Welcome to Friday. The Polish church has played a crucial role in the transition from communism to democracy and now has become enmeshed in the nation's political affairs. An NCR columnist says it was providential that the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol happened on the Feast of the Epiphany, awakening to us that our democracy has deep-seated dysfunction.
Some Polish Catholics have a gloomy forecast for their church.
"I say it's a dark night for the church," said Zbigniew Nosowski, one of Poland's prominent intellectuals. "It is a difficult time of crisis."
Nosowski said that there is widespread dissatisfaction with the hierarchy of the church and its unwavering embrace of the right-wing authoritarian ruling party, Law and Justice, led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
The church played a crucial role in the transition from communism to democracy, said Dariusz Stola, professor of history at the Institute for Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. As a result, the church became enmeshed in the nation's political affairs.
"In the last 20 years, we have seen an alliance between the church and the populist right, and this has alienated Poles inside and outside the church," said Stola. "And now the church will pay for this questionable alliance."
You can read more of this story here.
Of all the shocking images that flooded our screens on Jan. 6, St. Joseph Sr. Christine Schenk was most outraged by a flag bearing the name of Jesus carried by insurrectionists as they mounted their assault on the U.S. Capitol.
"As if Jesus would ever condone this out-of-control mob — fueled by lies and bearing deadly weapons — intent on overturning the legitimate election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris," Schenk writes in a column for NCR. "I could barely take in that this was happening at the citadel of my country's democracy — let alone that the perpetrators would justify their violent behavior by invoking the name of the Prince of Peace."
Schenk says she found it oddly providential that the attack on the Capitol happened on the Feast of the Epiphany.
"An epiphany is a manifestation or an awakening," she writes. "The deep-seated dysfunction — I would call it evil — plaguing our democracy is now plainly manifest. There is blessing in such an awakening. A painful clarity will inform our choices in the days ahead."
You can read more of the column here.
This week, we continue our series, Building a Common Future, in which we asked Catholic politicians, activists and scholars to offer advice to President-elect Joe Biden.
"Building our common future: It's what the United States, indeed, the entire world needs right now," we wrote in an editorial introducing the series.
Today's commentary comes from Alphonso David and Michael Vasquez, president and religion and faith director, respectively, of the Human Rights Campaign, and focuses on the LGBTQ community. "Our pursuit of the common good must be more than lofty theologizing, but must be reflected in concrete and specific policy changes that will allow our politics, in Pope Francis' words, to be 'an expression of love through service,' " they write.
You can read Monday's commentary on rural poverty by Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky here. Tuesday's commentary by U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut) on income inequality and the widening wealth gap can be found here. Wednesday's commentary by Richard Trumka on labor union organization can be read here. Thursday's commentary from Johnny Zokovitch on gun violence can be found here.
Read the rest of David and Vasquez's commentary here.
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Final thoughts
Every Friday, we pull together letters to the editor from readers like yourself. This week, we are publishing responses to our announcement of President-elect Joe Biden as the 2020 Catholic Newsmaker of the Year. Watch our live video discussion on the decision with NCR executive editor Heidi Schlumpf, columnist Michael Sean Winters, national correspondent Christopher White and best-selling author Mark Kennedy Shriver. You can join in the conversation by following the guidelines here.
Until Monday,
Stephanie Yeagle
NCR Managing Editor
[email protected]
Twitter: @ncrSLY
