President of the Polish Episcopate: One must build on goodwill and seek peace with everyone
We must assume goodwill in everyone. Even if he is wrong, we should build on goodwill and seek peace with everyone – said the President of the Polish Episcopate Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki in an interview he gave to the Spokesman of the Polish Episcopate Fr Leszek Gęsiak SJ, summarising ten years of his presidency of the Polish Bishops' Conference.
Referring to events that were particularly significant for the Church in Poland during the past decade, the President of the Polish Episcopate mentioned the pandemic, the reception of refugees from Ukraine in Poland and the assistance provided to them, the ban on eugenic abortion, the celebration of the 1050th anniversary of Poland's Baptism and the related National Assembly in Poznań, or the introduction of the Day of Judaism in the Catholic Church in Poland.
Archbishop Gądecki assessed as groundbreaking the events that concerned the Synods: Synod on the family, Synod on youth, Synod on synodality. "They touch the whole situation of the universal Church, including Poland and our situation. Therefore, certainly, each of these Synods was some kind of progress to what we knew because the tradition of the Church does not mean a fossil and such a reality that is stagnant in practice. On the contrary, the tradition of the Church presupposes the immutability of the essence of the Church's teaching with the simultaneous, continuous development of that teaching” – he acknowledged. He added that Catholic tradition in the teaching of Vincent of Lerin "means, on the one hand, immutability as to the essence and mutability as to the development and progress itself. And it is only when these two elements meet that we have a true tradition of the Church".
Recalling the encounters that have remained particularly memorable for him, the President of the Polish Episcopate placed a high priority on his encounters with the last three Popes, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis. "Admittedly, not all decisions and not all papal pronouncements are of the same stature, but fundamentally, the Pope is expected to be the rock of the Church, to be that foundation which guarantees the orthodox teaching of the Church and also the sacramental life itself. In this sense, meeting the three popes, namely John Paul, Benedict, and Pope Francis, was something very engaging for me" – he assessed.
The President of the Polish Episcopate said that a great concern of the Church at present is the issue of catechesis. "Religious teaching is a very important part of our cultural code. We grow out of it. And basically, we should stick to it, not because we would like to emphasise our nationalism and the fact that we are a chosen people, but to emphasise our identity, which is a bit different from other countries and it does not demolish the globalist identity. That is to say, it does not demolish either the European identity or the global identity. It is simply an enrichment of this identity" – he pointed out.
Archbishop Gądecki explained that his successor should be characterised by three qualities: faith, vision, and patient perseverance. He also stressed that "in order to preserve our ecclesiastical identity, we must, first of all, be aware that we are as the Church neither on the side of the left, nor on the side of the right, nor even on the side of the centre, but we are on the side of the Gospel".
In turn, referring to the dialogue with the people of God, the President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference admitted that it looks diverse, "but we must assume goodwill in everyone. Even if he is wrong, we must build on goodwill and seek peace with everyone".
Press Office of the Polish Bishops’ Conference
