At the sound of a bell from the altar, relayed over loud-speakers, about 50,000 people at an open-air mass last month in the Polish capital dropped down to kneel in the street.
It was a powerful symbol of Poland’s deeply felt Roman Catholicism, a reminder of the scenes in the 1980s when, inspired by Polish Pope John Paul II, people prayed in the streets and brought down Communist rule.
But modernity intruded on this recent moment of spiritual contemplation. The size of the crowd meant some worshippers, who arrived late, had to listen to the mass standing outside a sex shop with signs in the window offering “exotic dances”.
Society in Poland is changing and with it, the relationship between the Polish people and the Catholic church.
In this country where, since the end of Communist rule, prime ministers have sought the blessing of the church before making important decisions, Catholicism is losing its influence.
Opinion polls show that the number of people who go to church or pray regularly is in decline.
And now a series of initiatives – on in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), ending state subsidies for the church, and homosexuality – is challenging Catholicism’s role at the heart of the state.
“We want to separate the secular state from religion,” said Andrzej Rozenek, a lawmaker with the ultra-liberal Palikot movement. It surprised many by becoming the third biggest party in parliament in an election last year.
“We’re trying to show Poles that there are other values”…
Poland’s ties with Catholicism are rooted deep in history, but were given a fresh intensity by Karol Wojtyla, a clergyman in the city of Krakow before he became Pope John Paul II.
During a visit to his homeland, in 1979, the new pontiff gave a sermon at a mass in Warsaw. Poland was run by an unpopular Communist leadership that crushed dissent.
“May Your Spirit descend and renew the face of the earth,” the pope said in a prayer. He made a dramatic pause, and then added: “The face of this land.”
His message was clear…
Yet people have become less assiduous about their faith. In this, Poland is following the same pattern as countries like Spain and Italy, which grew less religious as they grew richer.
Since 2005 the proportion of Poles who pray every day has fallen from 56 percent to 38 percent…
Despite the profound changes under way in Polish society, Catholicism still runs deep…
The whole piece is here.
There are lots of distortions, half-truths and omissions in this article; really seems like a piece from Guardian or Tablet. Nearly each paragraph should be commented on. Just for starters:
(i) “Abortion (…) restrictions (…) may be linked to worries about falling birth rates as much as it is about church doctrine”
Bullshit! After the Communist rule the abortion-on-demand law was changed despite the fact that over two-thirds of people were pro-choice at that time. Poland has shown not only that a reversal of the liberal abortion law is possible, but – more importantly – that people’s attitude towards this can change 180 degrees (there is a very strong pro-life majority now). It contradicts the paradigm of inevitable one-way “progress”. Hence, such silly and derogatory explanations of this cognitive dissonance for liberals.
(ii) Actually, the open-air mass mentioned in the article was for Catholics who headed towards a demonstration in Warsaw. And the demonstration (counted at over 100,000 people even by the generally anti-Catholic mass media) was the largest since regaining the independence. Its underlying purpose was the fact that a government agency had refused a slot on a new digital television platform for a Catholic TV station (despite granting slots for some non-existent stations which have not even launched their operations). It is incredible that the authors have failed to mention that purpose of the demonstration and the immediate context of the open-air mass.
(iii) As for Church financing, the authors have failed to mention that the Communist state confiscated (stole) all the Church property and even though there is now a state fund to gradually repay for that, overall, the Church in Poland is by no means financed by the state. Parishes are financed by Sunday collections and priests by mass, funeral, wedding and baptism stipends customarily offered by the faithful.
(iv) The Church is opposed against IVF primarily not because it “departs from the natural order of procreation”, but because several babies are killed to get one born.
(v) As for the general picture, over the twenty-year period of Independence, the Sunday attendance has not fallen dramatically (despite constant predictions that it will), while the number of involved Catholics (as measured statistically by the number of those receiving communion or members of Catholic renewal movements) has constantly risen. Priestly vocations are still thriving. In reality, the grey zone of cultural Catholics has been quickly diminishing. The price is polarisation in which also radically anti-Catholic minorities emerge.
The article appears mainly to be a reflection of the increasing secularization of Europe. Where that process is essentially now “complete” in countries like “RC” Belgium, France, Italy, & Spain, “Lutheran” Scandanavia, “Anglican” England, “Orthodox” Greece, and “mixed” Germany & Holland, it is still playing out in those areas that are less secular. There have been dramatic changes in Ireland over the past 25 years. Same is holding true in Poland. We must pray for a revival. Maybe thru the post-colonial South? But European Christians and churches need to promote Christianity one person at a time. They need to actively engage in missions and evangelism in their own back yard. [Only time will tell what happens to European Islam in Balkns and Turkey.]
“Same is holding true in Poland.”
Absolutely not. It is mostly wishful thinking on behalf of liberals. Poland does not seem to fit in their ‘patterns’ at all; in fact it defies the logic of secularisation as somehow inevitable process. I remember them professing 20 years ago that in several years Polish churches would be empty like those in some West-European countries. Actually, no dramatic secularisation has occurred since then. In many issues (like abortion), people are much more in line with Catholic teaching than they used to be. And the percentage of deeply committed (devout) Catholics has grown rapidly. What is only true is that 20 years ago there were no vehemently anti-Catholic groups (apart from the Communist party hard-liners) and there are some now.