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Polish Catholic Mission (PCM Ltd) takeover by stealth |
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| Author: |
Topic: Polish Catholic Mission (PCM Ltd) takeover by stealth |
guest
Posts: 4
Registered:
2005-03-02
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| Posted: Mar 10, 2008 4:26:23 pm |
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For anyone who is interested about the future and control of our Polish community centres and Parish centres which were mainly funded by our parents, this probably relates to most of the Polish UK communities and parishes.
Back in the mid 1960s all the Polish centre community chairmen were persuaded by the Polish Catholic Mission UK - the Polish Church, (Polska Misja Katolicka), to sign over the deeds of their respective parish ccommunity properties in TRUST to the PBF for safekeeping. The PBF being the Polish Benevolent Fund, mainly run by Polish Catholic community members based in London, which was set up in good faith in the early 1950's as a charity, to help Catholic Poles (the "BENEFICIARIES") in the UK settled after WW2. In the 1960's Fr. Rector Staniszewski, who was in charge at the time guaranteed that the PBF and the PCM would not "OWN" the property assigned to them but only hold it in TRUST. Adding personally something along the lines of in Polish: "nie martwcie sie, nie stracicie swoich Malych Domkow") - meaning: don't worry you won't lose you properties.
Over the decades and behind the scenes the PBF began to be taken over and run by the PCM (the Polish Church in England and Wales) the Trustees now being; the PCM rector about 8 priests and only 3 lay people, (it seems that non-compliant lay Trustees were dismissed from office as happened in a purge in 2005). Meanwhile in March 2007 the PCM quietly formed a Limited company and it's own Charity which in all intents and purposes, and without any proper consultation with the PBF BENEFICIARIES, took it over by stealth. It seems that it has assumed full ownership of all it's assets and properties. The PCM Ltd has claimed that it has the right to dispose of and sell any property (quietly posting this on the PCM website which now has controlled access) including of course all the Polish parish and community buildings in the UK which were all mainly purchased and acquired by the local Polish Communities during the 1960s (not the Polish Church in the UK), and if it so desires send the proceeds back to the Church in Poland.
A Polish Community building in Liverpool was sold by the PBF with some time ago, despite protests by the local Polish Community , which did not ever get the proceeds of the sale back. The PBF steamrollered through using PBF funds (Polish Beneficiaries donated funds) to hire expensive lawyers and even threaten individuals with personal legal actions as in Nottingham more recently.
There was a more dramatic split in a Nottingham a couple of years ago regarding the management, selection of local chairman and running of the local Polish Parish Community Centre. Similar tactics were employed there to the extent that the PCM priest called the Police to have the local Polish committee barred. The Polish Nottingham Centre (funded by the Nottingham post WW2 Polish community, not by the Polish Church) was the closed down for over year while the Polish Catholic Mission and the Polish Benevolent Fund, which was under new leadership of the PCM Rector, Fr Tadeusz Kukla and chairman appointed by him; Mr.Janusz Sikora- Sikorski hired solicitors to commence a legal battle with members local Nottingham Polish elected Committee which opposed their actions.
Many of the original Parishioners, Beneficiaries and Polish Community members in the UK of the past 50 years plus are probably unaware, unclear and have been kept in the dark about how these 2 organisations interact and relate to their own local Polish communities and Parishes. There has been no real consultation with the Beneficiares of the PBF about any changes let alone the activities, decisions and interaction of the PBF and Polish Catholic Mission in the UK. Most Polish Catholic descendents, born post WW2 in the UK and their parents which settled here qualify to be Beneficiaries of the PBF which is a registered UK charity, and should be notified in a transparent and public way about significant changes to the PBF statutes, activities and executive management which now consists mainly of Polish priests since 2005.It is therefore unlikely that democratic decisions take place at HQ as the Polish Catholic Mission Rector is in charge with his appointed chairman.
On one hand the organisation which should be a purely Religious and Spiritual is the Polish Catholic Mission in the UK and is now a Limited Company (commercial business). It has probably existed in the UK since the early 1900s or before ie for the Polish Church. On the other hand the Polish Benevolent Fund Charity, is an Economic Administrative Lay Charitable Catholic body which was set in the 1950s up to help Poles and Polish Communities settled after World War 2 and their descendents born in the UK prior to Poland’s accession to the EU.
To recap PBF Charity has now been taken over by Polish Catholic Mission which has formed both the PCM Limited Company and Polish Catholic Mission Charity the management of which are both Charity Trustees and now Company Directors. It looks like the PBF still has a £3 million pounds turnover annually and deeds in TRUST of many of the post WW2, POLISH COMMUNITY PURCHASED BUILDINGS. For more details check their last accounts on the UK Charities Commission website; - The Polish Benevolent Fund - Charity.
http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/registeredcharities/search.asp?words=Polish+Benevolent+Fund&searchby=name&keyType=N&limit=200&position=2&submit=+Run+Search+&OpArea=S&area_of_op=
For more information about the Polish Catholic Mission see their UK website, - polishcatholicmission.org.uk
Which has published (although access to this website is now severely limited) PDF document versions of intended new rules for the selection of members and running of local parish community management committees, which were up until more or less democratically elected (except of course Nottingham and it seems Balham,Coventry and Leeds) - which have now become Komitety Ekonomiczne (Parafialne) run and exclusively headed by the local Polish priest.
For the Polish Benevolent Fund see the PBF Monitor Website which is not their official website but has further information about the PBF its original founding and Charitable statutes, aims and it's activities in the past.
www.pbf.monitor.ukonline.co.uk
For more info and past discussion about the Nottingham Polish Centre see the BBC Stoke on Trent community website and search for PBF. http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/have_your_say/archive/2004/polish/3.shtml
LATE NEWS: free access to the Polish Catholic Mission UK website has now been restricted and is subject to a registration and login procedure.
1st JULY 2008 LATEST NEWS: the Reading Polish Parish Community Club has been closed down overnight by the Polish Catholic Mission at the beginning of July without any prior consultation, the local Polish priest was instructed by the PCM in London to change the locks which excluded the local Polish community chairman and staff who had been running the club for a number of years.
http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/s/2031159_shock_closure_of_polish_club_
- Edited by guest on: Mar 11, 2008 11:58:13 am
- Edited by guest on: Jul 09, 2008 3:36:20 pm
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- Edited by guest on: Jul 11, 2008 1:23:17 pm
- Edited by guest on: Jul 11, 2008 1:33:33 pm |
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guest
Posts: 4
Registered:
2005-03-02
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| Posted: Apr 25, 2008 7:23:01 pm |
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Could all those who oppose the "takeovers" get together for a meeting. If we don't do something we'll lose forever what was built up over the last 60 years. |
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