Good Shepherd Church

Faith Matters is a column on the diversity of religion in the Mohawk Valley and surrounding area, written by a variety of clergy and lay people.

An Interview with Rev. Adam Czarnecki of the Good Shepherd Polish National Catholic Church in Amsterdam

Jay Towne for the Mohawk Valley   Independent •// Wed, Apr 11, 2012

The white church sits one house away from the end of Teller Street in Amsterdam’s Fourth Ward, directly across from the Vrooman Apartments. I sat on the steps for a few minutes before Father Adam Czarnecki, the parish priest at The Good Shepherd Church at 27 Teller Street, came to get me.

We sat down in the rectory for the interview. Perhaps to simplify or to save me from stumbling over his Polish surname, he asked to be called by his first name, Adam.

Adam, when did the church start?

This parish started in 1926. Like it was in your previous article, Father Boleslaw Stepczynski, from Schenectady, he came to Amsterdam and met people from this area who sent him a message that they wanted to build a parish in Amsterdam too, a Polish National Catholic church. So he came here and met with them and they decided they would organize the parish and in this way they started. First they used the Episcopalian church for liturgy during the time they built the church and rectory. So, they began from the time they became a parish, from 1926

And your larger church history? When was the PNCC founded in America?

The PNCC was founded in the end of the nineteenth century in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This was movement, not only in Scranton, but also in a few places, such as Chicago and Buffalo. But the most powerful center of the movement was in Scranton. It also explained in this other article, that Polish people were upset about being governed by German and Irish Bishops in the Roman Catholic Church.

They felt they were under represented?

Yes. They had Polish priests, but I don’t think that a Polish Bishop was present in the United States. In Europe, yes of course, there were many. In Rome too, in congregations, but not here. But you must remember that at that time, at the end of the nineteenth century, the Polish nation was without it’s own country because Poland was divided between three countries: Germany, Russia and Austria. The Polish people suffered from these people, especially from the Germans. The best was for the Polish people living in Austria. But it was still not so good because they were not independent. So the people were very upset about being under other governments.

I think that you understand this very well because, in America, freedom and independence are very important to the people. Especially, this can be for the church as well, because churches are for not only civil freedom, but also for spiritual freedom. And in Scranton, the founder of the Polish National Catholic Church, was Frances Hodur, At that time this parish was assigned a priest who had German roots in the region of Silesia, which is today part of Poland. And he wouldn’t allow Polish people to sing Polish songs. Like, people felt like…

Second class?

Class. Also, the people asked him, “where is our money going?” Because he collected the church money, and they simply asked. And he didn’t respond to them. And they closed the church. But they re-opened again. And originally, Father Hodur wanted to stay with Rome, under the Pope. Whatever was sent to the Pope, was maybe never read. Whatever Father Hodur requested was refused. So in this case they don’t have another choice but to build something new, which will be independent and work for the good of these people.

Was Father Hodur ordained a Catholic priest?

Yes, Roman Catholic. So after this time, they got together from Scranton and Chicago, Buffalo and other cities and they decided to build a new church, which is still a church of Christ. We are still Catholics. Our liturgy, I can say, is the same as the Roman Catholic Church, and why I know this is I was in the Roman Catholic seminary. In the beginning I was a Roman Catholic priest in Poland.

I finished the Roman Catholic seminary there. I was nine years in the Roman Catholic church parishes in Poland. After that I became a priest in the PNCC in United States and Canada. The whole name of our church is the Polish National Catholic Church in the United States and Canada.

Because, in Poland there is the Polish National Catholic Church too. But they are separate. They are a sister church but not under the same government.

You mention that your liturgy is the same as the Roman Catholic’s and I went to your service the other night, and it was the same except that you did a whole lot more praying.

You went to a special liturgy, for Holy Saturday. In Roman Catholic church on this day, they offer more prayers. This was a liturgy of light, liturgy of water, paschal candle, and it’s all a little bit different. If you had come for Sunday liturgy-Holy Mass and Eucharist, it is the same as Roman Catholic Church. We have the same feasts and solemneties to the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Roman Catholics do.

As for now, we have limited inter-communion with the Roman Catholic Church. Which means, the Roman Catholic Church recognized sacraments which are in our church. This means that if someone received sacraments in our church, they are recognized in the Roman Catholic Church. It is the same both ways. The difference is that we do not accept government of Rome. We accept the Pope as Bishop of Rome. This was in the beginning. And we accept the first seven ecumenical councils, which are accepted by the majority of Christians, Catholic and Protestant. We also don’t believe in dogmatization. Do you know what this is?

No.

This is where you are forced to believe dogmas, and if you don’t you are automatically out side the church.

So, what you are saying is that any parishioner can choose to not believe a dogma and still go to your church.

Yes. In our church you must believe in the foundations, but we don’t have dogmatization.

You still believe in one holy, Catholic and apostolic church, don’t you?

Yes, of course.

So could you someday see yourself re-united with the mother church?

Yes. Yes, we pray for that. We pray for unity for all Christians. We recently participated in a week of prayer for all Christians. Many different churches participated, Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, our church, Episcopal church.

What kind of relationship does this church have with St. Stanislaus church?

Almost nothing. I knew Father Medwid, now he’s at St. Mary’s, before that I knew Fathers Anthony and James, and I have participated in, a few liturgies in St. Mary’s.

We had in an article that you were closing and we got it only partially right. Are you closing and, if so, when will that be?

This church will be closed but I can’t tell you the exact day of it’s closing. In the end of April, some time in May, I can’t be sure. Because it depends on not my decision or the Bishop’s decision, but of the parishioners. This church government is a little bit different, the people decide. I am just for spiritual and moral discipline in the church. They may ask me for advice on material matters, and I support them when needed, but for this, they decided. The final decision is for the Bishop, but the foundation of this decision was the people.

So has the decision been made then?

Yes. Sometime soon the church will be closed, but when exactly, we will see.

And your decision was based on what?

Lack of people. We can talk about the economy, because in Poland I spent three years in the university studying economics. So I know this well. Prices everywhere are going up. The cost of keeping the church open is going up too, and we have still the same number of parishioners. Less than the Ukrainian Church. Many of them are old. I am here more than six years, slightly more, and during this time I have buried almost 20 parishioners. We have a few new families, but that is not enough. We tried to keep this church alive. For Sunday we still have around twenty people. But, for keeping the church alive we need money. We tried to have sales, like dinners or something to try and make money, but, this was still not enough. Every year we would come up short. Also, these people are tired of making all these [pierogis and galumbkis] and coming here to work after working. It’s too hard.

Do you have a certain amount or percentage of their income that people give?

No. In our church whatever people can offer, that is what we accept.

Like the widow with two copper coins?

Yes. If you can offer more, that’s okay. If you can offer less, that’s okay too.

Do you know where your parishioners will go when you close?

Yes. The closest Polish National Catholic church is Schenectady. And that is only slightly more than fifteen minutes. Another is Latham, and also in Little Falls. A little bit farther is Rome.

What have you enjoyed most about living and serving in Amsterdam?

Serving, was what I enjoyed most. This congregation looks a little like family. Only thirty or so members, that is like a family. I know everyone personally, and that is different than my experience in Poland. My Roman Catholic Church parish was small, only three-thousand parishioners. My second parish was medium sized, only six-thousand. I worked with another priest, because it would be too much for one. But here it is different. I know everyone. I was born in a small town and I grew up in a little town so I appreciate how quiet a place this is. I can’t say I hate big cities because that is not nice, but I prefer the little towns and villages. We have many friends here, from many different churches and some with no church.

Do you know where you will go when you are re-assigned?

No. There are many churches in my diocese and other dioceses that have no priest. The decision has to be made by two Bishops.

Is there a particular scripture from which you draw strength?

You know, (pulls out the interview I printed for him of Father Marion Kostyk of the Ukrainian Catholic church, Amsterdam) “ go to the whole world and baptize everybody in the name of the Father, son and Holy Spirit.” We gave away some holy pictures at my first Holy Mass and these words were on the back of them. In our church, baptism is foundational. We believe that without being baptized we can’t be saved.

Paul writes in Romans that unless we are buried in Christ’s burial we will not be joined in his resurrection.

Yes. Our own body must be buried. What we do with the grace we receive in baptism is our own decision. This baptism sacrament is important because it is foundation. Other sacraments are for people who are baptized, and every sacrament is important to us.

Service Times

Tuesday 6:00 pm

Sunday 9:00 am

Web Site http://www.goodshepherdpncc.com/index.html

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Muslims for Peace

An Interview with Amsterdam’s  Hafeez Rehman,  Head of Muslims for Peace in Albany Jay Towne for the Mohawk Valley Independent•Fri, Mar 23, 2012 The office was spacious. I sat in a chair opposite Dr. Hafeez Rehman, Internal Medicine Specialist practicing in the Riverfront Center, Amsterdam, NY. It had all the earmarks of a typical Doctor-Patient consultation, but this time I was examining him, his beliefs, his faith. We sat down together last week to talk about his involvement with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, active in our area. MVI – How long has your community been active? HR – We have been active for a few years. The last couple of years we have launched three important schemes like this to let our American neighbors and brothers know us and Islam in general such as Muslims for Peace, Muslims for Loyalty and this last year we did Muslims for Life, where we collected over ten thousand blood units for the 9/11 eleventh anniversary. In a way, to tell our fellow citizens and neighbors that we feel their pain and we are with them. MVI – Where were you on 9/11 and how did you feel? HR – I was working here. I’m a Physician and I was working here when it happened and I felt terrible. The tragedy that occurred and the loss of life hurt me deeply, like any other person of conscience and sense would feel. It should not have been done. No Islamic or, for that matter, no religion that I know of, promotes those kind of atrocities to be committed against other human beings, because we are all God’s creation. MVI – Tell me a little history of the Ahmadiyya community. Are you a part of it or… HR – Yes, we are part of it and the Ahmadiyya community was initiated by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in 1889 in India, in a town called Qadian, and he had said that the long awaited Messiah that all the world’s religions was waiting for was embodied in him. He was there to gather all mankind towards God almighty, who created all of us. MVI – You are the leader of the local community, correct? HR – Yes. I am the leader of the Muslim Community, Albany Chapter. MVI – You have chapters throughout America. HR – Yes, we have about twelve-thousand scattered around the United States. MVI – Approximately how many members do you have locally? HR – We are over one-hundred, about one-hundred and five or so. MVI – Do you meet regularly for prayers? HR – We have a mosque, we have our own place of worship, that is on Route 5S. It is a facility that is open every Friday for prayers. As you know the holy day for Muslims is Friday, so on Friday we have the sermon and prayers from 1:30 to 3:00. And we have other activities of a religious nature, children’s classes, the ladies have their own functions. You could come there. MVI – You don’t mind Christians praying alongside you? HR – As long as the prayer is for God almighty that created us. MVI – Sometimes in religious discourse there is a divide between one faction who thinks the other faction is at odds with and opposes the other, leading to conflict. HR – I don’t believe there is that much conflict. We have more similarities than differences, if you will start going back into our history of religions you’ll find that we have more commonalities than differences. MVI – What are some of your main teachings? HR – There are five main tenets of Islam. There is belief in the oneness of God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, with Muhammad as his messenger. We believe in five daily prayers, which is called Selat, which is a prayer done at five different hours: morning, before the sunrise which is called Fajr, then there is Az-Zuhr which is from one o’clock; Al-Asr, which is around four o’clock or so, it is a couple of hours before sunset; then there is Magrhrib, which is right after sunset then a night prayer, which must be offered before midnight. One more belief is giving alms to the poor and needy, which is an important part of our religion, it is called Zakat; then there is a month of fasting called Ramadan, in which abstaining or Sawm, which is a spiritual exercise, is practiced. It’s a type of worship where you refrain from things that God has otherwise allowed you to do, for the sake of God Almighty and his pleasure. This is a self- restraining exercise, whereupon you are not eating or drinking food from early morning hours to the sunset, which is thirty days every year. Muslims observe that and that comes on different days every year. The Islamic calendar is about ten days shorter than western calendars. Then there is Hajj, which is a once in a life pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia to the town of Mecca, that is the house of God which was made by the prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael. That is compulsory upon every Muslim who has means to go, once during their lifetime. These are the main beliefs, and then there are several other teachings that we follow, such as the rights of neighbors, the rights of women, the rights of children and orphans. Everybody’s rights are mentioned in detail in the Holy Qur’an for us to follow. MVI – How do you feel about Sharia law being implemented for believers in America. Is this a big conflict? HR – No, I don’t see this as a big conflict. Our leaders have discussed this. Sharia law is just a term used by people to ignite a political conversation. It’s a code of conduct that Muslims follow for their own lives. The United States has it’s own laws, and Muslims, as citizens, are supposed to follow the laws of the land. Muslims only make up one percent of the population, and the United States Constitution is clearly established, so if there is an existing law that protects the rights of the citizens of any country, there is no need for the tenets of Sharia law to be invoked, so bringing up Sharia law in any other context than Muslim’s personal conduct is fear mongering, in my opinion. Christians and Jews live according to their own codes, and nobody talks about that. They are living according to what their books and commandments tell them. They are following their consciences and that is what the majority of Muslims are doing, particularly in our own community. MVI – How do radical Muslim factions respond to Muslim’s for Peace? HR – That is a question you should ask them. If you find one. We feel this is a time to… it’s our duty to mention what the true teaching of Islam is and if that bothers anyone, then okay. But I don’t know how they react. MVI – How does your adherence to Islam influence your work as a doctor? HR – It influences me as a doctor because when you are trying to get close to God you are duty- bound to take care of other human beings, the best way possible, so it makes me a person who cares about others simply because we are all God’s creation and we need to be respected and treated fairly. My beliefs positively affects me in my practice of medicine, it makes it easy for me. MVI – Where in the Qur’an does it teach that Muslims should be peaceful people? HR – There are verses in the Holy Qur’an where it mentions that we should be peaceful with our neighbors. The word Islam means peace; the name itself means peace so that is the start. There are various verses that point out the rights of neighbors and others. If you want them I could look them up for you. MVI – Name a section of the Qur’an that brings you closer to God. HR – There are many sections that do. In the very first sura, the very first chapter is considered a summary of the Holy Qur’an. If you read that in depth in the light of the teachings of our founder, who has beautifully explained these verses, this particular chapter I am talking about is at the beginning of the Holy Qur’an, God has said that he has divided this chapter between the humans and Himself. The first three verses are expressing the glory of God, and the others are prayers for mankind and prayers for self. So, I think that that from the start is the best example I can give you for this particular question that you asked. In fact, the whole Qur’an is meant to bring you closer to God Almighty. That is why we encourage everyone, when they read the Holy Qur’an to know it’s meaning, so that they know what they are reading. Since the Qur’an is the literal word of God that was revealed to the prophet Muhammad, we believe that it is the code by which we should live, in order to attain nearness to our Creator. MVI – Okay. HR – Here is a verse: chapter six, verse thirty-three where God says “The light of the world is nothing but a sport or pastime. Surely the abode of the hereafter is better for those who are righteous. Will you not then understand?” So that’s also, like you asked, the link of mankind to God expressed in this. So you should try to be a good person and try to live a good life here, doing good deeds, and keep focused on the hereafter because that’s a much longer, permanent form of life than this one. MVI – Thank you, sir For More Information Regarding the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community: Call 1-800-949-4752 Or www.MuslimsForPeace.org Local Mosque Number 518-887-2859 Share Reader Opinions Mike Cinquanti MAR 23  •  Mr. Towne, I just wanted to let you know how much I’ve admired your excellent interviews presented in this series and learned from them. Thank you for doing them

A Visit With …

 

A Visit With The New Priest Of An Old Church – St. Ann’s Episcopal Church Turns 300 This Year

 

Jay Towne for the Mohawk Valley Independent Photo by Dan Weaver •Tue, Feb 07, 2012

In 1712 The Church of England established the Queen Anne Chapel to serve the Mohawk Indians. For almost 70 years they worshiped in peace, but the Revolutionary War broke out, and the Mohawks left for Canada due to their alliance with the Crown and settled in two areas in Ontario. St. Ann’s Amsterdam was consecrated in 1837, a new church was built in 1851 and expanded and dedicated in 1888.

I had been to St. Ann’s Episcopal Church on a couple of occasions. One with relatives for their church service, and two for their Community Meal. It’s a beautiful gray stone church on the corner of Division and Lower Market Streets, one you may have passed by a hundred times.

I talked to Father Neil Longe, the head priest of the church, last week.

MVI – Are you new to St. Ann’s?

Longe – I am. I started here January 1^st.

MVI – So you’re just getting used to the parishioners and other things?

Longe – Yes. I am just starting to settle in and just getting to know who’s who and what’s where.

MVI – Were you a Father someplace else?

Longe – I was the Associate Priest at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Colonie. I was a year and a half there.

MVI – Did you go through seminary?

Longe – I actually began seminary as a Roman Catholic. I went to Roman Catholic seminary and completed my Master’s in Theology from St. Mary’s in Baltimore. I joined the Episcopal Church in 2007 and completed a Diploma in Anglican Studies from Trinity School for Ministries in Ambridge, Pa, which is the Episcopal Seminary.

MVI – Could you tell me a little bit about the history of the Episcopal Church?

Longe – The Episcopal Church began in this country when settlers started coming over from England. It became essentially the Anglican Church in this nation. What I like about this church is the prayer book we use. The Book of Common Prayer that we use for all of our services really tried to bring together the best of a variety of traditions, so it gives the freedom to combine, essentially, the best of the Evangelical traditions with the best of the Charismatic traditions and the best of the Catholic traditions. So we are still a liturgical church. We have a set ritual for how we worship; and we are a sacramental church, so the same seven sacraments that are celebrated in the Roman Catholic and the Eastern churches are celebrated in the Episcopal Church. The church has always tried to serve as sort of a middle ground between what is Roman Catholicism and all the Protestant denominations.

MVI – Tell me a little about St. Ann’s church history.

Longe – That’s an answer that I don’t have all the details to, because I’m still new. I’m going to give you this; it’s the brief history on the back of our bulletin. It talks about the beginning of the parish which began as Queen Ann’s chapel as a mission, where she sent priests directly to the Mohawk People. It was not originally founded for the settlers; it was founded solely as a mission to the Mohawks and, obviously, when the Revolutionary War broke out most of the Mohawks and other people from the church, Loyalists to the Queen, fled up to Canada. We still are associated with a church in Canada which was founded from these groups from Queen Ann’s chapel, fleeing in the midst of the Revolution.

MVI – Do you have a sister church?

Longe – Yes, and I would have to look that up because their name is something I can’t remember. But, I can look it up before you go. And we still make visits back and forth–one year they’ll come down here, the next we go up there.

MVI – And where is it located?

Longe – I have to look that up too. (Laughs)

MVI – It’s tough being new.

Longe – It is. We do have the big history book which I’m studying now. We are coming up on the 300^th Anniversary of the church in October, and this history that I’ve been reading begins in 1712 and ends in 1962 so we have some updating to do.

MVI – What are some of the church’s core beliefs?

Longe – The core beliefs of the church are first, scripture is the word of God and contained in that scripture are all things that are necessary for our salvation. Secondly, we believe that Jesus Christ died for for our redemption, to reconcile us to the Father and it is through his name and his sacrifice that we are saved. And through the sacraments that we celebrate: baptism, Eucharist, confirmation, holy orders, marriage, anointing of the sick, the reality of what God has promised us is then made visible to us. Through baptism and belief in Jesus we are restored to a right relationship with God.

MVI – Are priests in the Episcopal church required to remain unmarried?

Longe – No. I got married in 2004; I have a son and a daughter. We do have priests that are unmarried, but there is no mandate that you have to be celibate nor about remarrying if your spouse dies.

MVI – How does the church deal with divorce?

Longe – The church obviously sees marriage as something that God established to be a permanent covenant and it is not part of God’s original plan for divorce to occur. Now, having said that, we recognize there are times when things don’t work out for a variety of reasons, and then the church tries to respond pastorally to the people involved in those situations. And if someone would want to be married in the church after divorce, there is a process to do that.

MVI – Where does St. Ann’s stand on the issues of same sex marriage and the ordination of women? In other words, is St. Ann’s a part of the conservative or more liberal side of the Anglican community?

Longe – I don’t know if there is one answer to that question. It gets asked as if there is a simple answer, which there is not. In the Episcopal church there are varying views to both of those questions, and within the local churches, here being no different, there are varied views on both of those issues. I have not heard any objections to the ordination of women; there is no objection by the diocese either. That’s a question that is up to the Bishop, and we have plenty of women priests in the diocese. The diocese has no objection to ordaining women. St. Ann’s being part of the Albany Diocese is subject to the canons of our diocese and our convention has stated that priests of our diocese cannot bless same-sex unions, so we are bound by those canons. It’s not really up to the individual churches, the legislation comes from our local convention when the diocese gathers, discussing our understanding of what scripture sets for what is God’s plan for marriage, and we have adopted a set of canons in accordance.

MVI – At one time there were talks between the worldwide Anglican church and the Roman Catholic church concerning reconciliation and merger. Are these talks still going on, and is there any real possibility of the two churches being one again?

Longe – The talks are always going on, and they are occurring at a variety of levels between a number of different churches. Obviously the reconciliation of the Anglican churches with Rome, there’s some serious issues which they would have to discuss: the role of our clergy, the bishops, the validity of our orders, which they have said are not valid, there’s a whole host of things that one day we could be closer to some semblance of unity. What that would look like and how quickly we get there, I don’t know.

MVI – Do you believe in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church?

Longe – Yes. That is part of the Nicene Creed, said in our church. The same creed said in the Roman Catholic Churches. Yes, we do believe in one, universal church. That universal church is now fragmented, and there are talks by a wide variety of groups to try to heal some of that fragmentation. I don’t know if we can get to the point that there will be one single body under one name and one jurisdiction, that’s probably a longer ways off, but the dialogues are still continuing.

MVI – Name some of the contributions the Episcopal and Anglican churches have made to Christianity and the world at large.

Longe – I think one of the biggest contributions goes back to the history, to be this sort of middle road for people between a variety of traditions. You’ll find that most of our congregations, most of the people in them, were not born and raised Episcopalians, but have come from a variety of other traditions. That is one of our greatest contributions, that we are able to provide a home for people who have not been comfortable in some other tradition, and to bring them in and through the services of the Prayer Book to a closer relationship with the Lord, which is the whole ministry of the church.

MVI – What outreach does your church do, including the Community Meal?

Longe – That is perhaps our biggest outreach right now. The meal is served on the 4^th Sunday of each month beginning at 11:30am. We never know how many people will be there, but most months are pretty well attended, which is indicative of the need of the community.

MVI – I’ve been there twice and it is usually packed.

Longe – Our congregation is really involved and eager to continue that ministry, and they’ve done other outreach ministries in the recent flood relief. Funds were collected and given to some of our parishes in the flooded areas that were devastated, as well as clothing and things which we are about to deliver to St. Paul’s in Sidney, who lost their whole thrift store ministry in the flood, and we were able to gather some resources for them.

MVI – What drew you to God’s service and what keeps you going?

Longe – The answer to both of those is God. (Laughs). From a young age I really felt called to give more and more in whatever I was doing in the church, and the more I got involved the more I felt what God wanted me to do. And what keeps me going, and what, I think should keep every priest going, is prayer and the study of God’s word in the scriptures. Because it is in that prayer and study time that we understand what he has done for us, what he is asking us to do and how we are going to get where he is going, and the entire Christian life is about an ongoing relationship with the Lord and not some academic knowledge, but a life giving relationship.

MVI – Can you name a favorite Bible verse? One that is meaningful to you.

Longe – Isaiah 55. God invites – All you who are thirsty. All who are hungry. To come to Him, to eat without paying. Essentially, he is offering us this free gift of life, this free banquet, and he is the one who will sustain us in every one of our needs, and yet as the scripture tells us, we toil for what does not last. We seek after food that doesn’t last or wealth that passes away and he offers us himself, the living water if we will come to him. And he has paid that price for us with the sacrifice of his son, and now it’s our job to come to him and bring others to receive what is being offered to us. So Isaiah 55 is powerful chapter for me.

 

I saw this powerful and unassuming man, in priestly garb, at service this past Sunday, preaching a sermon based on Isaiah chapter 40. The one where it says they who wait on the Lord will “soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.” His message about discouragement and misplaced priorities echoed through the cavernous sanctuary, and I wondered how many others he reached besides me.

Footnote: The Anglican Parish at Tyendinaga in Ontario, Canada is St. Ann’s sister church. It sent a deerskin tapestry with the Lord’s prayer written in Mohawk which is now on display in the church Sanctuary.

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Jean Leonard
FEB 07  •  Jay, thank you for this series on the churches in the area. You’ve done it well, and it’s nice to know there are others seeking after the Lord

 

A Visit With Pa…

A Visit With Pastor Siegfried Ignecia Of Amsterdam’s Calvary Assembly Of God

Calvary Assembly of God in Amsterdam. Photo by Jay Towne.

 

Jay Towne for the Mohawk Valley Independent •Thu, Feb 02, 2012

I visited the Calvary Assembly of God in Amsterdam to hear a sermon before interviewing Pastor Siegfried Ignecia later in the week. I had visited his church with friends early last year, so the cavernous sanctuary with it’s gold beams, oversized windows and shades and drum set in the corner of the stage was no surprise. I heard a powerful and insightful sermon preached to a full church audience.

In his sermon the Pastor spoke of our relationship with God, saying “We should be grateful for all the things we have in life are blessings…our jobs, homes, careers, our children…everything is a blessing”.

I caught up with Pastor Ignecia this week.

MVI – Are you a resident of Amsterdam?

Ignecia – Yes. I’ve lived in Amsterdam for 21 years.

MVI – How many years have you been pastor of the church?

Ignecia – Since 2006 officially.

MVI – Were you pastoring another church elsewhere?

Ignecia – I was here but as an associate, not as a main Pastor.

MVI – Has the church always been at this location?

Ignecia – The church used to be up Market Street and I believe in 1998, I think, we moved down here to this building. It was renovated along with the sanctuary.

MVI – It’s quite a nice sanctuary.

Ignecia – Yes.

MVI – Did the church purposefully locate in the East End to minister to Amsterdam’s Hispanic population?

Ignecia – I would say 50-50. Mainly we were looking for a bigger place than the one we were in and part of it was to reach out to the Hispanic community.

MVI – Do you keep a count of the number of Hispanic citizens are in your church?

Ignecia – I can just tell you, most are not Hispanic. Just a few are.

MVI – What is the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives, both Christian and Non-Christian?

Ignecia – The role of the Holy Spirit, for Non-Christians might be to, in a sense, make them aware of God, what we call conviction. Because when you hear the word of God, he is the one who makes you respond to it. In our daily lives he helps us to live out what the Bible says. He gives you strength to do it.

MVI – What kind of outreach are you involved with as far as as helping the poor?

Ignecia – We have a Food Pantry that opens every Saturday from 9 until 11 am. With this we try to show the community that we love and care for them.

MVI – Why do you think Pentecostal and charismatic churches have experienced such dramatic growth over the past 40 years?

Ignecia – I believe it’s the Holy Spirit moving, and also, people want real live answers to their problems. I think Pentecostal churches focus on real issues. We are really more clear on issues, that’s what I think.

MVI – Is Calvary Assembly growing?

Ignecia – Yes, we are growing slowly, but we are growing.

MVI – In what ways is the Calvary Assembly of God church similar and different from the other churches in the area?

Ignecia – I would say, similar, because we are preaching the word of God just like everybody else and different in that everybody is welcome to attend Calvary and we try to make it a place where everybody feels free to come and we try to love them and take care of them.

MVI – You said in your sermon last Sunday that we should all be more grateful for God’s gifts. How can we, individually, be more thankful?

Ignecia – By valuing more, what Christ did for us on the cross, by giving more of our lives to God, by living for him and doing the work he has called us to do. I think too many people sit back and expect to receive without giving, but God’s way is about giving, giving your gift’s, giving your talents. To serve others, that’s what serving God is about.

MVI – Can you name a favorite Bible verse?

Ignecia – Yes. Isaiah 26:3,4 It says “Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. Because he trusteth in thee. Trust in the Lord forever for the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength”.

MVI – Thank you sir.

Having visited the church on numerous occasions, including monthly visits to the Food Pantry since early last year, I know firsthand the help Calvary is to the community. Their wonderful staff and friendly congregation, as well as an impassioned, inspiring preacher, make any visit worth making.

The Calvary Assembly of God is located in the former East End Elementary School at 200 East Main Street in Amsterdam.

 

Ukrainian Catholic Church

Amsterdam’s Ukrainian Catholic Church Serves Third Wave of Immigrants in More Than 100 Years

Jay Towne for the Mohawk Valley Independent
• Fri, Jan 20, 2012

The St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church sits on a fenced-in parcel of land at the corner of Edward and Pulaski Streets, up past Reid Hill in Amsterdam’s 4th Ward. The white, two story building has a banner attached to the front commemorating the 100th anniversary of it’s completion, celebrated in 2010.

As a testament to the viability of the church, then Governor Paterson issued a proclamation thanking the church for 100 years of service to the community, stating “since it’s founding in 1910, Saint Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church has grown into a vital force, an integral part of the community and…members find spiritual and moral guidance as a parish united by a common history and the cherished heritage of the Ukrainian ancestral homeland”.
It is similar to many churches, but what makes it outstanding is it’s leader, Father Marian Kostyk, a native of Ukraine.
I talked to him last week about himself, his church and his beliefs.
MVI – What is your name?
Kostyk – Marian Kostyk.
MVI – So, how long have you been in the Catholic Church?
Kostyk – First I start in the Ukraine in 1991. I came to Amsterdam in 1997. So I’ve been a priest 21 years.
MVI – What was your experience in Ukraine being a Christian? Is Ukraine a predominately Catholic country?
Kostyk – Yes. I was born in, in the city of Lviv, West Ukraine where most are Catholic and middle and east Ukraine are more Orthodox. But the Ukrainian – Greek Catholic Church, we are under the Pope.
MVI – How long have you been the father to this church?
Kostyk – Since July 1st, 1997.
MVI – So when you say you are under the Pope, that means you are Roman Catholic, right?
Kostyk – We are not Roman Catholic; we are Greek Catholic. In the United States we are just called Ukrainian Catholic Church. Our liturgy is more towards Orthodox, we are close to Orthodox, but we are under the Pope.
MVI – So you are like other Catholic churches, like St. Stan’s, or St. Mary’s.
Kostyk – Yes. We can have service together; we can have Holy Communion together, all together.
The Holy Eucharist we can have together.
MVI – Do you use any other books for worship other than the books that comprise the Bible?
Kostyk – No, we just use liturgy books. We don’t use any special books.
MVI – How do your beliefs shape your view of the world? How do you make the world a better place?
Kostyk – First of all, Christ is the center of my life, and prayer is conversation with God. I believe in Jesus Christ, and the Mother of God, and the patron of our church, St. Nicholas, a very important patron who protects our church and our lives also.
MVI – In your own life, do you view this world as good or bad or somewhere in the middle?
Kostyk – I think this world–in the middle. Not good, maybe not very bad. I believe Jesus Christ and our heavenly Father watch over us, every day. They watch everybody. If it weren’t for Jesus and God, this world would be done.
MVI- How large is your church congregation?
Kostyk – Our church is very small. This is my list, right here. Right now, 38 people or families in our small community. The first immigrants came to our family in 1895; the second community came after the Second World War. Now we have a third community after 1991 with Ukraine’s Independence. I came in 1994 and so did a lot of Ukrainian immigrants. But with Amsterdam…no work, no money…no one can stay here. They’ll go to a big city looking for the jobs. So we have just over 40 people. It’s a very small community.
MVI – I know you must have read your share, but can you tell me just one of your favorite Scripture verses?
Kostyk – Some very important Bible verses were when Jesus Christ was in the Last Supper. And he talked to his apostles and said “ Take, eat, this is my body and drink my blood. For your salvation”. And “ go to the whole world and bless and baptize everybody in the name of the Father and the Son and The Holy Spirit”. This is one of the most important Bible verses in the Bible and also in our liturgy for services.

The Father showed me around the actual sanctuary after the interview. The small church had rows of pews, a white interior and a remarkable partition with icons painted of various saints such as St. Michael and the patron of the church, St. Nicholas, separating the seating area and the altar. The altar is were the priest reads the liturgy and it is situated inside a large curved alcove, adorned with a large, beautifully painted mural of Christ.
I was struck by the simplicity and honesty of Father Kostyk and vowed to visit again soon.

Divine Liturgy is held at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church at 24 Pulaski Street in Ukrainian and English on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy is held on weekdays at 8:30 a.m.

Father Marion Kostyk

Russian Immigrant

Russian Immigrant Pastors Amsterdam’s Seventh Day Adventist Church and Three Other Area Churches

photo russian

Seventh Day Adventist Church in Amsterdam. Photo by Dan Weaver.

 

Jay Towne for the Mohawk Valley Independent • Thu, Jan 05, 2012

Every time you sit down and eat cereal for breakfast, you have the Seventh Day Adventist Church to thank for that (although no doubt the SDA Church would prefer you said thanks to God). John Harvey Kellogg and his brother, William Keith Kellogg (believed to be distant relatives of the Amsterdam Kelloggs) invented breakfast cereal.

John Harvey Kellogg ran a sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan and was a vegetarian and health food advocate. He was an ardent Seventh Day Adventist and many of his beliefs about health and nutrition were based on SDA doctrines. Later, however, he would be “disfellowshipped” from the church for what many considered to be heresy.

The Amsterdam SDA Church, located on Division Street, was built in the 1950s by two men, a father and son, named Hansen. Much of the rest of its history is shrouded in mystery.

Just before Christmas, Jay Towne interviewed the pastor of the church.

MVI – What is your name?

Roman – Roman Kozlov, that’s K-O-Z-L-O-V. A very common Russian last name.

MVI – How did you come to America?

RK – I was a young man in Russia just finishing my undergraduate theology degree and it just happened the girl that I was dating, her family was moving to the United States so, I had a choice before me so I chose to follow my heart and it was also an opportunity to advance my education. After finishing my undergraduate degree I was serving as a minister in Russia for a little bit less than two years, so then I came to the United States and I came to be a student and get my Masters degree in Theology; Master of Divinity.

MVI – From what school?

RK – Andrews University, Michigan. So I got my advanced degree, I got married then I got the call to serve churches in this area.

MVI – Tell me how many churches you pastor.

RK – I oversee four churches: one in Saratoga Springs, Buskirk Community Seventh Day Adventist Church, Gloversville, and Amsterdam.

MVI – And which do you prefer? No- I’m kidding…

RK – I can answer this. If you have four kids and someone asks you which one do you like better, what would you answer? All four kids are different. Its the same with the churches, every one has a different character and every one you love. And sometimes the one who gives you the most trouble, you love more; you have to put the more energy into.

MVI – What drew you to the Adventist faith?

RK – I have been a Christian all my life. I grew up in a family of believers, even though in Russia it was almost illegal to believe in God, to go to church, but my Mom, who was especially searching for God, changed a few churches before becoming a Seventh Day Adventist. So growing up I had the opportunity to see what the life was like with God and without him because most of the people around me were atheists. So I got my Bible, I started reading and praying and when I came to age I wanted to be baptized and follow God.

MVI – Were you baptized in Russia?

RK – Yes, at the age of nineteen. I was happy and excited.

MVI – Give me a brief history, what you know of, the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

RK – The Seventh Day Adventist church was established in the 1850′s and it was a time of great awakening in American history. It started with the preaching of William Miller who was teaching about the second coming of Jesus Christ, which inspired many people to leave their different denominations to follow this belief. They were disappointed when Christ didn’t return as predicted but there formed a group of people who realized the prophecies pointed to a cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary and not to Christ’s immediate return in 1844. From that point on this group studied their bible very seriously and saw that Christ was very clear about him coming again and they called themselves Seventh Day Adventists. The Seventh Day came from Saturday, the sabbath and Adventist from the Latin adventos.

MVI – What do you see as the chief role in the future for the Seventh Day Adventist Church?

RK – In the Amsterdam community and the world in general I have no doubt that when people look around they see that this world is really going through a turbulent time and people are looking for hope, they are looking for answers, they have different expectations about 2012, and I do believe that Adventists are very clear on the bible when it says Christ is coming soon, and I see the role of the Seventh Day Adventist Church as letting people know about what the bible says about last day events; to warn people; to instruct people how to prepare their hearts and minds to meet Jesus. I see my church as being a forerunner for Christ’s coming. And this is the reason that we have annual seminars on prophecies and on the book of Revelation. And I don’t want to claim the Adventist Church has all the answers. The Seventh Day Adventist Church is similar in some ways to other Protestant churches, in the way we worship Christ, and the Trinity and our Bible. But the uniqueness of the church comes in that we worship on Sabbath and on our emphasis on Christ’s imminent return. You can find in Matthew 24 the signs of Christ’s return. This teaching is found in other denominations but it has always been a central theme to us since our church’s founding.

MVI – Could you give me two of your favorite verses?

RK – Well, there are more than two, but if you ask for two I can do that. The first comes from Jeremiah, chapter 33 verse 3 and it says: “Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know.” This verse is meaningful to me because it comes from my childhood. It was painted on a picture I saw of a storm, and it showed how people tried to survive in it, and I remembered that.

And the second one is one of the promises from the Gospel of John, the very words of Jesus Christ.

Gospel of John 14:1-3 which says “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to myself so that where I am, you may be also”.

 

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JAN 13  •  Excellent Interview. Very Blessed to have Roman as our pastor. Our church has grown so much since hes been here. Come and visit one of Romans Churchs in Saratoga Springs . www.saratogasda.org