Priests and parishioners of the Polish National Catholic Church will elect a new leader this week during the 23rd General Synod in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.Four current bishops are eligible to become prime bishop, the church's highest post, including Bishop Anthony Mikovsky, the pastor of St. Stanislaus Cathedral in South Scranton.
The current prime bishop, Robert M. Nemkovich, must retire from the position because of age limits set by church law.
He was elected in 2002.
The next prime bishop will be just the seventh man to hold the post in the church's 113-year history.
Although general synods take place every four years, this one is particularly momentous, said the Rev. Jason Soltysiak, the assistant pastor at St. Stanislaus.
By week's end, the assembly will have elected a prime bishop and two new bishops and considered amendments to the church's constitution.
"We don't elect bishops at every synod, and we certainly don't elect prime bishops at every one," he said.
The synod exemplifies the church's robust democracy. Every parish is allowed to send one priest and one parishioner to vote at the synod. Larger parishes get to send another lay representative for every 50 members.
"All votes count equally, whether you are a priest of a gigantic parish or one of the 50 of a tiny parish," the Rev. Soltysiak said.
When the Rev. Francis Hodur founded the Polish National Catholic Church in Scranton in 1897, he patterned the fledgling church's democratic constitution on that of the United States.
"He was just awesomely in love with America, the democracy and everything about it," the Rev. Soltysiak said of Bishop Hodur.
"And he transferred that to our church."
SIC: TT/USA