Any evangelism in Poland through the media?

[SusanL]

I'm in Poland visiting family right now. They tell me that the young people don't attend church anymore. I was wondering if there are any good Catholic websites/tv/radio in Polish to evangelize?

My family would be interested here.

Thank you so much.
Sue

[Pinkie Pie]

Hi, Sue.

I'm afraid that it is true, most young people here don't attend church anymore. There are days when I'm the only person who is less than 30 years old in my local church, although I have some friends who are devout Catholics. So maybe not everything is lost?

When it comes to evangelisation in Poland, we have some tv and radio stations (in Polish language). There's TV Puls, which used to be strictly Catholic but now they air TV series like Relic Hunter so I don't think that it is really Catholic anymore.

There's also infamous "Radio Maryja". Infamous because there are many controversies around it. It is anti-semitic, hugely involved in politics and in conflict with the Pope. It is also well known for having a huge following of ladies in their sixties and seventies who are more devoted to Tadeusz Rydzyk (creator and head of RM) than to the Pope himself. It is also well known that Rydzyk often gathers money from said ladies which he then uses in many questionable ways (like purchasing a new Maybach). Rydzyk also owns TV Trwam, which is a bit better than Radio Maryja.

Fortunately there are some local radio stations, I can't really say much about them though because there aren't too many of them in my range .

There's also the Internet. There are several sites which claim to be evangelising, but I don't know if that's true, because I don't visit them. I can list some of them for you, though. Maybe you'll find them useful.

http://dobremedia.org/index.php
http://www.jezus.pl/
http://slowo.pl/start.php
http://wiara.pl/ and its subsites

Taking everything into consideration, you and your family would be better off using foreign Internet evangelisation sites. That is sad, but true. Perhaps someone else knows a good TV/radio station or site.

[Nelka]

Originally Posted by SusanL

I'm in Poland visiting family right now. They tell me that the young people don't attend church anymore. I was wondering if there are any good Catholic websites/tv/radio in Polish to evangelize?

My family would be interested here.

Thank you so much.
Sue

Originally Posted by Pinkie Pie

Hi, Sue.

I'm afraid that it is true, most young people here don't attend church anymore. There are days when I'm the only person who is less than 30 years old in my local church, although I have some friends who are devout Catholics. So maybe not everything is lost?

When it comes to evangelisation in Poland, we have some tv and radio stations (in Polish language). There's TV Puls, which used to be strictly Catholic but now they air TV series like Relic Hunter so I don't think that it is really Catholic anymore.

There's also infamous "Radio Maryja". Infamous because there are many controversies around it. It is anti-semitic, hugely involved in politics and in conflict with the Pope. It is also well known for having a huge following of ladies in their sixties and seventies who are more devoted to Tadeusz Rydzyk (creator and head of RM) than to the Pope himself. It is also well known that Rydzyk often gathers money from said ladies which he then uses in many questionable ways (like purchasing a new Maybach). Rydzyk also owns TV Trwam, which is a bit better than Radio Maryja.

Fortunately there are some local radio stations, I can't really say much about them though because there aren't too many of them in my range .

There's also the Internet. There are several sites which claim to be evangelising, but I don't know if that's true, because I don't visit them. I can list some of them for you, though. Maybe you'll find them useful.

http://dobremedia.org/index.php
http://www.jezus.pl/
http://slowo.pl/start.php
http://wiara.pl/ and its subsites

Taking everything into consideration, you and your family would be better off using foreign Internet evangelisation sites. That is sad, but true. Perhaps someone else knows a good TV/radio station or site.

Not sure where you live but I have been to Mass in Poland hundreds of times in towns, cities and villages.

I always see young people and the choirs are generally made up of young people.

Mass is always packed with people standing outside in the road (in the village churches).

I would live in Poland for Mass alone.

[Tenofovir]

Originally Posted by Pinkie Pie

There's also infamous "Radio Maryja". Infamous because there are many controversies around it. It is anti-semitic, hugely involved in politics and in conflict with the Pope. It is also well known for having a huge following of ladies in their sixties and seventies who are more devoted to Tadeusz Rydzyk (creator and head of RM) than to the Pope himself. It is also well known that Rydzyk often gathers money from said ladies which he then uses in many questionable ways (like purchasing a new Maybach). Rydzyk also owns TV Trwam, which is a bit better than Radio Maryja.

I see you're regurgitating the same left wing (usually ex-Communist), atheist, anti-Catholic propaganda. Rydzyk is not anti-semitic which in this case is PO/Gazeta Wyborcza anti-intellectual ad hominem against the man. He just happens to expose too much dirt and corruption and it is upsetting many people, some of whom don't want to reveal what they did before the fall of Communism or how they got rich very quickly just after the fall of Communism. It may just happen that some of these exposed people are of secular Jewish origin but he exposes corruption per se and not Jewish, German of other foreign interests. At least I get that from having watched some TV TRWAM myself and listening to people across the whole spectrum.

The Maybach story is one much repeated. So he bought a bullet proof Maybach because he has so many enemies, so what? Why is that bad? How much money did Tusk waste? At least Rydzyk used his own money, Tusk and co. waste tax money.

Next you'll tell me the Church has no right to preach against abortion. How dare they. These are also GW/Michnik talking points.

Come on....

On topic: Poland has lots of young people attending Mass. The Church however is very vocal and some young people may be rebelling, the same way their parents rebelled and their grandparents.

[edwest2]

Perceptions about Poland are highly skewed in the West. I am Polish and have access to Polish newspapers and religious magazines in the US.

In Poland, I recommend:

http://sunday.niedziela.pl/


The Sunday Catholic Weekly has been published since 1926, with interruptions caused by the Nazis and then the Communists. It is the most widely read Catholic Weekly in Poland and Central-Eastern Europe.

Another publication is Gość Niedzielny

gosc.pl


A 108 foot high statue of Jesus was erected in 2010 in SWIEBODZIN,


Then there is Religia TV


religia.tv/





Hope this helps,
Ed

[mkrol]

Originally Posted by Pinkie Pie

Hi, Sue.

I'm afraid that it is true, most young people here don't attend church anymore. There are days when I'm the only person who is less than 30 years old in my local church, although I have some friends who are devout Catholics. So maybe not everything is lost?

The secularisation pressure is very strong in Europe at the moment, but I don't think the situation is quite as dire as that in the vast majority of the parishes I've been in.

There's also infamous "Radio Maryja". Infamous because there are many controversies around it. It is anti-semitic, hugely involved in politics and in conflict with the Pope.

Well, I wonder why Pope Benedict XVI should have expressed such strong support for them by thanking the station for 20 years of evangelisation in a recent letter from December 2011. You can read the full text here (in Polish).

Pope Benedict XVI's predecessor, bl. John Paul II also said as early in 1994 that he thanks God every day that there is such a radio station in Poland.

And yes, it is true that the radio and television stations are active politically and highly critical of the main pro-death political parties, sometimes accusing them of liberalism and Masonic influence, but as far as I am aware, these accusations are not too wide off the mark. That said, I don't stay in Poland long enough to care about the politics there, so I'm not too fond of the political bent, but I don't see why they should suck up to the government and pretend that everything's A-OK with the legislature from the Catholic perspective.

It is also well known for having a huge following of ladies in their sixties and seventies who are more devoted to Tadeusz Rydzyk (creator and head of RM) than to the Pope himself. It is also well known that Rydzyk often gathers money from said ladies which he then uses in many questionable ways (like purchasing a new Maybach). Rydzyk also owns TV Trwam, which is a bit better than Radio Maryja.

It is true that it has a huge following of ladies in their sixties and seventies. My own grandmother is an avid listener. That said, I have been a passive listener whenever I have visited her over the years, and my preconceptions have faded over time as it turns out that I too let myself get brainwashed by the liberal media and believed some of the accusations against them, some which were fabricated, and some which had been taken out of context.

Not all of the station's material is my cup of tea, but you can't say anything bad about prayer. They do occasionally have very interesting theological and philosophical discussions, which is not something you can often find in the media, which is typically limited to soundbites and sensationalism.

It is also true that the radio station is supported mostly by voluntary donations of its listeners. But so is Catholic Answers, so I fail to see your point.

If, after 20 years of existence, Rydzyk's media has proved to be good enough for two Popes, I think it's good enough for Catholics.

[edwest2]

Then there is the Polish Catholic Information Agency.

http://translate.google.com/translat...ed=0CF8Q7gEwAA


Which I present in translated form for those who don't speak or read Polish.




Peace,
Ed

[Pinkie Pie]

Originally Posted by Nelka

Not sure where you live but I have been to Mass in Poland hundreds of times in towns, cities and villages.

I always see young people and the choirs are generally made up of young people.

Mass is always packed with people standing outside in the road (in the village churches).

I would live in Poland for Mass alone.

I just say that on the example of my local church in Łódź. I'm glad to hear that it's better in other parts of Poland.

Originally Posted by Tenofovir

I see you're regurgitating the same left wing (usually ex-Communist), atheist, anti-Catholic propaganda. Rydzyk is not anti-semitic which in this case is PO/Gazeta Wyborcza anti-intellectual ad hominem against the man. He just happens to expose too much dirt and corruption and it is upsetting many people, some of whom don't want to reveal what they did before the fall of Communism or how they got rich very quickly just after the fall of Communism. It may just happen that some of these exposed people are of secular Jewish origin but he exposes corruption per se and not Jewish, German of other foreign interests. At least I get that from having watched some TV TRWAM myself and listening to people across the whole spectrum.

I'm not repeating any propaganda, especially not "ex-Communist". I'm in no way in favour of left wing, Tusk or Gazeta Wyborcza. In fact, I'm strongly against them. It doesn't change the fact that I'm not a fan of Rydzyk either. I was listening to RM for a long time and I know for a fact that many of its remarks are anti-semitic. If you are a fan of RM, that's fine. I have nothing against the station itself, some auditions there are really nice. I sometimes also tune in for some prayers. There's no need to get angry.

Originally Posted by Tenofovir

Next you'll tell me the Church has no right to preach against abortion. How dare they. These are also GW/Michnik talking points.

I have no idea how did you come up with this.

Originally Posted by mkrol

Well, I wonder why Pope Benedict XVI should have expressed such strong support for them by thanking the station for 20 years of evangelisation in a recent letter from December 2011. You can read the full text here (in Polish).

I didn't know about that. That's great to hear, I'll fladly read it .

[Tenofovir]

Originally Posted by Pinkie Pie

I'm not repeating any propaganda, especially not "ex-Communist". I'm in no way in favour of left wing, Tusk or Gazeta Wyborcza. In fact, I'm strongly against them. It doesn't change the fact that I'm not a fan of Rydzyk either. I was listening to RM for a long time and I know for a fact that many of its remarks are anti-semitic. If you are a fan of RM, that's fine. I have nothing against the station itself, some auditions there are really nice. I sometimes also tune in for some prayers. There's no need to get angry.

I'm not angry at all. Please don't think that.

I heard the "Rydzyk drives a Maybach" meme a half dozen times as the sole argument against him and his entire organisation repeated by people who only have that. I've heard the "anti-Semitic" remark before too but I've not found anything "anti-Semitic" or anything else. Usually when one hears the buzzwords "racist", "anti-semitic", "fascist", "Communist", etc. and little substantiation from polemical organisations such as Michnik's GW and people who repeat this afterwards, one can deduce that all that is going on is one big ad hominem. I've certainly not seen any anti-Semitism or anything else. RM and TRWAM are great because they offer an alternative point of view and they're not afraid to speak their mind. A free society needs freedom of speech. One can see that that bothers some organisations. Of course RM and TRWAM are not perfect but what counts is freedom of speech and the ability to limit the powers of some who think they can do what they want because they have mainstream media control.

I have no idea how did you come up with this.

GW has no anti-clerical views? Poland should not be more European and allow abortion on demand? Religion should not be pushed into some private, ineffectual sphere? The Catholic Church is not too powerful?

I say good for RM. Freedom of speech is a good thing. The other side definitely has its own ways of spreading its version of reality.

The overall problem in Poland of course is the lack of accountability for the abuses under Communism and the early years post that. When PiS tried to address this they were demonised. This still continues. Even beer commercials made fun of the dead Lech Kaczynski ("A good Lech is a cold Lech" - where Lech is also a SABMiller owned beer.)

We've had a healing process here in South Africa. I think Poland and other Eastern European countries should have similar commissions too where names are revealed and we know who did what and how they got where they are now, without any prosecutions. Anyway that's a bit off topic but the public has a right to know. God bless.

[Pinkie Pie]

Originally Posted by Tenofovir

Of course RM and TRWAM are not perfect but what counts is freedom of speech and the ability to limit the powers of some who think they can do what they want because they have mainstream media control.

I totally agree with this .

Originally Posted by Tenofovir

Even beer commercials made fun of the dead Lech Kaczynski ("A good Lech is a cold Lech" - where Lech is also a SABMiller owned beer.)

Yeah, I remember that. Many people I know thought it was funny .

Originally Posted by Tenofovir

We've had a healing process here in South Africa. I think Poland and other Eastern European countries should have similar commissions too where names are revealed and we know who did what and how they got where they are now, without any prosecutions. Anyway that's a bit off topic but the public has a right to know. God bless.

I also totally agree with this. I'm glad that we finally came to an agreement.

[mkrol]

Just in the last hour, Pope Benedict XVI has reiterated his support for Radio Maryja (in Polish here) and (in English here)

The media in Poland constantly claims the radio station is in conflict with the Pope and doesn't represent the true Church, and the opinion that the Holy See disapproves has been repeated continuously for the last decade so as to undermine the support the station might have among Catholics, which is why I think Pope Benedict XVI has been particularly forceful in his support, so as to dismantle this lie once and for all.