Deacon’s Blog

From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: [Rev] Melvin Walczak rejoins St. Casimir

IRONDEQUOIT — A priest who made headlines as the first married priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester has returned to the church of his first ministry, St. Casimir Polish National Catholic Church on Simpson Road.

Along the way, the Rev. Melvin Walczak, 62, has had quite a journey.

St. Casimir is part of the Polish National Catholic Church, which formed in 1897 by Polish nationalists who broke away from Roman Catholicism. The church, which according to its Web site has more than 25,000 members nationally, allows married priests.

The Roman Catholic Church typically does not, but policy does permit married priests ordained in another church to become Roman Catholics and continue to serve as priests.

Walczak served as pastor of St. Casimir from 1973 until 1985, when he switched denominations. He served at four Roman Catholic diocesan churches as well as at Rochester General Hospital, where he was director of pastoral care.

But after experiencing a “crisis of ministry,” Walczak left the diocese in 1996 and worked for the administrations of Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks and, before that, former county executive Jack Doyle.

Walczak retired last year and thought about moving to the South to be near his brother. But when he learned of financial problems at St. Casimir, Walczak contacted the church’s bishop, who reappointed him.

And last Sunday, for the first time in a quarter-century, Walczak celebrated Mass at St. Casimir.

A homecoming

“I was frightened by how comfortable it felt, but frightened by how nervous I felt,” Walczak said. “As it unfolded, God provided the grace to make it easier for me. The anxiousness comes from not surrendering to God, and the peace comes from saying, ‘It’s in your hands now.’” Parishioners at St. Casimir said they were thrilled with Walczak’s return.

“We consider Father Mel a friend as well as pastor,” said Gary Richardson of Penfield, who got married at St. Casimir in 1963, when the church was still on Ernst Street in Rochester. “He’s a take-charge guy, and that’s a good thing. We’re all delighted with Father Mel coming back. If anyone can save the church, it’s Father Mel.”

Maria Weldy of Irondequoit, who joined St. Casimir after Walczak left, has been fighting to keep the church open. Membership now is about 20 families, compared with about 200 families when Walczak first served there.

“When someone comes over and offers his experience, it’s incredible,” Weldy said. “We’re very grateful, and it’s very surprising.”

…

Walczak … retired in 2009 and planned to spend a year in retirement before making any “dramatic changes.”

Then he read about St. Casimir’s problems.

“I have a friend who said, ‘Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous,’ and I have leaned on that,” Walczak said. “I hope to appeal to folks who have not been going to church, and to people who are going but are disillusioned.

“I’m still not sure why I’m here. I’m not sure that I understand God’s plan. But there are a lot of God’s plans that I don’t understand.”

Welcome home Fr. Walczak. May God grant you great joy and perseverance in your ministry in the Polish National Catholic Church.

PNCC Ministry, Vocations

Nicholas Kristof writing in the NY Times: Learning From the Sin of Sodom

A pop quiz: What’s the largest U.S.-based international relief and development organization?

It’s not Save the Children, and it’s not CARE — both terrific secular organizations. Rather, it’s World Vision, a Seattle-based Christian organization (with strong evangelical roots) whose budget has roughly tripled over the last decade.

World Vision now has 40,000 staff members in nearly 100 countries. That’s more staff members than CARE, Save the Children and the worldwide operations of the United States Agency for International Development — combined.

A growing number of conservative Christians are explicitly and self-critically acknowledging that to be “pro-life” must mean more than opposing abortion. The head of World Vision in the United States, Richard Stearns, begins his fascinating book, “The Hole in Our Gospel,” with an account of a visit a decade ago to Uganda, where he met a 13-year-old AIDS orphan who was raising his younger brothers by himself.

“What sickened me most was this question: where was the Church?” he writes. “Where were the followers of Jesus Christ in the midst of perhaps the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time? Surely the Church should have been caring for these ‘orphans and widows in their distress.’ (James 1:27). Shouldn’t the pulpits across America have flamed with exhortations to rush to the front lines of compassion?

“How have we missed it so tragically, when even rock stars and Hollywood actors seem to understand?”

Mr. Stearns argues that evangelicals were often so focused on sexual morality and a personal relationship with God that they ignored the needy. He writes laceratingly about “a Church that had the wealth to build great sanctuaries but lacked the will to build schools, hospitals, and clinics.”

In one striking passage, Mr. Stearns quotes the prophet Ezekiel as saying that the great sin of the people of Sodom wasn’t so much that they were promiscuous or gay as that they were “arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” (Ezekiel 16:49.)

Hmm. Imagine if sodomy laws could be used to punish the stingy, unconcerned rich!

…

One of the most inspiring figures I’ve met while covering Congo’s brutal civil war is a determined Polish nun in the terrifying hinterland, feeding orphans, standing up to drunken soldiers and comforting survivors — all in a war zone. I came back and decided: I want to grow up and become a Polish nun.

Some Americans assume that religious groups offer aid to entice converts. That’s incorrect. Today, groups like World Vision ban the use of aid to lure anyone into a religious conversation.

Some liberals are pushing to end the longtime practice (it’s a myth that this started with President George W. Bush) of channeling American aid through faith-based organizations. That change would be a catastrophe. In Haiti, more than half of food distributions go through religious groups like World Vision that have indispensable networks on the ground. We mustn’t make Haitians the casualties in our cultural wars.

A root problem is a liberal snobbishness toward faith-based organizations. Those doing the sneering typically give away far less money than evangelicals. They’re also less likely to spend vacations volunteering at, say, a school or a clinic in Rwanda.

If secular liberals can give up some of their snootiness, and if evangelicals can retire some of their sanctimony, then we all might succeed together in making greater progress against common enemies of humanity, like illiteracy, human trafficking and maternal mortality.

The only aspect of the article I would say wasn’t covered well was the subtle shot at the Church’s defense of life. That’s part of a continuity rarely understood. That said, the subtle shot makes the point, Christians should not be single issue people. We should take heed of our very teachings on the continuity of life. As with the mite and the beam (Matthew 7:3), if we cannot care for our brothers and sisters, how can we criticize those who do not respect life.

Christian Witness, Perspective Charity, Ministry

From BreakingNews: Supreme Court ruling loosens Catholic diocese hold on priest sex abuse papers

The first kind are those that make themselves greater than the Church, substituting private judgment and corporate fear for faithful duty consistent with Scripture and Tradition.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday against a Roman Catholic diocese in Connecticut, saying that thousands of documents generated by lawsuits against six priests for alleged sexual abuse cannot remain sealed.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Tuesday denied the Bridgeport diocese’s request to continue a stay on the release of the papers until the full court decides whether to review the case.

Ralph Johnson III, a lawyer for the diocese, said church officials were considering whether to ask all nine justices to rule on the request.

The diocese said on its Web site Tuesday afternoon that it was disappointed with Ginsburg’s decision and that it “intends to proceed with its announced determination to ask the full U.S. Supreme Court to review the important constitutional issues that this case presents.”

Jonathan Albano, attorney for three newspapers who requested the documents, said the ruling compels the diocese to release the documents, but he acknowledged the church could ask the full court to reconsider Ginsburg’s decision.

“At the end of the day, the diocese will be able to say they were heard before every court that was available to them,” Albano said.

…

The Connecticut high court also rejected the claim by church officials that the documents were subject to constitutional privileges, including religious privileges under the First Amendment…

From The Deacons Bench: Dissident (Fr.) Roy Bourgeois: ‘I will not be silenced.’

The second kind — those who see their private judgment and assessment as some sort of revelation when it is no more than mimicry of the the world’s message.

The controversial priest who participated in a woman’s ordination ceremony last year is back in the news again — and continuing to stir the pot:

“A prominent priest whose support for women’s ordination has him in trouble with the Catholic Church ratcheted up his confrontation with the hierarchy yesterday, calling the church’s refusal to ordain women a “scandal’’ and “spiritual violence.’’

“I will not be silenced on this issue,’’ said the priest, the Rev. Roy Bourgeois, to about 100 people in Weston at an event hosted by the congregation of Jean Marchant, a former staffer for the Archdiocese of Boston who claims she was ordained as a priest in an unsanctioned ceremony four years ago.

“The Catholic Church views Marchant and Bourgeois as having been automatically excommunicated for participating in unsanctioned ordination ceremonies.

“Yesterday Bourgeois said he remained unclear about his status because he has had no formal communication from his order, the Maryknoll Fathers, or from the Vatican, which last fall told him he would face excommunication if he did not recant.

“If they choose to kick me out of the church because I believe that men and women are equal, so be it,’’ Bourgeois said. “I will never be at peace being in any organization that would exclude others…

What’s funny in this case is the Rev. Bourgeois’ name – bourgeois which describes his attitude more than anything. As the Young Fogey might say, the class that touts SWPL (stuff white people love) – knowing better than the Church based on private judgment and believing that everyone must absolutely believe what you believe or they are evil, of course all in the name of “human” justice.

The Rev. Bourgeois is completely wrong of course, and women’s ordination is non-Catholic and a non-issue. It has nothing to do with equality or exclusion, but rather people of his class and background touting their personal assessment of what equality and exclusion mean — and then forcing others to eat that assessment.

Funny how all the Churches that eat and enjoy Rev. Bourgeois’ assessment are about as non-inclusive as they come. If you don’t buy what they sell you are out — you are just the ignorant proletariat. Further their congregations and parishes are dying at a fast rate (see here or read Exodus: Why Americans Are Fleeing Liberal Churches for Conservative Christianity) while truly Catholic Churches (Roman Catholic, Orthodox) are bringing the remnant in.

People who know know that Catholic Churches are all about inclusivity – all are welcome to come and pray. All are ministered to. All have a role consistent with Scripture and Tradition within those Churches.

The voice of the Holy Spirit is not asking that we grasp at straws for an answer, but that we show our faithfulness to what has been handed on to us. Not enough men in the seminary? We need to challenge them, be dynamic examples as men motivated by deep faith, love, and service. It’s hard work to put aside the tiredness, the monotony that can creep in to our all too human lives, but we can do it — truth, work, and struggle and we will be victorious. The solution isn’t in Rev. Bourgeois’ head or in our heads. It isn’t in society. It is in faithfulness.

Christian Witness, PNCC, Perspective Bishop Hodur, Church, Culture, Ministry, Theology, Tradition, Vocations

From the Herald News: Fall River police investigate Winthrop Street shooting which always gives rise to the question of Christian witness in old, inner city ethnic neighborhoods whose demographics have changed.

I advocate for a continued presence because our history, our democratic Church, speaks to people of every background and is able to bring the message of Christ to every community. It is certainly difficult to concentrate on love driving out all fear (1 John 4:18) when bullets are whizzing by, but it is worth considering before we respond on instinct.

Police are looking for two suspects following a reported Wednesday morning shooting on Winthrop Street near Plymouth Avenue and towed a black BMW that reportedly belongs to one of the suspects.

Two witnesses told The Herald News they heard two initial shots. One man, who declined to be identified, said he fled for safety with his young son. The other witness said a young black male exited the BMW, fired another shot at a black Cadillac Escalade and jumped a wall through her yard.

From there, the second witness, whose identity The Herald News is protecting, said, “I could see the gun through his T-shirt.”

It was the fourth reported city shooting since July 24, including the fatal shooting of Charles Smith on July 27.

The initial call about 11:45 a.m. reported a shooting at 112 Winthrop St.

An hour later, police put out a call in search of a black male who may have been an unexplained shooting victim, according to radio dispatch accounts.

“I can confirm we are investigating a report of shots fired in that area. No reports have been completed,” police spokesman Sgt. Paul Gauvin said.

One of several police officers interviewing witnesses on the lower portion of Winthrop Street, near Blessed Trinity Parish National Catholic Church, said they were seeking “two suspects on foot.”…

Christian Witness, Current Events, PNCC Ministry

From the Connecticut Post: Kopka leaving Stratford parish to head West

Kopka Named Diocean Bishop of the Western Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church in Chicago, covering eight states

STRATFORD — Bishop Anthony Kopka and many of his parishioners at St. Joseph’s Polish National Catholic Church still recall his first sermon on Father’s Day in 1982, when the congregation was in Bridgeport and the 26-year-old priest came strolling into the church carrying his clergy shirt and collar on a hangar, with a few dozen people in attendance.

It will be far different for Kopka when he delivers his final sermon Sunday at 4 p.m. in front of an expected crowd of 400 people at St. Joseph’s parish, 1300 Stratford Road, before departing for his new job in Chicago on Tuesday.

He won’t be carrying his clothing on a hanger this time, and there will be plenty of tears from those who eagerly awaited his arrival 27 years ago after being without a priest for more than a year.

Kopka will be adorned in the full black Bishop’s Cassock and floor-length robes, with red trim, and a brass headdress of miter and crosier — centuries-old symbols of regalia for bishops.

Kopka, now 53, has been named Bishop of the Western Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church in Chicago, which covers eight Midwestern and southern states and 30 parishes. He’ll also be pastor of All Saints Cathedral in Chicago. It’s a big change from overseeing a couple of hundred people for most of his time at St. Joseph’s, before being named auxiliary bishop of the Eastern Diocese in November 2006 that covers four New England states, including Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Manchester.

“It’s a very emotional time. I have loved every minute of my 27 years here and it’s not easy to leave,” said Kopka, getting uncharacteristically choked up several times during an interview this week. “I grew up in New Castle, Pennsylvania, but after all my wonderful experiences here — being part of the community and raising a family — I will now forever say I’m from Stratford.”

Kopka said he is ready for the new challenge.

“I believe God has been preparing me for this for a long time,” Kopka said. “I want to help take our church into a new era that goes beyond just (Polish) ethnicity and appeals to all those searching for an alternative. Our church tends to be more liberal in its doctrine as priests and bishops are allowed to marry and have families, which I think is important because we can relate to the same everyday problems that face other people.”

Dolores Smith, 68, who has been a church member her entire life and is chairwoman of a gala party Sunday that will celebrate Kopka’s tenure, said the party will include 20 members of the clergy from the area, as well as Mayor James R. Miron, State Rep. Terry Backer, D-Stratford, and Supt. of Schools Irene Cornish.

Smith said it will be tough to replace a pastor who has led the congregation for nearly three decades, including the move from Bridgeport in 1989, “who has made such an impact on the community with his outreach and leadership.

“I still remember that first sermon he gave like it was yesterday,” Smith said. “Bishop Anthony was so young and hopeful, and had this wonderful big smile that has been comforting us all these years. It’s very bittersweet to see him go, but we know God will send us the right person to replace him, just like when he was sent to us all those years ago.”

When Kopka arrived church membership was dwindling, as parishioners were becoming scared to come to Barnum Avenue and Harriet Street on the east side of Bridgeport. He said car break-ins, muggings, threats to churchgoers and women being accosted resulted in the congregation voting overwhelmingly in 1988 to move to the Lordship section of Stratford, where the church owned a parcel of land.

A new church was built and opened in January of 1989. “It was the right decision and turning point in helping to revive church membership, which has more than doubled to over 200 since that time,” said Smith. “We now have members in more than 20 communities and much of the credit for that has to go to Bishop Kopka, who has been a sparkling presence in the area and made our church a community center where so many events have taken place.”

While Kopka didn’t want to give away too much about his final sermon, he said the theme would be uplifting and hopeful.

“I’m going to talk about how much we have grown together, how we all have gifts from God and because we’ve shared them with each other we have all grown in our faith and relationships,” Kopka said, again having a hard time holding back the tears. ” I hope to use that same theme as a model in all the parishes I’ll be overseeing.”

Kopka’s new assignment, which covers the largest geographic area of the church’s five regions in the country, includes Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Missouri, Florida and a mission in the State of Washington. Bishop Kopka replaces Bishop Jan Dawidziuk, who is retiring on June 30.

The Polish National Catholic Church was established in 1897 in Scranton, Pa., with members breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church. Today, there are more than 25,000 members in America.

Among the many local boards Kopka has served on include a stint as chairman of the Ethics Commission and president of the Stratford Clergy Association, chaplain for the Stratford Police Department, and coordinator of youth groups of Stratford congregations for the Bridge Building Initiative of the Council of Churches of Greater Bridgeport.

Kopka and his wife Darlene, have two grown daughters, Kristen, 25 and Lauren, 23, who both live in Stratford and plan to remain here. “It’s great because when I come back and visit, we know we have a place to stay,” Kopka said.

Christian Witness, PNCC Ministry, Vocations

Fr. Robert Hart of the Continuum Blog has an interesting article on the “Dutch Touch” and Anglican Orders. In The Dutch Touch: A study in irrelevance he says:

Frankly, Saepius Officio, written in 1897 by the Archbishops of England (Canterbury and York) said everything that needed to be said in defense of our Orders, and the best summary anywhere is that of Bicknell.

As for the subject of the Infusion itself, it is a relic of an innocent age of ecumenical hope, that innocence and hope that would suffer destruction for the official Anglican Communion in 1976. If the Infusion may help someday between orthodox Anglicans of the Continuum and Rome or, restart some ecumenical relations with the Polish National Catholic Church, then maybe it will not have been a big wasted effort after all.

Until such a time, who cares?

Two observations: First, I think that ecumenical contact between orthodox Anglicans and the PNCC would be a fine thing. We offer the Declaration of Scranton as a point of unity between national churches, and as a structural building block in accord with the National Church philosophy expounded by Bishop Hodur.

The interesting thing about the word continuum is that it means a connection that surpasses the here and now. At core it is a continuation of a Church’s traditions, practices, and character (of course only important if they are Catholic in character and in fact). I have said before, including to local clergy of the TAC, swimming the Tiber will eventually lead to the dissolution of everything that you are. Simply put, the weight of the Roman Church will subsume the TAC and any other Continuum Church that joins it, just as Anglican Use parishes will disappear within two generations.

I also think that there is another issue that gets lost in the whole swimming the Tiber spirit within the TAC, “Is that what your people really want? Just as among clergy some will say yes, but I believe that a majority will see what I see, that ‘who they are’ will slip away.

My second observation, and I congratulate Fr. Hart for making the point, is “who cares.” That is really the point if your Church believes itself to be Catholic. Like the Orthodox Churches we need to place less emphasis on what Rome thinks of us and more on what we think of ourselves (and no emphasis on what some over-the-top on-line R.C. pundits and detractors think of us). The full body of Catholic Churches are, in their varied external manifestations (those whose ecclesiology, polity, and praxis are Catholic), the totality of the Church, which is truly universal.

Christian Witness, PNCC, Perspective Church, Ecumenism, History, Ministry, Vocations

From the Rt. Rev. Thaddeus Peplowski from the May – June – July 2009 Issue of ACTS, a publication of the Buffalo-Pittsburgh Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church:

We are all familiar with the saying: “Actions speak louder than words!” It reminds us that when positive things are being done, then the words that introduced the actions need not be repeated, since they are being manifested.

When Jesus spoke of His death and resurrection, they were mere words to the Apostles who did not even want to hear them; but when Christ died on the cross, that action stung the hearts of these men, who seemed to be completely lost in their sorrow. The resurrection from the dead of our Savior and His multiple appearances to His disciples, made them reassess everything that Jesus said during His three-year ministry in a new light of faith and truth. Before the resurrection, they were just ordinary men with ordinary fears, but after He rose from the dead and breathed upon them the gift of the Holy Spirit, they were transformed into superheroes, men who feared nothing, even death itself. The kind of faith that they professed as missionaries caused the fledging Church to grow by leaps and bounds – nothing could restrain the power of the Word that caused the spontaneous growth of the Church.

That is the kind of faith and spirit that needs to be revived in the Church today. The Holy Spirit is guiding us to a variety of groups of people, not only here in our country, but even in far-off Italy, who are seeking to create parishes modeled after the example of the Polish National Catholic Church. The so-called “hidden treasure” of our ecclesial structure is being sought after as the ideal form of establishing National Catholic Parishes that resemble early Christian communities. Yes, just speaking about our faith is not enough, we need to share it in outward form of helping others to establish congregations regardless of their ethnic, national or racial background, so that our words may produce actions.

Recently, we have been responding to the pleading of Catholic people who are desperately seeking to establish parishes within the PNCC. We are accepting their challenge and going forth to help them. Just like St. Paul accepted the call of the Macedonians, so we too must reach out and assist those who are seeking to become one with us in faith and service. If we fail to answer their call, we are also failing our Lord Jesus Christ who in the Great Commission delegated His Apostles to “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

We too, like the Apostles, are commissioned to continue the same missionary call of bringing those who are abandoned and lost back into the fold of the Church. It is wrong to proselytize members of other churches, but it is good to respond to the call of people who are seeking to become members of our Church, and come to us on their own. On Pentecost, when Peter converted over 3,000 Jewish men, he did so because they came to him, seeking the Word of Life and seeking conversion and baptism on their own. We need to do more than speak about the blessings that God has bestowed upon the National Catholic Movement; we need to open our hearts and minds to welcoming into our fold those who wish to be brothers and sisters with us in the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church that the Polish National Catholic Church professes to be in doctrine and practice.

…Opportunities are always being presented to us, all we need to do is respond to the plea of people who are seeking to become National Catholics. We need to embrace them with the same welcoming love that each one of our parishes received when they were accepted into the Polish National Catholic Church.

Pray for the continued success of our Mission and Evangelism Program … that it may bring new members to our existing parishes, as well as inspiring groups of believers who are seeking to establish new PNCC congregations. It is only through the Words of encouragement that our Prayers and Words of faith precipitate the Actions of organizing new Parishes, proving that Actions do speak louder than Words.

Christian Witness, PNCC Church, Evangelism, Ministry, New Parishes

From CathNews: Polish priests want to marry

Most Polish priests favour an end to celibacy and twelve percent say they are already in a relationship with a woman, a survey has found.

The research has dealt a blow to the country’s reputation as a champion of traditional Catholic values, the UK Telegraph reports.

A survey of over 800 priests carried out by Professor Josef Baniak, a sociologist specialising in religious affairs, found that 53 percent would like to have a wife, while 12 percent admitted that they were involved in a relationship. A further 30 percent said that they had had a sexual relationship with a woman.

Professor Baniak concluded from earlier research that the desire to have a relationship and a family was one of the key reasons for priests leaving the priesthood.

His latest research echoes an earlier survey carried out by the Tygodnik Powszechny newspaper. The conservative publication, aimed at Catholic intellectuals, found that as many as 60 percent of priests wanted the right to marry.

Professor Baniak’s survey, however, has come under fire from the Church. Bishop Wojciech Polak, chairman of the Church’s Vocations Council, described it as “full of generalisations”, adding that he found the “conclusions hard to agree with.”

Bishop Polak must not have access to the books and records as the auxiliary bishop of Gniezno. He’s obvioulsy missed the priests who have long-term “housekeepers,” have left to marry, have committed suicide because they cannot reconcile their conflicted relationships, or who have dumped their housekeeper and her (really their) children on the dioceses’ doorstep.

Of course “new trends” in Polish seminaries will change the balance. Perhaps Bishop Polak is concentrating on those changes.

More from Bishop Polak in Catholic Church in Poland reports sharp drop in vocations. Methinks that the Bishop has his fingers in his ears and is signing a hymn very loudly.

Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia Ministry, Vocations

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!

Christian Witness, PNCC Charity, Ministry, Peace, Sermons, Service

Today is the final for the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy, WOŚP), a project that began in Poland in 1993, and to date has collected over $96 million dollars to fund children’s health care. This year’s focus is on early detection of childhood cancers.

If so moved, I encourage you to join in support of this worthy organization. Note that if you wish to donate by credit card you have to use their Polish site. Chose the banner link that says “Wpłata Kartą.” Note that donations are in Polish currency and the current exchange rate is about .33522 dollars per zł, so a 100 złoty donation would be about $33.52. Check out the OANDA Forex converter for details.

A profile of the organization and its history can be found on its website and on Wikipedia. A story covering the organization’s founder, Jerzy Owsiak (you could liken him to Jerry Lewis and the MD telethon), can be found in the Student Operated Press. That article notes that the program is being opposed by some Roman Catholic Church leaders in Poland.

Christian Witness, Poland - Polish - Polonia Charity, Christmas, Life, Ministry