Another 'War' On Religion Now Starting In Poland?

Some feel the legislation violates the U.S. Constitution. Others despondently call it a “war” on religion.
 
If “war” is the correct word to use, New York’s Polish American community has just been shocked by the disturbing news such a war is escalating internationally and is now being waged in one of the least expected places in the world.  They never thought that place would be Poland, Europe’s most Catholic country and the homeland of the late Pope John Paul II.
 
The Conference of Polish Bishops, just like the American Bishops, also found it necessary to declare their concerns about a government move reducing the Church’s ability to communicate its message through television.
 
As the country modernizes its television system into digital transmission, Poland’s equivalent of the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) denied a license to the Catholic television station TRWM.  “Many elderly viewers and shut-ins whose only way to participate in mass, prayers and other devotions is through TV will be hurt,” said one Brooklyn priest.
 
As it did in the 1980’s when the Polish American Congress organized anti-Communist demonstrations on the streets of New York City to support Lech Walesa and the workers of the Solidarity trade union, New York’s Polish Americans turned to the Congress once again.  They wanted the organization’s help in carrying their message of disapproval of the discrimination they believe is directed against the Catholic Church in their former homeland.
 
“For those of us Americans who identify with Poland through the ancestry of our immigrant parents or grandparents, this refusal appears to be nothing more than an arbitrary attempt to block the right of the Catholic Church to communicate its message, “wrote Frank Milewski in the official statement he personally presented to Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka, Consul General of the Republic of Poland, at the Consular offices in mid-town Manhattan.
 
“It is wrong to do it and it damages the reputation of Poland,” added Mr. Milewski who also heads the Komisja Obrony Dobrego Imienia Polskiego (Anti-Bigotry Committee).  “We urge you not to disregard the concerns of New York’s Polonia and allow the Catholic Church the freedom of religious expression to which it is entitled.”
 
Milewski asked the Consul General to pass the statement on to Warsaw because it summarizes a point of view which comes “not only from our members but also from many other Poles in our area.”
 
Contact:  Frank Milewski
              (516) 352-7125
              pacdny@verizon.net