The deputy director of a branch of Catholic charity Caritas in Poland has quit the church, saying that the institution is a “mafia” that has been “sheltering criminals”, including those guilty of child sex abuse.
Sebastian Wiśniewski has worked for Caritas in Białystok, one of Poland’s largest cities, since 2007 and became its deputy director in 2019.
Caritas Białystok operates under the auspices of the city’s archbishop while Caritas Polska, the national branch of the charity, is supervised by the Polish Episcopal Conference (KEP), the central organ of the Catholic church in Poland.
In interviews with media outlets this week, Wiśniewski revealed that, two months ago, he submitted an act of apostasy – the formal process of leaving the Catholic church.
Białystok. Wicedyrektor Caritas dokonał apostazji: „Szczególnie duże znaczenie miało uciekanie od ohydnych przestępstw, czyli od pedofilii, udawanie, że tego nie ma w Kościele, oprócz tego przeróżne malwersacje z panem Rydzykiem w roli głównej” https://t.co/61txn5D6YF
— Bertold Kittel (@Bertold_K) November 8, 2023
The decision was “the result of years of work and observations in Caritas and almost 50 years as a Catholic”, he told broadcaster TVN. “Of particular importance was escaping from heinous crimes – that is, paedophilia – [and] the pretence that it does not exist in the church”.
He was also motivated to quit by “various embezzlements, with Mr. Rydzyk in the main role” – a reference to Tadeusz Rydzyk, a priest closely allied to the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and whose various businesses and foundations have benefited from generous state grants.
“I cannot be a member of an organisation that, to some extent, shelters criminals,” declared Wiśniewski. In a separate interview with the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, he went even further, describing the church as a “mafia corporation that abuses the sign of the cross”.
Influential priest Tadeusz Rydzyk has been criticised for downplaying clerical sex abuse. "Who doesn’t have temptations?" he said
The mass at which he spoke, which was attended by the justice minister, is also being investigated over breaching Covid ruleshttps://t.co/egYXUNZJWh
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 8, 2020
Wiśniewski said that his accusations were based on his own personal experience within Caritas, where he has witnessed corruption and greed. He claimed that the charity took “joy from natural disasters and other events that improve the Caritas budget through financial proceeds from fundraising”.
He said that he also observed how the “clergy [live] comfortable lives at the expense of naive believers”, with “priests accumulating wealth contrary to what the Bible, especially the New Testament, teaches”.
That led him to “the realisation that this church is not a path to holiness, but a corporation – at its worst – taking care of its own capital”. He also commented on how the church “hides deviants [i.e. those guilty of sex abuse] within parishes or sends them to other dioceses”.
After a report indicated over 1,000 victims of child sex abuse by priests in communist Poland, a bishop admits the church was "naive in dealing with these crimes"
But he also notes the communists exploited the issue to blackmail priests into collaborating https://t.co/NfXywWnPkK
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) May 19, 2023
Wiśniewski added, however, that he had not personally turned away from God, and revealed that he is now a member of a Baptist church. “There are many Christian denominations that show an authentic image of God, consistent with the Holy Scripture, and lead the faithful to salvation,” he said.
He expressed regret that in Poland, where the Catholic church is the dominant religious denomination, young people were being pushed away not only from the institution but were also “abandoning God” entirely “as the result of the false image presented by the clergy”.
In response to Wiśniewski’s remarks, Białystok diocese issued a brief statement saying that it was “carrying out explanatory activities in connection with the interview”. When Caritas Białystok was contacted by news websites Interia and Salon24, it said that it would not comment on the matter.
There has been a “devastating” decline in religious practice among young Poles, says the Primate of Poland
He cites the church's failure to deal with sex abuse as a primary cause, but another archbishop blames the pandemic and children's use of technology https://t.co/ZzuUj5eOaQ
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) January 3, 2022
The Catholic church in Poland has faced a number of controversies in recent years, in particular over revelations of sex abuse by clergy and negligence in dealing with it by bishops. It has also been criticised over its political engagement, especially with regard to the introduction of a near-total ban on abortion.
Recent data from the church itself has shown a significant decline in the proportion of Catholics attending church, while the latest census also found a big drop in the proportion of Poles identifying as Catholics. The church has also confirmed that there has been a growing number of people submitting acts of apostasy.
That trend has been particularly pronounced among young people, only 25% of whom say they now practice religion regularly, down from 70% in the early 1990s.
The proportion of Catholics in Poland attending mass has fallen from 37% to 28% in two years, show official data.
The church notes that the latest figures, from 2021, were affected by the pandemic. But it also admits "socio-cultural factors" played a part https://t.co/0n5JF0FmKi
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) January 14, 2023
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Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
