Dismissed Priest Caused “great Harm” to Church

The News
July 22, 2013

http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/141997,Dismissed-priest-caused-%E2%80%9Cgreat-harm%E2%80%9D-to-Church

Father Wojciech Lemanski on Sunday during the 71st anniversary commemorations marking the liquidation of the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw by the Nazi Germans. Photo: PAP/Jacek Turczyk

“Father Wojciech Lemanski, who became a voluntary hostage of the media, caused great harm to the Church, and created grave confusion and anxiety in society,” the curia of the Warsaw-Praga diocese claimed, as cited by the Polish Press Agency (PAP). “He always claimed to know better, without showing necessary restraint or a sense of proportion. Applying the principle 'pars pro toto', he portrayed the Church as a community of rapists, paedophiles, hypocrites, extortionists and drunkards.” Archbishop of the Warsaw-Praga diocese Henryk Hoser issued a decree on 5 July that Father Lemanski would no longer be vicar of his parish at Jasienica, east of Warsaw, as of 9 pm on 14 July. However, local parishioners rallied to Lemanski's defence, and the priest declined to leave the parish. Speaking with various media outlets, the priest had claimed that problems with Archbishop Hoser began in 2010, owing to the archbishop's alleged resentment to Lemanski's engagement in Jewish matters. Father Lemanski was an active advocate of building bridges between Poles and Jews. However, the priest claimed that Archbishop Hoser argued that “this is not a circle that is worth having contacts with,” and that furthermore, the archbishop asked if he was circumcised. The Church denied in yesterday's statement that Polish-Jewish issues were a factor in the decision - addind that Lemanski's work in this field was appropriate. The priest was officially dismissed for “lack of respect and obedience to the bishops, as well as to the teaching of diocesan bishops in Poland on bioethics issues.” Ultimately, on Tuesday 16 July, Father Lemanski consented to vacate the parish, while his appeal against the decision was being processed. In the original decree, the Church provided the 52-year-old priest with the option of entering a retirement home for clerics. Alternatively, he was given the possibility of working alongside the vicar of another parish, provided that he finds a vicar who consents to this arrangement.