The courage of the truth

The Church defends “the human body from disrespect, highlighting the indissoluble bond between body and soul”. Thus declared Msgr. Stanislaw Stefanek, Member of the Council for the Family of the Polish Bishops’ Conference (KEP) during the presentation of the document titled “Spreading Truth about Marriage and Family”. “We ought to render service to objective truth since this truth does exist. It was revealed to us by the Lord, and it is inscribed as a natural law in the deep of our hearts” the prelate added. “In the modern world the truth about marriage and the family is often disfigured and thus needs all the more commitment, brave proclamation and defense”, stressed Msgr. Stefanek. The one-hundred-page document was presented to the Permanent Council of the Polish Bishops’ Conference gathered on August 25 in Jasna Gora. During the meeting the bishops agreed that the new KEP statute – that has been already endorsed by the Holy See and which includes the Diocesan Bishops’ Council as a Conference body – also provides an accurate definition of the responsibilities of the the Primate of Poland, whose post is currently held by Cardinal Josef Glemp, due to retire in December upon his eightieth birthday. The Church has the right to speak. The premise of the document on marriage and the family presented in Jasna Gora is that “statements regarding the private element of religious confession are downright false”. Thus the “Church is entitled to express her views regarding issues she deems important for society as a whole”. Before ever-increasing trends that question the traditional family model, the prelates reiterated, “righteous men must demand respect for the values in which they believe”. These values include marriage and the family since they reflect “not only a century-long reality but the extramundane aspects of the union of man and woman”. “This union – the bishops declared – has a value of its own, regardless of sociological and historical interpretations”. Non-existing family policies. Voicing their concern, the authors of the document remark, “there is no place for the family in Poland’s welfare policies, not to mention the case of large families”. Whilst recalling that “aid to families in Poland is lower than in any other European Country”, the bishops pointed out that “today Poland has also the lowest birth-rate in Europe, and experts predict figures will continue dropping”. Catholics committed in the political realm are therefore obliged “to undertake concrete measures, and not mere propaganda” in order to promote childbirth. Although family policies are hailed as “the reasons of State and as part of leaders’ primary duties”, the various governments in office “have been far from acknowledging the vital and irreplaceable role of the family for development, stability and for the safeguard of the Polish people and the Polish State”. The document is a compendium of Church Magisterium on the family and includes strategies and guidelines for politicians, whose rectitude – the bishops said – “ought to be assessed also on the basis of their conjugal and family lives”. “Politicians’ behaviors must not clash with their own conscience”, and “the pastoral care of the family ought to be a priority when planning parishes’ pastoral activities”.The debate on assisted procreation. The bishops, convened in Jasna Gora on the eve of the Feast of Our Lady of Czestochowa, discussed the six draft-bills on artificial insemination that will undergo parliamentary debate next fall. To this regard Msgr. Henryk Hoser, President of the KEP Bioethics panel pointed out that “every legislative decision ought to be taken in compliance with one’s own conscience”. Msgr. Hoser remarked that the outcome of parliamentary debate will be decisive “as it will establish whether our living conditions are worthy of the human person”. In commenting on prelates’- often criticized – participation in the debate on bioethics Msgr. Hoser pointed to three main reasons for such commitment on the part of the Church. “The adopted decisions – he said – will concern those Catholics representing 90% of Polish society. The Church considers man not only from the spiritual angle but also from the standpoint of science”. Thus, according to Msgr. Hoser “Church participation in the debate on bioethics cannot be viewed as the expression of a restrictive confessional rule”.