The Roman Catholic church in Poland is suffering from a deep and growing divide between the clergy and the faithful, according to a new report by the Polish episcopate summarising the results of consultations with around 100,000 parishioners across the country.
Many complained that the voices of women and young people are not heard, that the level of sermons is too low, and that the language used is “detached”, found the summary, which presents opinions on the church institutions and clergy gathered during the first-ever nationwide meetings with Catholics preceding next year’s Synod.
Presenting the report at Jasna Góra, Poland’s holiest Catholic shrine, the bishops stressed that the criticism was expressed by the believers in order to foster “church renewal” and resulted “from love for the church”.
A press conference was held at Jasna Góra to present the National Synod Synthesis. Archbishop Gądecki: In the synodal surveys, criticism of the Church is present, but criticism resulting from love for the Church. Archbishop Galbas thanked all those involved in the diocesan phase. pic.twitter.com/EwFFB45Sc8
— Church in Poland (@ChurchInPoland) August 25, 2022
“The participants of the synodal meetings shared a view of a church that was hurt, torn by scandals and people’s poverty, whose sinful side linked to the human weaknesses often resulted in suffering and outrage,” reads the report.
“It’s a church that’s often vulnerable,” it continued, “and triggers frustration among its members, as it rather resembles a mismanaged institution than a community with charismatic leaders.”
While officially over 90% of Poland’s population are Catholic, the church has been suffering a crisis in recent years amid revelations of sex abuse and accusations of political interference, as well as a general secularisation of society. The proportion of Poles regularly practising their faith has fallen to 42%, down from 70% in 1992.
The proportion of people in Poland who describe themselves as religious believers has fallen to 84%, down from 87% last year and 94% in 1992.
Meanwhile, 42% say that they practice their faith at least once per week, down from almost 70% three decades ago https://t.co/XoSFNBFIZv
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) August 24, 2022
The new report was based on personal meetings with parish coordinators, mostly local priests, as well as surveys. According to the report, the meetings with parishioners were conducted in 30% to 65% of Polish parishes, depending on the diocese.
Some of the 100,000 Catholics who took part saw the church as “detached from life, boring”, not focused enough on relevant and relatable moral topics. Others complained about “empty words” and said that “difficult issues in the church (abuse of power, sex scandals) make finding oneself in the community difficult”.
Among the most common issues mentioned were critical views of parish priests, most often based on individual experience. Some pointed to “lack of faith, authentic devotion, materialism, breaching of moral rules and lack empathy towards the needs of the people,” or noted that priests were not working on building the parish community or neglected it altogether.
In numerous meetings, the parishioners pointed to the need to extend the church’s “care” toward people living in nonsacramental unions and belonging to the LGBT community.
The study constitutes the initial part of the two-year “Synod on Synodality” process initiated by Pope Francis in 2021 to foster openness and collaboration within the Catholic church.
Bishops around the world have been asked to turn to members of their communities at every level – from parishioners to Catholic university officials – before assembling in October 2023.
Main image credit: EpiskopatNews/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Agnieszka Wądołowska is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She has previously worked for Gazeta.pl and Tokfm.pl and contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza, Wysokie Obcasy, Duży Format, Midrasz and Kultura Liberalna
