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Month: November 2012

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History of the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw, Poland

Mr. Robert Cymborski has developed a website highlighting the history of the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw, Poland as well as records of those interred there.

For the past seven years Mr. Cymborski has inventoried the resting place of the famous and ordinary Poles buried in the Powązki Cemetery. He has taken and cataloged more than 100,000 images, and has recorded graves in 105 sections from the oldest parts of the cemetery. His website currently contains more than 23,000 records of burials. It is updated once a week on average.

Mr. Cymborski undertook this project because of the lack of any documentation on burials that took place between 1792-1944, that is from the foundation of the cemetery to the Warsaw Uprising. During the Warsaw Uprising all cemetery records were lost when the Germans destroyed the city and burned down the local office containing the entire archive of the cemetery. Additionally, Mr. Cymborski was motivated by the deterioration of older grave markers resulting from weathering and air pollution. Mr. Cymborski estimates that his work will continue for the next 10-12 years.

I encourage my readers to visit the website and support Mr. Cymborski’s efforts as you are able.

Events, Poetry, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political, , , , , , , , ,

Polish Film, Art and Book Festival

The Polish Chair at Canisius and the Polish Legacy Project are presenting the Polish Film, Art and Book Festival at Canisius College, 2001 Main St., Buffalo, NY from Wednesday, November 7th to Monday, November 19th. Presentations include:

  • Wed. Nov.7 – 7 p.m. “Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin,” Lecture by Dr. Timothy Snyder of Yale.
  • Mon. Nov. 12 – 7 p.m. Path to Glory (2011), Documentary film showing the epic story of the Polish Arabian Horse.
  • Thurs. Nov. 15 through Sat. Nov. 17, 1 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. and Sun. Nov. 18, 4 p.m.-6 p.m. – Book Fair – Thurs.-Sat. at Canisius. & Sun. Nov. 18 at Market Arcade Theatre. Books, DVDs & art on Polish topics for sale.
  • Thurs. Nov.15 – 1 p.m. – Andy Bienkowski & Mary Akers, talk about their book “One Life to Give…,” based on the experiences of Bienkowski as a child in Siberia.
  • Thurs. Nov.15 – 2 p.m. – Workshop by Bienkowski & Akers: “Writing Together: The Many Sides of Co-Authorship.”
  • Thurs. Nov.15 – 3:30 p.m. – Workshop by Wes Adamczyk, survivor of Soviet camps & author-“Writing From the Heart.”
  • Thurs. Nov.15 – 7 p.m. – Festival reception. Books, DVDs & art for sale.
  • Thurs. Nov.15 – 7:30 p.m. – Argentinian Lesson (2011), a film about an 8 year-old who moves to Argentina and learns about the world around him through 11 year-old Marcia.
  • Thurs. Nov.15 – 9 p.m. – Decrescendo (2011) Film showing the world of a nursing home through the eyes of a young therapist, who tries to find the meaning of his own life.
  • Fri. Nov. 16 – 6 p.m. – Wes Adamczyk presents “Living in the Shadows of Katyń,” about a family’s 10-year odyssey through multiple continents, and the Katyń Massacre.
  • Fri. Nov. 16 – 7:30 p.m. – Battle of Warsaw 1920 (2011) Film which tells the story of Poland’s battle vs. the Soviets through the eyes of two young people.
  • Sat. Nov. 17 – 4:30 p.m. – Workshop-Krysia Jopek: “Getting Your Work Published…”
  • Sat. Nov. 17 – 6 p.m. – Jopek, daughter of Polish WWII survivors, discusses her novel “Maps and Shadows”
  • Sat. Nov. 17 – 7:30 p.m. – Control Sample-Film about young Poles who live in four cities of Western Europe. Meet the Director.
  • Sat. Nov. 17 – 8:30 p.m. – 80 Million (2011) Film which portrays events of ten days before martial law.
  • Sun. Nov. 18 – 6:00 p.m. – Control Sample-Film
  • Sun. Nov. 18 – 6:30 p.m. – At the Market Arcade Theatre – In Darkness (2011) Film about one Catholic’s rescue of Jews.
  • Mon. Nov. 19 – 3:00 p.m. – Workshop-Poet John Guzlowski: “The Art of Listening: Writing Poems & Stories on Family.”
  • Mon. Nov. 19 – 7:00 p.m. – Siege-film by an American who documented Warsaw just before the Nazi invasion.
  • Mon. Nov. 19 – 7:15 p.m. – Guzlowski presents “Two Lives Shaped by World War II,”, the story of his parents’ lives as slave laborers in Germany.
Events, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political, , ,

Solidarity and Martial Law in Poland presentation

“Solidarity and Martial Law in Poland” will be presented at Elms College (Alumnae Library Theater) in Chicopee, MA on Saturday, November 17th from 10 am to 5:30 pm. The program is free and open to the public. There is an optional luncheon (12-1 pm) available for $7.

This program will have several original activists in the Solidarity union movement speaking, as well as others:

  • Jersy Polak, official photographer for Solidarity 1980-1981
  • Andre Blaszcsynski, Moderator of the Conference of Solidarity Support Organizations 1983-1990
  • Neil Walsh, United States Information Agency in Warsaw 1972-76 and in Krakow 1978-1980
  • Wieslaw Olszak, Martial Law political prisoner

Workers and union activists should find this program especially important for its lesson that workers’ efforts can transform national and global history.

This program is a joint effort of the Kosciuszko Foundation (New England Chapter) and The Polish Center of Discovery and Learning in Chicopee.

Christian Witness, Events, PNCC, ,

Fr. Dr. Walter A. Placek of the PNCC will speak on “God and Science in our Church”

From the Times Leader Sunday Dispatch: The professor who became a priest

Father Walter A. Placek, PhD, will have a 20 minute presentation titled “God and Science in our Church” on Nov. 17 at noon, at the Sermon, Soup and Sandwich event in Holy Mother of Sorrows hall, 212 Wyoming Ave., Dupont.

All are invited for this event free of charge.

When Professor Placek retired from Wilkes University after 40 years of teaching, he was ordained to the priesthood of the Polish National Catholic Church.

The Most Rev. John F. Swantek, Prime Bishop of the Polish National Catholic Church ordained him on May 25, 2002 at Holy Mother of Sorrows Church, Dupont, his home parish.

Dr. Placek celebrated his first Mass at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 26, 2002 in Holy Mother of Sorrows.

Dr. Placek received his theological training at the Savonarola Theological Seminary in Scranton.

He was appointed pastor at Providence of God PNCC Parish in North Scranton in October 2002 and continues to serve that parish. He is also on the faculty of Savonarola Theological Seminary.

Placek has served the PNCC as a member of its Supreme Council, Diocesan Council and currently as a member of the Supreme Council. He continues to teach Physics as a part-time professor at Wilkes University and an adjunct professor at King’s College and Misericordia Universaity.

Placek graduated from West Pittston High School, Class of 1957, received his BS from Wilkes College, M.S. from Penn State University, a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and has done postgraduate work at the University of Vermont, University of Maryland, Colby College and the University of Puerto Rico.

In 1992, while on sabbatical leave, he was a visiting professor at Cornell University.

He was a high school physics teacher for seven years and a professor in the Physics department at Wilkes University for 33 years, retiring in 2002 to become a priest in the PNCC.

Wilkes University Board of Trustees honored Placek with the title of Professor of Physics, Emeritus and he continues to teach part time.

Placek held membership in many academic and scholarly societies, presented numerous papers over the years at state, national and international meetings and has served on the executive boards of several state and national science societies and served on the editorial boards of several state and national science journals.

He was president of the Pennsylvania Science Teachers Association in 1992 and received national recognition for his contributions to science education.

He was elected to the Wyoming Area School Board for two terms, serving from 1975 to 1985 and served as board president of the West Side Area Vocational-Technical School in 1981.

He was appointed by the county commissioners as a trustee of the Luzerne County Community College and served for 1- years on many academic and executive committees.

Rev. Dr. Placek is the son of the late Walter Placek Sr. and Mary Bushinski Placek, of Dupont. He is married to the former Barbara Swantkowski, of Duryea, and they reside in the Mount Zion section of Exeter Township.

They have been married since 1961 and will celebrated their 51st. wedding anniversary this year.

The couple has three children, Allison Knick BSN, a Registered Nurse at Wilkes- Barre General Hospital; David, a chemistry and science teacher at Wyoming Valley West High School; and Adrienne Royster, Director of Human Resources at Oxy Chemical in Houston, Texas.

Dr. and Mrs. Placek have six grandchildren, Katelynn and Rebecca Knick, Amanda and Erin McCamey, Nikolas and Benjamin Placek, and one great-grandchild, Athens Ware.

Christian Witness, Current Events, , ,

New Pope of the Coptic Church is chosen

From the BBC: Bishop Tawadros new pope of Egypt’s Coptic Christians

See photos here.

Bishop Tawadros has been chosen as the new pope of Egypt’s Coptic Christians, becoming leader of the largest Christian minority in the Middle East.

His name was selected from a glass bowl by a blindfolded boy at a ceremony in Cairo’s St Mark’s Cathedral. Three candidates had been shortlisted.

The 60-year-old succeeds Pope Shenouda III, who died in March aged 88.

He succeeds as attacks on Copts are on the increase, and many say they fear the country’s new Islamist leaders.

The other two candidates were Bishop Raphael and Father Raphael Ava Mina. They were chosen in a ballot by a council of some 2,400 Church and community officials in October.

‘In God’s hands’

Their names were written on pieces of paper and put in crystal balls sealed with wax on the church altar.

A blindfolded boy – one of 12 shortlisted children – then drew out the name of Bishop Tawadros, who until now was an aide to the acting leader, Bishop Pachomius.

Bishop Pachomius then took the ballot from the boy’s hand and showed it to all those gathered in the cathedral.

Strict measures were in place to make sure there was no foul play during the televised ceremony: the three pieces of paper with candidates’ names were all the same size and tied the same way.

Copts say this process ensures the selection is in God’s hands.

Bishop Tawadros will be enthroned in a ceremony on 18 November.

The new pope has studied in Britain, and has also run a medicine factory, the BBC’s Jon Leyne in Cairo reports.

He is a man of broad experience and with managerial skills, our correspondent says, adding that he will need all those talents to lead the Copts as they face an uncertain future in a country now debating the role of Islam following last year’s revolution…

May God bless Bishop Tawadros in his new ministry and may He watch over, protect, and grant increase to the Coptic Church.

Christian Witness, Homilies,

Reflection for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

First and 10
2 to go…

“One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’”

It is Sunday – God first, but of course football.

Let’s think about football math. We all know that when our favorite team gets the ball they start their march down the field with a first and ten – first down and ten yards to go to get another first down. Going from first down to first down, the successful team works its way down the field until (if all goes well) thy score.

It can seem daunting, especially if you are starting at the far end of the field, with almost 100 yards to go against very strong opposition.

Now imagine if your team could get to that touchdown in two yards, in just two steps? It is first and ten, two to go.

Before the scribe came to Jesus the Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, chief priests, and elders had been hammering Jesus with questions. Jesus’ answers didn’t matter to them at all. All that mattered was their ends – trapping Jesus and shutting Him down.

Scribes were a class of experts in the Mosaic Law, all 613 laws. This scribe seems sincere in coming to Jesus. He wants to hear how Jesus interprets the 613 laws, and which one He finds to be the greatest one.

Jesus shows the scribe that love of God and love of our brothers and sisters are the two most important commandments. He tells him that these two key commandments are the two yards He needs to go.

These two commandments depend on each other. We are to give our whole hearts to God who is love, and love Him completely. By loving God, and experiencing His love, we learn to love better, stronger, more completely. Eventually we learn to love like God loves. We must take our learning and apply it. Our love for God and His love for us cannot exist in a vacuum. It has to grow, toward others, drawing them into this relationship of love.

Sometimes people separate these two commandments, saying one or the other is what we really need to do. Jesus responded to the question: Which is the first, with two commandments. Jesus indicates an order – one comes first. But He also teaches us that the two are inseparable. Our lives and our faith must be based on love: on a relationship of love to God, and on the sharing of God’s love with others. Having only one misses the touchdown.

Love breaks down all opposition. Our touchdown is heaven – and it only takes two steps to get there, two steps and one theme – love.

Christian Witness, Homilies, PNCC, Saints and Martyrs, ,

Solemnity of All Saints and Observation of All Souls

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. — Hebrews 12:1-2

Let us consider the great cloud of witnesses of old and among in this day and age. Their heroism, endurance, holiness, love of their brothers and sisters, the crosses they bore, the example they provide are not accomplished on their own. Rather, through the grace of God they have been strengthened to do what Jesus asks of all of us. Let us heed their example, knowing that for every failing in our lives, God picks us up, renews us, and enables us to be saints.

Let us also recall that our brothers and sisters who have preceded us in Holy Death are a hopeful sign. Jesus overcame death; so shall we because of our faith in Him. He told us that we who weep and mourn will be comforted. Be comforted in His promise of eternal life. With that confidence, offer up prayers for our friends, family, neighbors, and parishioners who have died. With our prayer, their journey to the heavenly kingdom is eased and their souls are made strong. With our help, they will attain the new and heavenly Jerusalem. There we will stand with them, also among the multitude of angels, saints, elders, and faithful worshiping before the throne of God and the Lamb. The family of faith is eternal, we are all joined together, here and now and forever with God.

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