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.”
