Verse
Oliver, Mary
not clear whether this is true or not. Coming so soon after the constitutional dispute, however, any sort of laymen's support for the workers represented a serious problem for the party...
...Their undogmatic outlook makes it possible for them to agree with party policy in some cases but criticize it, from mostly leftist positions, in others...
...Rising from sleep, man Knows there is no truth without Violence, no beauty without grossness...
...From their world Of fences and gluttonous feeding, The wallowers fatten and stink And get ready to die...
...When it does, though, the KIK will find it dif-, ficuit to keep up its schedule of lectures, discussions and other activities, and Wiez will have it even harder...
...The traditional piety of the people remains strong, church attendance is high, and there are more than enough vocations to fill the ranks of the clergy...
...The problems of the KIK and Wiez began in December, when their leaders were informed they could no longer use Libella funds to finance their activities...
...And in his quiet kitchen, Luminous with hope, winged with philosophy, he lays The bacon in the pan...
...Coming so soon after the constitutional dispute, however, any sort of laymen's support for the workers represented a serious problem for the party leadership...
...0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 MARY OLIVER MEAT Driving through farm country, you know When there are pigs nearby: The smell, rank as an old carpet Mice have lived in damply, Rolls through the windows...
...Laymen could become increasingly active critics of party policy, using the Church's political influence as their base while allowing the episcopate to keep a discreet distance from partisan politics...
...At the moment, aggiornamento might not seem so urgent a need in Poland...
...Within the conservative Polish Church, these two groups represent the most influential spokesmen for an open, critical Catholicism...
...The government evidently felt it had to minimize the influence these groups could have...
...Although a court decision in March legally abolished the old Libella ownership arrangements, the withdrawal of funds from the KIK and Wiez has not yet come about...
...With official preference and funding behind the small but pro-government ODiSS group, the bridge which many laymen were trying to build between the traditional Church outlook and modern Polish society will come under heavy strain...
...Commonweal: 455...
...This step was formalized in January when the government issued a decree transferring all Lihella shares to the Polish Club of Catholic Intelligentsia (PKIK), a rival group set up last year by the ODiSS group...
...In fact, Wiez might have to fold o~ce the funds are finally cut...
...TOM HENEGHAN (Tom Heneghan, a previous contributor, is a senior analyst ]or Czechoslovakia and Poland in the research department o] Radio Free Europe in Munich...
...It remains to be seen whether they will be around to lead it...
...But Polish society is undergoing rapid changes brought on by urbanization, education and econorrtic development, and these changes .are bound to affect the Church as well...
...When they do, the type of dialogue the KIK and Wiez groups have been promoting could play an important role...
...Their members have developed a socially conscious critique of Polish society without falling back on the traditional anti-Communism of the episcopate...
...As a result, the KIK and Wiez groups have been at the center of the Polish Church's modest "dialogue with the modern age," and have brought about some dialogue with noB-believers norreally put off by the policies of the episcopate...
...It is significant that the KIK and Wiez are the targets of official pressure...
Vol. 104 • July 1977 • No. 15
