Our Obligations As Polish Americans.....Oct. 29, 2005

Published in The Polish American Journal, Oct 5, 2005 - Polish Heritage Month Edition www.polamjournal.com

Rev. Leonard F. Chrobot, Ph.D.


Editor’s note:
The following address was delivered by Rev. Leonard F. Chrobot, Ph.D. on the occasion of the 116^th Commencement Exercises and the awarding of the Fidelitas Medal at Ss. Cyril & Methodius Seminary, Orchard Lake, Mich., May 7, 2005.

While addressed to Orchard Lake graduates, its message is an important one for all Polish Americans.

Rev. Leonard F. Chrobot, Ph.D., is Pastor of the Catholic Community of Saints Patrick and Hedwig in South Bend, Indiana, Adjunct Professor of Sociology and Coordinator of the American Polish Research Fellowship at the University of Notre Dame.

Article:
Rev. Leonard F. Chrobot, Ph.D.

Witam was: Niech bedzie pochwalony Jezus Chrystus!

May we first extend our sincerest congratulations to the graduates today on the occasion of the granting of the Masters of Arts and Divinity, and the Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry. These degrees challenge you to become “professionals” in your future work. The Constitution of the Church in the Modern World of Vatican II stated:

“Without always having a ready answer to every question” (a remarkable act of humility on the part of our Church Fathers), “the Church desires to integrate the light of revelation with the skilled knowledge of mankind, so that it may shine on the path which humanity has lately entered.” You have been given that skilled knowledge. And humanity has now entered the 21st Century.

At the turn of the 20th Century, the secular dogma was the inevitability of human progress with all the technology, education, and inventions. Yet, the Titanic sank like a rock, World War I and II, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Auschwitz, Majdanek, followed. How much suffering, pain, and death has the Body of Christ had to endure? What will happen in our 21st Century? This is the legacy you will have to face.

In addition to your “skilled knowledge,” you have been educated in the legacy of John Paul II and his charismatic power and remarkable influence. It came from his being “centered.” Only when one is grounded in the fundamentals can one be open to new ideas. In my classes at Notre Dame, Sociology 375 and 425, students learn two of Chrobot’s Laws - the Law of Some (always use “some” when referring to groups of people); and “Seek to understand, don’t judge, unless you have to.” True wisdom is achieved not by judging, but by listening to the story of people, by observing and developing awareness.

Perhaps John Paul II’s greatest contribution to world Catholicism is his concept of “inculturation.” He believed that the Church no longer needs to be a European institution planted in a foreign culture to elevate it. By virtue of the Incarnation, Christ is already present in all cultures in some way. He kissed the ground of every country he visited. What is “of Christ” in them should be discovered, nurtured, then celebrated. This is a whole different way of evangelization of the world in the 21st Century.

I am most grateful to Orchard Lake for today’s Fidelitas Medal. I have spent more than half of my life here-thirty-four years. I came as a freshman to Saint Mary’s Preparatory in 1952; room, board, and tuition at that time was $465. I came to know some remarkable people, mostly priests-Orlik, Skrocki, Gabalski, Wotta, and many others. I came under the influence of the Grandfather of the Cultural Pluralism movement in the United States-Rev. Valerius Jasinski. Polonia Historian Rev. Joseph Swastek once told me that I would never be a scholar, but that I had a gift of popularizing difficult ideas. Fathers Ziemba and Milewski created at atmosphere of creativity and openness. All of them fostered a remarkable community of people who shared a passionate vision, centered on the integration of the triune cultures of American, Catholic, and Polish. The Polish dimension continues to evolve.

In 1976 a delegation of some twenty bishops, led by Cardinal Wojtyla, came from Poland to participate in the International Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia. After it they came to Orchard Lake for a three-day conference before dispersing to various Polish American centers throughout the country. On the first day we lectured to them on the Church in America; on the second, they lectured about the Church in Poland. My talk stated that third, fourth, and subsequent generations of Polish Americans do not consider themselves “Poles living in America,” as many Polish bishops considered them. They are Americans of Polish heritage, proud of their ancestry, but more concerned with American problems of poverty and race than Polish problems with Communism.

Several weeks later, Cardinal Wojtyla made reference to the distinction at the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York. He said that the loss of awareness of the Polish heritage by so many was a morally negative phenomenon. He further said that Polish Americans have a twofold moral obligation: to know the price that our ancestors paid for us to be here today, and to help Americans understand the story of Poland. When my mother and I met him in Saint Peter’s Square in 1979, he put his arm around me and said: “That young priest sociologist from Orchard Lake-the Polish American.” I lifted off the ground a bit.

In his talk to Polonia in Hamtramck in 1987 he again called for the integration of the Polish heritage with our American identity. He said:

“… the more you are aware of your identity, your spirituality, your history, and the Christian culture out of which you ancestors and parents grew … the more you will be able to serve your country, the more capable will you be of contributing to the common good of the United States.”

He then quoted to Polish poet Wyspianski: “There are so many strengths in the nation.” He added: “And I wish to pray with him,” “Make us feel the strength.”

Our moral obligation is “to know the price our ancestors paid for us to be here today.” They learned important lessons from their suffering and sacrifice. These attitudes and values are now often unconscious. They have become interiorized to such a degree that we only recognize them when we come up against attitudes and values that are different. They are often crystallized in the many folk sayings that are a significant part of our tradition.

Imagine United States foreign policy based on some of them. I can think of Rumsfield and Cheney telling President Bush, as Busia used to say: “Kto chce psa uderzyc, kij znajdzie” (If you want to hit a dog, you will find a stick). Colin Powell could well have said, as Dziadzia used to say: “Nie kopaj kope gowna” (Don’t kick a pile of manure). Condoleezza Rice probably said, as Busia did: “Nie ma zlego co by na dobre nie wyszlo” (Nothing bad happens that some good can’t come from it). When Dziadzia used to complain about how difficult it was here in America, Busia used to say: “Chcialo ci sie Ameryki, teraz masz” (You wanted to come to America, now you have it). Senator Kerry could have said: “Chcialo ci sie Iraka, teraz masz” (You wanted Iraq, now you have it).

Our second moral obligation is “to help Americans understand the story of Poland.” For the past several weeks I have watched some fifteen or so episodes commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of World War II on the History Channel. There has been a lot of sympathy for the suffering of the German people (and justifiably so), but Poland was hardly mentioned. There has been no word of the Warsaw Uprising of 1945 and the obliteration of the city. The only documentary on the Uprising was aired a year ago not on the networks, but on cable CNN, at the same time that the Normandy invasion was aired. Few saw it. Monte Cassino was liberated by a multiple-nation coalition. One Polish man is interviewed, who said little. Some ten or so Germans were extensively interviewed. What is our obligation to tell the story?

I have been reflecting on Polish American identity for some thirty-five years.1 For the last thirteen, I have taught a course at Notre Dame-SOC 375-Polish Americans. My purpose is to remind the University that it is not an Irish institution, but a Catholic one. They don’t seem to know the difference. Most of my students are not Polish. Very typically, I will have a student with a Polish mother and an Irish father (hence an Irish name). When asked of their identity, they will say Irish, not Polish.

In class we use the heuristic method of typologies, i.e., conceptualizing extremes, dichotomizing them for better understanding. Wisdom is found in the differences between the two.

If one were to conceptualize the extreme of the urban culture hyper-American identity, one would find that it is based on the liberal ideal of individual freedom, the right of the individual to follow his or her own interests defined by individual taste and values. Identity is created, not given, and is based on little or no sense of responsibility to the past or the future. One’s purpose in life is to maximize pleasure, minimize pain, and to consume as much as possible. It makes Wall Street and our portfolios very happy.

We can draw a typology of the urban culture hyper-American view of human sexuality based on “Friends”- one of the most popular prime-time sit-coms and its commercials. Sex is a high form of recreation, addiction to which is lawful after the age of eighteen. When a person needs a “fix,” he can draw upon three new kinds of pills (the Levitra commercial touts “for a strong and long-lasting experience”). One then must wrap himself in latex, to protect oneself from “the other.” If the “fix” is good, one can try again. If not, one must find another partner. And if things should get “complicated” by a pregnancy, one can always get an abortion. These are machines, not humans. The person is reduced to a commodity. Urban culture people “have sex,” folk culture people “make love.” The difference is that each person has “a story.” I have “a story.” John Paul II knew this in his Love and Responsibility.

What then does it mean to be “an American”? In contrast to the hyper-American stands the Integrated Pluralist model. American identity is a concept, which needs to be re-defined with continuous immigration and subsequent generations, but is based on principles of liberty and equality of the individual who comes from a family and a community and is responsible to them.

A good example of this is my current student David Witoski, a second generation Polish American. In his final term paper about his family he wrote:

Each Polish immigrant was faced with his own unique challenge of converting customs and values from Poland into their new home in order to create an altogether new culture, that of the Polish American. As Thomas and Znaniecki (in The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, a sociology classic) make clear, this is not just “a gradual substitution in his consciousness of American cultural values for Polish cultural values and of attitudes adapted to his American environment for the attitudes brought over from the old country,” but a “formation of a new Polish American culture out of those fragments separated from Polish society and embedded in American society.” It is not an issue of assimilation or non-assimilation into their new environment but the creation of an altogether new culture and new way of life, occupied by unique individuals who have their own perspective on the world. Accordingly, the members of the Witowski and the Szymusiak families were able to define for themselves what it meant to be a “Polish American.

For those of you who are more recent immigrants, my student found an interesting attitude in his mother Marysia Szymusiak:

Back in Poland she went to school and had a nice easy job that provided opportunities for mobility, but once in America, Marysia found herself working a difficult job in a foreign land. Given her situation, she never liked America and felt that she got a raw deal. Others had doubts about their new homeland as well.”

Our ancestors came to America “za chlebem” (for bread). Now immigrants come “za chlebem z maslem” (for bread with butter).

The first assignment in SOC 375 is an anecdotal paper on what it means to be a Polish American. Since most are not of Polish background, they have to find someone to interview. Almost all of their papers begin with the concept of “shame.” It is not a good thing to be Polish. After that, however, most find what I call the “Three Fs,”-faith, family, and food. Faith-Polish Americans attend Sunday Mass more than any other ethnic group. Family-together, at Christmas and Easter, with oplatek and swieconka. Food-for my family it has always been my mother’s kluski.

The founder of the Polish Seminary, Rev. Joseph Dabrowski, preached an integration process of Polishness and Americaness based on cultural pluralism, a century before it became popular. He was also good at reading “the signs of the times.” The signs of our times may be discerned in our national election of 2004. The “success” of America is measured by corporate America and the GNP. Protestant evangelicals use the code word “family values” for their agenda. Militant Islam is reacting to the extremes of westernization by violence. Remember, however, John Paul II’s search for “what is of Christ” in these manifestations.

In conclusion, Quo Vadis Polonia? My task as a sociologist is not to give answers, but to help formulate the right questions. Unless we can define the situation accurately, we will not come up with effective solutions. As the 2005 recipient of the Fidelitas Medal, I pledge to continue, as long as I can, to seek the right questions. Your generation will have to search for the right answers. To keep a proper perspective, however, we need to remember what Busia used to say: “Byl las, nie byl nas; bedzie las i nie bedzie nas” (The forest was here, we were not; the forest will be here, we will not”).

¹ Rev. Leonard F. Chrobot, “Who Am I? Reflections of a Young Polish American on the Search for Identity,” Monograph 4, Orchard Lake Center for Polish Studies and Culture, February, 1971, and
Rev. Leonard F. Chrobot, “Ethnic Awareness and Self-Identity,” Monograph 6, Orchard Lake Center for Polish Studies and Culture, April, 1971.

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