairlington supervised his medical care and helped look after his house, where in addition to the American flag, he flew the Polish flag and the state flags of Maryland and Virginia daily. He had an elaborate and extensive flower garden.
He looked the part of a European aristocrat. On summer days, he wore tennis whites, unwrinkled and pressed immaculately, and he liked to invite friends and neighbors over for drinks in the evening. He frequented the Fairlington community swimming pool, where he befriended the Polish lifeguards.
Marian Wojciechowski, 97, of Las Vegas
Passed away June 5, 2011. Was born April 25, 1914, in Polaniec, Poland.
Marian was a World War II veteran, a platoon leader who fought German forces Sept. 1, 1939 at the Battle of Mokra, considered to be a tactical victory for the Polish cavalry. His regiment, the 21st Pulk Ulanow Nadwislanskich, was later awarded the Virtuti Militari. He continued fighting after Russia attacked Sept. 17, 1939, then joined the Polish underground resistance. He was arrested and tortured by the Gestapo in Radom, and sent to Auschwitz (Nr. 50333), Gross Rosen, and Leitmeritz concentration camps. In the displaced persons camps of post-war Germany, he met and married Wladyslawa Poniecka, who had survived the Gestapo prison Pawiak in Warsaw, and the concentration camp Ravensbruck (Nr. 7532) north of Berlin. In 1950, they came to America with their daughter, and settled in Toledo, Ohio.
Marian was awarded a master’s degree in economics and business administration from the Warsaw School of Economics in 1937. He worked as auditor for the Union of Agricultural Cooperatives before his arrest in 1942. From 1946-1947, he was an officer in the Polish Civilian Guard under the command of the U.S. Army in the American Zone of West Germany. He also served as chief liaison officer for Polish groups to the International Refugee Organization. Marian was the owner and editor of the Polish-language weekly newspaper “Ameryka Echo” in Toledo until 1961. He worked for many years as urban renewal project administrator with the City of Toledo. From 1980-1994 he was an administrator with the Neighborhood Housing Services of Toledo, finally retiring at the age of 80. Marian moved to Las Vegas in 1998 to be closer to his family.
Marian was a past commander of the Polish Army Veterans Association Post 74 in Toledo for 10 years, a member of American Legion Post 545 in Toledo, and a member of the VFW. He actively participated in many organizations, such as the Polish American Congress and Polish National Alliance. Marian also received many honors and awards during his lifetime, including medals for his military service during World War II and his work in urban development. In 2009, at the age of 95, Marian realized his wish to return to Mokra to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II. He also visited the former Polish Army Cadet Officers Cavalry School in Grudziadz, and even Auschwitz along the way. He was accompanied on this splendid adventure by his grandson Craig with Jodi, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, and Dr. Roman Rozycki of the Las Vegas Polish community.
From the Modjeska Club: Tadeusz Bociański
Born 17 August 1935. Died 14 July 2011. Tadeusz Bociański served as the President of the Modjeska Club from 1983 to 1989. His activities contributed to elevating the Club to its high social status and to establishing its broad scope of cultural activities. With an extraordinarily limited budget, he was able to bring to California the most distinguished Polish politicians, actors and artists. As the owner of a Cultural Agency PolArt he organized performances by famous Polish theaters and cabarets throughout the entire West Coast and the Southwest. He was also active in other social and cultural organizations. On 17 January 1998, he received the Cavalier Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for his achievements in promoting Polish culture abroad.
Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord!
From John Guzlowski, his poem Sept 13, 2001 found in his post: 9/11 — Ten Years Later
I’ve written a number of poems about 9/11 over the years. The first one was written a couple days of 9/11. That poem talked about how I wanted an end to 9/11. It didn’t happen then, and it hasn’t happened since…
Ted Monica, a fellow former seminarian at Wadhams Hall, and an Episcopal priest, offers his music: Sisters and Brothers.
To the Children of Emma Lazarus – a poem for 9/11 by Konrad Tademar
From Howard Community College on Danuta Hinc’s book To Kill the Other: A question of killing: Howard County author searches for an answer
Five days. That’s all it took after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, for Danuta Hinc to realize that she needed to write a book about how such a thing could happen.
“I realized that I needed to know what leads people to make such extreme choices,” says Hinc, who teaches professional writing at the University of Maryland College Park. “And the next question I asked was: Am I capable of killing someone?”
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Hinc stood in the living room of her Ellicott City townhouse, riveted to the TV screen, unable to sit down, unable to comprehend what she was witnessing.
“Like everyone else, I thought it was an accident. When the second plane hit, I realized to my horror that it was not,” says Hinc, who is in her early 40s and grew up in Poland under Communist oppression.
“My first thought was ‘They must be so organized,’ ” she remembers. Then she realized she didn’t know a thing about them.
“I hated them with all my heart. But I didn’t like that I hated them,” she says.
What eventually came of that rush of tangled emotions and questions, some 10 years later, is Hinc’s book, “To Kill the Other.” It’s a fictional story of a boy who grows up to become a terrorist. It’s not about al-Qaeda; it’s not about ideology. It’s about the choices human beings make.
She spent three and a half years researching and writing the story, which she first wrote in Polish. Then she spent another two-and-a-half years translating it into English. At the time, she was an adjunct professor of English and religion at Howard Community College.
“To Kill the Other” follows the journey of Taher, a sensitive Egyptian boy, from the time he was 7 to his presence as a terrorist on the first plane to hit the World Trade Center…
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Mark Skinner reflects for More Magazine: 9/11 Changed My Life
“I spent so many years doing what I ‘should’ do,” says Mary Skinner, who went from financial exec to award-winning filmmaker.
For 20 years, Mary Skinner climbed the corporate ladder in financial communications, at one point working on the 106th floor of Two World Trade Center, before moving to San Francisco to be close to her family. In the months leading up to 9/11, her life was in limbo. Living with her parents, she wrestled with an internal conflict about her professional future. “I spent so many years doing what I ‘should’ do,” she says. She wanted to return to New York, and even flew there that summer for an interview with a financial services start-up. When the ‘no-thanks’ letter arrived, her disappointment was sharp.
But as the catastrophe unfolded, Skinner’s hesitation disappeared. “I knew friends were caught on certain floors and didn’t make it,” she says. “I felt: I need to be there right now. I’ve got to go back. I had devoted my talent, heart and brain cells to helping somebody make a little more money on currency arbitrage. In the face of what was going on in the world, I felt like, that’s a sin.”
Two months later, Skinner boarded a plane for New York – without a job or a place to live, and for the first time in her professional life, without a plan.
She found temp office work, reconnected with old friends and took writing classes. She enrolled in a documentary filmmaking class at the New School, wanting to make a film about her Polish-born, Catholic mother, Klotylda, who was orphaned and imprisoned during World War II and cared for by strangers afterwards. Klotylda wouldn’t agree to be her subject. Haunted by her mother’s experiences, Skinner continued with her research, uncovering more stories of children saved by heroic strangers…
From Jim Wallis at Sojourners: 10 Years After 9/11: The Good and the Bad
On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was at home in Washington, D.C. getting ready to go to Sojourners’ office. I was upstairs listening to the news on NPR when I heard the first confusing report of a plane crashing into the south tower of the World Trade Center. I immediately called downstairs to Joy and asked her to turn on the television to see what was going on. Moments later, as we ate breakfast together with our three-year-old son Luke, we watched the second plane strike the north tower. I still remember my first response to Joy, “This is going to be bad, very bad,” I said.
Of course, I meant more than just the damage to the Twin Towers and the lives lost, which became far greater than any of us imagined at first. Rather, my first and deepest concern was what something like this could do to our our nation’s soul. I was afraid of how America would respond to a terrorist attack of this scope.
But as the Towers collapsed, and the suffering of this horrible event became increasingly clear in the hours and days that followed, other parts of the American soul revealed themselves — the heroic responses of the first responders, and a city and nation of people taking care of each other. As ordinary citizens gave their lives for strangers, they became our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. In the days that followed the 9/11 attacks, the stories of pain, loss, and self-sacrifice brought Joy and me to tears several times. The suffering of many led to the service of many more.
For a moment, the world’s last remaining superpower was vulnerable, and we all felt it. In Washington, people fled from downtown D.C., walking and running right past our house, and gathered to pray at places such as Sojourners’ office. Joy helped Luke set up a little water station, as people frantically rushed by our house.
In our sudden sense of vulnerability we were now, and perhaps for the first time, like most of the world, where vulnerability is an accepted part of being human. And in those first days following 9/11, America, not the terrorists, had the high ground. The world did not identify with those who cruelly and murderously decided to take innocent lives in response to their grievances — both real and imagined. Instead, the world identified with a suffering America — even the front cover of the French newspaper Le Monde ran the headline, “We are all Americans now.”
But it was Washington’s response that I was most worried about. Within a short period of time, the official reaction to terrorism would simply be defined as war — a decade of it — resulting in many more innocent casualties than on September 11, 2001. In response to America’s own suffering, many others in Afghanistan, Iraq, and around the world would now suffer — all in the name of our war on terrorism. The opportunity for deeper understanding, reflection, and redirection would elude us as we sought to erase our vulnerability with the need to demonstrate our superior force and power. This was done quite easily in the early days of both our new wars. But now, we see that the longest series of wars in American history has failed to resolve or reverse the causes of the violence that struck us, or to make us safer. They just made it all worse.
The world expected and would have supported a focused and sustained effort to pursue and bring this small band of criminals to justice. But these last 10 years of manipulated and corrupted intelligence, endless war, practices and policies of torture, secret armies of assassination, global violations of human rights, indiscriminate violence with countless civilian casualties, and trillions of dollars wasted caused America to lose the high ground long ago. The arrogance of American power was our only response to the both the brutality and complexity of terrorism. Perhaps, this arrogance is most recently and brazenly exhibited in former Vice-President Dick Cheney’s new book tour, where he boasts of having absolutely no regrets for any of the momentous decisions he took part in. These are decisions which have made the world an even more divided, polarized, dehumanized, and dangerous place — 10 years after September 11, 2001.
But, fortunately, the official and failed response of Washington to the terrible tragedy of 9/11 has not been the only reponse. A new generation of Christians has asked how Jesus would respond to these same events. Many of them would agree with what Methodist Bishop Will Willimon recently said in the evangelical magazine Christianity Today: “American Christians may look back upon our response to 9/11 as our greatest Christological defeat … when our people felt vulnerable, they reached for the flag instead of the cross.” As many of those who have grown up in the decade since 9/11 confront the conflicts of their world, they are reaching for different things than their government. They are forging alternative responses to issues of injustice and violence, and rejecting the terrorism and war sequence of Washington’s twisted and failed moral logic.
And despite the hateful diatribes of fundamentalist leaders in all our religious traditions, other pastors have decided to love their neighbors, and even their enemies in response to Jesus’ call. Their stories are slowly being told, from American neighborhoods where Muslims have moved in, to conflict areas around the world where faith is being used for bridge building and healing, instead of more revenge killings. Christian leaders are sharing meals, fasting, and prayer with Muslim leaders. Some have defended each other’s congregations and homes in the face of heated threats and rhetoric. While differences between faith traditions are not being glossed over, the nature of a loving and reconciling God is being courageously affirmed across religious lines. In all of this, we are saying that government responses need not define our own…
Almighty God, by Whom our fathers won their liberties of old; grant that we and all people of this land may be strong to maintain our freedom against the assaults of those who by aggression seek to enslave us to their will. Guide, we beseech Thee, our President and all to whom has been committed the government of this nation, giving them special gifts of wisdom and understanding, that in defense of our liberties they may be instruments of lasting peace for all mankind. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. — A Prayer for the Nation from A Book of Devotions and Prayers According to the Use of the Polish National Catholic Church.
From The Dispatch: Music workshop wraps up with two free concerts
“Music of the Eastern European Church,” a free concert by the Ekumin Chorale, an 8-part a capella choir, under the direction of Patrick M. Marcinka, was presented at Holy Mother of Sorrows Polish National Catholic Church in Dupont Thursday night.
The concert was offered in conjunction with the 22nd Music Workshop of the National Choirs held at Holy Mother of Sorrows.
A second free concert was presented on Friday night by the participants of the workshop as a culmination of what was taught. The Friday concert showcased hymns from the new Polish/English Hymnal as well as other spiritually uplifting music.
Rev. Zbigniew Dawid is pastor of Holy Mother of Sorrows church.
Bishop Jerzy Szotmiller of the Polish Catholic Church reposed in the Lord this afternoon, July 31, 2011, in Częstochowa, Poland. May Your servant and bishop Jerzy rest in peace O Lord!
Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord and may the perpetual light shine upon him.
May he rest in peace. Amen.
Wieczne odpoczynek racz mu dać Panie, a światłość wiekuista niechaj mu świeci.
Niech odpoczywa w pokoju, Amen.
Ś.P. Bishop Jerzy was born in Warsaw, Poland on February 20, 1933. He was ordained to the Holy Priesthood in the Polish Catholic Church by Bishop Maksymilian Rode on February 24, 1961. From October 1975 to November 1976 he served the Polish National Catholic Church in Brazil. On July 29, 1979 he was consecrated Bishop of the Polish Catholic Church in Holy Ghost Cathedral, Warsaw, Poland by the Prime Bishop of the Polish Catholic Church, Most Rev. Dr. Tadeusz Ryszard Majewski with co-consecrators Most Rev. Francis Rowiński (PNCC), Rt. Rev. Joseph Niemiński (PNCC), and Most Rev. Emeritus Maksymilian Rode.
From 1979 to 1986 he served as Suffragan Bishop for the Warsaw Diocese while also serving the Cathedral Parish of Our Lady Queen of Apostles in Częstochowa. He was appointed Bishop Ordinary of the Kraków-Częstochowa Diocese as of June 9, 1986, and held that position until his death. He was predeceased by his wife Regina.
Ś.P. Bishop Jerzy was actively involved in the ecumenical movement, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and ecumenical meetings in the Silesian region of Poland.
A Requiem Holy Mass will be celebrated on August 5, 2011 at 12 noon in the Cathedral Parish of Our Lady Queen of Apostles in Częstochowa.
I kveld gråter vi med dem som gråter. — We weep with those who weep.
In these days of sorrow we stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Norway, and all members of the Nordic Catholic Church. Know that our prayers and thoughts are with you.
This coming Monday, the Feast of St. James the Greater, Apostle, I will stand with the Very Rev. Roald Flemstad on the occasion of his consecration as bishop in our Lord and Savior’s Holy Catholic Church. The gift once given to the then Rev. Franciszek Hodur, so as to organize the Holy Polish National Catholic Church, is to be passed on to the Holy Nordic Catholic Church. I will stand with them and by my mere presence will offer support and prayer for them, and all the people of Norway.
O merciful God, Father of the Crucified Christ! In every sorrow which awaits us may we look up to Thee without doubt or fear, persuaded that Thy mercy is ever sure. Thou cannot fail us. There is no place or time where Thou art not. Uphold us in our grief and sorrow, and in our darkness visit us with Thy light. We are Thine; help us, we beseech Thee, in life and in death to feel that we are Thine. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. — A Prayer In Time of Sorrow from A Book of Devotions and Prayers According to the Use of the Polish National Catholic Church.
From the Abington Journal: St. Stanislaus Polish National Catholic Cathedral Block Party, from 5 to 10 p.m. continuing through the 27th. Corner of Pittston Avenue and East Elm Street, Scranton. Features a variety of foods, drinks, games and music. Info: 570.961.9231
From the Republican Herald: Around the Region
Shenandoah: Of all the houses of worship ever in the borough – there were 18, including those now defunct – only two are on the east side. They are St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church, East Oak Street, and the First United Methodist Church, Oak and White streets. The church/synagogue count includes Catholic (Roman [, Polish National,] and Ukrainian), Orthodox, Protestant and Jewish. Defunct houses of worship include Kehillat Israel Synagogue, the Russian Orthodox Church, Our Lady of Mercy Syrian Catholic and Holy Family German Catholic. Although the St. George Roman Catholic Church building no longer exists, the parish family remains functional. Still existing are Annunciation BVM, St. Stanislaus, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Stephen and St. Casimir Roman Catholic, St. Michael Ukrainian Catholic, Holy Ghost Polish National, St. John’s Lutheran, Trinity United Church of Christ, First Baptist, Restoration Fellowship, Primitive Methodist and First United Methodist. In years past, the Greater Shenandoah Area Historical Society sponsored tours of the various churches.
From The Dispatch: Holy Mother of Sorrows to host music convention
The National United Choir (NUC) 22nd Music Workshop/30th General Convention hosted by the Scranton Chapter Circle Choir will be held at Holy Mother of Sorrows Church on Wednesday, July 27, through Friday, July 29. This workshop brings together the many talents of organists, choir members and musicians dedicated to the music ministry of the Polish National Catholic Church.
The convention will open on Wednesday with a Mass at Holy Mother of Sorrows beginning at 5:00 p.m. concelebrated by the Prime Bishop Anthony Mikovsky of the Polish National Catholic Church, United States and Canada; Bishop John Mack of the Diocese of Central Scranton, New York and New Jersey; Bishop Thomas Gnat, Bishop of the New England Diocese, Bishop Anthony Popka, Bishop of the Diocese of Chicago and Father Zbigniew Dawid, Pastor of Holy Mother of Sorrows.
Five instructors will give their expertise in music over the two day workshop: Dr. Jim Ploshanka of Cleveland, Ohio; Dr. Neil Stahurski of Pittsburgh, Patrick Marsinko, II; Scranton; Lisa McConlogue, Scranton, Director of Vocal Music at Scranton High School and Wendy Blotzer, McKeesport, Math Teacher, Clairiton City, who has served the National United Choirs as a Music Commission member, Music Scholarship Reviewer and Composer.
The Convention/ Workshop participants will review the new organist handbook, expand the music scholarship program which has awarded more than $330,000 since its inception in 1966 to parishioners committed to the music ministry, prepare music selections for the two free concerts and introduce their newly published church hymnal. This one of a kind hymnal includes all of the traditional Polish hymns from all the holidays plus customary church songs with the Polish verses on one side and the English translation on the other side. Volunteers from all parishes throughout the continental United States spent 20 years crafting this hymnal.
On Thursday, July 28, and Friday, July 29, after the days convention the National United Choir will hold two concerts free of charge and will be open to the public. Both concerts will be held in Holy Mother of Sorrows Church starting at 7:00 p.m.
On Thursday the Ekumen Chorale the Premier Eastern European Choral Ensemble of Northeastern Pa. conducted by Patrick Marsinko, II will perform sacred choral works compiled by composers of Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Belarus.
Marsinko, founder and conductor of the Ekumne since its creation in 1985 is a native and resident of Northeastern Pa. and holds Bachelor’s Degree in Language and Music from the University of Miami. He studied for his Master’s Degree in Rome and at the Eastern European Institute at Fordham University. He has worked with the Miami Symphony, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic. He has taught at Marywood University and Keystone Junior College, was Director of the Keystone Choir and has also taught in the Scranton and Archbald Public School Systems for the past 28 years.
Friday’s concert will include all the visiting Bishops with the workshop participants singing a selection of songs from the new hymnal featuring Dr. Neil Stahurski as organist.
Following this concert refreshment will be served in the parish hall. All are welcome.
The National United Choir has commissioned the hymnals for sale to the public. If you are interested contact Raymond Makowski, Librarian of the NUS at 1233 Rundel St, Scranton, Pa. 18504, or call 570-346-6756. The cost is $25.00 and $3.00 for shipping. He will also have the hymnals available after the concerts on Thursday and Friday.
From the Northwest Indiana Times: East Chicago church blesses new Cedar Lake home
The Rev. Anthony Mikovsky, seventh prime bishop of the Polish National Catholic Church, and the Rev. Anthony Kopka, diocesan bishop of the Western Diocese, are presented bread and salt by James Szalony and Katherine Long during Sunday’s dedication of St. Michael the Archangel National Catholic Church in Cedar Lake. Kopka mixed blessed salt, wine, ashes and water to make Gregorian water, which traditionally is used to consecrate churches and altars.
The church dedicated the first phase of its new complex in Cedar Lake on Sunday afternoon. In addition to parishioners and clergy of other faiths, special guests included Town Council President Robert Carnahan and two officials from Pangere Corp., which built the new building at 6629 W. 133th Ave.
“This day we bless our parish,” said St. Michael’s pastor, the Rev. John P. Kowalczyk.
As part of the ceremony, Pangere’s Robert Grow and Steve Pangere presented Kowalczyk, Dale Wynant, parish committee chairman, and Bill Burket, relocation committee chairman, with keys to the building. “May the building stand 100 years,” Grow said.
St. Michael’s sold its original church, in East Chicago, in 2007. Until the opening of the new church building, parishioners celebrated Mass at Great Oaks Banquets in Cedar Lake.
Carnahan presented the building’s certificate of occupancy on behalf of the Town Council.
“It is a privilege and an honor to do so,” he said.
The dedication ceremony was conducted by Kowalczyk, the Rev. Anthony Mikovsky, seventh prime bishop of the Polish National Catholic Church, and the Rev. Anthony Kopka, diocesan bishop of the Western Diocese. Other Polish National Catholic clergy attended, as well as ecumenical guests from United Methodist, Zion United Church of Christ and local Catholic churches.
After the keys and certificate of occupancy were presented, the processional cross led the way. The bishops first blessed the church entrance and the area of the building to be used as a hall. In the hall, Kopka mixed blessed salt, wine, ashes and water to make Gregorian water, which traditionally is used to consecrate churches and altars. The church’s sanctuary space was then blessed and its altar consecrated.
The bishop blessed items from the parish’s old church, including an offertory table, tabernacle, pulpit and woodcut panels depicting the stations of the cross.St. Michael the Archangel National Catholic Church was first established in East Chicago in 1903. Its earliest parishioners were Polish. It reached 200 members by the 1940s.
A new church, with more than 50 stained glass windows donated by parish families, was built in East Chicago in the 1950s. English Masses were added in the 1960s and the church continued to grow. Its 100th anniversary was celebrated Sept. 28, 2003.
The last Mass in the old church was celebrated Nov. 18, 2007. The parish purchased 7.75 acres on 133rd Avenue in Cedar Lake in 2008. Groundbreaking for the new church complex was March 8, 2009.
From the Times Leader: Ashley Legion honors vets with monument: Tribute to fallen veterans and victims of 9/11 is dedicated at Club 79
WILKES-BARRE – With pomp and circumstance, the five uniformed members of the Ashley American Legion Post 673 paid tribute to America’s fallen veterans and the victims of 9/11 on Monday by dedicating a monument in front of Club 79 on Blackman Street.
The ceremony was arranged by Club 79 owner Charles Hoynowski, who also purchased the monument, which reads, “To all veterans and those 2,982 victims who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.”
The ceremony began with the Very Rev. Thaddeus Dymkowski of Holy Cross Polish National Catholic Church in Wilkes-Barre saying a prayer and then blessing the monument with holy water. Legion chaplain Arthur Prandy then made some remarks.
“We are gathered here today to dedicate this memorial in honor of the victims of the terrible 9/11 tragedy, where so many people lost their lives, and to honor all of our deceased veterans,” Prandy said.
Following Prandy’s comments, three members of the legion fired blanks from guns in memory of the honored, and legion bugler Charles Falcheck played “Taps” on his bugle. An American flag was hoisted up a pole behind the monument.
Ashley American Legion members are responsible for attending local military funerals and delivering military honors. They receive their assignments from Officer Warren Gallagher of Scranton, who gets his information from Fort Dix in New Jersey.
Post Commander Tom Paul of Ashley was pleased with the ceremony.
“I think it’s a great thing,” he said. “We should have more monuments out there for our veterans and for what happened during 9/11.”
Hoynowski, 68, was inspired to place the monument due in part to his own experiences in uniform; he served in the U.S. Navy from 1961-67 and was a state trooper from 1972 to 1992.
“We were supposed to place the monument five years ago, but the club was having financial problems,” he said. “Now that the club is doing better, we’re finally doing it.”
In addition to dedicating the monument, Club 79 will also donate a $100 check to the Flight 93 National Memorial Campaign Fund in Washington, D.C. This campaign raises funds for a proposed memorial located in Shanksville to honor the Flight 93 passengers who thwarted another terrorist attack on 9/11.
When I was working to put together some of the directory for this website, the St. Peter and Paul Polish National Catholic Church at first eluded me. A business located farther down State Pier Road informed me that I’d overshot the building, and I found it amid a small cluster of buildings. The small wooden structure is slightly obscured by trees, located next to a housing project and the larger Faith Fellowship church, across from the Old Town Mill, and almost directly under one of the ramps leading to the Gold Star Bridge.
The denomination itself dates back to 1897 when it split from the Roman Catholic Church to incorporate Polish language and culture. The New London church was founded 90 years ago, in 1921, when the area had a Polish neighborhood to help sustain it. With attrition and the changing surroundings, the membership has dwindled to about 20, and only about 10 people were at the service I attended on Mother’s Day (the third Sunday of Easter). It’s a small but vibrant group dedicated to keeping the church active.
Stepping inside the church almost seemed like entering another world. The interior was well-maintained, with a bright altar holding several religious figures. Simple blue and gold windows let in the light, but none of the sound, from outside. Inside the sanctuary, the rumble of the interstate traffic overhead was nonexistent.
Rev. Stanley Kaszubski, the church’s pastor, says the Polish church is similar to the Roman Catholic Church, but does not fall under the Pope’s administration. Other differences include the right of priests to marry and a ceremony at the beginning of the service where confession is done silently and followed by general absolution. The program does not outline every step of the service, but the members seem to know where to find the necessary responses in a booklet entitled “The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.”
The service is remarkably quick, lasting about 45 minutes. A significant portion of that time includes the prayers and proclamations leading into the communion, presented by Kaszubski at the front of the church. Kaszubski also gave a brief address, smiling as he dedicated the mass to the mothers and encouraged everyone to enjoy the beautiful weather. His lesson gave another encouragement, saying Christians often look to personally experience Christ but don’t share it with others.
“We really need God every day in our lives,” he said.
Kaszubski, a native of Poland, has served in other churches in the denomination, including one in Manchester and one in Webster, Mass. He served 12 years as administrator of the New London church before he was appointed pastor last year. The services are open to all, not just those of Polish descent, and he said he is always available to assist anyone with their troubles.
“We are here, we will be here, and anyone is invited to worship,” he said.
Kathy Donlon, who has attended the church for five years, said Kaszubski’s upbeat and welcoming attitude was one of the main factors that made her decide to become a member. She said she particularly enjoys the homilies Kaszubski delivers, as they make a strong connection with the congregants.
“You feel like he’s almost family, because it’s such a small church,” said Donlon.
Colleen (Rzepniewski) Pinckney said she was christened in the church and has attended regularly since 2000. She feels a personal connection to the church, as her grandfather helped found the church and her father retrieved the chandelier hanging in the sanctuary as part of his work in house demolition.
“The feeling that I have when I’m here, the feeling of belonging…there’s definitely a connection for me, and I can’t explain it because it comes from my heart,” said Pinckney.
With increasing expenses and decreasing membership, the church is still going but poised to make a big change. It is working to sell the church to the New London Homeless Hospitality Center, at which point they would move both the daytime operations and night shelter into the building. The members would continue to meet next door, in the conference room in the rectory.
For Pinckney, the change will be bittersweet. She said she was initially upset with the idea of turning over the church to another group. However, she said she was happy it would be used as a “continuation of God’s work.”
From the National Council of Churches: National Council of Churches member communions say the death of Bin Laden must be a turning point
New York, May 3, 2011 – The death Sunday of Osama Bin Laden does not “eradicate the scourge of terrorism,” but it should stimulate the churches to commit themselves “to moving forward together as witnesses for God’s love and peace.”
The statement, released Tuesday on behalf of the National Council’s member communions, says:
The death of Osama Bin Laden is a significant moment in the turbulent history of the past decade. It does not eradicate the scourge of terrorism nor does it bring closure to the grieving and pain the world has endured since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, for which he was the primary architect. The National Council of Churches deplores and condemns the extremism he personified, the twisted illusions that wrought years of violence and evil in the world.
Now the member communions of the National Council of Churches pray for God’s help as we commit ourselves to moving forward together as witnesses for God’s love and peace. In November 2001, as the world reeled from the terror attacks, the General Assembly of the National Council of Churches and Church World Service challenged their communions to take the lead:
It is time [we said then] for us as an ecumenical community to make a renewed commitment to a ministry of peace with justice, and to make real in these days the call of Jesus, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44) In his Beatitudes, Jesus calls us, his followers, to be merciful if we are to receive mercy; he reminds us that the peacemakers are blessed and will be called children of God. And, he proclaims us “the light of the world”; our good works should be a beacon to others so they may give glory to God. (Matthew 5:14-16)…
The NCC includes the PNCC and the statement was signed by the Rev. Robert M. Nemkovich, Jr., Ecumenical Officer of the Polish National Catholic Church in America.
From the Albany Times Union: Seeking divine sustenance: The Capital Region’s faithful celebrate Easter with a truly diverse range of traditional fare
Throughout the generations, Christian immigrants brought along not only the rituals of their religion but also favorite foods for the celebration of Easter.
After sundown on Holy Saturday, a cauldrum of fire to light the paschal candle — signifying Christ, the light of the world — burns outside a Loudonville church of a longstanding Polish National Catholic congregation.
In Albany on Sunday, Nigerians and Ghanaians in African garb celebrate Christ’s resurrection with drumming and singing in their native dialects at the International Christian Fellowship Ministry.
After the Easter service at the First United Methodist Church Hispanic Emmanuel Faith Community in Rensselaer, Caribbean sweet drinks quench the thirst of the congregation led by Pastor Mariana Rodriquez. Some three dozen members gather in the parish hall for a chicken dinner and a Cuban drink made from sweet potatoes, and one from red beans with roots in the Domincan Republic.
Sweet is also favored by Germans in delicacies like marzipan, an almond paste, in the shape of a lamb. “Jesus was the lamb of God, and that means good luck,” says Glen Eggelhoefer, owner of Rolf’s Pork Store in Albany’s West Hill. Ham and lamb are the most common main courses.
“After 40 days of Great Lent, after fasting, it is now time to celebrate and taste food — a gift from God,” said the Rev. Mark Gnidzinski, pastor of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Czestochowa. Founded by Polish immigrants in Albany in 1920, the parish celebrated its first Mass at its suburban home on Easter Sunday in 1999.
In Polish and Eastern European tradition, swieconka is the blessing in church of decorated Easter baskets filled with kielbasa, horseradish, bread, butter lambs and colored eggs that signify new life. The food graces the Easter dinner table…
From the Times-Tribune: Residents still dependent on community to help make ends meet
At first, Sally Kurtz felt strange walking into a neighborhood food pantry and accepting a box of items that would help her make it through the week. But as it became harder and harder for the Scranton woman, who retired from her maintenance job two years ago, to make ends meet, she found herself depending more and more on the soup kitchens and other community services.
“Buying heating oil is expensive; all my utilities are expensive,” she said. “I don’t know what I’d do without the food pantries and the soup kitchens around here.”
On Saturday, Mrs. Kurtz joined dozens of others at St. Stanislaus Polish National Catholic Cathedral’s Youth Center, 530 E. Elm St. in Scranton, for a monthly free hot meal. It is one of several places around the area where people can gather for some food and friendship, and organizers said they have seen an increase in the number of people who come to eat since they began the program three years ago.
“We’re seeing more people every month,” said Carol Nasser, who helps out at the monthly meal. “The recession isn’t over, not for a lot of people.”
Also at the youth center for a free meal was Ann Thorne of Scranton. She has been out of work since August and has had little success in finding even temporary jobs. And though it was the first time she had ever been to St. Stanislaus, she said she was glad she had heard about it.
“I’m worried about paying bills,” she said. “I’m trying to make it on my own, but it’s hard.”
Both women say they worry about state budget cuts proposed earlier this month by Gov. Tom Corbett, some of which may make it harder for agencies that help people struggling with unemployment and soaring bills. Funding for food pantries, homeless shelters and other social services is in jeopardy, and both women said they are not sure where else they would go for help if local programs were to disappear.
“It will make it harder for me,” Ms. Thorne said.
Father Charles Csirip, one of the volunteers at the monthly meal, said the church and other community groups have come forward in the last few years to help those struggling and would continue to do so.
“People are doing better, but they’re uncertain that they’re going to stay better,” he said.
From the Baltimore Sun: No Polish Festival this year for shrinking Fells Point community: Festival was at Rash Field, Patterson Park
Warm, melodic polka music still fills the Polish Home Club in Fells Point every Saturday night, where rounds of the house drink — golden, honey-flavored Krupnik — are passed around the bar and quickly drained.
But the decidedly older crowd — one member recalled the first time he walked into the club, still recovering from injuries he sustained fighting in World War II — has thinned as residents from the Polish community die off, with many of their children already having left the neighborhood.
And now, a major symbol of the community’s vibrant past is fleeting: There will be no Baltimore Polish Festival this year for the first time in nearly four decades. When the celebration returns next year, it’s likely to be held at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium.
“We’ve been in the city all of this time. It’s a sad thing we have to move now,” said Steve Lesniewski, president of the Polish Community Association of Maryland, which organizes the festival. Lesniewski is also the vice president of the Polish Home Club. “You hate to see things fall by the wayside but it happens. … Polish organizations are drying up.”
Each June, the festival has attracted throngs from all over the city over a three-day weekend to celebrate Baltimore’s Polish community — largely congregated in Southeast Baltimore’s Upper Fells Point neighborhood, where immigrants established a number of churches, small businesses and social clubs.
The festival featured pierogies, golabki (a stuffed cabbage dish) and kielbasa. Guests drank beers such as Zywiec and Okocim, and danced to music at three stages. The celebration kicked off the city’s ethnic festival season each summer. This would have been its 38th year in Baltimore; after a long run at Rash Field, the celebration moved to Patterson Park in 1990…
Baltimore’s PNCC Parish, Holy Cross, always had a food sales booth at the festival.
From the Times-Tribune Namedropper:
The Most Rev. John F. Swantek, prime bishop emeritus of the Polish National Catholic Church, was a guest speaker at the weekly Lenten Soup and Sermon series at Elm Park United Methodist Church, Scranton. The series is based on the theme, “Words to the Cross.” Ed E. Rogers, a trustee at Elm Park Church, introduced Father [sic] Swantek. The Rev. C. Gerald Blake Jr., is pastoral associate at the host church.
God, full of mercy, who dwells in the heights, provide a sure rest upon the Divine Pressence’s wings, within the range of the holy, pure and glorious, whose shining resemble the sky’s, to the soul of Leiby Kletzky son of Nachman Kletzky, for a charity was given to the memory of his soul. Therefore, the Master of Mercy will protect him forever, from behind the hiding of his wings, and will tie his soul with the rope of life. The Everlasting is his heritage, and he shall rest peacefully upon his lying place, and let us say: Amen.