We are joining forces with the association FIDEI DEFENSOR – the Center for Monitoring Christianophobia, which has been systematically harassed for the past two years, and whose experts have been held in “coercive detention.” We extend a hand to FIDEI DEFENSOR precisely when Donald Tusk’s government had set itself the goal of destroying this work and… almost succeeded!
Christians under fire from the Left
A new wave of anti-Christian aggression is sweeping through Poland. High-profile desecrations of statues of saints, destruction of roadside shrines and crosses, attacks on churches, the faithful, and clergy. Organized scam rings prey on women’s religious orders. A coordinated hate campaign has been launched by Newsweek and the Onet website against the distinguished Nazareth Sisters’ High School in Warsaw. Not a week goes by without further attacks and necessary interventions to defend the victims.
The government of Donald Tusk is joining the effort. Poland’s Minister of Education unlawfully denies Catholic families the normal status of religion classes in schools. At the same time, the prime minister coddles politicians within party ranks who disrupt Holy Mass or openly mock the faith. We remember well that it was representatives of Donald Tusk’s government who threatened us with “filing down” Christians, stripping them of supposed privileges.
We are joining forces with the FIDEI DEFENSOR Association
Our latest move targets the government’s policy of leniency toward anti-Christian violence and hatred. We are joining forces with the association FIDEI DEFENSOR – the Center for Monitoring Christianophobia, which has been systematically harassed over the past two years, and whose experts have been held in “coercive detention”. We extend a hand to FIDEI DEFENSOR precisely when Donald Tusk’s government had set itself the goal of destroying this work and… almost succeeded!
We have all heard about arbitrary detention and grossly inhumane treatment of Fr. Michał Olszewski. He was not, however, the only victim of this type of “coercion arrests.” The regime’s blade also struck the FIDEI DEFENSOR Association, which had been courageously defending the rights of Christians and freedom of conscience for six years and relentlessly fighting for exemplary punishment of those responsible for acts of anti-Christian aggression.
The president of Fidei Defensor, Adam Surmacz, personally learned the ruthlessness of government repression, spending three months in the same prison cell where Fr. Michał Olszewski had previously been held. Adam was subjected to unlawful repressive measures in the form of absolute isolation, round-the-clock surveillance, and obstruction of contact with his family and attorney. He was even denied the right to pray in the prison chapel and to attend Holy Mass with other inmates. It is clear that the procedures for dealing with Fr. Olszewski were not accidental—they were applied unchanged against the head of FIDEI DEFENSOR, just as against other contemporary political prisoners.
During his detention, FIDEI DEFENSOR was already being destroyed by coordinated actions by the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA), the
Internal Security Agency (ABW), and prosecutors, as well as by government audits, which were accompanied by account freezes targeting the organization and its experts. A beautiful, multi-year history of effective work was about to come to an end.
We couldn’t let that happen. When we were defining the six key areas of Ordo Iuris’s work, our supporters suggested in surveys that we must not forget to defend Christians and places of worship. Therefore, we decided to lend a helping hand to the FIDEI DEFENSOR experts. Their experience, their strong social media channels, their social impact—starting today, they will pursue a shared mission as part of the “In Defense of Christians” Ordo Iuris’ program.
Brutal attack on the evening Eucharist at a church in the Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) region
We immediately began our joint efforts. On September 12 in Mieścisko, Greater Poland, an aggressive, half-naked man disrupted the celebration of the evening Holy Mass in an extremely brutal manner. The attacker burst into the church, approached the altar, attacked the parish priest celebrating the Eucharist, smashed the altar, destroyed the cross, and threw a microphone at the faithful, who, terrified, began to leave the church. During the attack, the aggressor shouted vulgar words.
We immediately offered legal assistance to the parish priest who was the victim of the attack. We are already in contact with the prosecutor’s office and have held a meeting with the chairwoman of the town council. In parallel with the legal intervention, we decided to put pressure on local politicians. A special petition to the city council and the mayor is collecting signatures from citizens calling for an official condemnation of the act of aggression. We presented a document signed by nearly 5,500 people to the chairwoman of the town council. Enough of the local government authorities’ indifference toward aggression directed at Catholics and places of worship.
It has long bothered me that public authorities, who condemn even the slightest attacks on the places of worship of other religions, remain passive in the face of egregious cases of direct violence and hateful aggression against Catholics. With the FIDEI DEFENSOR experts joining Ordo Iuris, we finally have the capacity to do something about it.
The answer will be social pressure, which will turn into grassroots oversight of local government politicians, local police units, and prosecutors. We need to keep a close eye on them! This will be the task of the strengthened team of the “In Defense of Christians” program, co-created by the FIDEI DEFENSOR team. I won’t hide the fact that we were strongly inspired by the effective efforts of Jewish organizations to protect synagogues and cemeteries. We can’t be worse.
The lawyers of the Ordo Iuris Institute will also continue to handle dozens of cases concerning anti-Christian aggression, in which the Fidei Defensor Association has been involved to date.
To defend their rights, Christians must act together!
In recent months, we have repeatedly seen how important cooperation is. It was thanks to the exemplary cooperation of the Coalition for Saving the Polish School (KROPS) that we brought about the humiliating defeat of Barbara Nowacka’s “health education” project, which contains comprehensive sex ed with elements of gender ideology. It is thanks to cooperation with the Association of Lay Catechists that the Sejm of the Republic of Poland adopted at first reading a bill that would reinstate two hours of religion classes in schools, restore religion grades to report cards, include them in the grade point average, and grant students attending religion classes the right to be excused from classes for Lenten retreats.
Thanks to the nearly two-year-long close cooperation between Ordo Iuris and the Center for Life and Family, we have been able to greatly amplify the pressure on politicians to defend life, family, and freedom. Together, we collected over 200,000 signatures for the citizens’ bill “Stop the Drug of Pornography”. Coordinated “Call Your Representative” efforts have repeatedly tipped the balance toward victory on life and family issues. At last, together we have already organized 100 meetings with experts from the Ordo Iuris Institute and the Center for Life and Family across Poland. Each time helping to build strong and informed support among Poles for life, family, freedom, and national sovereignty.
Every collaboration also directly affects the number of Polish people we can reach together. Joining forces with the Center for Life and Family has resulted in our newsletters reaching a combined total of one million Poles today. Now, more than 300,000 people who have followed the successful campaigns of the FIDEI DEFENSOR Association will be able to join them.
Observing the government’s discriminatory policy against Christians and anticipating the mass, forced relocation of culturally foreign migrants, we can be certain that the defense of Christians, our churches, places of worship, and the rights of believers must rise to a new level of effectiveness and systematicity.
I also recommend the interview that the Ordo Iuris communications director, Olivier Bault, conducted with Adam Surmacz. It concerns the repressive measures faced by the FIDEI DEFENSOR Association and its president, as well as the idea of joining forces with the Ordo Iuris Institute.
Adv. Jerzy Kwaśniewski – president of Ordo Iuris
Source of cover photo: Ordo Iuris
