The principles of the Polish National Catholic Church are an expression of the convictions of those who believe that the salvation of mankind and their personal relationship to God cannot be the object of bargaining and cannot be forced upon mankind but must flow from the free conscience of man.
The Polish National Catholic Church is a voluntary union of those who recognize the religious principles of this Church as the norms and rules of their lives.
The Polish National Catholic Church teaches and professes all the religious truths which God revealed, Jesus Christ proclaimed, and the Apostles and their successors established as the foundation of the Christian Catholic Faith, namely: that God created the world; that man needs for his perfection, happiness and salvation God’s gift of divine grace; that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world; that the human soul is immortal; and that 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.
This Church possesses Apostolic Succession by reason of the consecration of the Reverend Francis Hodur by the following Bishops of the Old Catholic Church of Holland: Archbishop Gerard Gul of Utrecht, Bishop Jan van Thiel of Haarlem, and Bishop Michael Bartholomew Spit of Deventer, in Saint Gertrude’s Cathedral, Utrecht, Holland, on September 29, 1907, as Bishop of the Polish National Catholic Church of America.
The religious principle of the Polish National Catholic Church is her teaching that the Church cannot save man without his sincere, personal cooperation with God. The Church teaches that the wisdom of God sanctifies and helps man in the fulfillment of his mission and the attainment of his goal on earth. A living faith in God and good works flowing from that faith will save man. The Church of Christ is the true way leading man to know the Truth and to salvation.
The clergy should 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 man can 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 of God to lead a life of good works are saved through Christ’s redemptive action. No blind faith in a specific church but righteous living brings salvation. St. Paul, the foremost interpreter of the Gospel, says “Though I speak with tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal; though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.†(I Cor. 13:1-2)
The same Apostle confirms in the concluding words of chapter 13, verse 13, that deeds arising from the love of God and neighbor mean more than faith…â€Faith, hope and charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity! Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.†(Romans 13:10)
Christ Himself spoke to those who had faith and performed miracles in His name but lead a godless life: “and then I will profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you evil doers.†(Matthew 7:23)
The most important objective of the Polish National Catholic Church, as the Catholic Church of Christ, is to maintain, enrich and develop the life of God in the soul of man. To help man 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 – this is the most important goal of the Polish National Catholic Church.
As a nucleus of Christ’s revelation, the above statements are to us worthy religious truths concerning God, the individual, state, nation, and all mankind. It is, therefore, necessary to know and fulfill them. These Christian truths recorded and expounded by the prophets and taught by the Apostles and other great disciples of the Divine Master of Nazareth were adhered to by saintly and noble people for nearly two thousand years. They are all embodied in the Confession of Father of the Polish National Catholic Church. May they be a living rule and guide for our daily lives.