Bishop Casimir Grotnik Blesses Tabernacle and Reredos

On July 29, 2001, the Diocesan Bishop made his first visit to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Czestochowa parish to bless the reredos and tabernacle hand-carved by Father Senior Walter Madej.

A Vespers Service was conducted at 4 pm. Parish Chair Robert Nagle offered Bishop Grotnik the traditional greeting of bread and salt. The Choir Lutnia sang Go Up To The Altar Of God during the procession and sang a Welcome to the Bishop before the Vespers Service. Pastor Stanley Bilinski and Father Anthony Mikovsky, together with Bishop Grotnik and Father Senior Madej led the Vespers Service and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Kyle Meyers was altar server for this important occasion in the parish's history.

Following Vespers and the Blessing of the Tabernacle, Chair Robert Nagle presented Father Senior Madej with a stole in appreciation for the beautiful carving. The faithful who attended the service enjoyed fellowship during a bountiful reception.

About Bishop Grotnik:

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Kazimierz Grotnik (1935 - 2005) was consecrated a Bishop in the Polish National Catholic Church on November 30, 1999. He was the Bishop of the Central Diocese of the PNCC from 1999 through 2005.

Bishop Grotnik was ordained a priest in 1958 and came to United States in 1969. Since 1969 he had been a member of the Bishop Hodur Biography Commission and since 1971 of the PNCC's History and Archives Commission.  Bishop Grotnik was an accomplished author who has published several scholarly works including: The Polish National Catholic Church, 2002; Sermon Outlines and Occasional Speeches, 1899-1922, 2002; Synods of the Polish National Catholic Church, 1993; and A Fifty-Year Index to Polish American Studies, 1944-1993, 1998.

The Bishop was also archivist of the Central Diocese, curator of a museum of PNCC history, a Polish American Historical Association (PAHA) activist, and a Polish American Studies indexer.

What is a Reredos1:

A reredos is an ornamented wall or screen that rises behind the high altar of a church, forming a background for it. It may be placed against the apse wall at the extreme end or directly behind the altar, as in certain English churches where it serves to separate the choir and the retrochoir. Called dossal, or dorsal in its earliest form, it was a tapestry or a richly embroidered fabric suspended behind the altar. In the 11th and 12th cent. the reredos was generally a screen of gold, silver, or ivory adorned with sculptures in relief. It became a permanent architectural feature in the late Gothic in England and the Renaissance in Spain, where it was seen as a lofty decorative structure filling the entire width of the choir. Relief sculptures of the Passion and figures of angels and saints were enclosed by a rich framework of pilasters and pinnacles. Especially ornate were the marble and alabaster examples in Spain and those of polychromed and gilded wood in the baroque churches of Mexico. The reredos of Italy and Germany were primarily religious paintings within an architectural framework.

1Portions from The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2003 Columbia University Press.