September 2013

Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – “C” – September 29, 2013

From the Pastor /

In the Gospel parable today, Jesus shows how in the reign of God there is a reversal of what we might be used to. The kingdom of God is an upside-down kingdom. In our world, who is recognized by name? The rich and powerful. Well, in the parable, the rich man has no name – Dives, the name traditionally given him, simply means “rich”. The poor man has a name: Lazarus. In the parable, the rich man – because he knew the name of Lazarus – obviously knew Lazarus was present at his doorstep, but he went right by him on a daily basis, never paying any attention. After their death we see Lazarus, the poor man, described as being in place of honor in heaven. The rich man is not even present at that banquet. This shows how God has a preferential love for poor and vulnerable people. It’s those who are poor who are valued and cherished the most.

If we take this message seriously we will no longer walk past a homeless person or beggar in the street. Yet the parable prompts deeper reflection. There is something dramatically wrong in situation where the rich have everything and the poor are like Lazarus – dying of starvation and at the mercy of the elements. We are being taught to see structural social injustice as sin and to take on responsibility for it. Could it be that you and I are living with Lazarus in our midst and we do not even perceive it as sinful? Look at the situation of our world. 1/5 of the world’s people are like Lazarus at our door, in absolute poverty and starving – 30,000 children dying every day from hunger or hunger-related causes. The Gospel highlights this distance between rich and poor people and communities, which continues in our own time. 1/3 of the world’s population owns almost everything, leaving the other 2/3 to suffer. Jesus warns us to do something about it. Was Abraham right when he said that we would not listen? We can learn from what the prophet Amos says in the first reading today. It isn’t wrong to have material things, but it is wrong to live a lifestyle completely focused on self. We are called to engage ourselves in action for justice, participating in that transformation of the world, picking up on the rich heritage of the Church’s social teachings. Let us reflect on St. Paul’s instruction to Timothy in the second reading today: “You must aim to be saintly and religious, filled with faith and love, patient and gentle.” Let us too aim to live that life that we received at baptism – a life that calls us to pursue justice, compassion and love.

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A Grand Day of Thanksgiving

About us, Frackville, PNCC /

From the Republican Herald: Frackville PNCC marks 90 years since founding

FRACKVILLE – The celebration of the 90th anniversary of St. John the Baptist Polish National Catholic Church on Sunday remembered the past, reveled in the present and looked toward the future with faith, hope and charity.

Members and friends of the parish gathered for the 3 p.m. Mass, with the Right Rev. Bernard J. Nowicki, bishop ordinary of the Central Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church, as the main celebrant. Concelebrants included the Rev. Robert P. Plichta, pastor; the Rev. Felix Pyzowski, a son of the parish; the Very Rev. Thaddeus J. Dymkowski, administrative senior of the Plymouth Seniorate; the Rev. Joseph Cyman, pastor of St. John’s from 1999 to 2003, when Plichta came to Frackville, and the Rev. Richard Wosiak. Deacon Michael Seward assisted at the altar.

An outdoor procession of clergy and laity walked from the parish hall along Oak Street and entered the church. Nowicki was greeted at the entrance by James Chistakoff, chairman of the parish committee, and Elizabeth Greenman, president of the Blessed Sacrament. They presented the traditional gifts of bread and salt. The procession entered the main church, with the bishop, Cyman and Seward standing at the altar. The opening prayer made reference to the anniversary.

“This is a place of awe; this is God’s house, the gate of Heaven, and it shall be called the royal court of God,” Nowicki said.

“Lord Jesus Christ, the faith community of St. John the Baptist Parish is celebrating 90 years of service and dedication to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church,” he continued. “May all the departed organizers, faithful and clergy, come to rejoice with all the saints in Your presence. May Your truth grow in the hearts of the faithful and clergy who continue to spread the Good News to the people of Frackville and local environs. May we worship You always in Your holy temple.”

The first and second readings were presented by James Abicunas and Joanne Plaxa, respectively. After the Gospel reading by Seward, Nowicki gave the homily.

“Everyone who calls St. John the Baptist in Frackville his or her spiritual home, friends and sympathizers of this jubilee parish today, I greet you all in the name of our glorious risen savior, Jesus Christ,” Nowicki said.

The parish was organized in 1923 under the blessing and jurisdiction of the Right Rev. Bishop Francis Hodur, the prime (first) bishop of the Polish National Catholic Church in America. By 1921, about 60 families of Polish descent had settled in Frackville. Not happy as members of the Roman Catholic parish of St. Anne in Frackville, about 40 families approached the pastor of Holy Ghost Polish National Catholic Church in Shenandoah and after receiving permission from Hodur, St. John the Baptist Parish was organized. The parish currently has about 65 members.

Land was purchased at Oak and Second streets and a church was built. In 1968, a new church building was constructed on the site and the first Mass was celebrated on Easter Sunday that year.

In addition to Pyzowski, another parish son entered the priesthood, the Right Rev. Walter A. Slowakiewicz, a Shenandoah native who was consecrated bishop on June 26, 1968, and served as fourth bishop of the PNCC’s Eastern Diocese from 1972 until his death in 1978.

Plichta spoke to the congregation at the conclusion of Mass, thanking Nowicki and the clergy who participated in the liturgy.

“You made this event more spiritual and more meaningful to all of us,” Plichta said. “I also thank our choir and organist, to those people who read the Word of God for us, and also to those parishioners who participated in the general intercessions.”

Plichta’s youngest daughter, Veronica Kristina, 6, walked up the center aisle and gave a bouquet of flowers to the bishop.

After Mass, Cyman said he enjoyed coming back to Frackville for the special occasion.

“The parish is still vibrant and still has a lot to offer to the community,” he said. “It’s so nice to see folks that I remember when I was here. It is really great to be here seeing the people who I worked with for four years and it is good to see some new people, as well. It’s a great parish and a nice community.”

An anniversary dinner was served in the parish hall following the ceremony.

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Twenty Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – “C” – September 22, 2013

From the Pastor /

In the days of His public life, Jesus also used stories as His favored method of helping people to see the truth.

Today’s story is an intriguing tale of master and servant, and money and sly dealing, and the lesson is clear. As Jesus tells it, the servant who loses his job knows exactly what he needs to do to get himself into another job and a secure future: use his position to make friends with other people who will then take care of him. Smart move, good thinking! So, says the Lord, use your gifts and talents in a joyful and generous way with others, and so prepare for yourself a highway to heaven. Learnm that life is God’s gift to you, a gift to be rejoiced in and shared for the benefit of all. It is not a private possessions to be hoarded to oneself, to accumulate pleasures and privileges that only you can enjoy.

Today St. Paul reminds us that God wants everybody to be saved, not just some people. And so prayers should be said for all people, and especially for those in power, so that we may all live in peace in this world. See people as God sees them, Paul tells us, not as we see them. They are children of the living God, the same as we are. Our life is based on love of God and love of neighbor, and our lofe fluorishes when these two values are fulfilled in us. Using life merely for my own ends and purposes, with no care for others, is the road to misery.

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Church’s 90th Anniversary noted in the Press

About us, Frackville, PNCC /

From the Republican Herald: Polish church celebrates 9 decades in Frackville

FRACKVILLE – Marking its 90th anniversary this year, St. John the Baptist Polish National Catholic Church has reached the milestone with strong faith and a caring family community.

The motto of the Polish National Catholic Church is, “With truth, work and struggle, we will succeed,” and the Frackville parish has followed those words since its founding Jan. 1, 1923.

The parish will celebrate at 3 p.m. Sunday with an anniversary Holy Mass. The main celebrant will be the Right Rev. Bernard J. Nowicki, bishop ordinary of the Central Diocese. The clergy of the Plymouth Seniorate will concelebrate, and a dinner will follow the Mass in the church hall.

The Central Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church is the largest diocese of the denomination. The diocese has parishes in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Colorado and California. The Cathedral of the diocese is St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Cathedral in Scranton.

The Rev. Robert P. Plitchta has been pastor of St. John the Baptist Polish National Catholic Church, Frackville, since Nov. 1, 2003. He was born in 1961 in Gdansk, Poland, and was ordained on June 4, 1988, in the Diocese of Gdansk. This year marks his 25th year as a priest. He is also the administrator of Holy Ghost Polish National Catholic Church, Shenandoah, and he speaks Polish, English, German and some Italian. He is married to the former Janina Zabrowski and the couple have two children, Victoria Maria, 9, and Veronica Kristina, 6.

“I missed the 80th anniversary but I’m looking forward to the 100th, God willing,” Plitchta said, adding that everything is ready for the 90th.

“We will have a procession from the hall to the church on Sunday, weather-permitting,” he said.

Plichta is the 13th pastor and has served the third-longest pastorate in the church’s history. The Rev. Louis Orzech served for 12 years, from 1936 to 1948, and the Rev. Edward Tomczyk served for 45 years, from 1954 to 1999.

According to the church’s history, the parish was organized in 1923 under the blessing and jurisdiction of the Right Rev. Bishop Francis Hodur, the prime bishop of the Polish National Catholic Church in America. By 1921, about 60 families of Polish descent had settled in Frackville. Since there was no Polish church in the borough, those people had to rely on other churches to meet their growing spiritual needs. Being unsatisfied and wanting a church of their own, they banded together and formed a Roman Catholic mission parish called St. Anne’s.

Many parishioners, however, were dissatisfied with the parish’s second administrator’s “iron hand.” They had heard about a new kind of church in Shenandoah and some parishioners visited that parish. They were impressed and appealed to the Shenandoah pastor, the Rev. Stanley Cybulski, to help them organize a similar parish in Frackville.

With the sanction and blessing of Hodur and with the help of Cybulski, the new parish was organized and the first Mass was celebrated in Bradley’s Hall, Spring and Lehigh streets, by Cybulski. Of the original 60 families that were part of the St. Anne mission, 40 joined the new parish of St. John the Baptist. The parish currently has about 65 members.

In 1923, land was bought at Second and Oak streets from the Stefanowicz and Zelonis families to build a church and rectory. A temporary church was built, with the first Mass celebrated on Christmas 1923.

Planning for a new church began in the 1950s and the plans became final in the 1960s, when funds were available. After meetings and conferences with architect Robert Bosak, the plans were drawn up for the new church. Ground was broken in April 1967 and the first Mass in the new church was celebrated Easter Sunday in 1968. The formal dedication and banquet was in June 1968.

When asked what has led to the parish’s longevity, parishioner Carolyn Boychak, Frackville, said, “We started out with good bones.”

“We can’t say it isn’t a struggle because it is a struggle in this day and age, but it’s the same in every church,” said parishioner Joann Plaxa, Auburn.

“In the frame of 10 days, I buried four people,” Plichta said.

According to information provided by Plichta, the Polish National Catholic Church came into being in 1897, when it broke ties with the Roman Catholic Church and “is a true Catholic Church, rooted in Holy Scripture, based on tradition and accepting as dogmatic the first Seven Councils of the undivided Christian church. We are an Apostolic church, having valid Apostolic succession, the unbroken line of bishops from the time of the Apostles of Jesus Christ to the present-day bishops, priests and deacons of the church. Both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches recognize our Holy Orders as valid.”

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90th Aniversary Celebration

About us, Frackville, PNCC /

This year our Parish celebrates the 90th Anniversary of its organizing (1923- 2013). A special Anniversary Holy Mass will take place in our church on Sunday, September 22nd at 3 PM. A reception will follow after the Mass. The Main Celebrant for our anniversary Holy Mass is the Rt. Rev. Bernard J. Nowicki, Bishop Ordinary of the Central Diocese. The Clergy of the Plymouth Seniorate will concelebrate the Mass together with the Bishop. All are invited to celebrate this special occasion and our service to the Frackville community.

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Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – “C” – September 15, 2013

From the Pastor /

The father in the story is really God our Father. And the boy who comes home is you or me. It is a tale of forgiveness. God is so anxious to forgive us. We are tempted to think that surely God’s forgiveness cannot work quite like that; we’d expect that a repentant sinner would have to do a lot of penance to earn God’s forgiveness. If we think like that, we are like the elder son in the parable. He is not in forgiving mood. In our own time, virtous people sometimes find it hard to forgive, hard to imagine God really and truly forgiving people who have lived irregular lives. It is easy to look at the damage of the sinner has done, and wait for him or her to do an equivalent amount of good to prove his or her sorrow. If you feel like that, just close your eyes and listen to the running feet. That’s the Father coming, running to welcome us home because we’re sorry.

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