OVER 600 POLISH CATHOLIC INTELLECTUALS, JOURNALISTS, PRIESTS AND ACTIVISTS JOIN TOGETHER TO CONDEMN ANTISEMITIC PRIEST

More than 600 Catholic intellectuals, journalists, priests and Catholic activists have signed a public letter of protest condemning antisemitic extremist Father Tadeusz Rydzyk.  Among the leading signators of the protest are: Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the first non-Communist Prime Minister of Poland, Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, former Foreign Minister of Poland, a prisoner of Auschwitz and the current president of the International Auschwitz Council; Marcin Przeciszewski, the head of the Catholic Information Agency of Poland; initiator of the letter being circulated in Poland, Dr. Janusz Salamon SJ, director of the Centre of Culture and Dialogue in Cracow.

In their letter condemning Father Rydzyk, they stated, “As Polish Catholics, both lay and religious, we protest against the scornful and anti-Semitic remarks made by a representative of our Church. Such attitudes negate the Gospel of Love proclaimed by Jesus Christ. It also contradicts the teaching of our compatriot, the Pope John Paul II, who called the Jews "our elder brothers in faith", and described anti-Semitism as "a grave sin". We want to express our solidarity with all our Jewish brothers and sisters offended by the director of Radio Maryja, which advertises itself as "the Catholic voice in your home".

We also appeal to the proper authorities of our Church hoping that the appropriate actions will be taken which will prevent Fr Rydzyk from contradicting publicly the official Catholic teaching about the attitude of the Church towards the Jews. This teaching presented in the documents of the Second Vatican Council and countless addresses of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, has been also confirmed by the Pastoral Letter of the Catholic Bishops of Poland (30 November 1990), which states: "We express our sincere regret for all the incidents of anti-Semitism which were committed at any time or by anyone on Polish soil. We do this with the deep conviction that all incidents of anti-Semitism are contrary to the spirit of the Gospel."

The list of signatories is still open and can be found on the website of the Centre of Culture and Dialogue: www.CKiD.pl.