Can Polish religious model survive in a secular Union?

Date: 15/04/04

WHILE the number of churchgoers is in constant decline across Europe, in Poland a Sunday mass is still an integral part of common lifestyle as are broth and pierogis (home-made noodles) for a family dinner.

Every morning, at half-past six, church bells ring across Poland. The local parish priest is still the highest authority in a community and a bishop is seen as omnipotent. Public schools observe a whole week of Easter recollections, abandoning the normal curriculum and ignoring the possible diversity of beliefs of their students in the process.

But, while it was once a pillar of national integrity and 'the conscience of the nation', the Polish church has transformed in recent years. After having been fighting the country's oppressors and occupants over the past centuries, it was unaccustomed to functioning in a free society.

The collapse of communism in 1989 brought a wave of behavioural trends from the West to Poland - enthusiastically adopted by the youth - that completely neglected religion. At the same time, the reputation of the church has been waning as priests were accused of nepotism and greed during the transition to a market economy.

To the rescue of its beloved church hurried Polish-born Pope John Paul II. During a series of pilgrimages to his "miraculously liberated" homeland in the 1990s, he preached an open condemnation of consumerism and of a lifestyle based on purely materialistic goals. Equally critical of communism and capitalism, he encouraged his compatriots to look for "the third way". Though no third way has been found, the church clerks became more cautious with launching aggressive public crusades and more spiritual in their dealings with people.

The second serious test for the Polish church is the country's accession to the European Union, due to take place on 1 May, which the clergy fear will upset traditional values.

"At the beginning of negotiations [with the EU] many priests threatened the population with the European ghosts of neo-paganism and secularism," says Radek Mielnicki, a political science professor from Lublin. "They perceive Western separation of state and church as a factor undermining the orthodox teachings still popular in the Polish model of Christianity. The echo of such a position still reverberates in the rural areas of our country," he added.

After a few unfortunate declarations and moves, the church chieftains - under pressure from the Vatican - started to officially support European reunification. At present, they are preparing themselves for this event perhaps even more thoroughly than the government in Warsaw.

Parishes and dioceses all over Poland are set to organize special celebrations on accession day, with solemn Te Deum masses, folk festivals and popular gatherings.

Church leaders have not put behind them, however, concerns about ideological aspects of EU integration. During a recent synod in Gniezno, the ancient capital situated in the centre of Poland, the Catholic hierarchy, together with laypeople, worked out a road-map for the Polish church in the European Union. Speakers tried to argue during the seminar that the wave of secularism in Western Europe is coming to an end.

"The task of Christians is to spread hope, faith and love, which is a broader concept than the European Union itself," said Archbishop Henryk Muszynski.

The Polish clergy want to fight for spiritual values in the enlarged Europe preaching tolerance, mutual understanding and ecumenism on the basis of Christian tradition. "Abandoning this tradition would mean spiritual self-destruction," underline the bishops. They say they are ready to promote freedom, solidarity, justice and peace. On the other hand, the Polish church is as unbending in its dogmas as ever: it answers a definite 'No' to abortion, euthanasia, homosexual marriages and women priesthood.

Church intellectuals understand that entering the EU would entail a new quality in Polish lifestyle and a new phase in the evolution of the state and of religion.

"Polish accession to the Union marks the end of the metaphysics of an individual state," proclaims Jadwiga Staniszkis, a renowned Warsaw sociologist.

Hence, the Polish model of religion painting a black and white picture of the world and sustaining uncompromising devotion may not fit into the global mayhem of ideas.

But the Gniezno synod also revealed a great diversity of opinions, as the vision of new Europe stimulates conflicting emotions among "the servants of God". As with most of the Polish population, the church is torn by contradictory feelings concerning Europe, which is currently redefining the country's identity. This was recently reflected in the debate that preceded the election of the new chairman of the Polish Episcopate, which saw a liberal and a conservative trend collide.

In the end, Archbishop Jozef Michalik, a protector of traditional Polish religiousness, was elected, with Stanislaw Gadecki, a modern, pro-European clergyman, his deputy. "An attempt to combine fire with water," commented one observer, on this attempt to reconcile modernity and tradition.

"The church is the part of the Polish social life that pulls this country backwards," commented a young woman who preferred to remain anonymous. "It will have to undergo radical changes if it does not want to be marginalized in the new Europe."

But Father Andrzej Kowalski says that the Polish church wishes "to introduce refreshing spirituality into the enlarged continent, which seems to have lost its impetus".

Only time will tell whether the Polish church, once a central part of the nation's identity, will pass the test of modernity and Europeanization.

Wieslaw Horabik is a Polish freelance journalist.