Over 30 years ago the United States Information Agency (USIA) worked with private partners to produce a TV film, “Let Poland Be Poland” to show support for the Solidarity movement and the Polish people following the imposition of martial law. The film features Frank Sinatra singing the Polish folk song “Wolne Serce” in Polish and English as well as Max von Sydow, Romuald Spasowski, Ronald Reagan, Tip O’Neill, Bob Hope, John Fraser, Glenda Jackson, Zdzislaw Rurarz, Charlton Heston and Orson Welles echoing the title, “Let Poland be Poland.”
On May 18th the 69th anniversary of the conclusion of the Battle of Monte Cassino will be celebrated. The Monte Cassino Foundation in Poland has created an on-line presentation in the 
form of a virtual walk. The presentation includes a walk through the Polish War Cemetery at Monte Cassino and the monuments to Polish forces (3rd Carpathian Rifle Division, 5th Kresowa Infantry Division, 2nd Armored Brigade with the 4 Armoured Regiment — “SCORPION” and 6 Armoured Regiment — the “Children of Lwów,” as well as support forces including the Polish sappers who finally took the stronghold after various other allied strategies had tried for four months.
From Wikipedia: On May 15, the British 78th Division came into the XIII Corps line from reserve passing through the bridgehead divisions to execute the turning move to isolate Cassino from the Liri valley. On May 17, the Polish Corps launched their second attack on Monte Cassino. Under constant artillery and mortar fire from the strongly fortified German positions and with little natural cover for protection, the fighting was fierce and at times hand-to-hand. With their line of supply threatened by the Allied advance in the Liri valley, the Germans decided to withdraw from the Cassino heights to the new defensive positions on the Hitler Line. In the early hours of May 18 the 78th Division and the Polish Corps linked up in the Liri valley 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Cassino town. On the Cassino high ground the survivors of the second Polish offensive were so battered that “it took some time to find men with enough strength to climb the few hundred yards to the summit.” A patrol of Polish 12th Podolian Uhlans Regiment finally made it to the heights and raised a Polish flag over the ruins. The only remnants of the defenders were a group of thirty[63] German wounded who had been unable to move. “The Poles, on their second try, had taken Monte Cassino, and the road to Rome was open. At the end of the war the Poles “… with bitter pride erect[ed] a memorial on the [slope of the] mountain.”
The Monte Cassino Foundation cares of the memory of the Polish soldiers who fought and are buried at Monte Cassino.
From The Christian Century: Catholics without popes by Julie Byrne
On February 11, comedian Stephen Colbert asked historian Garry Wills if he was in favor of the next pope being not John Paul III or Benedict XVII but “Nobody the First.” Wills smiled and said, “Ah, very good idea.”
For some Catholics, this idea is more than a joke. For them, the question is not who should be the next pope. It’s whether there is or should be a pope at all.
With the retirement of Benedict XVI, the seat of Peter is empty—sede vacante. But for Catholics past and present, the papacy is only one possible center of faith. A wider look at Catholic history—wider than media obsessions during the conclave—shows that the pope’s centrality has long been a highly contested topic.
Official papal theology about itself has long put the pope at the center.
As the 16th-century Protestant Reformation and the 18th-century French Revolution unfolded, popes theorized that the strongest church was the most centralized church. Protestant denominations proliferated, and ancient monarchies toppled. But if one pope stood above all nation-states, Roman Catholicism would thrive.
The 1870-71 council of Vatican I made papal infallibility a doctrine, but voting was a hotly contested matter:
A straw poll showed that approximately 10 percent of the bishops opposed papal infallibility.
Before the final vote, about 60 prelates left Rome rather than defy the Vatican.
Not all local priests and parishes were ready to give in. In Germany and Austria, a new body arose called the Old Catholic Church. It patterned itself on another Catholicism—eastern Orthodoxy—and established leadership by a council of bishops. Almost immediately it celebrated mass in the vernacular. Within several decades, its priests could marry.Eminent Catholic theologian Hans Küng—who recently hoped in the pages of the New York Times for a “Vatican Spring”—writes that Old Catholicism “continues to be Catholic but is Rome-free.” Doctrinally ancient but also modern, Küng says, “this little bold and ecumenically open Old Catholic Church from the beginning anticipated reforms of the Second Vatican Council.”
Today, Old Catholicism has churches in ten countries from the Netherlands to Croatia. It ordains women and is in communion with Anglicanism.
Old Catholicism has also generated several hundred small independent Catholic churches in the U.S., including the historic Polish National Catholic Church and the African Orthodox Church. Some, such as the Ecumenical Catholic Communion, the Church of Antioch and Ascension Alliance, open the sacraments to all comers, including marriage and ordination. The list also includes formerly Roman parishes, such as St. Stanislaus Kostka in St. Louis and Spiritus Christi in Rochester, New York.
But even among those who stayed with Rome, there exist hugely differing views on the papacy. These Catholics take sides not on Vatican I but on Vatican II, the 1960s council that gave the church a modern makeover.
On the strong right of the U.S. church are opponents of Vatican II, who say the council’s documents are so out of step with tradition that its leadership must have been hijacked. John XXIII, the convener of Vatican II, was no true pope. Starting with him, the Roman popes have been impostors.
On the strong left are progressive Roman Catholics like Wills, whose pursuit of “the spirit of Vatican II” goes so far as to question the need for priests and popes at all.
The disagreements expose a wide and diverse Catholicism, in which overall affirmation of Vatican authority has declined. According to one recent survey fewer than three out of ten U.S. Roman Catholics says that the “teaching authority claimed by the Vatican” is “very important” to them.
U.S. Roman Catholicism is now fully one-third Latino, and this is another group that does not simply accede to papal centrality.
The vitality of devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe, the mother of Jesus manifested at Guadalupe, often far surpasses concerns for the pope. Especially among Mexican-Americans, who make up more than 60 percent of U.S. Hispanics, she is the living center of faith. Only half jokingly, some Latino Catholics say they are not Romans, but Guadalupeans. Among Guadalupeans, this beloved Mary with brown skin and a golden aura wins any popularity contest with the pope.
The election of the next pope is a fascinating spectacle on Vatican Hill. But if we look closely, the roil of Catholic opinion on the ground is the real show.
The author, Julie Byrne, is the Hartman Chair of Catholic Studies at Hofstra University. She is the author of O God of Players (Columbia University Press, 2003) and The Other Catholics (forthcoming from Columbia).
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A generally good article that touches very lightly on the issues of Catholic Churches that are not Roman Catholic. Of course there is great divergence from what is considered “Catholic” and in line with the traditions of the entire Church from the first millennium. On one side are the Roman Church, Orthodoxy, the PNCC, and certain smaller “Old Catholic” Churches not recognized by Utrecht (but who maintain solid adherence to principals and doctrine). On the other Old Catholicism, certain portions of the Anglican Church, and some of the other smaller Churches that label themselves “Old Catholic” but are not recognized by Utrecht. They have veered in various degrees.
Good points on Rome’s self view of the Bishop of Rome (thankfully Francis uses this term) and its use of “infallibility” as a defense against the breakdown of other authority structures — to which at least a portion of the representatives at Vatican I did not agree. Also on the general view among (the majority I believe) of Roman Catholics who either think Rome has fallen to pieces (note the bubbling revolt among traditionalists against Francis), or pay little heed to anything coming out of Rome. Those who pay little heed like their local parish and ignore what doesn’t matter to them, whether it comes from their pastor, bishop or from Rome.
From the Time Tribune: Dramas bring Easter to life
The apostle Peter sang his welcome to the audience in the darkened hall at the Rock Church Worship Center during dress rehearsals last week for the congregation’s annual Easter drama.
He was on a stage set with vine-covered walls, an open tomb and a wheel-shaped stone that foretold his story’s ending.
“The son of God has come and I’m a witness,” he sang.
In churches throughout the region, accounts of Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection have stepped out of Scripture onto stages in recent weeks as parishes dramatize the defining event of Christian history, turning audiences and actors into witnesses. The displays range from modest wooden tombs set up on church lawns to elaborate stage dramas with dozens of cast and crew members.
“We all need to be reminded that Jesus came and gave his life for us,” Rock Church pastor Bill Smalt said before calling his performers to their places. “We can read it in the Bible. But there’s something when you see it acted out that’s more powerful sometimes than just reading it.”
Performances of Christ’s suffering and resurrection originated in the Middle Ages, with Easter and Passion plays that grew out of the already dramatic elements of church-based worship.
The Rev. Gerald Gurka, a Roman Catholic priest in Larksville who has written more than 30 Passion plays or less elaborate living stations of the cross, said the medieval plays, like stained-glass windows, were used to share the Gospel with a public that could not read or write. The teaching tools were also beautiful and affecting.
The practice persists because it still works, he said. This year, a cast and crew of about 100 people put on his newest Passion play for a packed audience at St. John the Baptist Church.
“Every year, something wonderful happens,” he said. People return to church or patch over personal grievances. Once, an alcoholic father of children who were acting in the play checked himself into rehab after the performance was over.
“I don’t look for that to happen,” he said, “but I think it’s the way God’s message speaks to people through that art form.”
Other Christian holidays also lend themselves to dramatic recreation. Christmas pageants and living nativity scenes abound. But area pastors say that Easter dramas, and dramatic aspects of Easter religious rituals, emphasize the proper center of the faith and enliven the long period of reflection that precedes and follows the holiday.
The 90-day season of Lent and Easter “is the whole core and heart of the Christian faith,” said the Right. Rev. Bernard Nowicki, bishop of the Central Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church and pastor of St. Stanislaus Cathedral. “Then the church spends the rest of the year discussing what all that means.”
Easter dramas, like the living stations of the cross performed at the cathedral during Lent, continue to be instructive for seekers, he said, and offer the parish youth a leadership role in worship. They are also vivid and emotionally moving.
“The action taking place – Christ falls once, twice, three times, quite a crash when the cross hits the floor – it makes it almost visceral.”
At Peace Lutheran Church, which is located on a busy stretch of Main Avenue, the congregation uses its high-profile space to reenact Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday.
Costumed parishioners walk with a Jesus character bearing his cross for several blocks then act out the crucifixion near the church steps.
“We want to use it as a witness for the rest of the world passing by,” the Rev. Kristian Bjornstad said.
At times, they have been ridiculed for it. People in passing cars shouted obscenities during past years’ performances.
“Sometimes when we read the text, we don’t get a clue what it was really like for Jesus to be mocked and made fun of,” he said, “until we’re reenacting it and they do it to us.”
However uncomfortable, the portrayal helps bring Christianity’s most important historical moment into the present, he said.
“To reenact that is to affirm its reality in our lives today.”
From the Times Tribune: Need to nourish Throop woman lives faith, helping to create One Hot Meal
Supplies were running low for Carol Nasser and her fellow volunteers at One Hot Meal as they doled out warm meals to people in need.
It was meatloaf day, and there was just one loaf left. But, somehow, that loaf kept giving, and they fed everyone who came by seeking nourishment with one slice to spare.
Mrs. Nasser has not forgotten that moment from the early days of One Hot Meal, the program she and a few others started at their church, St. Stanislaus Polish National Catholic Cathedral in Scranton, on New Year’s Day in 2008.
“That was in God’s hands,” said Mrs. Nasser of Throop, who often shares the meatloaf story. “It was like the loaves of bread (Bible story).”
A couple hundred people sit down to a warm, homemade meal every month thanks in part to the dedication of Mrs. Nasser, who knows many people could use the help, especially in the current economic climate. Funded entirely by donations, the program provides meals to anyone who wants them on the first Saturday of every month from 1 to 3 p.m. at the cathedral’s youth center, 530 E. Elm St.
“We opened it up for anyone in need of a meal,” Mrs. Nasser said.
Feeding the hungry
Jesus said to feed the hungry, Mrs. Nasser pointed out, and even before One Hot Meal began, she noticed a need in the community and set out to remedy it. She was known to whip up a pot of chili or soup and take it to the Scranton Rescue Mission, and she even would take her leftovers from a restaurant and hand them out to people in need on the street.
“I love doing it,” said Mrs. Nasser, who also pointed out that she wishes more people would know One Hot Meal is there to help. “I’ve always had the passion, I guess, for the homeless (and) feeding people.”
Helping drive this desire to help nourish the hungry is Mrs. Nasser’s love for cooking, a love she inherited from her late mother, Sophie Zanghi.
“Growing up, I did a lot helping my mother, and it was sort of my thing,” she said.
Her father’s Sicilian heritage – which left her with recipes like those for her grandmother’s sauce – led to the start of an Italian dinner at her church, which raised money for One Hot Meal. She cooked for that first benefit and hopes to hold another one soon.
Mrs. Nasser, who also used to help with Catholic Social Services’ annual angel tree, has even expanded her charitable work beyond the kitchen again. She and her church community also have reached out to the needy by collecting clothing, accessories like scarves and gloves, and nonperishable food for them.
A stay-at-home mom and grandmother with three grown daughters and an infant grandson, Mrs. Nasser expects nothing in return for anything she does, said her friend Kathy Kotula, who nominated her for Northeast Woman.
“She has a good heart,” Ms. Kotula said.
Helping hands
One Hot Meal has grown since Mrs. Nasser helped launch it five years ago, and volunteers prepare 200 meals per month these days. They have a great group of helpers, too, she said, and they help in a myriad of ways, from cooking to donating food to delivering meals.
“We have dozens of volunteers that help us, like parishioners and even people who aren’t from our parish,” said Mrs. Nasser, whose family members also pitch in.
In addition to handing them out at the center, community members also deliver meals to people who are homebound or elderly, to shelters and to other community organizations that feed people in need.
“I just wish more people would know what we’re offering and come,” Mrs. Nasser said.
The New York Folklore Society, Building Cultural Bridges, The American Folklore Society, and New York State Council on the Arts presents the Art of Community Workshop: Building and Arts and Culture Support Network for Newcomer Artists in New York State workshop on Friday, May 17th from 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. at the Utica Public Library, one block east of the Ithaca Commons at 401 E. State/MLK Jr. Street, 303 Genesee Street, Utica, NY 13501. You are invited to attend this workshop that will explore merging the arts with social services to better serve these newcomer communities and to enliven our community at large.
Upstate New York has become home to an ever-expanding community of refugees and immigrants from all over the world. Layering upon an already rich infrastructure of arts organizations, there is a great potential for an increasingly varied cultural landscape. Yet many of the artists from these communities struggle to maintain their expressive and cultural heritage traditions in the face of overwhelming and immediate needs as they adapt to their new environment.
Anybody concerned with the well-being of immigrant/refugee communities is welcome to attend, including but not limited to: refugee or immigrant artists, staff from cultural and community-based organizations and local art organizations, educators, funders, folklorists, staff from shops and galleries that market immigrant/refugee arts, refugee and immigrant service providers, and library staff.
The day-long workshop will present both national and local models of successful arts and social service collaborations which serve the focus communities. Also, newcomer artists will perform, demonstrate and talk about the importance of maintaining their cultural traditions in their new homeland. Drawing on personal experience and ideas generated by the presentations, participants will work together to explore possibilities for collaboration and to establish a local network for resource sharing. Spaces will be made available for participants to share information about their art forms or programs through printed materials. Interpretation services will be available.