Recent Posts

Most Used Categories

Day: October 9, 2011

You are Here :
Art, PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Art for the Solemnity of the Christian Family

Holy Family, Szymon Czechowicz, ca. 1750

Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom; and when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the company they went a day’s journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances; and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions; and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when they saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” And he said to them, “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” And they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man. — Luke 2:41-52

Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political, , , ,

Drop Visas for Poles

Please contact your Senators and Representatives asking that they include Poland in the Visa Waiver Program by co-sponsoring and supporting House Bill H.R. 959 and Senate Bill S. 497.

From Alex Storozynski, President of The Kosciuszko Foundation, The U.S. Must Respect Its Allies

Polish-Americans [marched] up Fifth Avenue on Sunday, [October 2nd] in honor of Gen. Casimir Pulaski, a hero who saved George Washington’s life at the Battle of Brandywine. Yet ironically, if he were alive today, Pulaski would not be allowed to march in the parade without paying $140 and applying for a visa. However, Lafayette and Von Steuben would be able to visit the United States for free because France and Germany are included in the Visa Waiver Program.

The Nowy Dziennik-Polish Daily News, The Kosciuszko Foundation and the Polish community in America urge the United States Congress to include Poland in the VWP, which allows citizens of 36 foreign countries to travel to the U.S. for up to 90 days without a visa.

Poland is one of America’s closest and steadfast allies, sending its soldiers to shed their blood for freedom in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and other war zones. Polish troops have fought side by side with American troops, going wherever the United States asks them to go. So far, 29 Polish soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, and 30 Polish soldiers have been killed in Iraq.

Like Pulaski, many Polish soldiers have served with distinction at the behest of the U.S. military. Gen. Roman Polko, former commander of the Polish Special Forces unit, GROM, (Thunderbolt), led the capture of a heavily guarded oil platform in the port of Umm Qasr during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The U.S. Army awarded Gen. Polko the Commendation Medal and the Legion of Merit Medal. But when I invited Polko to attend an event at the Kosciuszko Foundation in the spring, he told me that he could not come to New York because he did not have a valid American visa.

While Polko and other Polish soldiers can fight for American freedom, they cannot come see the Statue of Liberty without a visa.

Is this how America treats its allies?

President George W. Bush acknowledged that Poland is one of America’s closest allies and promised to include Poland in the VWP. Poland meets all of the criteria for the VWP, except one – the number of citizens denied visas after they pay the $140 fee.
American consulates around the world interview foreign citizens who apply for tourist visas to visit the United States. These consulates deny visas to people they think might overstay their 90 day visas or work illegally in America.

In 2008, President Bush announced that the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and South Korea would become part of the VWP because these countries had a visa refusal rate lower than 10%. Poland was excluded because at the time its visa refusal rate was slightly higher than that. Today, Poland’s refusal rate is 9%. But after these other countries were added, Congress said that no new countries would be allowed into the VWP unless their visa refusal rate was less than 3%.

The only reason Poland has a 9% refusal rate is that American consulates count the same people over and over as they are denied visas several times. The true percentage of Poles who are denied visas is actually lower. And fewer than 3% of the Poles who do come to America stay longer than the 90 days allowed on their visas.

Countries with an overstay rate of less than 3% should be included in the VWP. The Secure Travel and Counterterrorism Partnership Act of 2011, H.R. 959, would do just that. The bill must pass both houses before President Obama can sign it.

The bill is sponsored in the House by Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois, and the co-sponsors of the bill that are friendly towards Polonia include: Rep. Shelley Berkley [D-NV], Rep. Brian Higgins [D-NY], Rep. Duncan Hunter [R-CA], Rep. Marcy Kaptur [D-OH], Rep. Daniel Lipinski [D-IL], Rep. William (Bill) Pascrell, Jr. [D-NJ], Rep. Jared Polis [D-CO], Rep. Janice (Jan) Schakowsky [D-IL], Rep. John Shimkus [R-IL].

The Senate Bill S. 497 is sponsored by Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, and co-sponsored by Senators Mark Kirk of Illinois, Mark Begich of Alaska, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

President Obama has written to Congress in “strong support” of the bill, but it must first pass both houses of Congress before it can be signed into law.

The key to passing this bill lies with New York Senator Charles Schumer, Chairman of the Immigration, Refugee and Border Security subcommittee in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator Schumer can influence the outcome of this bill in the Senate. It’s time for Sen. Schumer to take action on this bill and show that he cares about the one million people of Polish descent in New York State. He must become a co-sponsor.

In the House of Represenatives, the key is Rep. Elton Gallegly of California, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement. Both committees must pass the bill before it can go to the Senate and full House for a vote.

The arguments for including Poland in the VWP are strong. In addition to being one of America’s greatest allies, a productive member of NATO, and the European Union, the notion that Poles need to come to America to work is just flat out wrong. In fact, many Poles who have Green Cards have returned to Poland in recent years because the economy in their own country has grown faster than the U.S. economy.

Those Poles who do want to seek employment elsewhere can work in various countries across Europe. Poland is part of the “Schengen Area” of 25 European nations that allows passport-free travel across borders. Poles do not need to come here to work. They only want to come here to shop, visit relatives and see tourist sites, just like other Europeans.

It’s estimated that 7,000 Poles will be denied visas to the U.S. this year. Many more don’t even apply because the process offends them. I have several relatives and friends in Poland that have professional careers, and they refuse to come here and spend money because of the visa issue. Instead, they travel to tourist sites in Africa, Asia and South America to spend their vacation money.

Poland presently holds the rotating Presidency of the European Union, but incredibly, its President, Bronislaw Komorowski, had to apply for visa prior to his trip to the United States. By refusing visa free travel for Poles, the United States is pushing away an ally, and taking Poland for granted.

Poles pose no terrorist threat to America, and allowing Poles to visit the United States as tourists would encourage international trade and pump tourism dollars into our economy.
While the United States requires Poles to have visas when traveling to America, Poland waived visas for Americans more than 20 years ago.

Allowing Poles to travel without visas will add to our security and enhances law enforcement and crime-fighting efforts through data-sharing agreements between our respective countries.

There are 10 million Polish-Americans in the United States and they have been actively trying to include their fatherland in the VWP. As we march down Fifth Avenue today, we will not just be celebrating Polish culture, we will be handing out letters that Polish Americans can send to their Representative and Senators.

This is not a partisan issue, Republican or Democrat. It is an issue of respect. It is respect for the millions of Poles that helped build this country. It is respect for the millions of Poles who helped overturn Communism and bring down the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union thanks to the actions of the Solidarity movement and Pope John Paul II.

If, like Gen. Polko, Gen. Pulaski were turned away from America’s shores because he did not have a visa, he would not have saved George Washington’s life at the Battle of Brandywine. If Gen. Thaddeus Kosciuszko had been kept out of America because of the visa issue, he would not have built West Point, or drafted the winning plans for the Battle of Saratoga. The American Revolution would have turned out much different.

For too long, the United States has treated our friends and families in Poland as second class citizens requiring them to pay hefty fees to apply for visas to visit this country, while Europeans from other countries travel here without visas.

PNCC, , ,

Prayers for the Solemnity of the Christian Family

In Gratitude for Parents:

I thank you, God in Heaven, for my parents. When morning wakes, when daytime ends, I have the consciousness of loving hands that touch my own, of tender voice and gentleness, of thoughts that cheer and bless!

If sorrow comes to me I know that my parents will talk about the way I go. And, as the shadows fall, I know that I will raise my eyes and know with a Hope that never dies! — to You, the Dearest Parent of All.

A Parent’s Prayer — From A Book of Devotions and Prayers According to the Use of the Polish National Catholic Church:

Merciful Father, who gave me my children, and committed them to my charge to bring them up in the first place for Thee, for Thy Church and this our country, as also to prepare them for everlasting life; assist and help me with Thy heavenly grace, I most humbly beseech and implore Thee, that I may be able to fulfill this sacred duty. Make me gentle, patient, and considerate, yet firm and watchful; teach me both what to give and what to withhold; when to reprove and when to forbear; deliver me from the weakness of indulgence, as also from the excess of severity. Grant, O Gracious Father, that both by word and example I may lead them in the ways of Thy faith, love and wisdom, that as they advance in years, they may grow in grace and true piety, so that in the end, I may with them be admitted to Thy eternal glory. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Child’s Prayer — From A Book of Devotions and Prayers According to the Use of the Polish National Catholic Church:

Heavenly Father, who gave me my father and mother, and commanded me to love, honor, and obey them in all things; give me Thy grace, I implore Thee, that I may cheerfully and with my whole heart fulfill this Thy law; that I may love them fervently, honor them truly and comply with their wishes. Deliver me, O God, from pride, rebellion, stubborness, and carelessness. Make me diligent in all my duties and studies, patient in all my trials, and humble in Thy presence. Create in me a clean heart and make me strong in Thy faith, that I may grow in grace and wisdom, from day to day, to Thy glory and to the pride and benefit of my dear parents. Through Christ, my Lord and Saviour. Amen.

For Families — From A Book of Devotions and Prayers According to the Use of the Polish National Catholic Church:

Our Father, in Whose family all men are children: we remember before Thee all homes broken by separation. We pray for mothers and children separated from each other; for husbands and wives compelled to live apart; and especially for homes from which the husband, son or brother has gone forth to the service. Soften, we pray Thee, these hard blows by the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Be with the lonely. Help them to maintain the links that bind them to those they love. May fellowship in spirit be kept though bodily presence be denied. Teach us all that neither death nor life can separate us from Thy love which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

Homilies, PNCC

Solemnity of the Christian Family – 2011

First reading: Genesis 1:26-28,31

Psalm: Ps 128:1-5
Epistle: 
Ephesians 6:1-9

Gospel: Luke 2:42-52

Render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to men and women,
knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive the same again from the Lord.

The gown:

Susan McCanna first wore it in 1894. This year, Liliana Grace Perella was the fortieth person to wear it. It is a lace Christening gown.

We could look on that gown as something old. We could admire the lace and the intricacy of it’s design. But it is more than what we see.

For nearly 120 years, this gown, passed from family member to family member, has connected generations. The gown is a window, a doorway into the life of a family. It is symbolic of a family relationship that spans generations, and the presence of God in that family. It is iconic.

What we see:

Pay close attention to St. Paul’s words. Give service to the Lord and not to men and women. Paul was speaking to Christians who were slaves.

Paul knew that slaves were obligated to serve their masters. They were bound to do as they were told. Whether it was service at table, cooking, cleaning, field work — it didn’t matter. He knew that slaves were programmed to serve and to please.

Serving a good or cruel master, light or heavy work, the slave knew that paying attention to their master’s needs, focusing on them, doing what they were told, was their duty.

Paul tells them to stop thinking that way, but rather to think that every act of service was to Jesus, to the Lord. He tells them that there is something more. They were to see their service as service to God. Paul is telling all Christians that they have to see a different reality. Life is more than than the obvious. Life is iconic.

Definitions:

When you hear the word icon, do you think of the little pictures on your computer desktop? Do you think of gloriously beautiful artwork in churches?

Those are definitions from the dictionary. Icon — a picture that represents something else. In church it may be Jesus, Mary, angels, saints, or the cross. On our computer, it may be the way we get to our word processor, to the Internet, to our email application.

Like the Christening gown, like Paul’s instruction to the slaves, the way we define icon is just a shadow of the true meaning. We need to get beyond the dictionary or computerese definition of icon. We need to see beyond what we see.

True meaning:

For the Church, an icon is not just a picture, it is reality.

The Church teaches that the praise and veneration we show an icon passes over to the holy thing or person it represents. The thing we see is not just seen, but is real. If we kiss an icon of Christ, we are kissing Christ, we show him our love. The icon is not mere wood and paint, something physical, it is a place of meeting.

It is actually offensive to worship the icon as something separate from what it is in reality. It is not a mere physical object. Thus, people should not collect icons as art or treat them in a way that is not holy.

If you have an icon in your house, it is the presence of the holy person or thing it portrays. Jesus, Mary, the saint, angel, cross, are alive and really there with you. If you enter an Orthodox Christian’s home, you will likely see an icon corner with one or more icons, candles lit, perhaps incense burning, and a bible or prayer book. They set aside a space in their house because the icon brings holiness to the house.

The real presence of the holy, the saint, the angels, of Mary, of Jesus we see portrayed in an icon is at once a window and a doorway to the holy thing portrayed. We meet the holy in that doorway and we enter into a relationship.

The icon is beyond the eyes, beyond the seen. It is our connectedness to God’s holiness, like the Christening gown, and Paul’s instructions on service, all are ways we meet and connect to God’s holiness.

Reality:

Our nature is iconic. We are in key relationships, and every aspect of our relationships must have the character of an icon.

Paul was asking Christians to see true reality. For the slaves of Paul’s time, their masters were icons of Christ. By serving them, they were seeing and serving Jesus. For the McCenna family, the Christening gown is a key icon defining their family relationship with Jesus.

We need to break out of our one-sided, definitional view of reality. We need to see clearly — the iconic nature of our lives in our relationship with God.

Whatever we do, whatever we see, we must first and foremost see ourselves as part of a real and present relationship with God. God is not apart and separate from us, on some different plane, in a far off heaven, but God right here, right now.

Family:

Paul often wrote about the body of Christ. Christ is alive in the holy communion of community. Jesus wants us to live in relationship.

Family is the key icon of relationship. If we see family as just a bunch of folks who share genetic traits, who might look somewhat the same, who may live in the same house — if we stop at what we see, we’ve missed the point. If we see family as just a definition, we’ve missed the point.

Family, people joined together, are the icon of God’s reality in the world. Family points to the way God lives.

Today:

Today our Holy Polish National Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Christian Family. Today we venerate the family as the icon of Christ.

How we relate to each other in family must be first and foremost grounded in the reality of what family is; its iconic nature.

The iconic nature McCenna family shows us that family is eternal, more than what we see in front of us. It is generations of family all interconnected. Whether living with us on earth or in the heavenly kingdom, we remain together, joined in love.

Our family relationships need to be seen for what they are. As icons of God’s love, we need to praise and venerate family. As icons of meeting God, we need to live holy lives as family. Our homes must be filled with holiness, and must be the doorway where young and old get to know Jesus. Our families must bring holiness to the world.

As family, we are more than a dictionary definition. As icons, we are the true presence and work of God in the world.

Our families are icons to the world. In the icon of family, friends, neighbors, and community we see, meet, and enter into a relationship with God. Family is the doorway, the window to the heavenly, the holy.

With love, respect, prayer, and worship we proclaim and venerate God as family. Husbands, wives, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins — all of us as family — all of us as an icon of God. Amen.

All Right Reserved © 2005 - 2023