POLAND
ABC News
By JAN PUHL, SPIEGEL
July 20, 2013
He’s loved by his congregation but loathed by the archbishop. Rebellious priest Wojciech Lemanski is seen as the church’s No. 1 enemy in Poland. His dismissal highlights the deep divide between church authorities and the faithful in this staunchly Catholic nation.
Pastor Wojciech Lemanski stepped up to his small pulpit on Wednesday morning to hold what may be his last sermon at his church in the town of Jasienica near Warsaw. The slender cleric, with his close-cropped gray hair, has become a household name in Poland in recent weeks. Newspapers have run stories about him and he’s been a topic of discussion on television in what has been dubbed “Pastor Lemanski vs. the Curia.” The case shows that support for the church is even crumbling in devoutly Catholic Poland.
Lemanski, who was ordained in 1987, was never a compliant priest. He repeatedly used his pulpit and his blog to voice his criticism of the church. He has accused the church leadership of not doing enough to oppose anti-Semitic tendencies among Poland’s Catholics. He has also critcized the establishment’s lenient treatment of clerics accused of sexual abuse, and its fierce rejection of artificial insemination and contraceptives. His vocal criticism drove Henryk Hoser, the archbishop of Warsaw-Praga, to suspend Lemanski last week. But Lemanski wrote the archbishop a letter informing him that he wouldn’t budge.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.