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Post by jeanne on May 15, 2010 22:52:22 GMT 1
Church attendance down in Poland
13.05.2010 16:06
Congregations in Poland are falling, says a new report by the Polish Roman Catholic church.
According to the Catholic Church’s Institute of Statistics, in the 1980s, one out of every two Poles professed regular attendance at Sunday Mass. Now, numbers have dropped to 41 percent.
The biggest congregations of church-goers are reported to be in southern Poland, especially in the Tarnów and Kraków dioceses, where some 70% of faithful attend Mass every Sunday.
In the Łódź, central Poland, congregations have fallen to a modest 30 percent.
However, in respect of 2009, turnout has improved and priests also point out that growing numbers of people take Communion at Mass (now 17 percent) which means that they are more conscious of their faith.
The annual church census is held on a Sunday every year in October or November.www.thenews.pl/national/artykul131551_church-attendance-down-in-poland.html I think that with the end of the Communist era in Poland, this is a natural occurrence. Before, people relied on God, now they attempt to rely on themselves. This is also why church attendance is down drastically in the US from the 1950's and 1960's. I also do not think that more people receiving Communion at Mass means they are more conscious of their Faith...I think it may mean they are LESS conscious of sin and the need for Confession to be in a worthy state to receive the Sacrament. This is definitely true in the US. |
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Post by Bonobo on May 16, 2010 20:57:23 GMT 1
I think that with the end of the Communist era in Poland, this is a natural occurrence. Before, people relied on God, now they attempt to rely on themselves. This is also why church attendance is down drastically in the US from the 1950's and 1960's. I also do not think that more people receiving Communion at Mass means they are more conscious of their Faith...I think it may mean they are LESS conscious of sin and the need for Confession to be in a worthy state to receive the Sacrament. This is definitely true in the US. It is true that in case of religion it is quality, not quantity that counts. Nevertheless, it is pity. It is more pleasant to live among people whose majority share your values, even if, being quantity, they do it superficially . |
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Post by Bonobo on Sept 3, 2010 23:30:28 GMT 1
Church wedding annulments boom in Poland
01.09.2010 11:34
An increasing number of Poles want to annul their church weddings in spite of lengthy and costly procedure.
Every year Poles file on average 3,500 petitions at ecclesiastical courts to annul marriages. Last year, the number increased to a record-breaking 10,000 petitions filed in 40 courts.
The procedure costs from 10,000-30,000 zloty (2,500-7,500 euro).
The problem is that in Poland there are only 40 lawyers who specialize in canon law and have a church license enabling them to annul marriages.
The reason why church annulments are so popular in Poland is a change in canon law, according to which an annulment can be granted if a court decides that one of the spouses is “emotionally immature”.
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Post by Bonobo on Oct 6, 2010 22:13:16 GMT 1
The conflict over the cross pitted secularists against the devout in Poland and Kaczynski sees President Komorowski, the ruling Civic Platform and leftist opposition parties, as coordinating an attack on the faithful.
His most recent comments were prompted by an alleged corruption scandal concerning the Property Commission, which is in charge of returning property seized from the Church during communist rule.
Dodgy deals?
In September, the Catholic Church’s plenipotentiary was arrested on suspicion of bribing a member of the Property Commission. The scandal also revealed a series of irregularities connected with compensation for property stolen by the communists.
The Church is accused of frequently underrating the value of land which was to be returned to it, and as a result received more land, and of a higher value, than it possessed before the communist regime took power after WW II.
Many diocese which regained seized property sold it on, making huge profits. St. Brother Albert order, for example, in exchange for 69-ha of land seized from the order under the communism, received twenty times more land (1500 ha), worth over 73 million zloty (18 million euro).
Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) MP Slawomir Kopycinski, who claims that members of the commission repeatedly overstepped their powers, has laid a motion at the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the Property Commission.
“The Commission has been operating for over twenty years in an illegal and uncontrollable manner,” said Kopycinski. The MP called the commission’s activity a “plunder” and “the biggest corruption scandal in Poland’s history.”
Since its establishment in 1989, the Property Commission returned about 60 ha of land and 490 buildings worth over 24 billion zloty (6 billion euro) to the Polish Catholic Church.
That President Komorowski has not rushed to the side of the Roman Catholic church on the issue is proof to Jaroslaw Kaczynski that the head of state is silent as the religious in Poland are being persecuted.
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Post by Bonobo on Mar 23, 2011 22:25:45 GMT 1
Become a cleric for the day
21.03.2011 13:11
A Roman Catholic seminary in central Poland is opening its doors today and gives male visitors the chance to experience what it is like to be a man-of-the-cloth for a couple of days.
“Become a cleric for two days” is the motto of open days at the Catholic seminary in Lodz.
This is the first time that such a college, which is normally off limits even for the students’ relatives, has decided to open its premises to outsiders. The invitation was extended to students of other institutions of higher learning. It does not apply to women, though.
“We want to open the door to students, of course, males only, who are interested in the ministry and seminaries” – the Lodz seminary informs on its web page. This is an opportunity to see how life at the seminary looks like from inside. The college will be open to visitors from Friday afternoon through Saturday and part of Sunday.
Everyone who is willing to experience this, will live just like the regular students are. “There will be no special events to show off”, Father Mariusz Rucki, a prefect of the Lodz seminary, told Gazeta Wyborcza daily.
First visitors are moving in this coming Friday. They will start with Way of the Cross masses and prayers and go to bed at 10 p.m. Wake up call at 6 a.m. The plan for Saturday includes lectures and a meeting with the prefect. There will also be some free time, which students may spend in town.
Father Rucki hopes that the open days scheme will attract more candidates at a time when the number of priestly vocations in Poland has fallen dramatically.
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Post by valpomike on Mar 24, 2011 2:19:16 GMT 1
We here in the USA have this problem.
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Jul 8, 2011 19:02:57 GMT 1
Rydzyk – ‘I never said Poland was totalitarian state’
28.06.2011 11:48
Controversial Radio Maryja founder Father Tadeusz Rydzyk says he never told the European parliament, as reported, that Poland was “a totalitarian state” following days of controversy which has involved the Foreign Ministry and even the Vatican.
Father Rydzyk: photo - PAP/Tomasz Wojtasik
“I never said that Poland is now a totalitarian state,” Rydzyk told the Nasz Dziennik newspaper, which is part of his media empire encompassing a radio and TV station and is highly influential among many religious and conservative Poles.
Rydzyk was reported to have told a group of MEPs in Brussels last week that Poland was “a totalitarian state” that “had not been ruled by Poles since 1939”.
At the weekend the Foreign Ministry wrote a letter to the Vatican calling for the ultra-catholic Radio Maryja to be brought into line after Rydzyk had “damaged the image of Poland abroad”.
The religious media mogul, however, says his comments have been misreported and taken out of context.
He claimed his remarks to a renewable energy conference in Brussels related to his conflict with the Polish government over obtaining grants to tap into geothermal energy sources on land owned by his Lux Veritatis Foundation in Torun, central Poland.
“I want to remind you that I was invited to Brussels for a conference on renewable energy. While in Brussels, I said that geothermal resources are an enormous opportunity for Poland but said that we are being excluded and discriminated against by the current authorities,” Rydzyk told his Nasz Dziennik newspaper.
“I said that this is totalitarianism. I did not claim that Poland is now a totalitarian state. I meant that the mechanisms and methods of the present government resemble that of a totalitarian state,” Rydzyk added.
In 2007, the then conservative Law and Justice-led coalition government gave Rydzyk’s foundation 12 million zloty (3 million euros) to develop geothermal energy sources which would be used for a spa in Torun where Radio Maryja is based.
Later in 2007, after Civic Platform won the general election, Prime Minister Tusk said that he would be examining any grants which had been given by Law and Justice to Radio Maryja close attention.
Radio Maryja was one of the few media organizations to support Law and Justice in the 2007 election campaign.
Rydzyk has said that he is sorry for any distress caused by the misreporting of his remarks about “totalitarian Poland” but failed to apologise for the remark that “Poles have not ruled Poland since 1939,”, which has been interpreted as meaning that Poland has been run by Jews.
Radio Maryja has been criticised many times in the past for making anti-Semitic statements.
In 2009, a tape of a lecture given by Rydzyk to his media school in Torun contained the claim that the then president Lech Kaczynski was being over influenced by a Jewish lobby in Poland.
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Post by valpomike on Jul 9, 2011 18:53:40 GMT 1
Is he, Rydzyk, good or bad? And why?
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Jul 9, 2011 18:55:39 GMT 1
Is he, Rydzyk, good or bad? And why? Mike Rather bad. He is too devoted to worldly matters. |
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Post by valpomike on Jul 9, 2011 19:05:57 GMT 1
I have been told this, by a young man, who had moved from Poland, a few years ago. Many of our priest here are becoming the same. One of them is our own Bishop.
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Jul 9, 2011 22:44:37 GMT 1
I have been told this, by a young man, who had moved from Poland, a few years ago. Many of our priest here are becoming the same. One of them is our own Bishop. Mike There is an old, forgotten proverb in Polish - Wdzia³ sukienkê dla chleba, nie dla nieba - He put on the frock for bread, not for Heaven. |
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Post by valpomike on Jul 11, 2011 1:19:54 GMT 1
That is a good proverb, and sad but true with many. Like our Bishop here.
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Mar 11, 2012 14:00:18 GMT 1
Poland's faithful provide 80 percent of Church finances
28.02.2012 13:11
A report by Poland's Catholic News Agency (KAI) has revealed that 80 percent of the funding for the country's Roman Catholic Church comes from donations from the faithful.
About 500 million zloty (120.5 million euro) is donated to the Church by the public each year.
The majority of this funding is gathered in the traditional collections held during masses. Annual revenues for parishes vary dramatically, depending on the wealth of the region.
A humble parish might garner a minimum of 30,000 zloty per year (7,230 euro), while a wealthy one might amass as much as 400,000 zloty (96,500 euro).
“The Church is as rich as the richness and generosity of its faithful,” said Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz, Archbishop of Warsaw, during the presentation of the material on Monday.
The report indicates that typical collections gathered during Sunday masses – in larger parishes there might be several services each Sunday - might range from 500 zloty to 4000 zloty (120 to 965 euro), depending on the area.
Payments are also made by members of the public for masses dedicated to the deceased (10 to 100 zloty, depending on the area), and at burials and weddings.
Only some parishes can count on extra income, via the leasing of property, business ventures and subsidies (for example EU grants).
The largest costs for parishes are heating and lighting, followed by the payment of staff costs (organists, cleaners).
Clergymen earn between 800 and 5500 zloty per month (192 to 1326 euros) for their pastoral work, but one in two are also employed at local schools, for which they earn additional wages.
The report claims that “the support that the Church offers the state - relieving them of various social, educational and cultural task -, can be estimated at several billion dollars per year."
Last year, the government paid 89 million zloty (21.4 million euro) into the so called Fundusz Koscielny (Church Fund).
However, the Roman Catholic Church points out that this money is divided among all faiths (Poland has, among others, Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Evangelical and Jewish minorities).
The Roman Catholic Church argues that more money should be paid into the Church Fund, as to date, the state has not fully compensated for the ravages of communism.
According to the Church, the state took 155,000 hectares of land, but has only returned 65 thousand. The state continues to make money from the land.
Calculations made by the Church, in relation to land lease values, call for 200 million zloty per year (48.2 million euro), as opposed to the current 89 million.
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Post by Bonobo on Mar 27, 2012 13:58:24 GMT 1
‘Gay mafia’ in Polish Church, claims controversial priest
16.03.2012 16:00
A controversial priest and Solidarity veteran has claimed that the Church in Poland is compromised by a “gay mafia” which “can destroy anyone” in its path.
“The gay lobby in the Church can destroy anyone who gets in its way,” claims Father Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski in his latest book, 'I am only interested in the truth' (Chodzi mi tylko o prawde).
The priest is not new to controversy, having caused a storm in 2006 by publishing research which alleged collaboration of priests with the communist-era security services.
In his latest volume, which takes the form of an interview with the editor of the conservative, right wing journal Fronda, the priest claims that Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, Archbishop of Krakow, had specifically requested him to avoid homosexual references in the earlier book about communist collaboration.
When asked in the current publication whether “homosexuality is a problem in the clergy”, the priest replied that “the higher up you go, the worse it gets.”
He also claimed knowledge of one curia where “from the bishop down to the butler, everyone working there is of such a tendency.”
Isakowicz-Zaleski argued that “it cannot be so that someone receives an important position solely because of his homosexuality.”
He also claimed that during his research into the communist-era files, he discovered a custom whereby clergymen were sent to Rome when the Curia “was unable to cope with the homosexuality of a priest.”
Isakowicz-Zaleski added that “homosexual circles have always had a strong influence at the Vatican.”
The priest, who runs a charitable foundation near Krakow, is descended from a prominent Polish-Armenian family and is a figurehead for the Armenian Catholic Church in Poland.
‘Super agent’
When researching his 2006 book, Isakowicz-Zaleski says that after he found evidence of widespread collaboration by priests with the communist authorities, he was told by the Krakow archdiocese to “throw the material in the incinerator”.
When he persisted with the research, Krakow’s Cardinal Dziwisz – a longtime aid to John Paul II - condemned his "irresponsible and harmful" activities, warned him to stop "throwing accusations” and banned him from speaking to the media.
Poland's then Roman Catholic primate, Cardinal Jozef Glemp, accused Isakowicz-Zaleski of behaving like a “super agent” himself, who pursued priests in a one-man witch hunt.
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Post by carolgreen702 on Aug 7, 2012 5:48:11 GMT 1
I have just read bishop`s pressure on him is not mentioned
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Post by Bonobo on Nov 7, 2015 21:28:45 GMT 1
The number of priests coming out is increasing. linkPolish priest Krysztof Charamsa comes out as gay, is sacked by Vatican
'It's time for the Church to open its eyes about gay Catholics and to understand that the solution it proposes to them -- total abstinence from a life of love -- is inhuman' The Vatican dismissed a priest from his post in a Holy See office on Saturday after he told a newspaper he was gay and urged the Catholic Church to change its stance on homosexuality.
Monsignor Krzystof Charamsa was removed from his position at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's doctrinal arm where he had worked since 2003, a statement said.
Charamsa, 43, and a Polish theologian, announced he was gay and had a partner in a long interview with Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper on Saturday.
He later held a news conference with his partner, a Spanish man, and gay activists at a Rome restaurant. They had planned a demonstration in front of the Vatican but changed the venue several hours before it was due to have started.
The Vatican said Charamsa's dismissal had nothing to do with his comments on his personal situation, which it said "merit respect". |
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Post by Bonobo on Jul 26, 2016 13:26:05 GMT 1
Religious beliefs in Poland  |
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Post by Bonobo on Apr 30, 2017 19:12:36 GMT 1
At last the Church said sth about nationalism which has been rampant recently.
Patriotism not the same as nationalism: Polish Church
29.04.2017 13:13
Polish Roman Catholic bishops have issued a document on the Christian shape of patriotism.
Archbishop Józef Kupny stressed at its presentation to the media that the Catholic Church makes a “clear distinction between noble patriotism and nationalism, which is a form of social egoism.”
“In conditions of a deep-reaching political conflict in Poland, it is our patriotic duty to reflect on the language of public debate”, he said.
The document, which also touches on the patriotic education of young people, is addressed to politicians, teachers, parents as well as to priests, the archbishop said.
Zbigniew Nosowski, editor of the Catholic quarterly Więź, welcomed the document’s words which stress that “patriotism must never be a justification for hostility, contempt and aggression”.
Interviewed by the Catholic Information Agency, Nosowski said, however, that it remains to be seen whether and how the message of the document will be translated into life at parish level.
“It is a pity”, he said, “that the document has not been published as a pastoral letter to be read out in all Polish churches”. In Nosowski’s view, there are many groups identifying themselves with the Church that equate patriotism with nationalism. (mk/pk)
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Post by jeanne on May 4, 2017 21:22:43 GMT 1
At last the Church said sth about nationalism which has been rampant recently. Patriotism not the same as nationalism: Polish Church 29.04.2017 13:13 Polish Roman Catholic bishops have issued a document on the Christian shape of patriotism. Archbishop Józef Kupny stressed at its presentation to the media that the Catholic Church makes a “clear distinction between noble patriotism and nationalism, which is a form of social egoism.” “In conditions of a deep-reaching political conflict in Poland, it is our patriotic duty to reflect on the language of public debate”, he said. The document, which also touches on the patriotic education of young people, is addressed to politicians, teachers, parents as well as to priests, the archbishop said. Zbigniew Nosowski, editor of the Catholic quarterly Więź, welcomed the document’s words which stress that “patriotism must never be a justification for hostility, contempt and aggression”. Interviewed by the Catholic Information Agency, Nosowski said, however, that it remains to be seen whether and how the message of the document will be translated into life at parish level. “It is a pity”, he said, “that the document has not been published as a pastoral letter to be read out in all Polish churches”. In Nosowski’s view, there are many groups identifying themselves with the Church that equate patriotism with nationalism. (mk/pk) Good, it's about time it was addressed by Church leadership. I agree that it should have been published as a pastoral letter, and I also think it should be heard from the pulpits at Sunday Mass...sometimes the Catholic faithful in the pews need a wake-up call about what their faith teaches, and this is one of those times. |
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Post by Bonobo on May 6, 2017 19:44:17 GMT 1
Good, it's about time it was addressed by Church leadership. I agree that it should have been published as a pastoral letter, and I also think it should be heard from the pulpits at Sunday Mass...sometimes the Catholic faithful in the pews need a wake-up call about what their faith teaches, and this is one of those times. Better late than never, they say. Single priests tried to contain the wave of nationalism provoked by the ruling party but their voice was stiffled by hurray patriotic slogans. |
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Post by Bonobo on Oct 1, 2017 14:51:53 GMT 1
For various mistakes and wrong decisions, the RC Church in Poland has been systematically losing supporters. And the process is going to continue.
Almost one in three Poles critical of Catholic Church: study
26.09.2017 07:30
Nearly 30 percent of Poles have a negative outlook on the country’s Catholic Church, a new poll has found.
The latest CBOS study on the attitudes towards public institutions showed that a little over 60 percent of Poles hold positive views on the Polish clergy.
“The performance of the Catholic Church is considered satisfactory across all the demographic groups included in the poll, except for the respondents who identify with the left,” the authors of the study said.
The police, meanwhile, enjoys the support of over 70 percent of those questioned, as opposed to 17 percent who think otherwise.
The National Health Fund is criticised by three out of five of Poles, compared to a third who have a more favourable approach to the state institution. Here the answers were largely dependent on the respondents’ income. Those whose household budget is below PLN 1,000 (EUR 240) a month are less critical than the better-off.
Forty-five percent believe that state insurer ZUS is up to par, whereas 34 percent think the opposite. “This is likely linked to new legislation reversing the retirement age for Poles" to 60 years for women and 65 for men, the study authors said.
The study was carried out between 7 and 14 September on a sample of 985 adults. (aba/pk)
Source: Rzeczpospolita
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Post by Bonobo on Nov 19, 2017 0:59:47 GMT 1
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Post by jeanne on Nov 19, 2017 1:22:23 GMT 1
Perhaps his superiors believe the time he is spending on body-building takes away from his time ministering as a priest. After all, it does take a lot of time at the gym to have a body like that! Plus, they may object to his immodest dress in public...
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Post by Bonobo on Nov 19, 2017 1:52:48 GMT 1
Perhaps his superiors believe the time he is spending on body-building takes away from his time ministering as a priest. After all, it does take a lot of time at the gym to have a body like that! Plus, they may object to his immodest dress in public... Yes, quite right! PS. Do you always have to have the last word?   : |
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Post by jeanne on Nov 19, 2017 3:56:31 GMT 1
Perhaps his superiors believe the time he is spending on body-building takes away from his time ministering as a priest. After all, it does take a lot of time at the gym to have a body like that! Plus, they may object to his immodest dress in public... Yes, quite right! PS. Do you always have to have the last word? : No, very rarely do I have the last word because I don't like to say much, so I sometimes just stop talking!  Here, I was just speculating on your post...isn't that what the forum is for? Besides, most people don't understand the mind of the Church because they just don't understand the Church, so I have more insight in these matters than most people, and I thought I'd share those insights! |
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Post by Bonobo on Nov 19, 2017 12:59:55 GMT 1
No, very rarely do I have the last word because I don't like to say much, so I sometimes just stop talking! Here, I was just speculating on your post...isn't that what the forum is for? Besides, most people don't understand the mind of the Church because they just don't understand the Church, so I have more insight in these matters than most people, and I thought I'd share those insights! I was joking about having the last word. It was sort of irony aimed at myself rather than you, because it is me who enjoys it. Ooh, insights haven`tcome to my mind. If so, you are welcome to share them and you are probably right, again, with this bodybuilding priest. |
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Post by jeanne on Nov 19, 2017 13:11:37 GMT 1
I was joking about having the last word. It was sort of irony aimed at myself rather than you, because it is me who enjoys it. Ooh, insights haven`tcome to my mind. If so, you are welcome to share them and you are probably right, again, with this bodybuilding priest. I would say you have many insights into many subjects and that you are always willing to share them! I try to do the same. |
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Post by Bonobo on Nov 24, 2017 22:20:07 GMT 1
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Post by jeanne on Nov 24, 2017 22:44:44 GMT 1
Parishioners don`t like it when their priests manifest wealth too much. After heavy criticism, certain priest declared he would sell his Porsche Macan worth 100.000$ and donate money to social welfare charity. Well, I can understand how parishioners might be offended by a too blatant display of wealth, as Christianity espouses the value of spiritual poverty, but on the other hand, priests (at least diocesan priests) do receive a salary that they are free to spend as they wish. They do not have families to support with children to be fed, clothed and educated, so perhaps they may choose to spend their personal money on a car. After all, they have been generous in giving their lives to God's work! Priests are human... |
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Post by Bonobo on Nov 25, 2017 21:25:05 GMT 1
Parishioners don`t like it when their priests manifest wealth too much. After heavy criticism, certain priest declared he would sell his Porsche Macan worth 100.000$ and donate money to social welfare charity. Well, I can understand how parishioners might be offended by a too blatant display of wealth, as Christianity espouses the value of spiritual poverty, but on the other hand, priests (at least diocesan priests) do receive a salary that they are free to spend as they wish. They do not have families to support with children to be fed, clothed and educated, so perhaps they may choose to spend their personal money on a car. After all, they have been generous in giving their lives to God's work! Priests are human... Yes, you are right as usual, but remember that buying a car for 100.000$ by a Catholic priest carries different connotation in Poland and the USA... |
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