Deep divide between Polish clergy and laity

Thursday, September 1st, 2022

A new report by the Polish Catholic bishops points to a deep divide between clergy and laity, and it stresses an urgent need to rebuild the relationship between the two groups.

The report summarises the results of consultations with both the leadership and the rank and file of the Polish church.

“It not a report about the state of the church,” Archbishop Adrian Galbas (pictured), coordinator of the synodal process in Poland, told Crux, referring to the results of widespread consultations published on Thursday.

“It’s a very personal document, giving an image of the church,” Galbas said.

In the Archdiocese of Katowice, the faithful wrote that the church, rocked by sex abuse cases, not only “scandalises and hurts her people, it is a church that is hopeless, shocked with changes, and one that is frustrating the faithful”.

Participants in the Archdiocese of Gdańsk commented: “The church is characterised by anonymity, and treats the faithful as a collective of parishioners – it lacks an individual approach to people.”

“Yes, it is a difficult read,” Galbas said, but he nonetheless found a silver lining.

“What is very hopeful for me is that the people who took part in the synodal path in Poland are those who are very deeply rooted in the church, they are insiders who care about the church,” he said.

The clergy/laity divide is nowhere more clear than in the Polish youth statistics.

According to the latest polls by the CBOS institute, 84 percent of Poles say they are Catholic and 42 percent say they are practising.

However, among 18-24-year-olds, only 23 percent say they are practising. This is compared to 69 percent in 1992.

Theologian and anthropologist Stanislaw Obirek says the Church has lost relevance for young people because of a refusal to move with the times.

“The Polish Church played a crucial role in the liberation from the Communist regime in the 1980s,” said Obirek from the University of Warsaw.

“It retains a superior attitude and a frozen hierarchy that rejects modernisation,” he said.

“Poles who have grown up in an open society no longer recognise themselves in it.”

Young people are increasingly turning away from an institution often perceived as being in crisis, damaged by revelations of sexual abuse and accusations of interlinkage with political authorities.

“I would like the priests to read the synthesis carefully,” Galbas told Crux.

“What we forget” he said, “is that the church is a missionary church. We dive into the contemporary daily spinning of the news, and we forget about the fundamental mission of the church – to share Christ with each other.”

The national coordinator of the synod said the church doesn’t have to wait until the synod is over to do something about the results of the diocesan synthesis.

“The time to act is now; we can start right away,” he said.