What is it like to belong to the Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC)?
Belonging to the PNCC means belonging to a Catholic Church with a difference.
When people think Catholic they may picture an old church, a city across the sea, rules and regulations, and formal worship… The Catholic Church is over 2,000 years old and is far more than that. It is faith that is universal and everlasting. It is faith expressed in many ways.
The PNCC is a community of Christ-following adults, teens and children who worship as one. Aided by the Holy Spirit we demonstrate and share the truths, principles and promises that Jesus taught and modeled in a diverse community. Belonging means being part of that.
Many Churches refer to themselves as Catholic including the Orthodox, Oriental, Roman, and our PNCC. Like all of these, the PNCC is a Catholic Church. Belonging means growing together in our relationship with God, our community, and the wider world.
Belonging means participation in regular worship. We place special emphasis on proclaiming and teaching God’s Word as found in the Holy Bible. Belonging means joining in worship that touches every aspect of your soul and life. We are democratic in our organization. Belonging means having a voice and a vote in how local parishes and the wider Church is run. It means belonging to a Church that is fully accountable to its members.
Will I be welcome?
Yes! We are determined to say “Welcome!” to any and all who Jesus welcomes and receives – and that means you. Jesus did welcome everyone. He confronted what was broken in their lives and brought them healing, peace, and joy. His welcome and love was powerful enough to change people. We have been changed and definitely welcome you to experience and share in all the wonderful things Jesus has done for us.
In an often impersonal and lonely world we seek to be family to one another, loving each other as Christ loved us. We believe in the value and dignity of all people, created in God’s image. We are not an exclusive church. We don’t put up toll booths and require ‘donations.’ Our doors are open and everyone is welcome regardless of background, former or current religious affiliation, age, economic or marital status. Whether you are young or old, rich, poor or in-between, married or single or divorced or widowed, Republican or Democrat or something else politically, from any racial or ethnic group, Jesus welcomes you and so do we!
What are our aims and principals?
We express the convictions of those who believe that salvation and our personal relationship to God cannot be the object of bargaining and cannot be forced upon us but must flow from a free conscience.
We are a voluntary union of those who recognize the religious principles of this Church as the norms and rules of their lives.
We teach and profess all the religious truths that God revealed, Jesus Christ proclaimed, and the Apostles and their successors established as the foundation of the Christian Faith, namely that:
- God created the world;
- We need for our perfection, happiness and salvation God’s gift of divine grace;
- Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world;
- The human soul is immortal; and
- Through the Holy Spirit God governs the Church and enables it to regenerate and convert human society and to unite it under one Shepherd, Christ Jesus our Lord. In this manner the kingdom of God on earth is realized.
The religious principle of of our Church is that the Church cannot save a person without their sincere, personal cooperation with God. The Church teaches that the wisdom of God sanctifies and helps us in the fulfillment of our mission and the attainment of our goal on earth. A living faith in God and good works flowing from that faith will save us. The Church of Christ is the true way leading us to know the Truth and to salvation.
Our clergy are called to reveal the will of God and expound it by word and deed — that is, live an exemplary Christian life. Churches which claim that only through them can one be saved misrepresent the teaching of Christ and openly mislead people. Jesus Christ taught differently. He said that “he who believes and is baptized is saved.” (Mark 16:16, John 3:5) Those who believe in His mission are regenerated through repentance and grace to lead a life of good works and are saved through Christ’s redemptive action. No blind faith in a specific church but righteous living brings salvation.
The most important objective of our Church, as the Catholic Church of Christ, is to maintain, enrich and develop the life of God in the soul of every person who comes to us. To help them know God and His holy Being so that from this knowledge and understanding may flow blessing, light, love, strength and inner satisfaction which no person or thing can give, save God.