Dialogue between Roman Catholic and Polish National Catholic Churches Remains Strong After 40 Years

More than 40 years after the Roman Catholic Church-Polish National Catholic Church Dialogue began its quest for unity between the two churches, members of the group say they find hope in the progress they’ve made over the years and in a deeper relationship among its members.

Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, who is of Polish descent and was raised in the Polish parishes of Baltimore, has been a member of the dialogue since the 2000s, when he was an auxiliary bishop in Baltimore. He currently serves as the dialogue’s co-chair alongside Bishop John E. Mack, head of the PNCC’s Buffalo-Pittsburgh Diocese.

“What keeps this going is that we’re trying to fulfill God’s commandment, where He said that may they be one as you are in me, and I in you, and that they also may be one in us,” dialogue member Bishop Paul Sobiechowski, head of the Eastern Diocese of the PNCC, said at the group’s annual meeting held in St. Louis May 12-13. “And the personal relationships that we’ve formed over the years, that relationship continues and grows deeper.”

“I think it shows us how far we have come in these 40 years, and it gives us the hope of moving forward, even to be closer,” Archbishop Rozanski said.

The dialogue grew out of a split among Polish Catholic immigrants in the United States in the late 19th century, which led to the formation of the Polish National Catholic Church. The split was primarily driven by grievances over governance, the absence of Polish-born bishops in the American hierarchy and dissatisfaction over the appointment of non-Polish priests to Polish parishes.

By the 1960s, there were calls for dialogue between the two groups, but it didn’t become a formal reality until the 1980s, when St. John Paul II renewed the call. That led to the first official meeting of members of the two churches in Passaic, New Jersey, in 1984.

Today, the PNCC has around 30,000 members in five dioceses in the United States and Canada, with 119 congregations in the U.S., most of which are centered in the northeastern United States. In St. Louis, there is one PNCC church, Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, located in Ellisville.

A pivotal moment for the two churches was a 1992 healing service at St. Stanislaus Polish National Catholic Cathedral in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where leaders of both churches asked for forgiveness and pledged to work toward overcoming their divisions. In 1989, the dialogue produced its first major report, affirming agreement on the seven sacraments. In 1993, another significant step occurred when Cardinal Edward Cassidy confirmed that PNCC members in the U.S. and Canada may receive the sacraments of reconciliation, Eucharist and anointing of the sick from Roman Catholic priests under certain conditions.

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