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On the Bishop of Rome and a democratic Conciliar model that works

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

Perspective, PNCC,

On St. Stanislaus in St. Louis

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, James Rygelski writes on the St. Stanislaus Church in St. Louis in ‘Do widzenia,’ St. Stanislaus Church

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?

Perspective, , , , ,

What immigrants can teach us about reconnecting with our roots

From PBS Newshour: What Immigrants Can Teach the Rest of America about Health, Happiness and Hope

When Claudia Kolker began reporting about recent immigrants to the U.S., she found a wealth of wisdom to be shared with all Americans. Kolker talks to Ray Suarez about her new book, “The Immigrant Advantage: What We Can Learn from Newcomers to America about Health, Happiness and Hope.”

[AMAZONPRODUCT=1416586822]

JEFFREY BROWN: Now: a fresh look at the immigrant experience and some surprising research on their health and ways of life in America.

Ray Suarez has our book conversation.

RAY SUAREZ: It’s a phenomenon that stumped social scientists for years. Hispanics in the U.S. are worse off than their white neighbors by almost every economic measures, higher poverty rates, higher dropout rates, less access to health care.

Yet, they live longer, two years more than non-Hispanic whites, nearly seven years more than African-Americans. Other immigrant groups also seem to have better physical and mental health, especially in the first generation after moving here.

In a new book, journalist Claudia Kolker looks at how some of the customs imported by America’s newcomers benefit those groups and could benefit others. It’s called “The Immigrant Advantage: What We Can Learn from Newcomers to America About Health, Happiness and Hope.”

Claudia Kolker, welcome.

CLAUDIA KOLKER, “The Immigrant Advantage”: Thank you so much.

RAY SUAREZ: As we embark or seem to be embarking on another debate about immigration, what it’s for, how much, how little, the rules that we’re going to live by, Americans often ask, why do we want these people here? And will they become American?

And you do an audacious thing right off the top, which is challenge the reader to think about what we can learn from immigrants. Tell us more about that.

CLAUDIA KOLKER: Well, one of the big ideas in this book is that we already have many, many immigrants here.

And while it is essential to understand and have — and have a really sound policy for newcomers and for newcomers to come legally, the great majority of foreign-born people here are here legally. They are here.

They have some extraordinary skills and practices and outcomes that I wanted, not only as a journalist to find out about, but I as a parent and as a citizen.

I wanted some of those things. And so that was the starting point for this book, is some of these successes that some of the least-advantaged people in our culture right now have.

RAY SUAREZ: A lot of these ways of life have to do with the very practical day-to-day skills of living, childbirth, dating, courting, pooling money, instead of going to banks, intergenerational living arrangements. Some of it is stuff that Americans used to do.

CLAUDIA KOLKER: Absolutely.

And that is — that is really one of the keys. Very little in here is exotic. These are some of the practices that made the United States what it is and that we have forgotten, and really forgotten fairly recently, too. We haven’t — we have thought that we haven’t had need for them.

RAY SUAREZ: Give me some examples of what you saw, because you came into people’s lives and watched their daily lives and tried to explain how this thing they do works.

CLAUDIA KOLKER: OK. And I will tell you — I also want to tell you a little bit about how I came to ask this question, which is as a reporter.

First, I reported on the immigrants in my adopted hometown of Houston. But then, because I know so many immigrants, I began to ask foreign-born people what I called the question:

What’s the smartest thing that people did in your home country that you want to hang on to while you’re here and the rest of us ought to copy?

And everybody had an answer. And one of the most striking ones, one of the ones that really resonated to professional American women that I knew and many, many readers was a postpartum practice that, in some form, is really done in almost all of the world, but is taken extremely seriously in very poor rural Mexico.

It’s called the cuarentena. And it sounds like 40 and quarantine also. And that’s because, for 40 days after a baby is born, the resources, the tenderness, the care, the special foods, the rest all go to the new mother. The baby is taken care of and cuddled and cleaned, but it is the mother’s health that is essential to take care of.

And these are women who are very hardworking and don’t get pampered at other times in their lives. But the entire family and community know that the health, the emotional, but really the physical health of the mother is essential to keep the rest of that family alive. And the extremes they go to are striking.

In rural Mexico, in Chiapas, I — I interviewed people who came from Chiapas to Akron, Ohio. They were working in factories, in agriculture. In the first 40 days after a baby is born, a woman may not touch a broom or a dish cloth. And if she does, if she touches it, she is an irresponsible mother, because…

RAY SUAREZ: But do you get measurably better results from the children when — when…

CLAUDIA KOLKER: From the children?

RAY SUAREZ: Right. When you have a baby, and you are giving this time, this pampering, this attention, are you more likely to have a kid that’s going to be healthier? Are you yourself going to be healthier?

CLAUDIA KOLKER: Yes, OK.

Well, to start off, it’s a lot — this is anecdotal. These are folk traditions, OK, and they have not been much studied. But it is true that in the research that has been done — which is limited — it does seem that in many traditional communities, especially in Latin America, where they have many, many problems and much tragedy, but postpartum depression is not one of the things they are familiar with.

And I have heard this over and over. And I need to stress it’s anecdotal, but the research that’s there does suggest this. And the United States, we have up to 15 percent or even 20 percent of postpartum depression in this country.

RAY SUAREZ: You take a look at school excellence and Asian immigrants, and it seems to turn out — surprise, surprise — they just work harder than a lot of American kids and work differently.

CLAUDIA KOLKER: Work differently and work smartly.

And here, again, one of the other ideas that I really gleaned from this, these are practices that have been treasured for millennia in their home countries. Actually, they work a lot of times better here in the United States. The stakes are not so high.

So, in a country like South Korea, the stakes are so high. There are only — there’s a limited number of colleges to get into that will allow you to move up socially and economically. But we have a lot of very, very good colleges in the United States. But we want to get the best out of our public schools.

And you work harder, but, also, Asians come here — many Asians come here with a toolbox of how to survive in their own school systems. And it turns out to be very applicable to our school system. So, that’s the key to all the practices in here they had to translate beautifully to our system.

And the thing that I copied was preemptive tutoring, in other words, tutoring not when junior or missy is already having trouble in math. It’s to get ahead, to always be a step ahead, and with a trusted adult who has less pressure because this person is tutoring — there’s one or, ideally, two or three.

A small group is probably even better than one-on-one, because the peer pressure, the positive peer pressure, is great, and also the confidence of going in and see and seeing that material for a second time.

And so it’s working harder, not as hard as they do in South Korea, which makes people absolutely miserable and is not something we want to copy.

RAY SUAREZ: “The Immigrant Advantage.” Claudia Kolker, I want to continue our conversation online, but thanks for being with us.

CLAUDIA KOLKER: Thank you…

Christian Witness, Perspective, Political, , ,

The newest in intolerance

From The Telegraph: A new intolerance is nudging faith aside

We are not only a Christian country, we are a tolerant one – but it seems the new secularism has no room for toleration

Practicing Christians may be forgiven for feeling like an oppressed minority in this predominantly Christian country.

Yesterday’s judgment by the European Court of Human Rights on people’s right to manifest their religion in the workplace once again leaves them coming off second best to the forces of secularism and political correctness.

In only one case, that of the British Airways employee Nadia Eweida, did the court uphold the individual’s religious rights, in this instance to wear a small cross at work. Miss Eweida was suspended for wearing it on the grounds that it breached BA’s uniform code. But as the ECHR observed, other BA employees had previously been allowed to wear items of religious clothing such as turbans and hijabs “without any negative impact on BA’s brand or image”. The airline has since changed its policy and now allows the wearing of some religious symbols.

But the three other cases in yesterday’s judgment went the other way. Shirley Chaplin, a nurse who was prevented on health and safety grounds from wearing a necklace with a cross at work as she had for 31 years; Gary McFarlane, a marriage counsellor who was sacked after saying he might object to counselling gay couples; and Lillian Ladele, a registrar who was disciplined after refusing to conduct civil partnership ceremonies – all were told that their rights had not been violated by their employers, even though they had acted as they had because of their religious convictions.

When an individual’s sincerely held beliefs come into collision with the demands of their employers in this way, surely it is incumbent on both sides to try to resolve the conflict in a grown-up and sensible way. Yet instead of the application of a little common sense, we have seen protracted and costly legal action, followed by a judgment that severely curtails people’s rights to manifest their faith at work. This is part of a wider trend to nudge religion to the margins of society. People of faith are depicted as being not part of the mainstream, as being quirky and different. Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, spoke out persuasively in this newspaper yesterday about the “intolerance of aggressive secularism” and it is time more voices like his were raised.

We are not only a Christian country, we are a tolerant one – but it seems the new secularism has no room for toleration. When these cases first arose, a number of church leaders warned of “apparent discrimination” against churchgoers where the “religious rights of the Christian community are being treated with disrespect”. That claim seems less alarmist than ever.

Several observations. Overall, the point is well taken. If we wish to stress mutual tolerance we need to not just “tolerate,” but accept and respect each individuals’ expression of their belief or non-belief. No one or their beliefs should be marginalized. It is hypocritical to do otherwise.

In relation to the Shirley Chaplin case, the nurse prevented on health and safety grounds from wearing a necklace with a cross at work as she had for 31 years – this makes sense just as doctors have been most recently advised not to wear neckties in patient care. Religion and science should not conflict in such matters.

In relation to people who refuse to do certain things, generally a “job requirement” on the grounds it conflicts with their faith, I give them kudos for sticking to their beliefs and sacrificing for it. It must be remembered however that as Christians we must be prepared to accept persecution for following our faith. We cannot have it both ways. Obviously the martyrs did so, even more so. As with soldiers who refused to go to or fight in Iraq based on their belief in the injustice of the “war,” and were subsequently prosecuted and jailed, or received dishonorable discharges, we must be prepared to accept the consequences of our adherence to our beliefs.

A great point in saying “surely it is incumbent on both sides to try to resolve the conflict in a grown-up and sensible way.” There is always a way to compromise. For example, find the nurse a different job with no patient contact, adjust other work duties, etc. Taking a breath before taking action is the wiser course.

Current Events, Perspective, Political, , , , ,

Iran 2013: Making Diplomacy Work featuring Zbigniew Brzezenski

The conference is be available to watch anytime in C-SPAN’s archives.

Brzezinski: US Should Not Follow Israel on Iran Like a “Stupid Mule”

Washington, DC – “I don’t think there is an implicit obligation for the United States to follow like a stupid mule whatever the Israelis do,” said Zbigniew Brzezinski. “If they decide to start a war, simply on the assumption that we’ll automatically be drawn into it, I think it is the obligation of friendship to say, ‘you’re not going to be making national decision for us.’ I think that the United States has the right to have its own national security policy.”

Speaking before a conference sponsored jointly by the Arms Control Association and the National Iranian American Council, Brzezinski effectively ruled out a U.S. or Israel attack on Iran as “an act of utter irresponsibility” that would mean “the region would literally be set aflame.” He warned that a policy based on such unrealistic options ultimately undermined U.S. credibility.

Panelists at the event argued that the timing is right for a renewed diplomatic initiative with Iran. “Right now is the right time, right after the American elections, and right before the Iranian elections,” observed Professor Ahmad Sadri of Lake Forest College. “Remember back to 2008 when we were in the same point in the cycle, except right now on the ground the situation is much worse. There’s more fissile material, and there’s less optimism.”

However, at the same time, Sadri noted that Iran’s soft and hard power in the Middle East has declined. “If I was an American negotiator, I’d say this is exactly the right time to go into [negotiations].”

Nuclear specialist Jim Walsh of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology argued that both sides needed to be prepared for compromise and to expand their existing offers. “You’re not going to have success if you simply continue to repeat the things you did before that didn’t work.”

“Content-wise, both sides have presented proposals where they are asking a lot and offering very little,” Walsh observed. “This is classic, everyone does this, but in this particular instance where nobody trusts one another, they take that proposal as evidence, ‘Ah ha! The other side isn’t serious.’”

The panelists agreed that the lack of trust was a major obstacle for successful talks…

Events, Perspective, , ,

Thankful for

Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. — 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

To all my family, parishioners, benefactors, friends, co-workers, neighbors, brothers and sisters in Christ, and all who dwell in our land,

I pray that your Thanksgiving celebration is filled with great joy, togetherness, and time to reflect on the many blessings we share in. May your day and travels be safe.

I am so thankful for each of you, for your fellowship enriches my life. Our mutual work for the God’s kingdom becomes an occasion for rejoicing because of you. You are in my prayers of thanksgiving this day and every day.

As I reflect today, I recount these many blessings received, in material things, but most importantly in the gift of true fellowship and freedom found in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. All thanksgiving and praise be His.

— Deacon Jim

Perspective, Political,

Reports on the fiscal cliff

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released reports projecting the economic impact the fiscal cliff and of avoiding different portions of the fiscal cliff. For example, avoiding sequestration and extending Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors would increase domestic product by 0.75 percent. Extending the current tax rates, which are set to expire at the end of the year, would increase economic growth by more than 1.5 percent. The report, “Economic Effects of Policies Contributing to Fiscal tightening in 2013,” is one of two reports released by CBO. The other report, “Choices for Deficit Reduction,” examines several methods for reducing the deficit over the next decade.

Christian Witness, Perspective, Political, , ,

Unemployment and Re-employment

Unemployment Benefits Reduce Poverty

The Congressional Research Service released a report on the: Antipoverty Effects of Unemployment Insurance (UI) [pdf].

This report examines the antipoverty effects of unemployment insurance benefits during the past recession and the economic recovery. The analysis highlights the impact of the additional and expanded unemployment insurance (UI) benefits available to unemployed workers through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program. In 2011, approximately 56% of all unemployed individuals were receiving UI benefits (down from a high of 66% in 2010). UI benefits appear to have a large poverty-reducing effect among unemployed workers who receive them. Given the extended length of unemployment among jobless workers, the additional weeks of UI benefits beyond the regular program’s 26-week limit appear to have had an especially important effect in poverty reduction.

The report’s analysis shows that UI benefits appear to reduce the prevalance of poverty significantly among the population that receives them. The UI benefits’ poverty reduction effects appear to be especially important during and immediately after recessions. The analysis also finds that there was a markedly higher impact on poverty in the most recent recession than in the previous two recessionary periods. The estimated antipoverty effects of UI benefits in 2011 were about 50% higher than that of two previous peak years of unemployment — 1993 and 2003.

In 2011, over one quarter (26.5%) of unemployed people who received UI benefits would have been considered poor prior to taking UI benefits into account; after counting UI benefits, their poverty rate decreased by just under half, to 13.8%.

NELP Reports on the Value of the Public Re-Employment Services

The National Employment Law Project (NELP) recently issued a briefing paper titled: Getting Real: Time to Re- Invest in the Public Employment Service [pdf].

The paper highlights the value of reemployment services. Their briefing calls for a “renewed focus on reemployment services,” with substantial increases in federal funding for the Employment Service. According to NELP, increased funding for the Employment Services would allow states to provide more services to job seekers such as: job placement services, in-person job search assistance, and pre-training counseling. In addition to increased federal funding, NELP recommends prioritizing those who are receiving unemployment insurance.

Art, Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , , , , ,

The latest in books

The latest in books written by Polonian authors or that concern Polish and Polonian history, language and culture.

Save Send Delete by Danusha V. Goska

Save Send Delete is a debate about God between polar opposites: Mira, a poor, Catholic professor and Rand, an atheist author and celebrity. It’s based on a true story. Mira reveals gut-level emotions and her inner struggles to live fully and honestly – and to laugh – in the face of extraordinary ordeals. She shares experiences so profound, so holy, they force us to confront our beliefs in what is true and possible. Rand hears her; he understands her; he challenges her ideas; he makes her more of herself. The book is in essence a love story. What emerges from these eternal questions is not so much about God, but what faith means to us, and ultimately, what we mean to each other.

[AMAZONPRODUCT=1846949866]

Solidarity: The Great Workers Strike of 1980 by Michael M. Szporer

n the summer of 1980, the eyes of the world turned to the Gdansk shipyard in Poland which suddenly became the nexus of a strike wave that paralyzed the entire country. The Gdansk strike was orchestrated by the members of an underground free trade union that came to be known as Solidarnosc [Solidarity]. Despite fears of a violent response from the communist authorities, the strikes spread to more than 750 sites around the country and involved over a million workers, mobilizing its working population. Faced with crippling strikes and with the eyes of the world on them, the communist regime signed landmark accords formally recognizing Solidarity as the first free trade union in a communist country. The union registered nearly ten million members, making it the world’s largest union to date. In a widespread and inspiring demonstration of nonviolent protest, Solidarity managed to bring about real and powerful changes that contributed to the end of the Cold War.

[AMAZONPRODUCT=0739174878]

The Idea of Galicia: History and Fantasy in Habsburg Political Culture by Larry Wolff

Galicia was created at the first partition of Poland in 1772 and disappeared in 1918. Yet, in slightly over a century, the idea of Galicia came to have meaning for both the peoples who lived there and the Habsburg government that ruled it. Indeed, its memory continues to exercise a powerful fascination for those who live in its former territories and for the descendants of those who emigrated out of Galicia.

The idea of Galicia was largely produced by the cultures of two cities, Lwów and Kraków. Making use of travelers’ accounts, newspaper reports, and literary works, Wolff engages such figures as Emperor Joseph II, Metternich, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Ivan Franko, Stanislaw Wyspianski, Tadeusz “Boy” Zelenski, Isaac Babel, Martin Buber, and Bruno Schulz. He shows the exceptional importance of provincial space as a site for the evolution of cultural meanings and identities, and analyzes the province as the framework for non-national and multi-national understandings of empire in European history.

Lukasz Wodzynski, writing in the Cosmopolitan Review calls the book: “A rich and engaging tale about Galicia and its four ethnic groups – Poles, Austrian Germans, Ruthenians and Jews – all of whom assigned a different meaning to the “idea” of Galicia.

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Freedom Climbers by Bernadette McDonald

Between 1980 and 1989, Polish climbers were giant, worldwide leaders as high-altitude climbers, especially in the Himalayas. This volume documents those charismatic leaders and their iconic climbs in a defining chapter of Himalayan climbing history.

Renowned author Bernadette McDonald weaves a passionate and literary tale of adventure, politics, suffering, death and ultimately inspiration. Freedom Climbers tells the story of a group of extraordinary Polish adventurers who emerged from under the blanket of oppression following the Second World War to become the worlds leading Himalayan climbers. Although they lived in a dreary, war-ravaged landscape, with seemingly no hope of creating a meaningful life, these curious, motivated and skilled mountaineers created their own free-market economy under the very noses of their Communist bosses and climbed their way to liberation.

Patrice Dabrowski reviews Freedom Climbers for the Cosmopolitan Review discussing the gripping and heart-wrenching chronicle of the greatest Himalayan climbers of the 20th century.

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Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power by Andrew Nagorski

Hitler’s rise to power, Germany’s march to the abyss, as seen through the eyes of Americans—diplomats, military, expats, visiting authors, Olympic athletes—who watched horrified and up close. By tapping a rich vein of personal testimonies, Hitlerland offers a gripping narrative full of surprising twists—and a startlingly fresh perspective on this heavily dissected era.

Some of the Americans in Weimar and then Hitler’s Germany were merely casual observers, others deliberately blind; a few were Nazi apologists. But most slowly began to understand the horror of what was unfolding, even when they found it difficult to grasp the breadth of the catastrophe.

Among the journalists, William Shirer, Edgar Mowrer, and Dorothy Thompson were increasingly alarmed. Consul General George Messersmith stood out among the American diplomats because of his passion and courage.

Tina Brown of NPR Books called Hitlerland a must-read in The Reporter’s Role.

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City of the Big Shoulders: An Anthology of Chicago Poetry by Ryan G. Van Cleave.

Dr. John Guzlowski’s “38 Easy Steps to Carlyle’s Everlasting Yeah.” is included in the book along with work by Stuart Dybek.

Chicago has served as touchstone and muse to generations of writers and artists defined bytheir relationship to the city’s history, lore, inhabitants, landmarks, joys and sorrows, pride and shame. The poetic conversations inspired by Chicago have long been a vital part of America’s literary landscape, from Carl Sandburg and Gwendolyn Brooks to experimental writers and today’s slam poets. The one hundred contributors to this vibrant collection take their materials and their inspirations from the city itself in a way that continues this energetic dialogue.

The cultural, ethnic, and aesthetic diversity in this gathering of poems springs from a variety of viewpoints, styles, and voices as multifaceted and energetic as the city itself.

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Stained Glass by Catherine Czerkawska

Stained Glass is a trio of ghost stories: the title story, The Penny Execution and The Sleigh.

In Stained Glass, a young man sees more than he bargained for through his cottage window.

The Penny Execution is about a saleroom acquisition with a terrible secret.

The Sleigh is a quirky and sad story about a strange experience in pre-war Poland.

The first two stories are entirely fictional but the Sleigh is true and was the inspiration behind one of the episodes in Catherine’s new novel, The Amber Heart. This novel, based on her Polish family history, is also available.

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Show Up, Look Good by Mark Wisniewski

Wisniewski shows what really happens when a resourceful, optimistic, upbeat young woman from the Midwest comes to Manhattan to make it.” — Molly Giles, author of ‘Rough Translations’ “With equal parts rue and satire, Mark Wisniewski’s thirty-four-year-old Midwestern heroine, Michelle, flees love gone wrong at home to start over with nerve and independence in Manhattan. Her picaresque misadventures and her encounters with characters odd, pretentious, and menacing prove as haunting as Holden Caulfield’s.” — DeWitt Henry, editor of ‘Ploughshares’

Mark Wisniewski is the author of the novel “Confessions of a Polish Used Car Salesman,” the collection of short stories “All Weekend With the Lights On,” and the book of narrative poems “One of Us One Night.” His fiction has appeared in magazines such as “The Southern Review,” “Antioch Review,” “New England Review,” “Virginia Quarterly Review,” “The Yale Review,” “Boulevard,” “The Sun,” and “The Georgia Review,” and has been anthologized in “Pushcart Prize” and “Best American Short Stories.” His narrative poems have appeared in such venues as “Poetry International,” “Ecotone,” “New York Quarterly,” and “Poetry.”

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Novelist Leslie Pietrzyk has a new novel, Lady of the House, coming out soon about Polish immigrants in Chicago in 1900. A chapter is available for listening to at The Drum.

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Extend unemployment insurance – action needed

Leaders in the House majority plan a vote on HR 3630—a bill that would slash federal unemployment benefits in every state and cut federal UI benefits by more than half in the Renew unemployment insurance UIstates with the highest unemployment rates. Tell your Members of Congress and Congressional leaders to oppose these reckless and harmful cuts to unemployment insurance, and instead support swift action to fully renew the federal UI program through 2012.

Millions of hardworking Americans—nearly 2 million in January alone, and over 6 million in 2012—will be cut off from the emergency lifeline of federal unemployment insurance, unless Congress acts to fully renew the program before it expires December 31st. In the past three years, federal unemployment insurance has helped more than 17 million Americans while they’ve looked for work in the toughest job market since the Great Depression. Recent Census figures show that federal unemployment insurance helped keep more than 3 million from falling into poverty last year alone.

A January 2010 report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) looked at a variety of strategies for increasing employment and raising the gross domestic product (GDP), which is the market value of all goods and services that reach the consumer. It noted that for every dollar in UI benefits, $1.90 in economic benefit is created. The CBO looked at a variety of strategies to boost the economy — or to keep things from getting worse — such as investing in infrastructure, reducing income taxes, or cutting payroll taxes for companies that hire new people. Increasing aid to the unemployed offered the biggest bang for the buck, according to its estimates. Other studies such as that by Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, note similar results.

Congress has never cut back or allowed these programs to expire when unemployment was anywhere near this high for this long. Congress must act, and act now.

Tell Congress: Renew the full federal Unemployment Insurance program through 2012 Now! or call toll-free 1-888-245-3381.

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