Poland: Radio Maryja is 15

The controversial Polish Catholic radio station – Radio Maryja – is 15 years old, reports the beatroot.

7 comments

  • Please stay away from Radio Maryja.

    Lech Alex Bajan Polish American from Washington DC USA. We are 4 Million strong and we love our country Poland our history and our roots and we will not let Liberal Atheists try to divide our people.

    Radio Maryja with community for over 4 million people in Poland and all over the world.
    15 years ago you began your work in humble conditions. Today Radio Maryja and your other enterprises have assumed large dimensions and are very important to the Church in Poland. The Radio is a sign of opposition. The media you have created proclaim the message, which is today important to the lives of millions.

    But there are also opponents. Where do they come from?

    – I think that they do not agree with what they hear. At the same time, they feel some threat to the present day monopoly to form public opinion according to their directions. We have played a different tune, different from the orchestras in which all people speak the same. Media were restricted to promote certain system of values in order to control people and to rule more easily. That was the case under the communist regime and the same can be applied to the liberal one. Media form people’s opinions and thinking the way their opponents want and this is done for money. In turn, those who have money can have media and power. This is some closed triangle. But out of a sudden, a radio station has appeared and it courageously opposes the opinions, and hence it is a treat to them.

    There are almost 40 million people in Poland and perhaps some 20 million Polish immigrants all over the world. We face a great task: to strengthen all people in faith and love for their Homeland.
    Radio Maryja is the biggest Catholic station in Poland. About 12 % of Poles listen to Radio Maryja (CBOS opinion poll in 2003), which means four million listeners. More people listen to it from time to time. One must notice that the polls do not embrace listeners abroad; via the satellite Radio Maryja reaches almost every corner of the world where Polish immigrants live. Radio Maryja is also one of the most opinion-forming stations in the country; it is quoted by other media.

  • WolfMoon

    Lech, sit there in US, and mess with your new country. You have left Poland, you don’t leave here anymore.
    You say, 12% of Poles listen to RM. Well, that gives 88% who don’t and who are mostly ashame of this antysemitic crap. Radio listen by old uneducated fools, who believe in everything they hear. This country has been run by oldtimers for far too long. It’s time for changes, time to open minds, give people chance to take their future in their hands. Listen to that sh* if you like, but stop pretending, it’s a country phenomen and what father Rydzyk says, is the only possible truth.
    Sorry… but i’m just getting sick of people, who left Poland in ’70 or earlier, and now they say, they are disgusted by what is going on in Poland. Well, you can’t do anything about it, if you just sit tight. You don’t like it? Come back, take your chances in polish politics, stop saying to us, living in Poland, what should we and what should’t we do, listen to who or who to vote for.

  • WolfMoon

    And one more:
    thanks to those, as you call them, “Liberal Atheists” I can comment this post (because I have Internet) and I can affort to go shopping to NY if I like.
    “We face a great task: to strengthen all people in faith and love for their Homeland.” You want to strengthen love to your Homeland? Then stop spreding this bullsh*. How can you call yourself a Pole, if you try to convince everyone, that high development of Poland is something wrong and we should still use wooden carts, grow potatos and cabbage. There is no other way, than be a liberal in modern world. Otherwise Poland will become next Belarus .I just want to remind you, that RM was agains polish entry to European Union. I can’t even imagine, what would your Homeland look like, if it havent accessed EU.

  • Radio Maryja is not ” controversial Polish Catholic radio station ” ONLY IN YOUR MIND and People manupulated like you.

    Radio station Maryja, Television station TRWAM, the Major School of Social and Media Culture in Torun, and other initiatives are the institutions which are supported by many Polish people. I would like to express my gratitude towards those who freely serve and support these works.

    Those who listen to Radio Maryja know that the radio station does not identify with any political party. People from various backgrounds, circles speak on the air, even those who belong to various political societies. Of course you will hear words of critique on the air; their target is not any particular political party and its structures but the morale of specific persons irrespective of their political attachments.

    If it wasn’t for Radio Maryja, the Polish Church would be virtually helpless and silent, following the example of the traditionally strong Irish Church, whose “evangelical power” and the influence on the daily life are weakening because – as stated by one the lecturers at a seminary academy at Maynooth – they do not have access to media or laic capable of protecting the Church in public. Whose interests lie in weakening or even annihilating Radio Maryja.

    Radio Maryja is for economic development in Poland but we have to learn from the mistakes of the past: like corrupted privatization of the 90th.Poland. Romania. Russia. SlovakiaSlovenia Ukraine. Uzbekistan. Overall corrupt privatization.

    One of the more unusual trends in Poland’s transition to a market economy has been the continuing involvement of many of the former Communist officials, the very people which the revolution of 1989 was directed against. While it might seem as if these leaders would have been the first to have lost their jobs during the transformation, many have in fact been able to use privatization to their advantage, often by somewhat extralegal means.

    These former Communists are often referred to as the “nomenklatura”, the Soviet term for those officials appointed to their positions by the Communist Party. During the 60’s and 70’s they began to become used to receiving special perks from the government, making it possible for them to acquire expensive cars, houses, and television sets. During Poland’s transformation, Solidarity officials decided to work with these officials to allow for an easier transition. Part of this was simply because there were not enough qualified people to replace them, but there was also the fact that many Solidarity officials wanted to focus on bringing the country together rather than dividing it. Their first prime minister, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, emphasized that he wanted to forget the past and start again, “with all Poles working together.” (1) So as the government began privatizing its industries, there were still many officials left from the Communist days.
    Unfortunately, many of these former officials took advantage of their new position in the government and steered the local privatization processes to their advantage.
    This might explain then where some of the former officials are coming from, and why they would be so inclined to engage in such illicit practices. But it doesn’t explain why they are getting away with it. This leads to the second reason why such corruption is so widespread. Advocates of using “shock therapy” to transform an economy often speak of the vacuum that is created when prices are freed, which the free market will then quickly fill because there is such a need for the vacuum to be filled. A similar thing has happened with the legal system in Poland, except here there is nothing which will automatically fill it. When the Communists fell from power, many of the laws quickly stopped being enforced, since they were relics of a system which no longer existed.
    Polish economy is doing well but will be today in much better shape if the transformation will be done correctly.
    Let’s learn from the history and do not do the same mistakes in Iraq and Afganistan – if is not to late now.
    One of the ironic things about this is that many in Poland apparently don’t see this as a major problem, as long as the businesses are being privatized. One Solidarity offical was quoted as saying “I’m not as interested in whether the owner stole a factory as in whether he can begin production quickly…we could assure that no one ‘steals’ these businesses, but then no one will produce anything.”
    Clearly Poland does have some more work ahead in this area, so that those Communist officials who do remain become a positive force for helping reform in the country, rather than being a major part of the problem.
    Lech Alex Bajan
    Washington DC

  • MOCKBA

    Lech,

    You have been posting nonsensical blabber all over the internet, whether it be blaming the jews for your country’s misfortunes or commenting on political events that you clearly have no understanding of. I can understand your frustration in terms of trying to hold on to every last ounce of pride that your homeland of Poland (in which you haven’t resided since 1985) may desperately warrant from you. However, lets not continue this embellishment of your country’s history and culture. Let us get serious for once and consider or perhaps in your case realize that since the fall of Prussia, Poland has been but a mere territory passed between the hands of global superpowers. I sympathize with you in that the idea of your country’s borders being negotiated by foreign heads of state for the past century and a half must hurt your pride indeed. I am not attempting to bash your culture or your people. I am simply asking you to quit while you are behind because you are wasting your time and life commenting on things that you clearly lack any sort of coherent understanding for. The notion that Polish family values are threatened by atheists or Jews is a frightening one but in terms of your own thought process rather than actual the integrity of your culture. It is this sort of paranoia that promotes misunderstanding between two peoples and leads to down right hatred. It is very clear from your blogs that you are a very simple man. I could project onto you my own derogatory views that spark up from reading your comments but this is what perpetuates such simple minded philosophies of misguided frustration and scapegoating, so I will restrain myself. I instead respectfully ask you to do some research before sharing your political and historical misinterpretations.

  • I have a question.

    You have stated
    “I am simply asking you to quit while you are behind because you are wasting your time and life commenting on things that you clearly lack any sort of coherent understanding for. ”
    What do you mean and what this has to do with You bashing of Radio Maryja?
    Does not offend nobody including Jews
    So what is your post about?
    Internet Media has freedom of speech.

    See the video

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc60CG6ATuk

  • Statement of the Provincial Superior of the Warsaw Province of the Redemptorists
    Radio Maryja, 2007-07-29

    In mutual understanding with the Very Reverend Joseph Tobin, Superior General of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, I would like to express our common declaration and statement regarding the alleged opinions made by Fr. Tadeusz Rydzyk which were recently published by the weekly magazine “Wprost” and further on these statements became distorted by other mass-media.
    The analysis conducted by a special Commission has shown that both time and place of publishing of the alleged opinions made by Fr. Rydzyk give us sufficient basis to express our opinion that the whole issue has been marked by signs of a serious media provocation and manipulation. It is necessary to realize that the weekly magazine “Wprost” on numerous occasions has offended, in a disdainful way, religious affection of Polish people.
    We are deeply troubled by the current level of the journalistic ethics in free and democratic Poland where we can observe that the methods and techniques used by certain journalists not always serve to reach the truth but rather are being applied to harm the good reputation of some people. If we take into consideration the painful history of our country we can not accept spying as a method of fighting against anybody. Father Tadeusz Rydzyk does not identify himself with the “tapes” which show some signs of compilation. He also does not associate himself with the anti-Semitism attributed to him by others. As his confreres we know him quite well and we recognize that he separates himself from any kind of the above mentioned allegations. Fr. Tadeusz has never had any intention to offend anybody especially Poland’s Presidential couple.
    We are deeply saddened that some mass media tendentiously presented information which at the same time was stained by doubts regarding the authenticity of the “tapes” became not only a source of comments made by many individuals but also often served to judge Father Director. These comments were presented by some media without confronting the other party and with a significant lack of good will in searching for the truth.
    It seems that these allegedly recorded “tapes” in the Major School of Social and Media Culture in Torun should be read as an act against the laws governing the institutions of higher education. This action also violated the long stating tradition of not entering into a school of higher education with any spying equipment.
    It is outrageous that the mass media in Poland included also in this manipulation the person of the Superior General falsely attributing to him that he was about to take “finial decision of punishment” of Father Tadeusz Rydzyk and by doing so once and for all resolving all the problems associated with his activities. This information transmitted by news agencies, newspapers, radio and television stations has awakened an enormous social anxiety not only among the community of multi million listeners of Radio Maryja in Poland but also around the world.
    On behalf of the religious family the Redemptorists, I would like to assure all people of good will that despite our human weaknesses we will take every effort that our evangelization ministry will serve to strengthen social relationships and spiritual needs of all Polish people. We strive to protect the truth in love, human dignity and the freedom of every human being and remain open to all our brothers and sisters regardless of their origin, conviction, social status or religion. Remaining in unity with all the Bishops who expressed their thankfulness and gratitude “for an immense ministry of evangelization performed by Radio Maryja” (May 3rd 2006) we desire to serve all people both in our country and abroad.
    Radio station Maryja, Television station TRWAM, the Major School of Social and Media Culture in Torun, and other initiatives are the institutions which are supported by many Polish people. I would like to express my gratitude towards those who freely serve and support these works.
    Together with the Provincial Government we would like to express our gratitude and support regarding the growth and development of the variety of ministries undertaken by our confreres. We are convinced that our confreres and their co-workers, gifted with special charismas, are of great importance in the mission of evangelization conducted through the mass media.

    Very Reverend Zdzisław Klafka, CSsR
    Provincial Superior of the Warsaw Province of the Redemptorists

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