CATHOLICISM: Poland turning secular...

An article in today’s New York Times was titled: “Poland, Bastion of Religion, Sees Rise in Secularism”.

This caught my eye since I was raised in the Polish Catholic faith and have been to Poland, on business and pleasure, many, many times and have observed, first hand, Catholicism in Poland.

When I travelled to Poland with my mother to visit her home town, I was shocked to see old ladies (Bushias or Babcias) kissing the hands of priests that could not have been more than 21 years old. My cousin there told me the priests run everything in the town and if you don’t give them the money they want, they will announce in church that you are a sinner for not paying your dues and won’t give you communion.

Church construction was ludicrous with churches standing only blocks from one another in cities such as Warsaw.

I also learned that the church in Poland played a huge role in politics, ostensibly running the country and all institutions in the country.

Today’s article talks about the 108 foot statue of Jesus just build in Poland (bigger than the Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking Rio de Janeiro). The statue was build to obviously attract tourists but also, according to the priest that built it, to stop the rise of secularism in Poland. How does a statue actually do that?

Today, 95% of Poles call themselves Catholic but only 40% attend Sunday mass regularly. In large cities, the percentage is closer to 20%.

There is a strong anti-clerical sentiment in the country. People resent the church’s role in politics and in social issues like in-vitro fertilization which the church wants banned and the people want available.

A cute quote from the article: “I think most people would say their priest is a drunkard, that he is corrupt, that he takes too much money from weddings, that he bought himself a fancy car…”

Anti-church sentiment is so strong that one JANUSZ PALIKOT has formed a political party based largely on an anti-clerical platform…imagine that; its not about clerical sexual abuse, its about clerical power gone too far.

I am glad Poland and Poles are finally realizing that the church has a role and it is a spiritual role and that role means that the church must serve the populace and not govern it and not grow wealthy from their hard earned money. A little humility and poverty would be their order of the day.

Related articles

• Warsaw Journal: Changing Views of Math and Science, Starting With the Young (nytimes.com)
• Beaumont Enterprise: Polish priest raising world's largest Jesus statue (beaumontenterprise.com)
• It came to pass: Giant Jesus statue completed (msnbc.msn.com)
• A Bastion of Religion Sees Rise in Secularism (nytimes.com)
• Poland, Lacking External Enemies, Turns on Itself - NYTimes.com (jeffpruett.wordpress.com)