Not even Poland seems to be a “normal” country.
The story you about
about to read should be described as the tale of a relatively young
priest who is full of enthusiasm for the faith and sometimes deaf to the
words of his elderly, conservative and old-fashioned bishop.
Instead,
the story starring Fr. Wojciech Lemański, the 52 year old parish priest
of Jasienica near Poland’s capital Warsaw and Henryk Hoser, the 70 year
old Ordinary of the Archdiocese of Warszawa-Praga
(located in the East part of Warsaw), has the whole of Poland on
tenterhooks, when it should be focused on preparing for John Paul II’s
imminent canonization.
The friction between Fr. Lemański and his bishop has
nothing to do with age but with certain key issues. Artificial
insemination (in vitro fertilisation is the preferred term in Poland)
tops the list of these issues.
One day the parish priest of Jasienica
went around publicly apologising to all those who were born thanks to
this method and expressed his regret when one of these people – a young
woman – left the Catholic Church because she felt rejected. Polish
bishops condemned his action outright.
The rebel priest’s bishop who is one of the main opponents of in
vitro fertilisation gave him a major telling-off for defending his
position on television. Fr. Lemański also complained about the hard line
taken against paedophile priests and in church preached against the
closed-mindedness of parish members, particularly with regard to the
fear of foreigners and anti-Semitism.
Fr. Wojciec is one of the Polish clergy’s most active opponents of
the fight against anti-Semitism and for dialogue with the Jews. Fr.
Wojciec received an award from Poland’s late president, Lech Kaczyński
for this.
But this did not make him immune to Mgr. Hoser’s criticisms.
First Mgr. Hoser banned him from teaching religious studies in public
schools and last 7 July he asked Lemański to leave the parish and move
to a residence for retired priests, despite the fact he was only 52.
Fr.
Lemańsk, who had already been through a similar experience before,
appealed to the Holy See: in 2010 he had fought a similar battle with
his bishop and came out on top.
Feeling strengthened by this, he accused
his bishop of having seriously offended him in the past. He referred
rather ambiguously to an incident which took place in in the
archbishop’s palace January 2010, accusing Mgr. Hoser of acting in a
thoroughly indecent way, like Cardinal O’Brien.
Naturally this caused a great deal of shock as everyone thought it
meant Mgr. Hoser was involved in the sex-abuse scandal. As a result, Fr.
Lemański was forced to see reason. He apologised to the bishop for the
misunderstanding and issued a statement saying that he had been
referring to a conversation they had had about the Jewish world.
“Tell
me father, you were circumcised, so are you Jewish?” Mgr. Hoser
apparently asked the priest. “How dare you ask me that, Excellency!” the
priest allegedly replied.
The day after the news got out, bishops
rejected this accusation, making it clear that “it would have been
absurd for the bishop to ask such a question given that the Episcopal
curia held no such information about Fr. Lemański” in terms of baptism
and confirmation certificates and the priest’s CV.
Poland has taken great interest in this sad affair, mainly because
some interpret it as a tug of war between old and new. Between the
Church as it was before 13 March, when Francis was elected Pope and the
Church as it is now under Francis’ pontificate.
A great deal has been
written and said about Polish bishops not being great admirers of
Francis.
Some in Warsaw say this the first time “Pope Francis’ vision of
a collegial Church has clashed with the old-style Church which gave
bishops indisputable authority.”
The outlook is pessimistic given that
not many are confident the parish priest of Jasienica will win this one.