According to media release from the US Conference of Catholic
Bishops, a meeting of the Polish National Catholic-Roman Catholic
dialogue took place at St. Paul’s College in Washington on April 5 and
6.
Bishop Edward U. Kmiec of Buffalo and Bishop John E. Mack of the
Central Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC) in
Scranton, Pennsylvania co-chaired the meeting.
Originally planned for
November 2010, this was the first meeting since September 2009.
The members heard a report on the PNCC General Synod, and also examined
a document that was adopted by the Synod, “Requirements for Communion
with the Polish National Catholic Church.”
This document was drafted for
the benefit of groups in Scandinavia and elsewhere who have recently
petitioned for full communion with the PNCC.
In addition, two documents pertaining to the relationship between the
two churches were discussed.
Msgr. Thomas Green of the School of Canon
Law at The Catholic University of America in Washington presented the
November 2009 Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus and the
accompanying norms especially in view of the level of autonomy the new
Anglican ordinariates will enjoy.
Bishop John Swantek then commented on
the May 2009 report of the International Roman Catholic-Old Catholic
Dialogue Commission, entitled “The Church and Ecclesial Communion” and
the extent to which it applies to the relationship between the Polish
National Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
The members also discussed several cases of local misunderstandings,
most of which had to do with a perception by Roman Catholic authorities
that PNCC clergy, in an effort to make converts, had taken advantage of
situations where Roman Catholic parishes had been closed.
For their
part, the PNCC members stated that their clergy had responded to people
in those congregations who, in their judgment, had decided in good
conscience to join the PNCC. These differing perspectives on local
problems will be discussed in more detail at future meetings of the
dialogue.
The meeting also included a progress report from the Roman Catholic
members on a proposal to ask the Holy See if the PNCC could be
considered to be in the same position as the Orthodox on two matters.
First, PNCC faithful would be allowed to act as godparents at Roman
Catholic baptisms in addition to a Roman Catholic.
Second, mixed
marriages performed in the PNCC without a dispensation from canonical
form, even if not lawful, would be considered valid by the Roman
Catholic Church.
This proposal is still under consideration by USCCB
committees.
The dialogue has also been examining the difficulties that arise when a
clergyman leaves one of the churches and joins the other.
The members
are acutely aware of the sensitivity of this question. Neither church
can sanction in any way the abandonment of the ministry or the
ordination commitment by any of its clergy.
Such a decision entails
serious canonical consequences such as excommunication and dismissal
(Roman Catholic) or suspension and deposition (Polish National
Catholic). In view of possible misunderstandings, the members determined
that it would not be appropriate to offer recommendations on the
handling of these cases at the present time.
In the course of their
discussion, however, the members sought to identify ways in which these
situations could be handled that would minimize the amount of scandal
they cause.
In particular, the members considered the official agreement reached in
1999, between the German Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Old
Catholic Diocese of Germany.
They believe that this agreement offers
wise counsel on this question to the leadership of their churches.
(The
agreement is available in the German original with an unofficial English
translation online: www.usccb.org/seia/German-Agreement.pdf)
More specifically, the agreement calls for consultation between the
bishops of both churches, which would be particularly useful in
determining the individual clergyman’s moral and psychological
suitability for public ministry.
It also provides that the clergyman,
after the transition takes place, will not be assigned in the same
region where he served in his previous church.
The members are convinced
that such cooperation will do much to reduce the problems caused by
these transfers.
Since the last meeting, there were changes in the PNCC membership. In
October 2010, the PNCC General Synod elected Most Rev. Anthony Mikovsky,
the PNCC co-chairman of the dialogue, to the office of Prime Bishop.
He
in turn named Most Rev. John Mack, the bishop of the Central Diocese,
as the new PNCC co-chairman.
In view of these changes and the retirement
of the Very Rev. Marcell W. Pytlarz, the Prime Bishop named Prime
Bishop Emeritus John Swantek and the Rev. Bernard Nowicki, pastor of the
Heart of Jesus parish in Bayonne, New Jersey, as new PNCC members of
the dialogue.
Bishop Kmiec also informed the members that, in view of his impending
retirement, he would be concluding his service as Roman Catholic
co-chairman of the dialogue.
He announced that Archbishop Wilton Gregory
of Atlanta, the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical
and Interreligious Affairs, had named Most. Rev. Mitchell Rozanski,
auxiliary bishop of Baltimore and a member of the dialogue since 2008,
as the new co-chairman.
The next meeting of the dialogue was set to take place in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on April 18 and 19, 2012.
The Polish National Catholic-Roman Catholic dialogue was established in
1984. Current PNCC members include Bishop Mack (Co-Chairman); Prime
Bishop Emeritus John Swantek; Very Rev. John Z. Kraus of West Allis,
Wisconsin; Very Rev. Paul Sobiechowski of Davie, Florida; Father Bernard
Nowicki; and Father Robert M. Nemkovich Jr. of Fall River,
Massachusetts.
Prime Bishop Anthony Mikovsky also attended the meeting.
Roman Catholic members include Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski
(Co-Chairman); Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami; Auxiliary Bishop
Emeritus Matthew Ustrzycki of Hamilton, Ontario; Msgr. John Strynkowski,
rector of the Cathedral Basilica of St. James in Brooklyn, New York;
Msgr. Thomas J. Green; Father Phillip Altavilla, ecumenical officer of
the Diocese of Scranton; and Paulist Father Ronald G. Roberson (staff).