Poland: Priest-bishop Clash Captures Nation's Attention
By Marek Lehnert
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 Lemanski, 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. Lemanski 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. Lemanski 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 Kaczynski 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 Lemanski to leave the parish and move to a residence for retired priests, despite the fact he was only 52. Fr. Lemansk, 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. Lemanski 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. Lemanski” 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.
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