When I write this column, the media show scenes from the funeral of Jerzy Urban, one of the most ghastly, pathological and perversely evil characters of the Polish People's Republic and the Third Republic of Poland. Since the word "disgrace" has been devalued long ago, chanted over and over again by the chief editor of "Gazeta Wyborcza" Adam Michnik, at the time when he was fraternising with Wojciech Jaruzelski, neither this nor any other similar word describing this state can be used. Sapienti sat.

Fortunately, simple people - young and old, saved our honor during this ceremony. In front of the prominent figures of past times - beneficiaries of the communist transformation - stood a group of ordinary folks holding portraits of victims typical for the Polish Martial law period and the following years. You could see photographs of priests such as Jerzy Popiełuszko, Stefan Niedzielak, Sylwester Zych and Stanisław Suchowolec. There were also photos of Grzegorz Przemyk and Emil Barchański.

SIGN UP TO OUR PAGE Former president Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Adam Michnik and other mourners most likely know their faces and names because they took an active part in the political life of the past era. And since they were present at this funeral, they clearly appreciate the contribution of Jerzy Urban, when he - forty, thirty-eight or thirty-three years ago - as a spokesman for the Polish government - staged real shows of hatred and lies about the death of these people, mainly during his press conferences. He insulted their dignity with his invectives and killed them once more with contempt and falsity. He was all in one, the director and actor in these disgusting spectacles; Spectacles indeed, because there was nothing real about those scenes except the emotions – destructive emotions, the evil and falsehood emanating from Jerzy Urban. He was a co-creator of the system in which its officers took the lives of people shown in these photographs; Until now, many of them haven’t been named and punished for their crimes, and this is the reality in our free and independent country.

Indeed, Father Jerzy Popiełuszko has been beatified in our Catholic Church; Parish churches from all over the world are asking for his relics, and he is to be the patron of a new parish church that is just being established in Warsaw. Nevertheless, the whole truth about his death in 1984 has not been fully explored. Generals Ciastoń and Płatek, not to mention Jaruzelski and Kiszczak, have never been charged for their contribution to this crime and their participation has never been investigated and explained; Let alone the death of the last three priests, victims of the post-Martial Law period: all three - Fr. Niedzielak, Fr. Suchowolec and Fr. Zych - died in 1989. Father Suchowolec, as it were, at the beginning of the Polish Round Table Agreement and the last one – Father Zych straight after, almost at the start of creating the new Poland. All of them were slandered by Jerzy Urban, who was just buried and farewelled in a not-very-elegant way by the former president of the Republic of Poland.

His pathetic, not to say a miserable, funeral ceremony takes place at the same time when we recall the two great priests of our generation and the two people most spat upon by him. We are still celebrating Pope’s Day to commemorate John Paul II and mark Father Jerzy Popiełuszko’s death anniversary. No Urban’s plan can ever destroy their memory because true holiness cannot be destroyed.

Only life itself can write such scenarios. On October 19, we have another meeting with Father Jerzy: at his grave - in the Church of St. Stanisław Kostka in Warsaw’s Żoliborz area - when we celebrate the next anniversary of his terrible death, recognised by our Church as a martyr's death.

Back then, thirty-eight years ago, when we stood around that Church in Żoliborz, in a great silent queue, with our families, with children in prams and on our shoulders, we just wanted to support the parish's requests with our signatures, to bury Father Jerzy there; We did not deliberate about the future or calculate what could happen later, but certainly that was a significant decision. In those days, it was all about "here and now", so the oppressive state couldn’t do any manipulation. We just cared that nothing would threaten the peace of that place - already holy for us; that Solidarity members from all over Poland could watch this spot day and night; that everyone could come there to bring in their pain and sorrow - to feel at home. We wanted Father Jerzy to remain among the people he served, surrounded by those who loved him - as their son, their brother and their friend.

Years later, you can see how wise, far-sighted and right this decision was. No Urbanoid has ever disturbed the peace and greatness of this site!

Father Jerzy's grave has become a place of extraordinary meetings and visits for various people from all over the world. Among banners and flags, Solidarity delegations come here every year on the anniversary of his death. To mark the occasion, they often present themselves in ceremonial, mining or metallurgical uniforms; One can only learn from them how to be faithful. They are committed and loyal to the Solidarity movement, Father Jerzy and his message, faithful to God and Poland as much as they are to themselves. Nobody tells them to come, and nobody ticks off the attendance list; They often struggle a long way - from Stalowa Wola, Subcarpathia Province or Gdańsk and Szczecin - to testify and remember: be brave and go.

In this day and age, you need real courage to resist the already cynical and thoughtless opinions, to stop fake news constantly appearing in public space - at work and at home, brought by young people from their school, repeated on the radio or television - mocking John Paul II, who after all prayed here and in the presence of so many priests, whose only "fault" was and still is their priesthood.

Our parliament established a resolution four years ago that October 19th would be celebrated as The National Day of Remembrance for Steadfast Clergy. The voting process had a surprisingly good result: 356 MPs were in favour, only 39 were against, and 21 abstained. Somehow, nobody messed it up and nobody destroyed the idea.

This year again – when we should see the gathering of our Polish government, local governments and regional representatives, many members of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity", the army and police officers, the Popiełuszko family, the circle of Father Jerzy's friends and associates – bell “Jerzy”, consecrated in 1987 by John Paul II, will be heard at the tomb of Father Popiełuszko. We shall say thanks and prayers for all our priests and monks. For years and centuries, they have supported our freedom and aspirations for true independence. So, however pathetic the previous sentence may sound, it is profoundly true.

Priests, monks and nuns immediately stood up to a specific fight whenever there was a threat to our freedom: they launched medical and charity services, opened secret passages, facilitated conspirators’ meetings, fed and hid refugees, put documents out of sight and supported financially. They often stuck their necks up and, if necessary, took on other people's mistakes. They educated and supported patriotic undertakings.

Our history is full of names of steadfast priests. Archbishop Zygmunt Szczęsny Feliński - about whom I wrote here a few weeks ago, or Archbishop Antoni Baraniak from Poznań, who miraculously survived Stalinist torture chamber and was not broken by his oppressors looking for easy accusations against another arrested person, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. The names of hundreds of priests murdered by the Germans during the Second World War occupation will stay remembered forever. On the other hand, some of the Solidarity vicars are here and still with us; They deserve our special gratitude and memory before it’s too late.

On October 19, the voice of faith and fidelity will resonate again from the tomb of Father Jerzy, and it will never be broken. This is something that mockers, traitors and worshipers of evil will never understand. No matter how intoxicated they are with the ideology of the “enlightened mind” or absorbed by the ideas of another nasty person.

- Barbara Sułek-Kowalska
- translated by Katarzyna Chocian

TVP WEEKLY. Editorial team and jornalists