Last modified: 2018-12-15 by rob raeside
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Here is a flag of the Polish National Catholic Church. Broke away from
the RC in 1897 (Pennsylvania). Most of the adherents are in the US and
Canada, few in Poland and elsewhere.Member of the National Council of Churches
(US) and the World Council of Churches.
The motto says: "Through Truth, Struggle and Work - -We Will Overcome"
Chrystian Kretowicz, 25 Jan 2002
The Old Catholics started in 1870 as a group opposed to the "then newly
proclaimed" doctrine of Papal Infallibility. That doctrine itself being
a response to the final unification of Italy, and the loss of the bulk
of the papal lands, except for the Vatican City itself and a few minor
areas.
The PNCC lists 1897 as its start date, when the people who formed the
PNCC had to choose between becoming the Polish branch of the Episcopal
church or going for full independence as a separate church. Since they
feared loosing their "Polishness" they opted for full independence.
The 1st Bishop in the PNCC (Hodur) was consecrated by the Dutch Old Catholic
Church, and once that happened he could ordain priests and set up a separate
church. In addition to Buffalo, another major center of the PNCC was in
the Scranton, Pennsylvania area, where the church still has its headquarters
today. After the PNCC was founded here in the US, it spread up to
Canada, and back to Poland - in 2 attempts there, pre-WWII and post-WWII.
As a sidenote, around 1965 the Lithuanian National Catholic Church
became a part of the PNCC. So today within the PNCC you have some
parishes that are Lithuanian.
In the PNCC the local parishes "own" and run the local churches - much
like the Congregational Churches here in NH - and not like the Roman Catholic
Church or some Protestant churches, where the church hierarchy "owns" the
local churches and can close them at will. The PNCC clergy can be married
- the bishop in Manchester when I was growing up was both a father and
a grandfather.
While use of Polish in the mass was a major reason for the split with
the Roman Catholic Church, its use has declined over the years. (The next
generations don't see much need to learn a "foreign" language of little
use in the US.) When I was growing up we had to attend Saturday Polish
language classes to prepare for our First Holy Communion, and later for
our Confirmation.
In 1970, the next bishop to serve in Manchester refused to do an English
ceremony for my older sister's wedding - so she got married at her fiance's
Congregational Church. But at my father's funeral in 1977, the same
bishop conducted the ceremony at the cemetery in English.
After WWII there was a pact between the PNCC and the Episcopalians
where you could attend services at either one. The PNCC dropped the
pact in 1992(?) when the Episcopalians started ordaining women as priests.
This same opposition has placed the PNCC at odds with the rest of the Utrecht
group of Old Catholic churches as they start to ordain women.
I'm not certain about the grey border on the flag - I seem to remember
the flag in Manchester being white with a yellow fringe on it. But it could
be as the name implies, that the grey border is used by the branch back
in Poland.
Also, I remember this flag as being a vertical one, used mainly in
ceremonial processions around the church. Otherwise it was displayed
on one side of the altar near the bishop's chair, while the US and Polish
flags were displayed on the other side of the altar.
Michael Roth, 27 Jan 2002
Here is the flag of the Polish National Catholic Church as used in Poland
(it is basically American-Canadian church) and logos of other Old-Catholic
churches united in the Union of Utrecht.
The motto says: "Truth, Struggle and Work"
Chrystian Kretowicz, 3 Mar 2002
This is the flag of the Evangelical-Augsburg (Lutheran) Church in Poland
or Kosciol Ewangelicko-Augsburski (Luteranski) w Polsce
Chrystian Kretowicz, 28 Jan 2002
This is the flag of the Union of Buddhists Karma Kagyu or Zwiazek
Buddyjski Karma Kagyu. My brother belongs to this one, and fights for
Tibetanś freedom too.
Chrystian Kretowicz, 28 Jan 2002
It looks like a tropical hurricane to me, specifically Southern Hemisphere
due to the clockwise direction of the arms.
Blas Delgado Ortiz, 29 Jan 2002