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Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC, ,

The stages of becoming PNCC

I read with interest an article by the Fr. J. Guy Winfrey (PadreTex – thanks to the Young Fogey for the link) under the title Romophobia in the WRV. The article makes several valid points, and closely follows what I have experienced as both a member and clergyman of the PNCC. The line that stood out for me was:

…but of those who are serving in our Western Rite parishes… [h]ow many of them checked their assumptions at the door as they came into Orthodoxy, rather than becoming simply “propositional Orthodox” (they just change conclusive propositions from their former way of life and don’t let go of their primary assumptions)?

People who leave their original tradition, be it Roman Catholic or Anglican/Episcopal carry a lot of baggage with them. The process of becoming PNCC or Western Rite Orthodox (or anything else) somewhat follows the five stages model. As you may recall, Elisabeth Kí¼bler-Ross in her 1969 book, On Death and Dying identified the five stages of grief, a process by which people deal with grief and tragedy, especially when diagnosed with a terminal illness or when facing a catastrophic loss. The common progression of states is: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. A change in something as deeply experienced as one’s faith tradition can put you through a series of changes that might mimic this progression. While not exactly parallel, the Kí¼bler-Ross model of conversion might follow these stages:

  1. Conversion – the euphoric stage during early conversion where the individual’s new faith community is perceived as a place of acceptance, simple perfection, and love. This is further enhanced when the convert must enter through a formative process of some type. The achievement, post catechesis, amplifies the honeymoon nature of this stage.
  2. Need for the Recognizable – a period where the individual attempts to find parallels between their former faith community and their new community. They might say, ‘It’s just like Brand X, except.” This provides a comfort level; touchstones and recognizable furnishings in the new home. The problem can be exacerbated when the converted person is a member of the clergy, and they attempt to meld their former touchstones into the new community. At its extreme, the attempt to fit old theology into the new home turns out to be a disaster. The old color and style are all wrong and it makes it look like an amateur built a house using seven different architectural styles. The convert can face extreme discomfort when truths formerly recognized as absolute are now being defined as untrue or suspect.
  3. Anger – a period where everything old is wrong. The individual begins to understand that their new home is unlike their old home, in theology, liturgy, polity, and many other ways great and small. The new home isn’t just dissimilar, but diametrically opposed. These differences explode with the brightness of revelation and become magnified beyond reality. The Bishop of Rome, from being misguided in his Church’s assumptions of personal infallibility and universal jurisdiction, now becomes satan’s child. A lot of convert idealism is found in this stage, and I think the anti-Romanism Fr. Winfrey mentions. The answers are all found in the errors of the old way rather than in the rightness of the new.
  4. Integration – the new community becomes home. It is seen for what it is, distinctive with both good and bad. Attempts at external integration of the old fall away. Anger becomes muted. The individual begins to see clearly and is ready to resume the faith journey.
  5. Journeying – the faith journey resumes full force. The individual finds that they are indeed neophytes who need to learn about their faith. They begin the climb toward God guided by the truth of their new community, and the learning process. There is comfort and a natural confidence in the new community’s life.

For other takes on the conversion process see:

Current Events, Perspective, , , , ,

Worldwide Press office has major fail, and … will I be put on trial?

Yesterday, the Vatican announced a series of new or modified legal measures focused on sins against the sacraments and other serious issues. That’s not what anyone heard. They heard U.S. News & World Report say: Catholic Church Equates Sex Abuse With Female Ordination. I am not faulting the Press. They got it right, because that is exactly what they heard, with ears that have no training in such matters.

The Young Fogey and Damian Thompson of the Telegraph get what went wrong — horribly wrong — with the way the new rules were offered to the world. They were offered on a silver platter that held the head of the Vatican Press Office’s director along with the heads of a goodly number of high ranking clergy and the Bishop of Rome — none of whom get it. They let the fiasco happen. The focus was on process and legalities, and the underpinnings were never discussed.

Some things not commonly understood, actually not even understood by most Roman Catholics:

Much of this was about legal processes. The Roman Church has them in spades. If people joke about the voluminousness of the Byzantine Code, they would be equally amused by all the legalisms and processes that live in the Roman Church. Have a problem — there a rule for that. Have a conflict — there’s a tribunal for that. Didn’t do your job — a requisite penalty in Chapter X. The following sins were heard in confession — look to the book of appropriate penances.

Yesterday was about announcing heady legal stuff about cases, the practice of law, rights, obligations, defenses, witnesses, trials, attorneys, and more. Certain Roman clergy and a few lay members of the Roman Church spend years pursuing a doctorate in Canon Law. They proudly carry the initials J.C.D. after their name (The Latin abbreviation for: Juris Canonici Doctor). They need it to understand stuff like this:

Art. 18

With full respect for the right of defense, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith may sanate acts in cases lawfully presented to it if merely procedural laws have been violated by lower Tribunals acting by mandate of the same Congregation or according to art. 16.

Art. 19

With due regard for the right of the Ordinary to impose from the outset of the preliminary investigation those measures which are established in can. 1722 of the Code of Canon Law, or in can. 1473 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, the respective presiding judge may, at the request of the Promotor of Justice, exercise the same power under the same conditions determined in the canons themselves.

Art. 20

The Supreme Tribunal of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith judges in second instance:

1° cases adjudicated in first instance by lower tribunals;
2° cases decided by this same Supreme Apostolic Tribunal in first instance.

If you have ever looked at the U.S. tax law you would know what I mean. Laws have a nasty habit of growing and increasing, defining and redefining, adjusting, and correcting. Beyond written law, you have case law, the precedent decisions of judges on cases which set the parameters for future decisions and interpretations. One block being built upon another until you have a Tower of Babel. After a while you have the tax code, or the laws of the Roman Church. Somewhere in all of that the mission, the purpose, and the point of it all gets lost — but at least lawyers and accountants have jobs.

The Roman Church attempted to backtrack a little today, trying to fix the PR mis-step. In doing that they further inserted foot into mouth. See the NY Times: Women Priests And Sex Abuse Not Equal Crimes: Vatican for instance.

Why the problem with the attempt at correction? Because of the complexity of these laws, and their basis in protecting all the sacraments, and the Catholic understanding of what sacraments are, the crimes the laws address are equally serious. Is it serious matter to sexually abuse a child? — Yes. Is it serious matter to defile the Eucharist or tell a confession? — Equally, yes.

The sacraments are a physical conveyance of God’s grace by the means entrusted to the Church to bring this about. When the priest consecrates the bread and wine — it is no longer bread and wine. When sins are forgiven, they are actually wiped away and forgotten, God has stepped in to forgive. When a priest is ordained, the Holy Spirit has changed him so that the particular man can do a share of the Bishop’s ministry. When the sick are anointed, God brings about true healing. It is not magic or voodoo, it is not a commemoration alone, but a direct promise from God that when offered in the way Jesus offered these same gifts, they are offered to us anew by God, and He is present.

The Church is saying that they have a tremendously precious gift, more precious than any treasure found on earth, and they are making certain laws to protect those gifts. As we attempt to protect ourselves, our borders against terrorists, the Roman Church is making its own “Patriot Act,” and is attempting to protect what is most precious — the eternal life and the good of its members.

So yes, attempting to turn a cheese tray and a Bud into the body and Blood of Jesus is grave, as is attempting to confect orders on a person who cannot by nature receive that gift, as is blabbing someone’s confession on YouTube, as is a man using the power and place he has been given so as to abuse children. All very serious because they trifle with the things of God, holy things.

The public perception cannot be overcome. I am not sure there would have been a way to fix this even if all this had been laid out in briefing books. The Press will do as they will. What may have worked, however, is to express the seriousness accorded to what the Church teaches – Scripture, Tradition, and adherence to the Christian way of life. It wasn’t the fact that they laid down more legalities and procedures, the things they did focus upon. It was rather that they should have talked about the central message in a maximum of two phrases: They were calling themselves back to who they should be, and were taking it seriously. Actually, the Patriot Act analogy would have been a great talking point.

I am not sure that making laws will accomplish any of this in the end, but perhaps it helps in R.C. culture. Better that they find and focus on the central message, and give a few examples of lives lived in accord with Christ as the means to convey that message.

Oh, and the whole schism thing — basically meaning I no longer accept that the Bishop of Rome has special powers beyond those accorded to every bishop, that I reject his claim to such, along with a few other more nuanced “doctrines.” Since I engaged in schism as an adult (schism according to Roman Catholic laws — which, since I don’t believe in them means they hold no power over me), do I get a free trip to Rome to stand trial before the appropriate congregation (on their dime of course)? I hereby demand that Bishop Howard Hubbard take action in accord with the Norms prescribed in Art. 2, § 2 and provide me with a formalization of my “latae sententiae excommunication and likewise … undertake a judicial trial in the first instance or issue an extrajudicial decree, with due regard for [my] right of appeal or of recourse…”

Are they going to do this for every former Roman Catholic that has publicly declared themselves apart from the Roman Church? I did serve my last R.C. Pastor with proper notice in accord with R.C. Church law. He never bothered to follow-through I guess. Que Sera, Sera, another one bits the dust… Then again, when my wife and I first visited that parish and signed the book, specifically there for the purpose of noting we wished to speak to the pastor about membership, all we received was a set of “envelopes” in the mail. That, 6 months later. No call, and the worst possible follow-through. You do have my mailing address, don’t you? I still receive your mailings and envelopes…

Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC, ,

Marketing schools, incorrectly

Both my wife and I have been the frequent recipient of late of continual marketing mail from the Catholic Alumni Partnership, a firm seeking to “secure the future of Catholic education.” The organization touts Regis Philbin as their spokesperson.

The firm, a privately sponsored and funded venture, with “anonymous backers” seeks to raise funds, which I understand. They also are attempting to tie into the social network needs of the individuals they solicit using buzzwords like “Reminisce” and “Reconnect.” That seems to be more marketing than reality. Their sole strategy in that regard is to have a Facebook page.

A few things that raise questions in my mind… They are attempting to solicit alumni from schools (and often their founding parishes) long since closed. It doesn’t exactly give one a warm and fuzzy feeling to be giving money toward empty, closed, and defunct buildings — and people like me have a lot of bad feelings about that. Further, I would love to know exactly where the money is going. They present stats on their website, but I see no accountability for the outlay of the money. Is this direct scholarships to students? Is it investment in buildings and grounds? Is it paying salaries? Is it going to a diocese or a parish to underwrite their investment in education? Financial statements?

Their material paints a bleak picture for the futureThey cite a 2008-2009 report by the National Catholic Educational Association..

  • 162 Catholic schools closed last year due to financially strapped budgets. [Generally, the parents of the schools fought the closings, but were given no choice. As with parishes there’s always another one nearby, or so says the bishop.]
  • Tuition in schools covers only 54% of student costs. [Community parishes that served their members, and were part of tight knit communities, always found a way to run a school, and back in the day, without tuition. Tuition wasn’t charged in my school till I reached the 6th grade, and it was $50 a year. Now parish communities are mega-churches with 5,000 plus members and little connection as a community]
  • Last year, more than 75,000 fewer students attended Catholic elementary school than in the previous year. [By choice, due to closings, due to fear and scandal? The why is most important so that the root causes can be addressed.]
  • Catholic elementary school staff —“ once comprised of religious men and women —“ is now predominantly made up of lay men and women. In fact, nationwide, only 4% of staff is religious. [The sad aftermath of Vatican II in large measure, as well as wishy-washy catechesis by Am-Church laity. How many R.C.’s know what the Eucharist is?]

Certainly they are correct in stating that Catholic elementary schools are strained, and that families have a declining ability to pay. There very well might be a need for philanthropy. Unfortunately, the track record on school and parish closings does not lead one to want to support this effort. Before going down that road, what is necessary is that every diocese, parish, and school recommit clearly, publicly, and unequivocally to maintaining their presence. Chicken or the egg — certainly, but money cannot fix commitment. Otherwise, people are sending good money down a black hole. There is also a question sitting in the background as to where the money will go when year-over-year declines in enrollment and continued closings wipe out the last of the schools?

I do not disagree with the organization’s underlying (at least public) intent. I do disagree with marketing to people hurt by closings – yes, where is my heritage? I also disagree with the lack of a greater strategy, transparency (anonymous backers, no financials), community focus, and the overall lack of a guaranteed commitment to maintaining Catholic education from the people who are the deciders – the bishops. It is not always about money.

One other thing, my wife never attended Catholic school, in her hometown, which was certainly not in New Jersey. The organization needs to fix-up its database.

Now my plug for the PNCC. The Church is committed to maintaining its school at St. Stanislaus in Scranton. Like our parishes, a bishop cannot step in and close anything without the consent and agreement of the parishioners/those affected. That is democracy in the PNCC. Also, do you know of a Church anywhere where children and the parents are not charged for the activities the Church offers. All PNCC Parishes I know of, and their supporting organizations like the PNUA (Spójnia) and YMSofR, underwrite the entire cost for children’s participation in events. No charge or out-of-pocket for parents for Christian education, the acolyte retreat, the KURS camp, or CONVO. Pretty amazing. Couple that with college stipends and other scholarships — the Church caring for its future.

Catholic education is important, and I was a recipient of its benefits. In many ways it formed me. We used to have three schools in walking distance, now there are none. That is sad, and there are ways to fix it. That model starts with unshakable commitment where faith comes before money, and where money is never the problem.

Perspective, PNCC, ,

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.

Christian Witness, PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , ,

With deepest sadness…

I was informed of the passing into eternal life of friend, mentor, guide, an personal hero, Ś+P Mr. Walter Lasinski, yesterday evening.

Ś.P. Mr. Lasinski was a prominent PNCC historian, contributor to PNCC Studies, author, researcher, member of the Polish American Historical Association and recipient of its 1991 Distinguished Service Award, as well as a member of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America. He was also an avid lover of music and contributed to the work of the Polish Music Reference Center at the University of Southern California.

The first time I met Ś.P. Mr. Lasinski, and his wife Florence, was at PolishFest when I was assigned to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Częstochowa Parish in Latham, New York. He walked in, resolute, and told me that he had made the trip to meet me. Needless to say, I didn’t get it.

He went on to explain that he was a big advocate of this blog and of what I was doing to advance knowledge of the PNCC. The next thing he told me was that he was proud to reply, when asked, Kto jesteś? “Narodowiec!” Who are you? “[A] National!” With a few words he captivated me, helping me to understand what I was a part of. It was not just church, but Church in its fullest sense, a community of believers joined in every aspect of their lives, and joined with history.

Beyond his work in the PNCC, Ś.P. Mr. Lasinski contributed greatly to Polonia. He understood our ethnic community as only a historian could. He saw the deep connection the PNCC holds with the Orthodox, being a subscriber to the events and activities at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary in Crestwood, New York, frequently encouraging me to “go there.” His research led him down many interesting paths, particularly to the out of the ordinary threads in Polonian history – the Polish Methodists of Greenpoint, Polish Baptists in Buffalo, the lesser known closed parishes of the PNCC, the kind of things lost to history but for fine researchers like himself.

I am deeply saddened by this loss, but with faith know that Ś.P. Walter is now standing with Ś.P. Bishop Hodur, looking down over the children of the PNCC, as we continue to work and struggle always in truth. The victory is now his.

A wake will be held at Fryczynski & Sons Funeral Home, 32-34 22nd Street, Bayonne, NJ 07002 on Tuesday, June 1st from 2-4 pm & 7-9 pm

A Funeral Holy Mass will be held at Sacred Heart of Jesus PNCC, 290 Avenue E, Bayonne, NJ 07002 on Wednesday, June 2nd at 10am. Internment at Heart of Jesus Cemetery immediately following Holy Mass.

I beg of you, my readers, your prayers for Ś.P. Walter’s eternal rest, and for comfort for his wife, sons, larger family, friends, and colleagues.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord and may the perpetual light shine upon him.
Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord and may the perpetual light shine upon him.
Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord and may the perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen.

Wieczne odpoczynek racz mu dać Panie, a światłość wiekuista niechaj mu świeci.
Wieczne odpoczynek racz mu dać Panie, a światłość wiekuista niechaj mu świeci.
Wieczne odpoczynek racz mu dać Panie, a światłość wiekuista niechaj mu świeci.
Niech odpoczywa w pokoju, Amen.

[audio:https://konicki.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/07-tyle-lat.mp3]
Perspective,

Government employees: higher requirements, more work, less pay

The Center for State and Local Government Excellence reports on a research study commissioned by the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS). The study determined that the pay gap has increased between employees in private, public sectors.

The pay gap between state and local government, and private sector employees has widened in recent years, with private sector workers’ wages and salaries outstripping those of their public sector counterparts, according to a report released April 28 by the Center for State and Local Government Excellence and the National Institute on Retirement Security.

Among the findings in the report, which looked at two decades of Bureau of Labor Statistics data, are that:

  • Wages and salaries of state and local employees are lower than those for private sector employees with comparable earnings determinants such as education and work experience. State employees typically earn 11 percent less and local employees 12 percent less.
  • During the last 15 years, the pay gap has grown as earnings for state and local workers generally have declined relative to comparable private sector employees. The pattern of declining relative earnings remains true in most of the large states examined in the study, although there are some state-level variations.
  • Benefits make up a slightly larger share of compensation for the state and local sector. But even after accounting for the value of retirement, health care, and other benefits, state and local employees earn less than their private sector counterparts. On average, total compensation is 6.8 percent lower for state employees and 7.4 percent lower for local employees than for comparable private sector employees.
  • Jobs in the public sector typically require more education than private sector positions. Thus, state and local employees are twice as likely to hold a college degree or higher compared to private sector employees. Only 23 percent of private sector employees have completed college, as compared to about 48 percent in the public sector.

‘Picture Is Clear.’

“The picture is clear. In an apples-to-apples comparison, state and local government employees receive less compensation than their private sector counterparts,” Keith A. Bender, a report co-author and economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said in a joint statement from the center and NIRS.

“Jobs in state and local governments consist disproportionately of occupations that demand more education and skills. Indeed, accounting for these differences is critical in understanding compensation patterns,” according to John S. Heywood, a report co-author who also is a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Elizabeth K. Kellar, president and chief executive officer of the center, added that in a recent survey of government hiring managers, the center was told that, despite the economy, managers were finding it difficult to fill vacancies for highly-skilled positions such as engineering, environmental sciences, information technology, and health care professionals. “The compensation gap may have something to do with this,” she said.

Beth Almeida, NIRS executive director, said that the new report showed that the pattern of public sector jobs offering better benefits but with lower pay has continued. “What’s striking is that on a total compensation basis looking at pay and benefits, employees of state and local government still earn less than their private sector counterparts,” she said.

Perspective, ,

Some people have a lot of class, and they deserve thanks

My son now has orthodontia. One of the keys to successful treatment is really good oral hygiene. His orthodontist, Dr. Michael Parker (I’d very highly recommend him to anyone in the Albany area) suggested that for flossing he use a new product called the Platypus flosser. These are similar to flossers you can find in a drugstore etc, but they are molded differently so as to fit under the orthodontia. It is really quite inventive and easy to use.

In any event, the doctor gave us a sample and a website for ordering. The Platypus is not available in retail stores. I went on-line to order and… well… I could say pricy, but that would be an understatement. A bag of 25 is $13.95. That’s $0.558 per flossing experience.

Being the good dad, and wanting success for my son, I proceeded to order the flossers, taking advantage of a ‘two free bags when you order ten’ offer. That brought the per unit price down a little. In the midst of ordering I did become a bit incensed at the price and let the company know in the order for comment box. My statement basically indicated that they were overpriced for a piece of moulded plastic, that I didn’t like the price, and that I was ordering because there were no alternatives.

The shipment came today. Included therein was a 10% off coupon for my next order, and here’s the classy part, a personal note from Jessie Sturgis, their Marketing Coordinator. Needless to say, it was a very kind note, expressed understanding of my position, and indicated a commitment to lower prices once production picks up and they enter the retail market.

Ms. Sturgis, thank you for the time you took to speak to a customer and to understand the customer’s point-of-view. With that sort of class your company will go far.

Perspective, PNCC, , ,

Children and church

Felix Carroll, a former Albany Times Union writer recently published a wonderful reflection on his son’s introduction to church and why parents should take the time to bring their children to the Catholic faith. In Heigh-ho, it’s off to church we go he says:

For reasons that are equal parts practical, political, spiritual and personal, about three years ago, when “my beloved son in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17) turned 4-years old, I began dragging him to church on Sundays.

Yes, I had my doubts that first day. Particularly during the consecration, when the priest said the words “Take this, all of you, and eat it. This is My Body …” All the talk of body and blood, soul and divinity, I wondered if expecting my boy to comprehend all this was like expecting him to understand the movie “Blade Runner.”

Still, at the time, he knew more about Spider-Man than he did about God, and I felt guilty as a result. He could deliver a disturbingly detailed lecture on a fictional character like, say, Salacious Crumb, the Kowakian monkey-lizard in the motley court of Jabba the Hut, and yet he knew next to nothing about that nonfictional wild rebel from Nazareth who (word has it) changed the world.

…

Why church? Such a question would be unheard of a couple generations ago. And so maybe mutiny against the modern day is part of it. But it’s not just because my parents forced my siblings and me to attend, and that their parents forced them and onward down the family line, stretching in a buoyant backstroke through the centuries. There are other reasons.

When I was coming of age in the 1980s, the most well-known faces of Christianity in our nation were televangelists who often spoke with venom, whose suits were expensive, whose homes were huge, who made wild and unfulfilled apocalyptic predictions, and who struck me as absolute lunatics.

It was they, and not archetypal youthful rebellion, who prompted me to run in the opposite direction, back through my Catholic upbringing and out the other side to the lonely, spiritual bottomlands where absolute truth could be tossed in the air and riddled with buckshot.

At the time, I was a greenhorn when it came to demagoguery. As I got older, I wasn’t so easily discouraged. I became a father of a baby whom I’d rock to sleep. He became a growing boy whom I wished to rock awake. And what do I wish him to see?

I want him to see that the face of religion today isn’t the political-hacks who talk about the “real” America. It isn’t the Pharisees of cable news whose popularity and bank accounts are contingent upon stoking and exploiting political and religious polarity.

So, yeah, I drag my boy to church in an effort to inoculate him from the modern-day snake-oil salesmen, and for him to see the face of spirituality in the people who go about the world doing good for others, who do so quietly, who have one foot on Earth and one in eternity. People, in other words, who’ve got it together.

I take him to church because the following is indisputable: A spiritual life will protect him from the bad things that will surely happen in his life. The bad things won’t be as devastating.

There are other reasons. How about this: Science, medicine and politics offer, at best, huge answers to small questions. Today, the biggest question — why are we here? — is all but ignored outside of the specially built edifices designed for such rumination — our churches and synagogues (and a goodly number of Irish pubs).

In a passage from a book titled “Lectures in Orthodox Religious Education,” by Sophie S. Koulomzin, the author writes: “If the child’s environment is penetrated by a living spirit of faith and love, the child will discover it, just as it discovers parental love and security.”…

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