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Renewal
Among
Dariusz
In
contemporary
twentieth
227
Catholics
in Poland
M.
Cupial
there are several strands that
movement of the
Polish
Christianity
have been influenced
significantly by
the Pentecostal
century.’
Of
these,
the
majority
are found
among
Catholics. Among
the
many
renewal movements that have been born in the womb of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland in the last
twenty years,
two
form
part
of the worldwide
Pentecostal/Charismatic
family:
the
(Ruch Odnowy w
Duchu
Renewal in the
Holy Spirit
Movement Swietym)
and the Oasis Movement
(Ruch Oazowy).
The Renewal in the
Holy Spirit
Movement
Charismatic
started in several different experienced
Congress
in Rome
(RHSM)
is the Polish world is called Catholic
Dembowski
from
and
currently
Schulz,
Stanislawa
Badeni and Jozef Kozlowski development.
The Renewal in the
Holy Spirit
Movement
forrn of what in the
English-speaking
Renewal. Around 1976 the fire of Charismatic Renewal
places
when Polish Christians who had
the
Baptism
in the
Holy Spirit
in the West returned home. The
pioneer figures
were Fr. Marian Piatkowski from
Poznan,
who was touched
by
the
grace
of renewal
during
the International Charismatic
in
1975,
and Fr. Bronislaw
Warsaw,
who
experienced
release in the
Holy Spirit during
his visit to America in 1975-76. The
Magdalenka
became one of the
important places
in the
development movement. Fr.
Andrzej
Greflcowicz
(leader
of the
Magdalenka
coordinator of the
RHSM), Majka Oprzadek,
Kurzeja-Demska,2 Mieczyslaw Bednarz,
played
an
important
Retreat Center near Warsaw
of this
Center
Adam
Joachim
role in RHSM’s
beginnings
but also the
The leaders of the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Office (ICCRO)?
influenced not
only
the movement’s
character of RHSM. Since
1981,
there have been four international
‘ See the
monograph by
Z.
Pasek,
Ruch
Zielonoswiatkowy Proba Monografii (Krakow: Proba Monografi, 1992).
2 This lady was a member of Oasis in the 1970s and was delegated to help the new Charismatic
an
prayer groups. Trained in theology, and fluent in English,
she played
important role in translating
materials into Polish and interpreting for visiting speakers. She is now a member of one of the Sword of the Spirit communities in Poland.
‘ Rev. Bronislaw
Dembowski,
who was a
professor of philosophy,
became a member of ICCRO in 1990 and was appointed bishop of Wloclawek in 1992.
1
228
conferences in Rome, and all have been attended by
Polish Charismatic
leaders.
An
important
attracted
7,000 participants
was October
14-16,
News of the
Congress
moment in the
history
of RHSM
1983 when the first national Renewal in the Holy Spirit Congress
to Czestochowa.
spread through
the whole
country especially
because of the
presence
of Cardinal Suenens of
Belgium
and several Polish
Bishops. Encouraged
by
the
response
to the
Congress,
movement leaders
arranged
annual
Days
of
Prayer
and
Teaching.
The
largest meetings
were in 1986 with
and in 1993 when 100,000
people
attended.
the movement
sources of the Charismatic
origins. However,
25,000
in attendance,
From its
beginnings,
the classical Pentecostal adapted
movement
has understood the ecumenical
everything brought
from was
carefully
“translated” and
in the
Spirit”
was
of
baptism
and confirmation.
to Catholic needs. The term
“baptism
avoided,
and the
experience
was
explained
in terms of the release or renewal of the
grace
of the sacraments
Emphasis
was
placed
on renewal
among
Catholics and on the Catholic character of the movement.
Only occasionally
were there contacts with Protestant Christians. The Oasis Movement
respond
to this
question
of Catholic-Protestant relations.
The Oasis Movement
The Oasis
Movement,
founded
chose a different
way
to
in the 1960s
by
Fr. Franciszek
(LLM)
since
1976,
Blachnicki’ and known as the
Light-Life
Movement
was the first
theological
and
spiritual
renewal
group
founded in Poland after Vatican IL5 Blachnicki’s vision of
pastoral ministry emphasized
a
awaiting execution,
professor
Religion Oasis-Bewegung
Blachnicki, “Aspetti
Media,
‘ Franciszek Blachnicki was born in 1921 in Rybnik, Poland. During World War II he was active in a Partisan In 1940 the arrested him and sent him
Organization.
to Auschwitz.
Gestapo
During
a three month
solitary
confinement where he was
he had an extraordinary conversion experience much like Saul on the road to Damascus. Exactly on the first anniversary of Maximilian Kolbe’s death in Auschwitz, Blachnicki was informed that the Nazis had changed his death sentence to imprisonment. After the war he became a priest and
in the Catholic
pastoral ministry
in
University of Lublin.
While he was abroad, martial law was declared Poland on December
13, 1981, and
he decided not to return to Poland. He died in Carsberg, Germany on February 27, 1987.
‘ On Oasis-LLM, see Grazyna Sikorska, “The Light-Life Movement in
in Communist Lands 11
Poland,”
(Spring 1983): 49-66; Grazyna Sikorska, “Die in
Polen,”
Charisma
(Dusseldorf)
40
(1983): 8-9; Grazyna Sikorska,
“Oasen des Neuen
Lebens,” Offensive Junger
Christen 104
(1986): 129-132; Grazyna Sikorska, “Luce-Vita,”
in I Movimenti nella Chiesa negli anni ’80, eds. M. Camisasca and M. Vitali (Milano: Jaca, 1982), 69-76; and Franciszek
caratterizzanti un movimento ecclesiale,” in I Movimenti nella Chiesa
negli
anni ’80, eds. M. Camisasca and M. Vitali
(Milano: Jaca, 1982), 175-202. Also see, “Oasis in Poland, The Renewal of a People,” video from Prokla
Nordic TV Productions, N2312 Ottestad, Norway. Telefon 06572333.
2
living
faith based on
personal prayer,
and a
deep experience environment,
it was
possible ministries to
develop.
relationship of
community. for different
229
with
Christ,
Bible
study,
In this
type
of faith
gifts
and Charismatic
the
encouragement
It is said that in the
early
1970s some members of LLM received spiritual gifts
without direct contact with other Charismatic circles. This phenomenon
must have
developed
and influenced the whole movement, because a declaration of the 2nd National
LLM
Congress
in
February 1977
expressed gratitude
to God for the abundance of
spiritual gifts,
to remain
open
to the work of the
Holy Spirit
and for
principles
to discern
gifts
for service and
ministry.
LLM’s links with the Charismatic both with Catholic Pentecostals
were
extremely important.
Kroscienko.
Renewal
grew through
contacts
of his
ministry
as a
and with non-Catholic Christians. Of course relations with other Polish and Western Catholic Charismatics
In the
beginning
Charismatic,
Fr. Piatkowski was a guest
speaker
at the LLM center in
Andrew
Plodowski,
from the
People
of Praise
Community in South
Bend, Indiana,
recalls that in the 1970s three
visiting
Polish priests
asked his
community
for
baptism
in the
Holy Spirit.
One was
LLM’s founder Fr. Blachnicki.
Unity
in the
Spirit
A
unique
characteristic
cooperation
evengelization.
bore
the founder’s
departure
methods and
theological positions,
of LLM is the
ability
to be both
loyally Catholic and at the same time to be
open
to learn from Protestant Christian
groups.
An
example
of this
openness
was the
unprecendented
with
Campus
Crusade for Christ. This
cooperation fruit in many forms
especially
in the
methods, strategies
and
theology
of
The
three-year
formation
program
in LLM
incorporated significant
elements from the
methodology
Crusade. Even with the break in this
type
of
cooperation
from
Poland,
and
emphases
of
Campus
that followed
LLM remains influenced
by originating
in the
Evangelical
Protestant
tradition,
but
adapted
to Catholic needs.
At the same
time,
the Charismatic
through
contacts and
cooperation Pentecostal 6
background, especially (YWAM).’
Whereas LLM’s
learning
dimension of LLM
developed with different
groups
with a with Youth With A Mission
from
Campus
Crusade had
6 Two American Protestants from Youth With A Mission-John Hess and Bruce
Clewett-have
spoken about this cooperation. “Having already been involved since 1975 with the renewal in the Catholic
Church, I was not surprised to meet it
in Poland. But the magnitude of what was happening was greater than I had I met in Poland the
expected.
openness to learn from others, especially non-Catholic a believers, very refreshing feature of Light and Life….
What I received from those contacts
3
230
focused on
evangelism, they sought input
on
leadership training
and the formation of Christian character from
YWAM. The list of ecumenical friends of LLM is
long.’
It is good to mention some of them. Intensive
relations
developed
between Charismatics and
Pentecostals)
LLM and Protestants from Sweden,
Norway,
(mostly Denmark,
Scotland, Germany
and the United States. Blachnicki was
invited as a
speaker
to the
major
international
conference “Pentecost
over
Europe”
in
Strasbourg,
France,
in
1982,
and to another at Sarons
g
Dal, Norway, organized by
Aril Edvardsen in 1 985 .
Polish Ghandi
Unlike
many
other Charismatic
groups,
an important feature of
LLM
was its
prophetic
stance toward regime.9
Like the
early
Pentecostal Polish movement stressed
uncompromising
injustices
under the Communist pacifists
in the United
States,
the
The took for
non-violence and
spoke
out
against
the moral, social,
and
political
situation of its
day. They supported
the
early dissident currents which later became the
Solidarity
movement.
initiatives that Fr. Blachnicki
courageously
the liberation of the human
person
and of the nation was the reason some
people
called him the Polish Ghandi.’°
What’s Next?
With the
departure
from
Poland,
LLM was left
I will
of Fr. Blachnicki
without its leader and founder.
Although
the movement has lost some of its
original
vision and
dynamism,
the work is
continuing. conclude
by looking
at six of the current
developments.
was a new appreciation of God’s ability to work in new in even
the
quite difficult situations. In ways
early 80s, under Fr. Blachnicki, the movement had a creativeness which overcame obstacles both a
vitality and
presented by rigid and perhaps too traditional
clergy and by a militantly atheistic government. One had a tremendous sense of vision and life in certain
groups in the movement” (John Hess).
“[Fr. Blachnicki’s]
contacts and
doubt an for Catholic and pioneering
work with evangelical groups was no
important door-opener
Protestant groups to be able to work together” (Bruce Clewett).
‘ For a
study concerning
the ecumenical
“Ruch w sluzbie
activity of LLB4 see Dariusz Cupial,
Swiatlo-Zycie jednosci chrzescijan
Pr6ba
teologicznej oceny” (Ph.D. Dissertation; Lublin, Poland: Catholic University of Lublin, 1993), XV + 200 + 60 annex.
8 Fr. Blachnicki was also invited to speak at the European Charismatic “Acts 86” at
Congress
Birmingham, England,
in 1986 but was unable to attend due to ill health. 9
See Franciszek Blachnicki, “A Theology of Liberation-In The
in Communist Lands 12 See also
Spirit,” Religion ‘°
nr
(Summer 1984). bulletins from the Keston Research KNS
College
174, 186, 188, 270.
Grazyna Sikorska, Light and Life: Renewal in Poland (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1989), 12, 90-141.
4
Slovakia, Germany,
Bolivia
231
by
one of Fr. Blachnicki’s people
in the
mid-1980s, community
in Poland.
Unfortunately, problem
for the traditional
1. The Oasis
camps
and courses continue, drawing nearly 100,000 people
each
year.
The movement has
expanded
to the Czech
republic,
and
Paraguay.
Lutherans in East
Germany and
Norway
have been
inspired
to start Oasis
programs
of their own.
2. The New Life
(Nowe Zycie) community
was founded in Krak6w
disciples,
Jacek Reka. With about
2,000
New Life was the
biggest
ecclesiastical authorities Reka had to
give up
the
leadership.
community largely disintegrated, Catholic Church in Poland was lost.
4. Another Ephatha
community
Polish
cooperators “Evangelization
Charismatic the leader
being
a layman posed a
in
Krak6w,
and
After Reka’s
departure,
the and its
spiritual
influence on the
role in the Renewal has been
Serafin
Tyszko.
Located in
Michigan,
and
Catholic
program,
3. In northern Poland an
important
taken
by
a
group
founded
by
Waldemar
Lipie,
near
Koszalin,
the
community gave
birth to a new order of sisters,
the Children of God’s Grace
(Dzieci
Laski
Bozej).
Sisters from this order are now
working
in Sweden and in the Ukraine.
that has had a
big
influence is the
group
from Lublin. Leaders from this
group, especially
Tomasz Kosiek, Andrzej Sionek,
and Fr. Jan
Kruczynski
have taken
important ecumenical
initiatives, organizing
two visits of John Wimber to
Poland, both times with
Ralph
Martin from Ann
Arbor,
organizing
the annual March for Jesus.
They
have also been
major
with the world-wide
2000,”
led
by Fr.
Tom Forrest.
5. The Charismatic Renewal has had a very interesting and somewhat
influence on the Catholic Church in Poland. While for some it has been a
stepping
stone toward
deeper
Catholic faith and
for others it has
brought
tradition. On the one
hand,
vocations to the
priesthood
orders have
vastly
increased
among young people.
On the other
hand, many
have left the Catholic Church to
join
free
churches,
contradictory
commitment,
Pentecostal or Charismatic.
communities of committed
dissatisfaction with their
and monastic
mostly
The Polish
believers
deeply
6. While the numbers of
people
involved in the Renewal
may
be large,
most of these
people
are involved at the level of small
prayer
or Bible
study groups.
There is a hunger among many lay leaders for more
people.
appreciate
the
support given by
brothers and sisters in the West and their
prayers
for the
ongoing development
of these “new wineskins” of
Charismatic communities in Poland.
5
