.:Dunned Be Thy Name:.

Today I give you the 1st TransSubstantial  English translation. 

A short story of a man who is a debtor of his parish.

Original text comes from Gazeta Wyborcza and can be found here.

Enjoy!

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Original text: Milena Orłowska, Translation: Krystian Iwaniuk

.:Parish like a bank?:. 

A citizen of Płock, Poland, owes his parish 200 PLN.

„Our priest during his visit on the feast of the Epiphany gave us a card. I thought it was  a traditional picture with Baby Jesus given on this occasion, but to my surprise it was a bill. In a column titled ‘Donations to build the church in 2010’ was written ‘- 200’,” told Wyborcza (GW) the resident of Międzytorze district in Płock. The whole issue concerns Holy Mother of Fatima parish.

The man wants to stay anonymous. “It’s not even about me, but about the elder part of my family. I don’t want to distress them, expose them to ridicule,” he explains, “but I’ve decided to tell the whole story because it bedevils me since then.”

So he begins: “Our  Holy Mother of Fatima parish hasn’t got its own church yet. The faithful pray in a small chapel not far from here. The church has been under construction for several or even dozen of years. We’ve been living here for not a long time so I can’t precisely say how long  this situation has been going on. Nevertheless, since we’ve moved in here, it was announced from the pulpit that for the priest’s Epiphany visit there have to be two envelopes placed on a table. One signed 'The Visit', the other 'For Building the Church. In 2009 my family gave 100 PLN. I even don’t remember whether it was split into one envelope or two. Anyway, on the next visit, which took place at the end of December 2010, the priest gave us a card. At the first sight we’d thought that is a picture with Baby Jesus or a saint… To our surprise it was some kind of a bill – at the top of  it there was the name of our family and our address, and at the bottom was an information stating: ‘Donation of any family to build the church in 2010 amounted to 300 PLN.’ And there was a table in the middle titled ‘Given Donations.’ In the column ‘The Visit’ there was some wavy line, and beneath it, in the ‘During the Last Year’ column, we could read ‘- 200.’ What should I make of that? For me it looks like this: ‘every family gives 300 PLN, you’ve also given something (although, there’s nothing written about a hundred from 2009) but still you owe us 200PLN.’ I’m simply a debtor of my parish.”

The note given by the priest

We have asked the parish priest, canon Stanisław Górski, about the note left during the visit. He told us that the priests have been giving such notes to the faithful for years, and nobody has ever voiced any reservations about it.

“Minus 200 PLN? That’s impossible. There shouldn’t be such information on those notes,” claims priest Górski. When we have told him that we have a photo of this note he admits that there could be placed a tiny minus. “It’s a form of information to our faithful,” convinces us the parish priest, “donations to build a church are not obligatory.”

- So how do you perceive those faithful with minuses?

„The same as the rest of the faithful,” assures us the priest. „Ask parishioners if it is as I am saying or as you are suggesting. I do not account parishioners myself for their donations. Whether they support the building of the church or not is a matter of their conscience.”

- You do not account them for their donations? So this is not a settlement?

“We do not have any problem when someone does not want to donate the building of the church,” repeats the Priest.

- Wouldn’t it be better to abandon this kind of information procedure? And  just to rely solely on a good, free will of parishioners?

“This is a matter of our parish,” cuts off the priest.

And at the building site of the church there is still no end in sight

We have also asked the same question, of whether the parish should rely solely on the free will of parishioners, to the diocese of Płock. Its spokeswoman, Elżbieta Grzybowska, wrote us a reply: “Unfortunately we do not know exact reports of both sides of this case that GW  has taken up. Especially we do not know the stance of the parish priest, which in this circumstances is a crucial matter. Everybody knows that it often happens that reports of specific situations presented by different sides may be completely different.” 

Moreover, Grzybowska adds: “Also it may happen that although intentions of an action are good, they can be incomprehensible or interpreted incorrectly. If the members of a given parish have reservations about the Epiphany visit they can, and they should, report them to the diocesan curia. That is what also the parishioners of Holy Mother of Fatima parish in Płock, who have contacted with GW, should have done in the first place. Then, after acquainting with the detailed report and interviewing the priest, we can objectively assess the situation and take appropriate steps in order to prevent such events, which may seem controversial, from re-occuring in future.”

We have inquired bishop Tadeusz Pieronek about how this issue of communication with the faithful via dun notes should be assessed.

“It is hard to conclude from this report whether those notes are OK. All depends on relations, atmosphere within the parish. I have just come back from the USA where these kind of issues are always written down, settled and people are informed about them. And nobody is outraged over it,” Pieronek stated.

According to him, it is hard to assess the whole situation unambiguously. “On the one hand, if the parish is building a church I would not treat these reminders, this sort of information, as stigmatizing. On the other hand, all those methods are not appropriate in countries, where the phenomenon of financing the Church is based on a good will.”

Bishop Pieronek highlights that if those notes were summons to pay or reprimands it would be unacceptable. “But this kind of information…Of course it’s not nice, but there is nothing to feel indignant about,” he sums up.

Resident of Międzytorze comments on the whole case: “It’s a really peculiar situation. Offerings to the building of the church should be voluntary. And that’s what by definition word offering means. Meanwhile, I’m settled for donations like in a bank! I’ve talked with my neighbours, and they said that they’ve been getting those notes for years. And that it annoys them too. Have anyone made an official complaint? I don’t know, but I’ve heard that people finally want to talk with the parish priest about it.”