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10 reasons I’m a National Catholic —” Reason 4: Unity in essentials, latitude in non-essentials

There is quite a history behind the famous saying: “In necessariis unitas, In dubiis libertas, In omnibus autem caritas” (In essentials unity, In doubtful things liberty, But in all things love). This saying is commonly referred to as the “Friedensspruch” or “Peace Saying.”

The quote is sometimes attributed to St. Augustine. In reality it is properly attributed to Peter MeiderlinOn the, spurious claim that Augustine was the author, see especially Friedrich Lí¼cke, íœber das Alter, den Verfasser, die ursprí¼ngliche Form und den wahren Sinn des kirchlichen Friedensspruches “In necessariis unitas, in non necessariis libertas, in utrisque caritas!: Eine litterarhistorische theologische Studie (Gí¶ttingen: Verlag der Dieterischschen Buchhandlung, 1850), 4-6; Eekhof, Zinspreuk, 10-15., a Lutheran theologian and pastor who lived in Augsburg during the early seventeenth century. Meiderlin lived in a very troubled times, a time exposed to the ravages of the Thirty Years War and its aftermath. There was ongoing strife between Lutherans and Calvinists as well as within Lutheranism itself. The Lutheran movement had become a battleground for competing political forces and numerous doctrinal disputes based on theological differences among the leaders of the nascent Reformation.

Why go off into Lutheran and Reformation history? Really, to understand the basis for my reasons in joining the PNCC. Every confession has, to some extent, turned the “Peace Saying” on its head. This is perfected in the great departure from what was commonly believed among all Christians in the Church of the first 1,000 years to a development of unknown doctrines and laws.

Peter Meiderlin’s argument for peace is illustrated in the story of a dream he hadThe account of the dream is found in Meiderlin’s original Latin book, entitled Paraenesis votiva pro pace ecclesiae ad Theologos Augustanae Confessionis, based on the edition of Pfeiffer, was reprinted by Lí¼cke in íœber das Alter, 87-90.:

In the dream he encounters a devout Christian theologian in a white robe sitting at a table and reading the Scriptures. All of a sudden Christ appears to him as the victor over death and the devil and warns him of an impending danger and admonishes him to be very vigilant. Then Christ vanishes and the Devil appears in the form of a blinding light, moonlight to be exact, and claims to have been sent on a mission from God. He states that in this final age the Church needs to be protected from all heresy and apostasy of any kind and God’s elect have the duty to safeguard and keep pure the doctrinal truths they inherited. The Devil then alleges that God has authorized him to found a new order of these doctrinally pure elect, some sort of a doctrinal heritage coven. Those who join will bind themselves to an oath of strictest observance to these doctrines. The Devil then extends to our devout theologian the invitation to join this militant fellowship for his own eternal welfare. Our theologian thinks about what he has just heard and decides to bring it in prayer before God, upon which the devil immediately vanishes and Christ reappears. Christ tenderly raises the trembling Christian up, comforts him most kindly, and before he departs admonishes him to remain loyal only to the Word of God in simplicity and humility of heartFound at “In Essentials Unity”: The Pre-History And History Of A Restoration Movement Slogan by Hans Rollmann..

Meiderlin’s dream captures my state of mind in coming to the PNCC. Where was the essential Catholic faith I grew up in? Where could I find the Church which called me to hold the commonly believed truths, the foundations of the Church in Sacred Scripture and Holy Tradition, and which would stand strongly enough on those foundations so as not to attempt to control everything (Matthew 23:4).

I was trying to avoid being part of “[the] new order of [the] doctrinally pure elect, …a doctrinal heritage coven.” I understood the Catholic faith to stand on foundation of Scripture and Tradition, the infallible nature of the Church as a whole, which also acts as a guide along the path to eternal life, meeting people where they are and bringing them to Christ. I wasn’t looking for the Church that gave me free-reign to decide for myself. If I wanted that I could be Protestant, Universalist, or nothing at all, because in each, even the essentials of Scripture and Tradition are subject to debate and individual interpretation. I didn’t need doctrinal or liturgical, or sacramental innovation, nor priests and bishops who wing theology and kill Holy Tradition to suit the whims of the day. I know I needed the truth of Catholicism, but not thousands of pages of proscriptive rules and regulations no one can bear.

So, I needed truth, as well as the latitude to get to heaven in an environment that gave me peace and comfort in my struggles. I needed the essentials of the Catholic faith to be sure, and I needed that they be strictly adhered to, but I did not need regulations that acted to do no more than act as points of separation, points that made me feel unworthy and outside.

Those laws of separation are too painful. Certainly they work for the benefit of those who hold themselves as doctrinally pure, elect, and on the inside. That high standard becomes so high that it often becomes insurmountable for many. As can be seen, some just ignore what they perceive as insurmountable (they ignore their Church’s teachings and doctrines, are essentially bad Catholics, but continue to go and commune without any change of heart — they are right, the Church is wrong). Some try to change it, fighting against the mountain that will not move (they battle from the inside until they are exhausted and lose heart, because it is quite impossible to win against an administrative culture based on absolutes). Some leave, whether in anger, hurt, disappointment, or out of an unwillingness to change, and in leaving abandon all faith. — I’ve done each.

The laws and doctrines of the non-essentials, the lack of charity (not financial, but that of the heart) works then to obscure the teaching of what is essential, and loses souls. How can people understand the teaching of Scripture and Holy Tradition if they are caught up in arguments over the disciplines imposed by men? How will people walk toward God if we formulate laws that push them away? We are not speaking with children when we say “My children,” but adults. I wanted to be treated like an adult on an adult path to God.

Yes, I hold the essentials and I desire no change in them at all. The creeds, humanity as saved and redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the ministry and Apostolic succession as established by the Catholic Church, the necessity of regeneration, the benefit of the sacraments, the call to live as Christ demands — not as man dictates, repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and living in the community of faith at every level — Church, Diocese, Parish, and home. Yes, I desire the Catholic way of life. Yet I have no love or respect for the elevation of man made, dubious, doctrine and law which obscure (and work to block) the path to heaven. The philosopher Seneca warned of cramming the mind with unimportant things. “We are ignorant,” Seneca writes, “of essentials because we deal in non-essentials.”

Bishop Hodur clearly stated that every person is called by God and that this call is to engage in a joyous journey toward heaven. Yes, it is not without struggle, against ourselves and the allures of the world, but in community that struggling together leads to victory. I needed that community. We must “remain loyal only to the Word of God in simplicity and humility of heart.” Humility calls for the elevation of God’s way (and yes, the Church teaches His way because the Holy Spirit abides in the Church) over our ways, our thoughts, our innovations. Simplicity means we must take great care not to obscure Scripture and Tradition by that which is man-made.

Meiderlin tried to avoid both extremes during the period in which he was writing. He sought to avoid disintegrating sectarianism and of a levelling orthodoxy by taking a middle position that affirms salvific essentials while maintaining responsible freedom. His principals were just as applicable in his day, in 1897, and today. I found that principle well respected in the PNCC, which maintains both and keeps the peace in love. This life then reflects what St. Paul calls “the most excellent way” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). This is Meiderlin’s dictum: “We would be in the best shape if we kept in essentials, Unity; in non-essentials, Liberty; and in both Charity.” That is what I sought and found. It made me free, and I found a much clearer path to the Jesus who loves me out of my sinfulness. Jesus called the sinners who came to Him to the path of repentance, a change of heart, not to the following of man made regulations which are of little consequence to the desired result – a relationship with God who saves.

The “Friedensspruch,” or “Peace Saying,” is key. I wish to live in unity with what Christ demands of me. He calls me to live in the Church He established, in which He exists through the working and inbiding of the Holy Spirit, in which we follow His way by the teaching of Scripture and Holy Tradition. I also need the latitude to be included, despite my faults and failings, because inside I will continue to walk the way, climb the ladder to eternal life.

Perspective, PNCC,

10 reasons I’m a National Catholic —” Reason 3: We worship beautifully

This post closely follows and expands upon my last post which focused on the Church’s sacramental life, especially as it relates to the Holy Mass.

The sacraments are the key constitutive elements in the grace filled communication that exists between God and man. The sacraments are the foundational parts of our worship structure while the liturgy, the process or worship, is the dynamic structure in which they live. Worship surrounds the sacraments like the beauty of a monstrance surrounds the ultimate beauty of our Lord and Savior in the Holy Eucharist. As a monstrance reflects our human effort at giving glory, worship, and praise to God, our worship gives glory and praise to God.

Imagine, if you will, a liturgical experience that simply covers the core. In the PNCC you would have an imparting of penance and absolution, the reading, psalm, epistle, gospel, and homily, an epiclesis and institution narrative, and the distribution of the Eucharist. There’s a lot there, and I don’t mean to downplay the fact that those elements are essential, but such a liturgy would be sparse, like a museum with beautiful works of art set against unfinished walls (no offence to avant garde displays).

A little bit on my personal history ties in here. I was raised in Buffalo’s Kaisertown section, and grew up in the shadow of the glory that was St. Casimir’s R.C. Church — Byzantine architecture, glorious altar, art, statuary, pipe organ, seating 1,500 congregants. My church life began prior to the abuses that followed Vatican II. When I began serving at the altar the priests still opened drawers, one for each color of fiddleback chasuble. They vested slowly, with care. Each experience of the Holy Mass, each extra-liturgical service, conveyed what was intended, the sadness of the penitent; the glory of the resurrection. The chalice was a chalice, the priests keen on proper liturgy. As one of my college professors once stated: ‘The architecture of the church is about lifting ones eyes and hearts to the light of God.’ They had that and more spot on.

Needless to say, my journey post 1980 was a procession of disappointments. It wasn’t the architecture of the churches I was in, since in Buffalo nearly every city parish was a near cathedral. In the older churches the disciplined priests were gone; at least those disciplined enough to care about the Church as something greater than them. In the newer churches it was rather that the liturgy mimicked their architecture — thrown together, undisciplined, made up, wing-it on the fly liturgy. Moving to Albany I found it only got worse. Those of us who have been around long enough to know the difference saw it coming in dribs and drabs. We weren’t lifting our eyes and hearts to God in the liturgy any more; we cared more about ourselves and our show.

Not to be a quitter I kept looking. I explored parishes. I sought, but I didn’t find. I even tried R.C. indult MassesThe older, pre 1962, form of the R.C. Church’s Rite which is now more generously allowed for. The allowance for offering this Rite is available to all Roman Catholic Western Rite priests excepting those in the dioceses of the various bishops who ‘illegally’ oppose it (many). This Rite of the Holy Mass is still offered in Latin, and as I have posited, the Latin will act as an impediment to broader acceptance and understanding. It will remain a cold relic unable to speak its beauty to the vast majority of the faithful who would otherwise accept it.. Maybe that was the turning point. I had romanticized it, thought it would speak to me again, but it was cold —“ a cold language done with cold gestures for the sake of gesture. I was acclimated to and desired entertainmentWhy many Roman Catholics, especially in the U.S., will miss out on what is being conveyed in the older Rite. They want entertainment and what they perceive as relevancy. The brainwashing has been effective.. I was there for me —“ not for God. I felt something had been stolen from me.

People may say that the Holy Mass is all about disposition, using your intellect as a remedy to overcome the failings of the priest and the architect. We’re supposed to be there for God after all! Those who believe that intellect is the arbiter see man as a dichotomy, as an intellect in opposition to the body. That argument is false on its face. God speaks to man as a whole. God’s desire was the very reason God became incarnate. God didn’t come to us as body alone or intellect alone, but as man —“ to speak to man.

The Church needs to unite man’s mind and body, bringing the totality of our being before God. We cannot overcome a Church’s failing through intellect alone. We cannot reason our way out of a forced dichotomy, a dichotomy where the Church says one thing, but does something entirely different (on a regular basis). The liturgy is that place in which the Church unites man’s mind, body, and soul in praise of God.

My search continued until my wife stumbled upon a PNCC parish that was holding all the traditional rites, blessings, and liturgies for Holy Week and Easter. I thought: well ok, perhaps. I wasn’t sure —“ and my Roman Catholic fears jumped right up to confront me. Would I go straight to hell if I tried this, even once? It’s silly in retrospect. Unfortunately many in the Roman Church live at that level; they fail to take the chance to free themselves from worship that leaves them cold, confused, or uncertain.

I sat in Church expectant, hungry, and there it was: liturgy, beautiful liturgy, in English, with solemnity that befitted the worship of God, and that was carried out with a genuine heart. The parish’s architecture was a blending of old and new. It was beautiful, not a cathedral, but beautiful. Best of all the Rites and the Holy Mass weren’t banal. It wasn’t off-the-cuff. The priest said the black and did the red, but with love for the Church’s worship. The parish cared, the priest cared. Wow!

The PNCC does worship beautifully. I experience the beauty of God in the Church’s liturgy, in its extra-liturgical devotions, in every manner from the way our bishops and priests vest to the way they pray. In big and small ways our liturgy is all about lifting our eyes, our hearts, our voices, and our minds to God. We meet God in our liturgy and we meet him as men and women who are body, mind, and soul. When you visit a PNCC parish, pick up a pew missal. You can actually follow along because no one is winging the Holy Mass.

I am blessed, as are many PNCC parishes, in that my priest offers the different Rites for the Holy Mass (Traditional, the Hodur Rite, and the Contemporary). By offering the different Rites, in the yearly cycleNot many Roman Catholics can say that they’ve experienced, or even know about, the different Rites available in their own Church, from the Byzantine and the various Eastern Rites to the Mozarabic, Ambrosian, Dominican, Bragan, Carmelite, or Carthusian, we keep in touch with the larger prayer of the Church, i.e., the totality of the Church’s prayer. Our priest offers the Holy Mass facing the liturgical East regardless of the Rite, and it works. We all face God in our prayer.

Our liturgies are beautiful. Our liturgies are that glorious monstrance with Christ at the center, surrounded by the Holy Mass and further gloried by those dear devotions (May Crowning, Marian, Sacred Heart, Precious Blood, Rosary, Bitter Lamentations, Stations of the Cross, processions, special blessings, so much more) which highlight, worship, praise, and glorify the multitude of God’s aspect.

Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC,

10 reasons I’m a National Catholic — Reason 2: Penance, The Word, The Eucharist

There’s a lot of emphasis on the indicia that mark a denomination of believers as Catholic, even as a Church. Often times it boils down to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and the key phrase toward the end of the Creed – One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic (we Nat’s like to tack on the word “democratic” to the end of One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic in our advertising and websites since it gets our point across). While those key constitutive elements, clearly stated in the Creed, tend to be the agreed markers of the Catholic Church, they loose their efficacy as a definitive statement once a believer gets past the lessons taught in his or her catechism class, or gives up on the theological debates among on-line pundits. What then makes us Catholic?

For me, the Polish National Catholic Church’s focus on the sacramental life brings the reality of Catholicism home and does so each week. The three core sacraments of Penance, the Word, and the Holy Eucharist are central to reinforcing believers’ Catholicism; to making it completely real in their lives. The sacraments present Christ over and over in a reality that sets us free, builds us up, and nourishes us. They do this, not as an exercise, not as jumble of words, but in the doing, in the physical markers that impart forgiveness, educate and enlighten, and feed.

The key to Catholicism is its reality. The Catholic sacraments are not an exercise aimed at mimicry, at pretense, some sort of fantasy re-enacting of a thing done long ago. The sacraments aren’t words for debate or recitation. We’re not passing bread and grape juice (I like it, but it isn’t what Jesus drank) for the sake of being good Christian buddies. The Sacraments are, by definition and by faith, the fullness of Catholic reality.

As the priest or bishop gives penance, and stretches out his hand to impart absolution, we are forgiven. That forgiveness is real and is spoken on behalf of God and the community. The slate is clean and we are free from sin. We are as washed as were the disciples that night in the upper room. We are given the grace necessary to bring about amendment in our lives. As the deacon, priest, or bishop proclaims the Gospel, and teaches, our minds are enlightened. We hear Jesus teaching us, Jesus making the Gospel as real today and it was when He walked the earth. The Gospel is applied to our lives, to our community, to our families, work situations, neighborhoods, and conflicts. We are enlightened and filled with the grace necessary to do as Christ would have us do. As the Holy Eucharist is placed on our tongues (by a bishop, priest, or deacon) we receive the fullness of Jesus Christ. His body, blood, soul and divinity enter us. We take Him and eat Him so that we may be more and more like Him. By the grace of that taking and eating we are transformed into the food we have received — His body.

As National Catholics we gather for Holy Mass. At each Holy Mass we receive these three sacraments — Penance, the Word, and the Holy Eucharist. Our Catholicism is made real and present in our lives — a Catholic reality that is ever proportionate to our sacramental life. Not only are we real, but real in the manner Christ desired. We come to the table clean, instructed by His word, and feed on Him.

I am National Catholic because I abhor unreality and pretense. With my whole heart and soul I desire to be washed clean, to be taught, and to be made one with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I desire the fullness of the sacramental life left to us in the Catholic Church. I desire to be Catholic.

Desiring that fullness I found the National Church, the Church where the sacraments are guarded faithfully, where their reality is accepted. I found a Church that will not, and cannot, change them for the sake of fashion or modern day exigencies.

In a recent forum a Roman Catholic writer suggested that the PNCC should have gone the way of Utrecht, or that it should admit (formerly) Episcopalian/Anglican/etc. priests to Holy Orders. These are obviously the thoughts of someone who thinks the National Church can just go about doing whatever it pleases; one who is confused by the Catholicism of the PNCC — ‘How can you be Catholic if the Pope doesn’t guide you?’ To that writer I would say: The way others have gone is the path away from the Catholic faith. Those who do such things envision a church with all the modern conveniences, modeled on themselves and their interpretations, rather than the Catholic reality of sacraments given us by Jesus Christ. The question the National Church asks, when it comes to the sacraments, when it comes to Orders, when it comes to a believer’s acceptance of the Catholic faith is: “Do you hold the Catholic faith in this regard?” If you hold the Catholic faith, if you are Catholic, then be National Catholic. If you do not hold the Catholic faith, if you only wish to remain where you are, only under a proper Church for the sake of externals, then God bless you, fare thee well, seek Him where you might find Him. Our Lord instructed:

“Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” — Matthew 7:21.

The sacraments are our guide posts and our strength along the path to doing the will of the Father. I am National Catholic because the sacraments ground me and guide me in my Catholicism. They are the reality of Christ in my life, touching my life, healing my life, regenerating my life, bringing me home to eternal life with Him in heaven.

Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC,

10 reasons I’m a National Catholic — Reason 1: We’re right

The Holy Polish National Catholic Church is right in its faith, practice, and structure. The Church, guided by the Holy Spirit (John 20:22, Acts 1:5), teaches the truth about God, about Jesus Christ, about salvation, and about the means and methods by which mankind is to organize in an effort to reach eternal life. Beyond teacher, it is the visible society of all believers who join in common cause to acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior; the community of all who endeavor to live as Jesus taught.

One can “believe” in a lot of things. You can “believe” that water is made from hydrogen and oxygen, that the sun will rise tomorrow, that your car will start in the morning, and that the school bus will arrive relatively timely. Each of those “beliefs” can be supported by evidence.

To be Catholic requires that you believe, not from evidence alone, but from faith, that the Church is the true community of believers formed by and established by Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:18). You must believe that the Church holds and teaches the truth given to it by Jesus Christ (John 16:12-13). You must believe that the Church guides you in the way of truth; that through its liturgy, prayer, teaching, and structure you become the person God intended you to be. You can call this position a belief in the infallibility of the Church — that the Church is truly right in what she teaches, in how she lives.

If I did not believe that the Polish National Catholic Church is right in all it prays and teaches then I am simply wasting my time. I could just as easily have joined a social club for companionship or for other good purposes. I know myself, I know my conscience, and I know my faith. I know that I am not wasting my time and that the Church is more than a club. The Church is the true guide to all that is good, to heaven, to all that Christ promised through the Church.

My declaration of faith is faith by regeneration. Through the Holy Spirit’s action I came to faith, and through that faith I have come to believe that all the Polish National Catholic Church prays and teaches is right, is in full accord with the teachings of Jesus, as well as the faith handed down through the Apostles.

Therefore, I believe that the Polish National Catholic Church is the true Church. It is the Divinely instituted society that teaches me, guides me, and trains me in all that is true and right — true and right by God’s standards! Through the Church’s way of life I will gain heaven because Jesus Christ gave the Church the graces necessary to carry out that mission.

As G. K. Chesterton wrote in The Catholic Church and Conversion:

But it is one thing to conclude that Catholicism is good and another to conclude that it is right. It is one thing to conclude that it is right and another to conclude that it is always right.

I am a National Catholic because by my faith journey, by my experience, by faith, and by regeneration I have come to believe that the Polish National Catholic Church is more than good, it is more than right, it is always right in what it teaches. It offers me, and all people, the fullness of sanctification and truth, the path to heaven.

Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC,

10 reasons I’m a National Catholic

From time to time I’ve been asked, ‘Why are you a National Catholic?’ I plan to take a stab at answering that question over the next few weeks. As I starting point I’ve developed a list of 10 reasons I’m a National Catholic. I will elaborate on each in future posts. Stay tuned…

  1. We’re right
  2. Penance, The Word, The Eucharist
  3. We worship beautifully
  4. Unity in essentials, latitude in non-essentials
  5. Service is key
  6. Democracy and self determination
  7. Work and Labor
  8. I’m a (insert your ethnic identity here…)
  9. Close knit open communities
  10. The food

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