POLAND
The News
A leading Church advocate of Polish-Jewish dialogue has belatedly agreed to leave his parish in Jasienica, central Poland, despite vocal support from the local community.
According to a ruling by Archbishop Henryk Hoser, Father Wojciech Lemanski ceased to be vicar of the parish at 9 pm on Sunday night, but he initially declined to step down, and local parishioners made a show of solidarity.
However, on Tuesday morning, Father Lemanski held a mass in Jasienica in which he thanked his parishioners for their support but encouraged them to accept that he is leaving – for the time being, at the very least.
“If you create an atmosphere around our parish that we have ‘Jasienica hooligans’ here who are are already beyond listening to another priest… you will do the greatest harm to me, and to the whole Church,” he declared, as cited by Polish Radio.
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