Their summer picnic. Their priest (in cassock – hope its summer weight) is the Rev. Erik Andreas. Prior to coming to the Nordic Catholic Church in 2001, Father served as a Norwegian Naval Chaplain. He was ordained a deacon in Holy Mother of the Rosary PNC Cathedral in Buffalo on November 29, 2001 and as priest on November 30th. Between 2001 and 2004 he served as an assistant priest and later vicar at the Parish of St. John the Baptist and St. Michael in eastern Norway. From autumn 2004, he has served as chaplain and administrator in the Sta. Sunniva Mission Parish in Bergen. He and his wife Solveig have three children.
Shepherd of Believers from the David Ensemble
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
thou who leadest Joseph like a flock!
Thou who art enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
before E’phraim and Benjamin and Manas’seh!
Stir up thy might,
and come to save us!
Restore us, O God;
let thy face shine, that we may be saved!
The founding members of Coptic Solidarity, held a conference, June 19th-20th, to launch the activities of their new organization.
The gathered members elected Adel Guindy as president, and a ten-member Executive Committee. Attending and speaking were Dr. Dwight Bashir, deputy director of USCIRF; Tina Ramirez, congressional fellow; Taniel Koushakjian, director of Grassroots at the Armenian Assembly; Pierro Tozzi, senior legal counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund; and Dr. Walid Phares, professor of political science and senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
Coptic Solidarity’s overall mission is to “empower the Copts in Egypt to help them attain full and inalienable citizenship rights and equality, under secular constitution and laws; drawn in accordance with current international standards set by Human Rights conventions.”
For more on the persecution of Coptic Christians (and the reason for the Coptic tattoo tradition) see Missing the point of Coptic tattoos from GetReligion.
“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” — Edmund Burke
The current method of filibuster being used in the U.S. Senate reminds me of the corrupted version of the Liberum Veto as practiced during the periods in which the Polish Commonwealth was weakened.
From Wikipedia: Liberum veto (emphasis mine):
[The] Liberum Veto (Latin for I freely forbid) was a parliamentary device in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It allowed any member of the Sejm to force an immediate end to the current session and nullify all legislation already passed at it by shouting Nie pozwalam! (Polish: I do not allow!).
From the mid-sixteenth to the late eighteenth century, the Polish—“Lithuanian Commonwealth utilized the liberum veto, a form of unanimity voting rule, in its parliamentary deliberations. The “principle of liberum veto played an important role in [the] emergence of the unique Polish form of constitutionalism.” This constraint on the powers of the monarch were significant in making the “rule of law, religious tolerance and limited constitutional government … the norm in Poland in times when the rest of Europe was being devastated by religious hatred and despotism.”
This rule evolved from a unanimity principle (unanimous consent), and the latter from the federative character of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which was essentially a federation of countries. Each deputy to a Sejm was elected at a local regional sejm (sejmik) and represented the entire region. He thus assumed responsibility to his sejmik for all decisions taken at the Sejm. A decision taken by a majority against the will of a minority (even if only a single sejmik) was considered a violation of the principle of political equality.
…
In the first half of the 18th century, it became increasingly common for Sejm sessions to be broken up by liberum veto, as the Commonwealth’s neighbours —” chiefly Russia and Prussia —” found this a useful tool to frustrate attempts at reforming and strengthening the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth deteriorated from a European power into a state of anarchy.
Many historians hold that a major cause of the Commonwealth’s downfall was the principle of liberum veto. Thus deputies bribed by magnates or foreign powers, or simply content to believe they were living in some kind of “Golden Age”, for over a century paralysed the Commonwealth’s government, stemming any attempts at reform.
In the past, the U.S. Senate was governed by a high degree of decorum. It was the house of slow deliberation, and where disagreement arose, it arose in a gentlemanly form. As with the way the Liberum Veto was used as part of proper deliberation, the atmosphere of discourse and compromise had worked to strengthen the country.
In momemts of severe disagreement, a Senator could rise and invoke a filibuster (as everyone points to, recall Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington). The Senator invoking the filibuster had to occupy the floor and continue deliberation, expounding on the reasons he was against the legislation or otherwise wasting time. It was a personal effort at blocking legislation.
Certainly, power and politics played a role in the past, but not to the extent to which it has over the past 20 years. We have moved from a proper system of checks and balances to the misuse of such, much as the Liberum Veto came to be misused. In this day, one Senator may simply state that he disagrees with some legislation, nomination, or treaty and retire to his golf game while that issue remains blocked indefinitely. Any issue may now become the hostage of any one man.
In order to move past the filibuster a super majority is required. In effect, most legislation now requires a super majority to get past the whim of any one Senator. Our government in general, and particularly any effort at substantive reform, may be brought to a grinding halt. As with the corruption of the Liberum Veto, a Senator’s objections are no longer personal, deeply held beliefs that a Senator was forced to defend in person. They are no longer part of the art of gentlemanly disagreement. The filibuster is a weapon in the hands of every Senator doing the bidding of his masters, i.e., the interest groups, lobbyists, and moneychangers.
The danger of the corrupted Liberum Veto lives on in the form of Senate filibusters under current Senate rules. While the filibuster does have a role in defending the opinion of the minority, it should not be used to permanently impede the will of the majority. That is not how the framers envisioned our system. More dangers lie ahead. The filibuster in the hands of a Senator kowtowing to a foreign power (Israel, China) will further speed the end of the American experiment. It is time to get this powerful tool back in check.
God is born, rejoice, O sinner,
Christ the Lord has come to save us.
Raise your hearts and souls to greet Him,
Holy Infant ever precious.In a manger poor and lowly,
Lies the Lord of all creation.
What great myst’ry here confronts us.
Can this Child grant us Redemption?He has come to give the promise of
His mercy full and gracious.
For the Word was made Incarnate,
And in truth, has dwelt amongst us!
Translation by the National United Choirs of the Polish National Catholic Church, Music Commission.
Bóg się rodzi, moc truchleje,
Pan niebiosów, obnażony,
Ogień krzepnie, blask ciemnieje,
Ma granice Nieskończony.
Wzgardzony, okryty chwałą,
Śmiertelny Król nad wiekami!A Słowo Ciałem się stało,
I mieszkało między nami.Cóż masz niebo,
nad ziemiany ?
Bóg porzucił
szczęście swoje.
Wszedł między lud ukochany,
Dzieląc z nim trudy i znoje.
Niemało cierpiał, niemało,
Ześmy byli winni sami.A Słowo Ciałem się stało,
I mieszkało między nami.W nędznej szopie urodzony,
Żłób Mu za kolebkę dano !
Cóż jest, czym był otoczony,
Bydło, pasterze i siano.
Ubodzy, was to spotkało,
Witać Go przed bogaczami!A Słowo Ciałem się stało,
I mieszkało między nami.Podnieś rękę, Boże
Dziecię,
Błogosław Ojczyznę miła.
W dobrych radach, w dobrym bycie,
Wspieraj jej siłę swą siłą.
Dom nasz i majętność całą
I wszystkie wioski z miastami.A Słowo Ciałem się stało,
I mieszkało między nami.
From friend, Fr. Joseph R. Cyman at Holy Cross Parish.
Zawsze mialem problemy z opanowaniem 6-ciu strun.
Wreszcie ktos rozwiazal moj problem.
I’ve had the hardest time mastering a 6 string.
Finally, someone has solved my problem.
Laudate Dominum, omnes gentes!
That Attributeth the Fortunate Election in Anno 1672 unto God’s Destiny
The thankfulness for the Giver
1 Praise the Lord, all nations!
Sing Him and thank with joy, generation of Slavic Lech!
2 Let the resounding echo spread upon the Polish plains
And let the noise of merry Vivat! spike the heaven!
3 God, our Creator that giveth the kings, liveth;
Let the king, given by God, live longlastingly too!
4 The king that not a feminine womb or a paltry cradle shall raise unto the throne,
But the volition of God of hosts through the votes of the numerous knighthood shall make the lord.
5 Not corrupted electors, not sophisticated scheming or some refinement,
But the votes of the noble people have chosen the best from among itself.The excellent choice
6 Be delighted, free for an age Sarmatia,
That used to stay in a little captivity under the reign of the aliens, as in a sweetened curb!
7 Joy, Polish men, for getting the lord from your blood;
Ye that until now, electing foreigns, used to judge thyself unworthy of the sceptre!
8 Be merry, fecund mothers, for the lesser necessity of the knowledge of the abroad languages for your sons with the old Polish virtue,
When they shall talk perfectly with the king-compatriot in Polish!
9 Take courage, holy justice,
Because there is no more need to explain the judging king the native laws!
10 I know that there is nice for thee, virtue and rectitude,
Because that lord that the goodness hath exalted above the equals, cannot be friendly for the crimes!
11 Flourish now and shine, Polish fame,
When the sign of salvation is elevated above the Mussulmanic moon!The king given by God
12 But thou too, our liberty, worship God’s name,
That hath put in way that through the free election we have chosen the well-pleased of the heaven;
13 That in the rumble and noise of so many assembled heads —“
And remember that upon Mount Sinai God hath given Israel the order and the order’s giver in the thunder and beating of lightnings too —“
14 This way it was proper both for God that giveth to announce His benefit
And for the people that taketh to renounce not the appropriate thankfulness!The Defender of the Republic
15 Now let not the kingdoms that stay under the monarchs say:
Our hope in the baby that sucketh the breast of his mother.
16 But let Poland with the adjoined provinces say:
My hope in God that giveth me the kings, knowing me as His property.
17 The Lord is my Giver, Protector and Guardian
And although —“ Poland sayeth it —“ for the wars I am naked from the decoration, He is able to give me back the first beauty.
18 He needeth not the rainforcements for the war,
Because even a fly, when He ordereth, is a soldier for Him, and He recruiteth frogs unto the army against Egypt.
19 Of His volition an angel shall beat the forces of Sennacherib
Or, as in France, one girl shall smash English athletes.The doxology
20 This is the day that the Lord hath made and decided, of the election of our king;
Let be unto Him only, the Giver, honour and glory in the ages of ages.
21 Glory unto the Father and unto the Son and unto the Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, so it is now and it shall be forever and in the ages of ages. Amen.
From the translator’s website of Psalms by Kochowski
Szczęśliwą elekcyją in anno 1672 przeznaczeniu Boskiemu przypisujący
Wezwanie do wdzięczności Podawcy
1 Chwalcie Pana, wszytkie narody!
Śpiewaj Mu i dziękuj z radością, słowieńskiego Lecha pokolenie!
2 Niech się po równinach polskich tubalne echo rozchodzi,
A odgłos wesołego Vivat! niechaj niebiosa przebija!
3 Żyje Bóg, Stwórca nasz, króle podający;
Niech i król długowiecznie żyje, od Boga podany!
4 Którego nie żywot niewieści albo marna kolebka na tronie posadzi,
Ale wola Boga zastępów przez głosy mnogiego rycerstwa panem uczyni;
5 Nie przekupieni elektorowie, nie wymyślne praktyki albo subtelność jaka,
Ale najlepszego spośród siebie kreski szlachetnego ludu obrały.Świetny wybór
6 Ciesz się, od wieku wolna Sarmacyja,
Któraś pod panowaniem obcych, jak w przysłodzonym wędzidle, w nieznacznej zostawała niewoli!
7 Radujcie się, mężowie polscy, że ze krwie waszej otrzymaliście pana;
Którzy obierając cudzoziemców, dotądeście sami siebie niegodnymi berła sądzieli!
8 Weselcie się, płodne matrony, że synom waszym przy staropolskiej cnocie mniej potrzebna zagranicznych języków umiejętność,
Kiedy z królem-ziomkiem po polsku doskonale się rozmówią!
9 Podnoś głowę, sprawiedliwości święta,
Bo już sądzącemu królowi ojczystych praw tłumaczyć nie trzeba!
10 Cnoto i poczciwości, wiem, że-ć miło,
Bo nie może ten pan występkom być przyjazny, którego dobroć nad rówienniki wywyższyła!
11 Zakwitnij, sławo polska, i rozjaśniej teraz,
Kiedy nad bisurmańskim miesiącem znamię zbawienia wywyższone!Król podany przez Boga
12 Ale i ty, wolności nasza, wielbij imię Boskie,
Które zdarzyło, że przez wolną elekcyją obraliśmy upodobanego niebu;
13 Że w huku i odgłosie tak siłu zgromadzonych głów —“
A wszak i na górze Synaj we grzmocie i biciu piorunów podawał Bóg Izraelowi zakon i zakonodawcę —“
14 Tak przystało i dającemu Bogu ogłosić dobrodziejstwo Swoje,
I biorącemu ludowi nie zaniechywać powinnej wdzięczności!Bóg Obrońcą Rzeczypospolitej
15 Niechajże teraz nie mówią królestwa pod monarchami zostające:
Nadzieja nasza w niemowlęciu, piersi matki swojej ssącym,
16 Ale niech mówi z przyległymi prowincyjami Polska:
Nadzieja moja w Bogu, który mi króle podaje, znając mię dziedzictwem Swoim.
17 Pan jest Podawcą moim, Opiekunem i Stróżem,
A chociażem —“ tak mówi Polska —“ przez wojny obnażona z ozdoby, mocen jest pierwszą mi przywrócić krasę.
18 Nie potrzebuje On na wojnę posiłków,
Gdyż u Niego i mucha, kiedy każe, żołnierzem i z żab wojska zaciąga przeciw Egiptowi.
19 Z woli Jego wybije anioł wojska Sennacherybowe,
Albo, jako we Francyjej, dziewczysko jedno potłucze mocarzów angielskich.Doksologia
20 Ten ci jest dzień, który uczynił i postanowił Pan obrania króla naszego;
niechajże Jemu samemu, Podawcy, będzie cześć i chwała na wieki wieków.
21 Chwała Ojcu i Synowi i Duchowi Świętemu,
Jako była na początku, tak i teraz, i zawsze, i na wieki wieków. Amen.
From A.V. Club: Live Report: Krakow’s Unsound Festival by Andy Battaglia. Check out the entire article and some really nice photos.
I almost puked in a club in a Stalinist suburb in Poland, and not for any of the reasons I had ever almost puked before, in a club or anywhere else. The cause was straightforward enough, but it only really makes sense in context.
I went to Krakow, Poland, at the end of October for Unsound, an ambitious music festival whose bill included a week’s worth of performances by a disparate lot: Stars Of The Lid, Omar-S, Sunn O))), Kode 9, Grouper, Johann Johannsson, Pole, Monolake, Nico Muhly, Biosphere, 2562, Ben Frost, and a group of Hasidic Jews from France who played gleaming blue keytar in front of smiling Stars of David, to name just a few. The mix was all over the place, and the mood followed suit.
The mood of Krakow, as much as could be gleaned during a fleeting week there, was rich. The city itself is beautiful and more than a little eerie. Some of the buildings, including an enormous castle right in the city center, date back to the 11th century. Certain statues and gargoyles could probably get active status in an actors’ guild, so expressive are their writhing gestures and anguished looks. Images of dragons proliferate. At least one of the countless churches open to leering boasts desiccated skulls as decoration. The whole city, especially at night, looks fantastic in a fog.
The Unsound Festival, started in 2003, is one of a group of municipally minded music festivals that belong to a burgeoning collective known as I.C.A.S., or International Cities Of Advanced Sound. Others include Mutek in Montreal, Club Transmediale in Berlin, Dis-patch in Belgrade, Sperm Festival in Prague, and Communikey in Boulder, Colorado. Each shares an affinity for electronic and experimental music, as well as the artier ends of indie-rock and classical composition. Each also answers for a stated ethos that —favors quality, critical reflection, innovation and exchange over profit.— (Disclosure: I went to Krakow as a guest of Unsound, both to cover the festival and to help plan an Unsound offshoot to happen in New York in February 2010.)
Unsound 2009 got off to a disquieting start. Opening night featured a contemplative set by the Polish composer Jacaszek, who traffics in ambient sounds haunted by churchly voices and slathered with strings. He played a laptop, backed by cello and violin, in a serene Japanese art museum called Manggha. A crowd of several hundred sat rapt, especially during a piece that played alongside a black-and-white video of swallows swooping in ethereal formation. After the concert came a screening of Beats Of Freedom, a documentary about revolutionary music in Poland from the 1960s to the fall of Communism in the late ’80s. It was startling, as a visitor, to watch such a film in the presence of an audience for whom the notion of —revolutionary music— is both recent and very real. It was even more startling to hear such an audience throw up its hands and laugh away chilling tales of secret-police interrogations and spells of military aggression—”laughter as absurdist rejoinder…
From John Guzlowski’s Lightning and Ashes: The Men From the East Were Terrible
Today is the 70th Anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland. It came 2 weeks after the Nazis invaded.
70 years ago today the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east and divided up the country with the Nazis. In some places in Poland, they light candles and put them in the windows to remember the dead and the suffering of the living during that time.
My mother was living west of Lvov in eastern Poland when the Russians invaded…
Tonight in Danville, Virginia, where I live, I will light a candle.
A new film by Agnieszka Holland – Janoisik – The True Story (Janosik. Prawdziwa historia.).
The following trailer is for the Slovak language version of the film.