The New York Folklore Society is offering a special opportunity to attend the Pete and Peggy Seeger Concert on Sunday May 12th at Proctors Theater with a block of tickets that includes a Pre-Concert Reception And Dinner in the Fenimore Gallery at Proctors. The reception will take place from 5 – 6 p.m.. The Concert begins at 7 p.m. Dining includes specialties from the Indo-African diaspora.
Tickets for the dinner are $35, the dinner and show is $70. Friend of the Folklore Society are $100 which includes dinner, show, and Society membership – a $15.00 savings. Tickets may be purchased on-line.
The New York Folklore Society’s Annual Conference will be held at ArtsWestchester, 31 Mamaroneck Avenue, White Plains, NY on Saturday, March 2nd. The day will begin at 11 a.m. with a preview of the Society’s newly designed website followed by the Society’s annual meeting. An optional lunch will be available (advanced reservations and a small fee required). Speakers and panel discussions begin at 1 p.m. on the theme Occupational Folklore: A conference to accompany the exhibit From Shore to Shore: Boat Builders and Boat Yards of Westchester and Long Island.
Admission is $15, $10 for NYFS Members, Students are Free. Attendees may register and RSVP online. More information on the event is available by calling (518) 346-7008.
This summer, One Story will again be offering a six-day fiction workshop for writers. With just two workshops of ten students each, this summer workshop is designed to help each student take the next step in their writing career in a supportive environment.
The week will include morning workshops, afternoon craft lectures, and evening panels with authors, agents, MFA faculty, and editors. The workshop will be held from July 14 – 19, 2013, at the Center for Fiction in Manhattan. Former Associate Editor Marie-Helene Bertino and Contributing Editor Will Allison will be returning as workshop leaders. Both bring their unique experience as editors and writers to the table.
Editor-in-Chief Hannah Tinti, as well as other established writers chosen for their ability to teach the craft of writing in engaging ways, will lead focused afternoon craft classes on topics like character, dialogue, and plot.
Every night, there will be a wine and cheese reception and panel discussion with industry professionals. Last year’s lecturers and panelists included Myla Goldberg, Victor LaValle, Simon Van Booy, editors from Granta, Bellevue Literary Review, Gigantic, literary agents, and MFA directors.
“The One Story Summer Writers Workshop was the first time I’ve felt that what I do is important. For a solitary writer, the experience of meeting, connecting with, and learning from others in the field is priceless. I’m inspired.” — Adam Sturtevant, Summer Workshop Participant 2011
“I feel much more confident about pursuing a writing career after the workshop. The thing I wasn’t necessarily expecting was the thing that I’ve come to appreciate the most: an overwhelming feeling of community and camaraderie, and I absolutely believe the relationships developed at the workshop will carry on long into our careers.” — Eric Fershtman, Summer Workshop Participant 2010
“I loved spending a week with the people at One Story. The spirit and energy was infectious and encouraging. Everyone is excited to talk about writing.” — Patty Forgie, Summer Workshop Participant 2012
The PAHA 2014 Annual Meeting will be held in Washington D.C. from January 2-4, 2014 as part of the American Historical Association’s Annual Conference. Abstracts for papers and panel proposals are now being accepted and should be submitted to the Chair of the Program Committee:
Grazyna Kozaczka, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Cazenovia College
22 Sullivan St.
Cazenovia, NY 13035
Electronic proposals in email and word format are strongly preferred. E-mail proposals directly to Dr. Kozaczka. The deadline for submissions is April 15, 2013.
Individuals and panel organizers should include the following information when submitting a proposal:
Paper/Session title(s) (of no more than 20 words)
Paper/Session abstract(s) (up to 300/500 words, respectively)
Biographical paragraph or c.v. summary (up to 250 words) for each participant
Correct mailing and e-mail address for each participant
Chair (required) and commentator (optional) for the session
Audiovisual needs, if any.
Please be advised that it is unlikely that PAHA will be able to use PowerPoint in its sessions, due to the high cost of rental, or that presenters will be permitted by the hosting conference hotel to bring their own. You may wish to consider distribution of paper handouts as an alternative.
The Polish American Historical Association holds its Annual Conference in conjunction with the American Historical Association (AHA). The full information about the AHA conference can be found at at their website. PAHA members who plan to attend PAHA conference only do not need to register for the AHA conference, but are required to register for the PAHA conference by November 1, 2013. Registration may be done on-line or by sending the $20.00 registration fee to:
PAHA Headquarters
c/o Magda Jacques
Central Connecticut State University
1615 Stanley Street
New Britain, CT 06050
Our Holy Church does not believe that the Bishop of Rome holds any special office or power, and we categorically deny the various “dogmas” these men have proclaimed over the past several centuries (Infallibility as well as the Immaculate Conception and Assumption of the B.V.M.). The word “pope” is not part of our vocabulary. Of course in charity we wish Bishop Ratzinger, a brother in Christ, well in his retirement. We also take this opportunity to pray that the Roman Church’s leadership takes this chance to recant of its dogmatic errors and in doing so work toward a unity among Churches based on model of the Church as it existed in the first millennium, a Church that is unified and Conciliar
Our denomination began on the second Sunday of March, 1897 – nearly 126 years ago. We celebrate the gift of our Holy Church every year on the Solemnity of the Institution of the PNCC, which the Third General Synod of 1914 declared to fall on the second Sunday of March. On this Sunday the parishes of our Church remove the Lenten purple from their sanctuaries and replace them with flowers. The Gloria is again recited and the vestments are white or gold. On this special feast day we celebrate our religious freedom and our Catholic democracy.
It is important to consider some history in light of recent events. As the Bishop of Rome nears retirement, the Roman Church will meet to elect a successor. Such a resignation has not occurred for six centuries. That previous resignation was to bring an end to a period of men competing for the office who were ensconced in and supported by the powers of those days: France and Rome. What we do not see discussed in the media are the politics, bribery, and military force that played a deciding factor in this extended period of intrigue. The intrigue rose to such an extent that the office of the Bishop of Rome was deemed compromised.
A nascent democratic movement, referred to as the Conciliar Movement, arose in opposition to this corruption. The supporters of the Conciliar Movement insisted that ecumenical councils be held regularly and independently, and that they function as the highest Church body. The Council of Pisa in 1409 attempted to limit the authority of the Bishop of Rome’s office, and also elected a third contender for the office in an unsuccessful attempt to reconcile the factions in France and Rome. The principle of the supremacy of the Council over the Bishop of Rome was affirmed by the Council of Constance in 1414-1418, which actually voided the authority of the sitting Bishop of Rome and elected a single replacement. The Conciliar Movement continued through the Council of Basel less than 20 years later. Unfortunately, the Bishop of Rome once again seized absolute power and tried to destroy the Conciliar movement in a competing and more successful Council in Florence.
Bishop Hodur knew this history. He immortalized Jan Hus (who was condemned at the Council of Constance and was killed despite a pledge of indemnity) in a stained glass window of our Cathedral in Scranton. It was Hus who argued against the assumed power of the Bishop of Rome and called for a return to “gospel poverty.” He spoke of the true Church as opposed to the hierarchical one, championing ecclesiastical democracy, all of which led to his being burned at the stake for heresy.
In celebrating the founding of our democratic Catholic church, we celebrate the continuation of the Conciliar Movement. The PNCC Constitution of 1922 stated:
“The task of the Synod is to: 1. Interpret authoritatively the bases of faith and morals; … In matters concerning religion and morals, the Synod decides unanimously; in national and social matters, as well as administrative ones [it decides] by a simple majority of votes.”
According to the report of the 1935 Synod, Bishop Grochowski was not anxious about this democratic authority, but rather extolled it as truly Christian:
“Bishop Grochowski announced the order of the Synod and informed the Synod that the Synod is the most important authority in the church. It was so from the very beginning of Christianity, but with the passage of time the clergy took away from the faithful those rights which the National Church returns to those belonging to it.” (Minutes, p. 190)
With an eye to the Conciliar Movement, Bishop Hodur wrote in the 1931 catechism:
“These priests, especially of the higher rank, cultivate under the guise of the religion of Jesus Christ, Moses, Buddha, and Mohammed worldly politics, personal business, and very often stand in complete contradiction to divine principles of pure religion, democratic issues, general enlightenment, the welfare of the masses, freedom of conscience, brotherhood, and social justice.”
Reflecting on these words we see the prophecy contained therein. In recent days, Roman Catholic Bishop, Keith Cardinal O’Brien of Scotland, spoke out publicly to urge an end to required celibacy for clergy (the PNCC has allowed its clergy to marry since 1921). Within a day making such a declaration he was publicly accused by other clergy of inappropriate behavior. Odd how the struggle to maintain the status quo and to stifle voices for reform rears its head. The politics of such a process cannot be hidden away as it once was.
Our Church’s remedy to inordinate power and corruption is a democratic model of Church consistent with the ideals of the Conciliar Movement and more importantly earliest Christianity. It is time that Roman Catholics consider whether the voice of the Bishop of Rome is preeminent or whether they should find a home which is modeled on Church of the first millennium, one that is at once fully Catholic and free, democratic, and Conciliar.
My thanks to Fr. Randolph Calvo of Holy Name of Jesus in South Deerfield, Massachusetts for his words, which I have significantly borrowed, and which inspired this writing
Polish Hockey Connects to Sports & Entertainment Law Symposium
By Lars Hjelmroth
WESTLAND— Polish ice hockey is currently in the news. The U-20 National Team earned a spot in next year’s top division IIHF Championships with a 3-2 victory over Italy. Top prospect Kasper Guzik scored all three goals in the come from behind win. You could say it was a collaboration victory, as just like the senior National Team, the U-20’s are led by Russian coaches.
Another skater on the scouting radar is Filip Strarzynski, who had a strong tournament. He is also playing Jr. hockey for the Bismarck Bobcats of the North American Junior Hockey League.
Polish-American hockey was celebrated at the ‘Hockey Weekend Across America’ event in Westland, Michigan. Besides the rich hockey history that was showcased, there was a Sports and Entertainment Law component. The Hockey Day in Michigan section was sponsored by the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and the publication MiHockeyNow.
Tom Mustonen was well received as a presenter. He is a primary source. He has lived and become part of the fabric of the hockey history in the State of Michigan and beyond. It was 50 years ago when he and a mostly inexperienced U.S. National Team embarked on Sabena Airlines flight #548 from New York Idlewild Airport to Brussels. They were starting their International Ice Hockey Federation quest towards the World Championship. At the time, Boston hockey legend, Walter Brown, owner of the Boston Bruins and then Vice-President of the American Hockey Association of the United States said in the Christian Science Monitor, “I don’t see any team with the strength of the Russians or Czech Republic. Our boys may have a rough time of it.”
Tom Mustonen played on the first official Big Ten Ice Hockey Champions, the 1959 Michigan State Spartans. He discussed playing hockey in Poland in 1963 as a member of the U.S. National Team during the Hockey Weekend Across America celebration. Photo courtesy of Nick Vista
That was a correct prediction as the U.S. Nationals started their 14 country tour with a group of ex-collegians. USA coach Harry Cleverly of Boston University fame set his first line with Marshall Tschida of Providence College on the right. Cleverly had John Poole who was in the Army, in the center spot and the left-winger Tom Mustonen of Michigan State. The top defensive pair was Frank Silka also of MSU and John Warchol of East Orange, New Jersey.
Throughout the daylong event, the timeline of hockey in Poland was also showcased. Americans of Polish decent and immigrants who used hockey as an advancement platform were highlighted.
Raymond Rolak and Tom Mustonen were featured at the Hockey Day Across America Sports and Entertainment Law presentation which also celebrated the rich history of hockey in the State of Michigan. Here they showcase a jersey of the famed McGraw Avenue hockey teams sponsored by Stan’s “Whip-N-Whirl”. Stan Stankiewicz was a longtime ambassador and supporter for youth hockey in the Detroit area. Photo by Lars Hjelmroth
The multi-media presentation moderated by veteran sports broadcaster, Raymond Rolak, highlighted the robust rivalry of the Michigan State and the University of Michigan programs. The unique storyline of the now resurrected University of Detroit collegiate ice hockey team stood out. The U. of D. Titans played their home games at the Olympia in 1967-71 before sparse crowds. An interesting storyline was that attorney Jimmy Williams concluded his collegiate career as the acting player-coach. This was because the head coach, James Kirwen, walked away in disgust. The U. of D. college administration cancelled the major funding for the program with only two weeks to go before the finish of the season. Longtime 3rd Circuit Court Judge, James R. Chylinski was a teammate along with Jim Schlenski and James Bednarski. Pete Mateja was one of the up-and-coming goalies along with pro prospect Pete Donnelly.
The 1932 Polish Olympic Hockey Team in Lake Placid, New York. Aleksander Kowalski was a member of that fourth place team and scored two goals for Poland in the tournament. He was murdered in 1940 during the Russian Katyn massacre. Photo courtesy of the Lake Placid Olympic Museum
Rolak, who has a long hockey pedigree, just completed work in Hawaii as the associate producer for the full length motion picture comedy, “Get A Job.” He told of how Detroit defense attorney Robert Plumpe along with Dave Bentley revamped youth hockey by instituting a skill level classification for the 1970 State Championships. Rolak said, “The action revolutionized hockey in America, brought forth a classification system and promoted the growth we have today.” He also presented timelines regarding women’s hockey development, noting the efforts of attorney Walter Bush and Minnesota editor Patti Riha. Bush was the longtime administrator of the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States, the governing body of hockey in this country.
Rolak dissected the 1971 Detroit Common Pleas case allowing the Detroit Catholic Central High School freshman team sponsored by the Detroit Safe-Rai Company to play and be eligible for the City of Detroit Recreation Department (Bantam age-group) Championship. As a 19 year old college freshman, playing baseball at Wayne State University, Rolak wrote an Amicus Brief outlining the merits of school location and the amount of time spent in Detroit as a factor for recreation residency eligibility. The brief turned the tide.
From that modest house league hockey squad, three of many outstanding teammates stood out. Mike Brown and Steve Banonis went on to play collegiate hockey in the C.C.H.A. and both had brief pro careers. Bryan Gruley, while playing high school hockey, went on to became an All-State defenseman. Gruley, now of Chicago, won a Pulitzer Prize while writing for the Wall Street Journal.
Current metro Detroit area lawyers Walter Piszczatowski and Charles Clos also worked as part time recreation hockey instructors and were appropriate to the action. Clos, now a specialist in youth sports defense litigation said, “We were all Detroit hockey ambassadors. The programs also developed coaches and coaching protocols still in use today.”
Mustonen went on in his segment talking about being global ambassadors, “We ate a lot of sausages from the street vendors in Germany and got to experience Fasching (German Mardi-Gras). We enjoyed the cultural sights also. Frank (Silka) and I both felt fortunate to be able to experience that enrichment. We went to Red Square and were treated very V.I.P. We got invited to the front of the line to see Lenin’s tomb. It was cold and we had our long wool USA parkas on and presented ourselves with grace and diplomacy. We looked sharp as a group.”
After touring with games in Europe, Team USA struggled at the World Championships losing all but two games, defeating West Germany 8-4 and tying East Germany 3-3. The heavy 17-2 loss to Sweden on March 12, prompted a telephone call to the team from President John Kennedy. He wanted to see what he could do to help improve the U.S. hockey program. Kennedy loved hockey, especially Harvard hockey. Mustonen added, “Jack Kirrane who was the USA captain for the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympic Gold medal winners was a Massachusetts friend of President Kennedy.”
Lufthansa, Aeroflot, LOT, KLM, CSA and Aer Lingus were new airline names to seek out in theses transcontinental airports and even stranger were some of the airplanes. “We became experienced international travelers very quickly,” added Mustonen, now a retired educator. “We were immersed in international law and regulations, along with the Cold War and Iron Curtain bureaucrats.”
In that era, players who tried out for the National and Olympic hockey teams paid their own way to training camp. The amateur rules were very strict and making the team required a four-month commitment. Some of the players were already in the military and were subsidized with a small stipend. Others got just $50 a month for expenses. “There was so much talent in Michigan back in the day, Jimmy Siebert, Paul Coppo, goalie Patrick Rupp and of course Jack Roberts, they and many more were capable of NHL careers. Denny Ribant and Al Moran, who both played Major League Baseball, would have had great hockey futures also,” he said.
The ‘63 Worlds were coming off with the awkwardness of the 1962 IIHF Championships held in Colorado Springs. The U.S. got bronze, but neither the Soviet Union nor Czechoslovakia was present in Colorado Springs/Denver in ’62. The two Eastern Bloc countries boycotted the event due to the United States’ refusal to give entry visas to communist-ally East Germany (in protest of the erection of the Berlin Wall just seven months earlier).
Mustonen went on, “Coach Cleverly was an anxious flyer and so on the long flight home from Dublin we sent our two complimentary scotch whiskeys to him. Needless to say, he was very glowing when it was time to deplane. There was a team parade before the tournament and we were presented a small but beautiful crystal drinking vessel with the three Swedish gold crowns on it. Sweden, the spectators and the supporters were gracious hosts.”
“When we played in Poland, it was at an outdoor stadium rink and we had a fierce snowstorm. There was a giant crowd and everyone stayed until the end. The match continued after short intermissions to shovel the ice. We became very popular, as we gave ball point pens to the Polish National Team members. It was a scarce item at the time in the Soviet bloc countries. Needless to say, we ran out of them. You could see that the people were not happy with the Russian interference intruding on their lives. It permeated everywhere, it was very noticeable,” Mustonen added.
Of great interest was the documentation of the 1959 Michigan State ice hockey team which was officially declared as the first Big Ten Conference Hockey Champions. This allowed them to go to the NCAA finals in Troy, New York, hosted by RPI. This history will be vital to the pedigree of the new Big Ten Hockey Conference which is to have six schools next year. The branding and scheduling will be a valuable property for the Big Ten Network (television).
This May, USA Hockey will send N.H.L. players to represent America in the top group of countries participating in the IIHF Worlds. USA will play its first game versus Austria on Saturday May 4. There will be 16 countries competing in the top division. Team Russia is the defending World Champions.
Rolak concluded with humorous reminiscing regarding Red Berenson and Mel Wakabayashi and the special relationships among the college coaches, John Mariucci, Al Renfrew, Len Ceglarski and Amo Bessone. He also highlighted the many National Championship teams from the metro Detroit area. Mustonen smiled and added, “Berenson was fast-tracked for the U. of M. Law School after his All-America season with the Wolverines. Pro hockey got in the way. He has been a compliment and the benchmark as the University of Michigan head coach.”
Afterward, description and clips were shown regarding the making of the 1987 award-winning docu-drama, “The Hobey Baker Story” which had been narrated by Rolak and produced in Minneapolis.
EDITORS NOTE: Hockey inductees into the National Polish American Sports Hall of Fame include Len Ceglarski, Turk Broda, Tom Lysiak, Ed Olczyk and Pete Stemkowski.
Polish biographer Agata Tuszyńska will read from her new book, “Vera Gran – The Accused,” on Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m. in 601 Herter Hall.
[AMAZONPRODUCT=0307269124]
Vera Gran was a sultry contralto headlining at the Café Sztuka in the Warsaw Ghetto. The café and her accompanist are remembered in Roman Polański’s film The Pianist, but she is not. Accused after the war of collaboration with the Germans, despite being acquitted of all charges, she was never able to get her career back into full swing, though she did make some recordings in Paris, had a Carnegie Hall recital, and sang with the likes of Charles Aznavour. Tuszyńska’s book, newly translated into English by Charles Ruas, tells her story.
Tuszyńska, one of Poland’s leading biographers and writers, sought out Gran in Paris and interviewed her over a period of three years, researching Gran’s claims and allegations in an attempt to render an account of her life from scraps of memory, refracted through amnesia, paranoia and delusion. Her controversial book, quickly translated into several languages, is also a subjective account of the author’s struggle to work through her own personal relationship to the Warsaw Ghetto. Tuszyńska, the daughter of Ghetto survivors, only learned of her Jewish heritage in her late teens. In her book she attempts to get inside the minds of Gran and of her accusers, raising more questions than she answers.
Tuszyńska’s visit is sponsored by the Amesbury Professorship in Polish Language, Literature and Culture in collaboration with the Polish Cultural Institute New York and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw. Copies of her book will be available for sale after her talk.
It is a great reflection on what might have been with a little bit of mutual charity and living with the wisdom of original intents in relation to the parishioners ownership of its property. of course this is the wisdom of the Polish National Catholic Church which maintains its catholicity and its democratic tradition.
I never was a registered member of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish. But the Roman Catholic church founded by Polish immigrants at 20th Street and Cass Avenue was always a part of my life.
My father graduated from its grade school. My maternal grandmother was a longtime parishioner. I grew up in St. Leo Parish, a few blocks west, and we sometimes joined my grandmother for Mass at St. Stanislaus. While registered in my geographical parish as an adult, I occasionally attended St. Stanislaus, and not just the festivals. When the communist government in Poland declared martial law on a cold Sunday morning in December 1981, the appropriate place for me to attend Mass that day was St. Stanislaus.
There was an aura inside St. Stanislaus’ red brick exterior befitting a house of God, enhanced by the inspirational murals, particularly the one behind the main altar depicting Christ before He is nailed to the cross, and augmented by the singing of Polish hymns. But despite its cathedral-like proportions, the church also afforded the solitary kneeling worshipper an intimate visit with the Lord.
For nearly a decade, St. Stanislaus’ lay leaders battled the St. Louis Archdiocese for the church’s property. The fight extended to the parish’s heart and soul. Last week the archdiocese dropped its legal claims. St. Stanislaus Kostka Church is now a denominational free agent, something its members didn’t want when the conflict began. Archbishop Robert Carlson’s recent and sincere reconciliation efforts came too late, after the moat around St. Stanislaus became impassable during the tumultuous reign of his predecessor, Raymond Burke.
Full disclosure: I was editor of the St. Louis Review, the archdiocese’s weekly, when the rival forces stopped posturing and started firing. I asked my reporters to get both sides, until word filtered down that we were to publish only Archbishop Burke’s version. I obeyed but felt like a Polish Benedict Arnold, though I hoped always for a resolution that would keep St. Stanislaus Roman Catholic. Still do.
This was a tragedy in two acts. In Act One, most worshippers – Catholic or otherwise – united in opposing Archbishop Burke’s request that the parish’s lay board of directors turn over the property without his giving written assurance that the church would stay open. Those who declared loyalty to him, mostly recent Polish immigrants who’d had tiffs with the older Polish-Americans over the years, were given their own parish near the Anheuser-Busch brewery. In Act Two, the lay board’s hiring of a renegade Polish priest to make St. Stanislaus a breakaway parish deeply divided both the board and the congregation. Some quit the board and joined the archdiocese in lawsuit to reclaim the parish for the archdiocese.
But there was more to the conflict than just an archbishop trying to take the money and property of a small north St. Louis parish that had been granted a unique contract by Archbishop Peter Kenrick in 1891. That agreement gave the archbishop the right to appoint the pastor but gave the parish’s lay board ownership of the church property and control of its finances. A teacher could fashion a lively course around the resulting legal/ethical issues.
The archdiocese coveted the St. Stanislaus land in 2003 while reorganizing all archdiocesan property to avoid being crippled financially if a jury ruled against it in a massive clergy sex-abuse case. Perhaps if ordained Catholic leaders across the country had properly removed the predators masquerading as priests and prevented the scandal they hushed over during the previous decades the St. Louis Archdiocese wouldn’t have been interested in reclaiming a few acres at 1413 N. 20th St.
The archdiocese’s 2008 lawsuit to restore the original agreement, which it dropped last week, came a few years too late. If it was going to sue, it should have when the St. Stanislaus board wrongly tinkered with the 1891 contract by cutting the pastor and archbishop out of the loop on important matters, which was before Archbishop Burke arrived. That’s when the archdiocese’s lawyers could have said, “If you expect us to play by the 1891 rules you’ll have to also.” Still, one Catholic organization suing another disregards what Christ told His disciples about reconciling with people before going to court (Matthew 5:25).
If some St. Stanislaus board members altered the agreement in hopes of saving the parish amid rumors that the archdiocese would try to sell the property to developers, they only made the situation worse. Nevertheless, they and the congregation wanted only to ensure that the parish remained open, a desirefor which they can’t be faulted. The archdiocese has closed many city parishes abandoned by white people who fled to the suburbs; St. Stanislaus parishioners moved but kept coming back and kept it viable, particularly in the 1970s, when rival gang violence outside left bullet holes in the church walls.
Many St. Stanislaus parishioners descended from the immigrants who’d built and maintained that parish with their own money, labor and faith, which is what those attending St. Stanislaus have done since. This was shown in the magnificent church restoration in the late 1970 the parishioners and friends fully financed on their own, and their fully financing the decade-old Polish Heritage Center on the parish grounds. My grandmother and parents donated to the former, and I to the latter.
Some have criticized St. Stanislaus people for “disobedience to authority” in not turning over the property when first Archbishop Justin Rigali then Archbishop Burke requested it. Yet the parishioners were engaged in no collective sinful, immoral or heretical activity before the issue arose. If they had and been ordered to cease, they’d have no recourse but to comply, and no sympathy from many of us if they hadn’t. Archbishop Burke and his predecessors didn’t like the 1891 agreement, but it was valid. When the archdiocese has acquired property for its churches and schools, it’s had to comply with the law. When it comes to property, to give God what is His, the church hierarchy has first had to give Caesar what is his.
Archbishop Burke could have granted them in writing the assurance that the parish would stay open if parishioners could continue financing its operation. It was a unique situation, and granting that assurance would have neither affected other parishes nor undermined his authority. It might have gained him respect as a shepherd making sure that the 100th sheep not be separated from the other 99 (Luke 15:4-7) rather than bringing him criticism for threatening people with eternal damnation over a few acres.
Poles have been devoted to the Catholic Church. Their liturgical language may have been Polish, but rites and beliefs were always fully Roman Catholic. They’ve rebelled when they perceived that ruling clergy got in the way of that devotion. There’s precedent for the St. Stanislaus action: some Polish immigrants in America in the 1890s founded the Polish National Catholic Church to protest what they thought was the ruling Irish clergy’s indifference to them. A local PNCC parish, Sts. Cyril and Methodius, operates near St. Stanislaus.
Last week’s legal victory of St. Stanislaus is nothing to celebrate, though. Regardless how Catholic St. Stanislaus looks, it’s now an orphan church. You can’t pretend to be something you’re not…
When the PNCC broke away, it established a creed close to that of Roman Catholicism and required its bishops, priests and lay people to follow it. St. Stanislaus’ freelance pastor, former priest Marek Bozek, can remake St. Stanislaus Kostka Non-Denominational Church as he wants it, with no ecclesiastical oversight or guidance. How will that church’s board replace him, if he leaves on his own or it fires him because it doesn’t like what he’s doing? How many excommunicated Polish priests are there to fill that post?
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body”
Our theme for this year is You + Jesus + Community = Success.
Today we recall Jesus’ transfiguration. In this moment we see the glory of Jesus, which is also the promise of our glory in Him.
When we join ourselves to Jesus in faith and baptism we are made part of all that He is. This includes every aspect of what Jesus is: priest, king, servant, healer, prophet, light, teacher, and so many more things. He is everything good, wonderful, and righteous.
The world looks at us and tries to discern in our words and actions what Jesus might be for the world. As such, they will only know Him, and what they can be, if they see Him in us.
It is said that six out of every ten people do not know Jesus, what He truly represents. Certainly, many might think Jesus was a nice person who gave us wise words. They may look at Him as a teacher on par with their favorite teacher or philosopher. How is He any different from those others?
They will only know His difference and the value of His promises if we proclaim and model what oneness with Him is.
We must take on all that He is and represent that before the world. We are to be Jesus as priest, king, servant, healer, prophet, light, and teacher to everyone we encounter.
In the transfiguration we see Jesus as more than just Moses – who delivered the law to the Jewish people and led them out of captivity. We see He is more than the prophets, represented by Elijah, who offered wise teachings and guidance to the Jewish people when they were going astray. He is what Moses and Elijah represent, but so much more too. He is God. We hear the Father acknowledge and state that from the cloud, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”
When we join ourselves to Jesus we obtain the fullness of His promises, including the fact that we will share in His glory as citizens of heaven – the glory we observe today. As St. Paul tells the Philippians: He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body.
By joining ourselves to Jesus, by being Him before the world, we proclaim His truth. He is God who has joined Himself to us, and asks us to join ourselves to Him. In union with Him we offer the truth of His promises – that by joining with Him we will achieve eternal glory and true success.
“If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
“I shall give to you all this power and glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish. All this will be yours, if you worship me.”
“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here”
Lent is a time for choices. What will we do to discipline our lives, to follow Jesus more closely, to reach for perfection in the Christian way of life? More than those choices, we face the choice of how hard we will work at what we choose. How will our choices affect our decisions?
Jesus was drawn into the desert to undergo the discipline of fasting and prayer and in doing so to draw closer to His Father. He chose to follow His Father’s will and decided to do all the things His Father required.
The desert or wilderness was the place in which the Prophets such as Elijah, Elisha, Moses, and John the Baptist, as well as Jesus, the Son of God, lived for at least a time, if not most of their lives. The rugged, arid conditions of the wilderness became their molding ground. Alone, they wandered through deserts, forests and mountains, awaiting God’s command. In the rugged desolate country they were set apart for God’s special work. In the wilderness God fashioned their character, making them obedient vessels, who then went forth to carry out God’s will.
For most of us the wilderness (dense forests, deserts and mountains) are only for the adventurous in spirit. It can be vicious to all forms of life – human, animal and plant. Only the most hardy can survive. No soft disguises of civilization can survive here. Wilderness life hones the nature of those who venture there. In the wilderness our true substance is exposed, and we are purified to do God’s will. It is not a place for the foolhardy, or the faint-hearted.
At the end of Jesus’ desert time He was tempted, put to the test in a very severe way. He is offered everything the world might think would fill a person after forty days of fasting and loneliness – food, power, and security. Having been purified and made one with His Father through the desert experience He was able to make the right decisions in the face of these very strong temptations.
Our Lent is a time in the wilderness, to withdraw a bit and draw closer to God. Our Lenten choices and practices, and our choice of how hard we work at them, prepare us to make right decisions when faced with temptation. They mold us, set us apart, and make us obedient servants who decide for God’s way.
