Posted on 05/30/2006 1:15:56 PM PDT by lizol
Poland Brings Strongly Christian Influence to European Politics
By Gudrun Schultz
WARSAW, Poland, May 30, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) -Poland is embracing its Christian identity with a new enthusiasm, the Seattle Times reported yesterday.
According to recent census data, 96% of the population say they are Roman Catholic, and 57% say they attend Mass every Sunday. The churches are filled to capacity and there is no shortage of priests.
During his pontificate, John Paul II expressed hope that Poland would be the source of a "new evangelization" of Western Europe. In recent years, a political movement in the country has begun efforts to influence the restoration of Christian values to the EU.
"What's new in Poland is that political parties want to express their Catholicism," Pawel Spiewak, a Polish sociologist, told the Times. "A few years ago, a typical Pole was Catholic in his private life. Now he's expressing it openly and wants to express it as public policy. It's atypical for Europe."
Aleksander Kwasniewski, a former communist, was president of Poland in 2003 when the country first began efforts to introduce some mention of Christianity into the EU's constitution. He told a British newspaper, "There is no excuse for making references to ancient Greece and Rome, and to the Enlightenment, without making reference to the Christian values which are so important to the development of Europe."
In 2005, the Polish delegation to the European Parliament set up a pro-life display in the parliamentary headquarters in Strasbourg, France.
"We follow the teachings of the church and the advice of the bishops," said Piotr Slusarczyk, a spokesman for the League of Polish Families, a Catholic party that brought in the display. The pro-family organization also opposes euthanasia and homosexual activity.
"Our goal is to defend Catholic values and to defend Poland against Western tendencies that are being promoted by a vocal EU lobby," Slusarczyk told the Times.
Polish president Lech Kaczynski is opposed to abortion and gay marriage, and has resisted pressure by the EU to change the country's anti-abortion laws and support homosexual activity.
Ping
Bump for the good guys.
E. Europe is whe it is happining these days.
A freind of mine living in London told me that the Poles have come to London in large numbers. He also said that people there aren't too happy about it.
Yes, it is and it is exciting to watch history being made in that part of the world. I pray for their continued success!
"Poland is embracing its Christian identity with a new enthusiasm"
Can we trade our liberals for a fresh influx of Poles?
I guess they also weren't too happy when Polish RAF pilots were saving their bacon during The Battle of Britain.
Poland helped with the American Revolution--Casimir Pulaski. Maybe Poland can save Europe from itself.
The real reasion that many Londoners are unhappy with the influx of Poles is that as followers of the TROP, they have very little in common with the Poles.
Thank God for that. Although Ortodox nation, we Serbs hope the same for Serbia.
Our pro-western politicians are enforcing "Liberal wiew" on european future, along all crap, gay-lesbian rights, removing Church from public life and alike crp.
Now we conservatives in Serbia have good example to show to those liberals.
My Granddaughter, in Oxford says something else. Perhaps you are speaking of the Jewish population of London. They are never happy over Christians coming anywhere.
Or maybe you mean the Islamics of London don't like the Poles. That's because Islamics don't like influx of Christians either.
And he's a Polish liberal, a leftist.
So imagine the conservatives. :-)))
However, if I was to guess, the real reason is that the Poles come to England willing to work for less, undercutting the current labor market. It is not far different than the influx of illegals in Southern California. It is a shock to the economy, to social services, the tax base, and culture.
And an atheist. But at least he gets it.
As much a shock as the many Muslims who have come to London? I think not. Maybe a few Brits remember the Polish pilots who helped turn back the Germans in the Battle of Britain, and the tens of thousands of soldiers who ought in Italy and France. They didn't call them "the brave Poles" for nothing.
And yet the Brits did not allow a single Pole to march in the Victory Parades after the war, for fear of offending Uncle Joe.
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