The task of the Church

“The task of the Church is not to win but to proclaim the truth”, declared Msgr. Jozef Michalik, reconfirmed president of Poland’s Bishops’ Conference during the 347th plenary session of the Bishops’ Conference (KEP) held in Warsaw in the first decade of March. The newly-elected President believes that in Poland the Church ought to ‘listen to the signs of the times’, but it must not disregard the ongoing “serious moral crisis” since a large number of problems aren’t due to “false economy but to an unbalanced system of values”. Msgr. Michalik called for “greater understanding between individuals in Poland, greater sensitivity towards the other, more faithfulness towards God, less lies and violence” in Poland. Msgr. Stanislaw Gadecki, archbishop of Poznan and President of the Commission for Pastoral Care was reconfirmed KEP vice-President. Last year Msgr. Gadecki was one of the delegates at the Bishops’ XII Synod. Thanks to his commitment, the 32nd International meeting of the Taizé Community will be held in Poznan this year, which he hopes will become “the new centre of young and praying Europe”. The family and vocations. During the plenary meeting, Poland’s Bishops’ Conference devoted major attention to the problems of the family. In a recent interview KEP President declared that “none of the governments in Poland took into due consideration the need to help the families”. Msgr. Michalik criticized the inexistence of long-term counselling programs, the unconcern for the problems of large families and the lack of family promotion by the media. The bishops discussed the draft petition on family policies addressed to the Polish government. The document reaffirms the indissoluble bond of marriage and highlights the significance of parenthood mission. The Bishops also addressed the issue of vocations and the downward trend of candidates to priesthood. “Important environments for the discernment of the path of vocation are the family, the school environment, parish communities, formative movements and groups”, the prelates remarked. Special interest was raised by the address of the founder of the Neo-Catechumenal movement Kiko Arguello, who led the foundations for the new evangelisation of Europe in Poland. Economic crisis. Between January and February this year the number of unemployed increased in Poland increased by 100 thousand units. The ongoing global economic crisis was an important topic debated during the bishops’ plenary meeting. As Msgr. Wiktor Skwork explained, the crisis “was triggered by the relinquishment of truth viewed as a rule of social and economic life”. In the final statement the bishops referred to “the spirit of solidarity of entrepreneurship” and asked workers “to collaborate to overcome the effects of the crisis”. While asking parish communities, Catholic associations and Caritas to give a concrete help to the victims of the crisis , the bishops reminded everyone of the need to appropriate 1% of personal income tax to charities as a “token of social responsibility and solicitude for the neighbour”. Bioethics. In view of preparations for the 30th anniversary of the historical visit of John Paul II to Poland in 1979, the bishops reiterated the value of the Pope’s Magisterium on the dignity and the sacrality of the life of each human person, expressly condemning “the statements of a number of representatives of the authorities regarding the possibility of introducing the right to euthanasia” in Poland’s legal system. Problems pertaining to the realm of bioethics are felt strongly by Polish bishops, due also to the lack of specific regulations in this area. Several draft bills on living will and artificial insemination were drawn up that are currently being debated by parliamentary groups and by the public opinion in Poland. The Letter of Cardinal Bertone. Finally, the prelates discussed the letter to KEP president, signed by the Secretary of State Cardinal Tarciso Bertone, where, they state in a Note, after having examined the documents drawn up by the historical and ethical commission of Polish bishops, “the Holy See noted the groundlessness of accusations to the members of the Polish Bishops as relates to the allegations regarding their voluntary collaboration with Poland’s Communist security services”. The Note points out that in his Letter card. Bertone acknowledges, “Polish bishops, even if they weren’t compelled to, bravely confronted the past Communist regime”. His Eminence conveyed his solidarity to the Apostolic Nuncio in Poland Msgr. Jozef Kowalczyk, who “without his knowledge and consensus” was registered as a contact of Poland’s security services. “In no way – states the Note – could the prelate’s contacts with intelligence officers be considered collaborationist”.