The "Pepper Riots" and the PNCC

[jeff_duntemann]

History is often written by the victors, and one of the gnarliest problems with victor history is not what the victors say, but what they leave out. You can ask the losers what they think, but sometimes what the victors leave out is something the losers would just as soon forget as well.

Comments

[jetfx]

Hmm, interesting. I'd only read about the Old Catholic Church in passing before. It never much figured into the religious history around here, and area of predominantly Roman Catholic Highland Scots, so I'd never encountered it before.

[jeff_duntemann]

As I've written before, the Papacy as it has evolved is a very dangerous thing, and the institution has severely damaged the Church repeatedly over the past 2,000 years. The Old Catholics have discovered how to be truly Catholic without dangerous concentrations of power in one very small group of fallible human beings, and to my mind that is a truly miraculous thing.

Thank you from a PNCC member

[anonymous]

As a member, and clergy member of the PNCC I wanted to express my thanks for your article.

Those times were indeed emotionally charged within immigrant communities, especially in the face of nativism, poor wages, living, and working conditions, and the need to maintain ones connections to the known in face of the unknown.

As our Prime Bishop often mentions, the PNCC is indeed a gem of a Church. Church growth is occurring, not only among more recent Polish emigres, but throughout the South and Southwest, among Hispanic immigrants. In the former rust belt areas R.C. church closings have sparked a renewal of interest in the PNCC. We often refer to ourselves as a Church that is one, holy, catholic, apostolic, and democratic. The democratic nature of the PNCC does not trump Church Tradition, but adds to and supports it. Something many are seeking - a say over the use of their property and treasure.

Best wishes,

Dcn. Jim

Re: Thank you from a PNCC member

[jeff_duntemann]

I'm a big fan of the PNCC--Carol and I attended the PNCC parish in Phoenix for awhile ten years ago when we lived in Scottsdale. I have several books on PNCC history and foundational documents, and only wish my mother (who was the child of very poor Polish immigrants) had known about the PNCC when she was alive. BTW, where are you and what parish do you serve? Carol and I hope to visit the PNCC mission parish in Pulaski, Wisconsin next summer. A lot of my cousins live in the Green Bay area, including several right there in Pulaski.