vocation

Bishop Bernard’s Pastoral Letter on Vocations

PNCC /

To the Very Reverend, Reverend Fathers and the Reverend Messrs., and my dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus our Lord:

¡Viva el mes de junio! That’s Spanish for “Long live June,” “Hurray for June.” Hurray, indeed! And welcome to the month of vocations in the Polish National Catholic Church: June is Sacred Vocations month for us. June is the month we focus on our great need for priests, and on the need for significant donations throughout the PNCC to be made to the Clergy Pension Plan.

Our need of priests is dire and critical, but I am nonetheless hopeful and optimistic. Even though no Polish National Catholic families have sacrificed even one of their men, young or old, to our altars in the past twelve years, (and it doesn’t look like any family will in the near future), I remain optimistic. Even though our seminary has been empty for that period of time, except for the occasional priest from another Church orienting himself there to work as a priest in the PNCC, I have good reason to hope because I have experienced God’s providence. Our parish in Denver was declining but was pulled back from the brink of closure by an Hispanic priest from Mexico and 90 people of Mexican heritage who now comprise the great majority of that parish. St Francis, Denver, is growing, and is enthusiastically PNCC, and is flying 18 young people and 6 adults to Convo 2018 here next month.

Because Father Alfonso Castillo needs pastoral help there, I enthusiastically agreed to review applications from priest friends of his in Mexico to provide assistance to him, and subsequently serve our American parishes desperate for priests. In our Diocese, two priests, in fine parishes, are retiring next year. I have no one to fill them. A priest in our Diocese is on three parishes in Jersey. Three priests are on two parishes each. And there are ailing and aging priests all over the place! And yet I am hopeful. So I say, ¡Viva México!

With the increase in aging clergy comes the need for our Clergy Pension Plan to support them all. We collect for this vital entitlement throughout the year and especially in the month of June. We need more capital to invest, the interest from which the pension payments are made. From age 70, a PNCC priest can look forward to a monthly check in the amount of $600; and his widow, a check in the amount of $300. Please be generous in this drive. And so I say, in my optimism, ¡Viva el Plan de Pensión del Clero! (Hurray for our Clergy Pension plan!)

I believe God is showing us a potential direction for the future of our Church; and that pathway seems to be presenting itself from south of the border. For the Methodist Church, that pathway is from South Korea, and for the Roman Catholic Church, from India among other sources. In light of all of this, Bishop Hodur has indeed blessed us with a most optimistic motto for our Church when he penned: A través de la Verdad, el Trabajo y las Dificultades ¡Venceremos!

Yours in Christ,

Bishop Bernard

To read the original version as a PDF file.

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Good Shepherd Sunday – April 26, 2015

From the Pastor, PNCC /

Laying down His life for the sheep is the manner in which the Lord shows how much He loves us. To be the good shepherd is not in any way a simple or foolish thing. To be the good shepherd demands a lot of discipline and an awful lot of patience and perseverance. The patience comes into play when the good shepherd has to watch patiently when the sheep are slow to follow instructions, no matter how simple they may be. The perseverance is in recognizing that the sheep need care and attention, day in and day out. The Lord is truly our good shepherd. Can we really appreciate what the Lord does for us?

We are the Lord’s beloved flock. We can sit with that image and enjoy knowing that the Lord is keeping a protective watch over us. However, the Church is asking something more from us today. The Church is asking us to pray especially for vocations to the priesthood. Let us pray for the people who have given their lives to follow this vocation: the priests, the deacons. Our prayer for them can simply be a prayer of thanksgiving, thanking God for their dedication and service. Let us pray, too, for ourselves as a parish community. Let our prayer be that we will always be ready to hear the quiet voice of the Lord, the good shepherd, and follow Him. Praying for vocations is a good idea and holy thing to do.

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Ordination to the Holy Priesthood

PNCC /

Our pastor, Fr. Robert represented the parish at the ordination of Rev. Mr. James Konicki to the Holy Priesthood at St. Stanislaus Bishop & Martyr Cathedral in Scranton on December 6th, the Commemoration of St. Nicholas. Most Rev. Anthony Mikovsky, Prime Bishop of the Polish National Catholic Church ordained Deacon Konicki to the Order of the Presbyterate. Rt. Rev. Bernard Nowicki, our Bishop Ordinary, has assigned Fr. Konicki to Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Schenectady, New York. God bless Fr. Jim in his ministry.

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Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – “A” – January 26, 2014

From the Pastor /

Today’s Gospel story teaches us how simple the whole notion of a vocation is. Jesus approaches the people He wants to be His followers, asks them a question, and their response is immediately to leave everything and follow Him. He meets them where they are, in their everyday lives, in the workplace, and puts the question to them. He only asks them to follow Him. There are no questions asked by the four men, no conditions laid down by them, nor is there any form of procrastination: “Let me sort a few things out first.” They just follow. It is only when they follow Jesus that they get the chance to see what He and His ministry are all about. If Jesus were to come into your workplace and give you this simple invitation, what would your response be? What answer would you give to the Lord? We feel unworthy or unprepared for the things God asks us to do. If we are feeling like this, we can remember the response of the first four disciples, their immediate decision to get up and go, to follow the Lord.

The question is really not “What answer would I give to the Lord?” but “What answer have I given to the Lord?” If today were “Everybody’s Vocation Sunday,” what vocation would you be thanking God for at this moment? What vocation has God blessed you with in your life? What opportunities and circumstances have you in your life that have made you a better person, a more enriched person? Let us all take time today to consider our own vocation, our own calling by the Lord. We may be amazed as we realize the many paths that the Lord has opened up before us. Perhaps we often think of our life as one where things just happen for no particular reason, but when we stop to think and pray we realize that the Lord has been there in the background directing all things. When Jesus invites us to follow Him, He does not leave us to get on with things on our own. No, He remains close to us, gently guiding and directing our footsteps. The Lord never abandons us. Today each one of us can hear the Lord calling out to us, “Follow me.” What will our response be?

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Baptism of our Lord – “A” – January 12, 2014

From the Pastor /

Today’s Gospel takes place years later, when Jesus arrived at the River Jordan where His cousin John practised a baptism of repentance and foretold the coming of the Messiah. How well did Jesus and John know each other? They probably knew the stories surrounding each other’s birth, but just as every human life is an unfolding of a mystery known only to God in its totality, so also with the two cousins. Jesus’ baptism is an awakening for John and also for Jesus, for whom this is the start of His public ministry. Jesus’ awareness of His vocation has grown from the time when, as a boy, He was found with the teachers in the Temple. Now God acknowledges Jesus, the man, as the beloved Son.

Discerning one’s vocation in life does not normally happen in one blinding flash of enlightenment. It is something that unfolds gradually, during the many events and encounters of ordinary daily life. This special calling often needs years of careful thought before it becomes clear. What a young person may believe is his or her path may, at the end of life, have turned out to be very different as that vocation matured. Jesus, as a boy, knew that He had a special relationship with God, a relationship confirmed and directed at His baptism. Yet, in the Temple in Jerusalem and on tha banks of the Jordan, it was not automatically clear that His proclamation of the kingdom of God would lead to Calvary.

Our own vocation mirrors that of Jesus: moments of revelation and understanding mixed with confusion, uncertainty and, occasionally, opposition as we live out God’s unique call. The Holy Spirit fills Jesus. The same Spirit, deep within our heart, leads and guides us, helping us also to be faithful witnesses and messengers of God’s kingdom of love. We do not know where obedience to God’s call will take us. Our understanding of our own vocation will change and develop in living it out on our unique path. Where Jesus leads us, we are called to follow.

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