Radio Maryja is a Polish
religious, nationalist,
conservative, anti-post-Communist and pro-life Roman
Catholic radio station and media group, describing itself as
patriotic. It was founded in Toruń
, Poland, on
December 9, 1991 and run since its inception by the Redemptorist Tadeusz
Rydzyk, often called Father Director by his
followers. The station has been criticized by both Polish
and international media, notably for perceived misconceived
patriotism, the use of Catholicism as a
political tool.
The Vatican expressed
concern about the station, and the Episcopate of Poland has warned Radio Maryja
about 'political broadcasting', with Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz of Kraków
and the country's Primate, Cardinal Józef Glemp urging fellow Roman Catholic
church leaders to take immediate action. Dziwisz made his
remarks at a meeting of Polish hierarchy in July 2007, asserting
that the station threatened the unity of Polish Catholicism.
However, the bishops were divided over whether to take action
against the station which has considerable influence among its
primary audience of the elderly rural poor. A political and
religious movement led by the Father Director is called the Radio
Maryja Family. The name "Maryja" assumed by the group, is a
traditional Polish form of the name "Mary", referring to
Mary, mother of Jesus. Critics say
that scandals sparked by Radio Maryja have twisted the teaching of
the Catholic Church in Poland.
Programming schedule
Radio Maryja's programming consists of a political and religious
news service (several times daily),
frequent recitals of the
Rosary,
breviary,
Chaplet of Divine Mercy, the unction
to
the Black
Madonna of Częstochowa, discussions on the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, daily
transmission of the
Holy Mass, the Pope's
pilgrimages, and sociological and political programmes such as "A
Program for Farmers" or "Unfinished Conversations" Recorded
broadcasts of the station are filed on many internet sites A
slogan frequently repeated on Radio Maryja
is: "Radio Maryja - The Catholic Voice in Your Home".
Ownership and finances
The radio station is owned by the Warswaw Province of the
Congregation of the Most
Holy Redeemer, and is financed through donations from its
audience - "The Radio Maryja Family"; this is unlike most Polish
radio stations which are either publicly funded or dependent on
advertising revenue. Due to a concordat with the Vatican that
grants certain privileges to the Church, Radio Maryja is not bound
by normal accounting rules as it is regarded as being Church
operated. Thus, Radio Maryja does not disclose the exact sources of
its financing, nor of any of its enterprises, and does not pay
taxes.
As
revealed by Radio Maryja, it is financed by Jan Kobylański (a Uruguay
-based
millionaire, who was reportedly prevented from entering the USA due
to his alleged wartime collaboration with the Nazis, and is closely linked to the operator of Radio
Maryja). The station was also funded by
Edward Moskal, the chairman of the American
Polish Congress.
Radio
Maryja raised millions of Polish zlotys from
donors to save the historical shipyard in Gdańsk
, where Solidarity was
founded. However, the shipyard did not receive the money, as
Father Rydzyk's associate lost millions of Polish zlotys on the
stock market.
Audience
Radia Maryja's audience is reputed to consist largely of elderly,
rural listeners. The station claims that it has "millions of
listeners", but market research usually shows lower numbers:
approx. 1.2 million people daily. The audience peaked in 1998 and
was estimated to be around 2 million. The station estimates that it
is listened to by well over 10% of adults in Poland; the most
comprehensive market research by Radio Track for the whole of
Poland (June-July 2005) shows a 2.5% "share of listening time", and
this may or may not be in agreement with the 10% figure. A March
15, 2007
Economist article
summarized that
"The church in Poland is divided between
Vatican loyalists, who often oppose close involvement in politics,
and energetic dissidents linked to Radio Maryja, a hardline
broadcaster. This once had huge clout, articulating the
feelings of Poles alienated by the country's brisk, materialist
business culture and the decay in moral norms. But Radio
Maryja's audience has shrunk in the past decade to no more than 2%
of all current listeners." Radio Maryja is one of several
Catholic media outlets in Poland.
Radio Maryja Family
The station has gathered a large group of committed followers, the
Radio Maryja Family (
Rodzina Radia Maryja), to which
Tadeusz Rydzyk is, unquestionably, a
charismatic figure. Supporters identify themselves with this
movement which its opponents call "
the
army of mohair berets", a pejorative and satirical expression.
As of November 2006, the Radio Maryja Family network had 600 clubs
and offices across Poland.
The movement holds a pilgrimage to Częstochowa
every year, which in 2006 attracted about
500,000. Representatives of the Radio Maryja Family also
visited the Vatican five times during the papacy of
John Paul II. Rydzyk and his organisation have
been involved with politics as well as supported the conservative
party
PiS and its leaders, the
Kaczyński brothers. It is the
position of Radio Maryja that Catholic voters should support
candidates who uphold Catholic values.
While the conventional greeting in the
Roman Catholic Church is,
"Praised
be Jesus Christ!", the followers of Rydzyk use,
"May Jesus
Christ and Mary ever Virgin be praised".
Related enterprises
Enterprises related to Radio Maryja, independent of the Catholic
Church authorities, and initiated by the Rydzyk are the TV network
Telewizja Trwam (lit. "I Persist"),
a newspaper
Nasz Dziennik
("Our Daily"), the
Nasza Przyszłość ("Our Future")
Foundation, the
Lux Veritatis ("The Light of Truth")
Foundation, and the
Wyższa
Szkoła Kultury Społecznej i Medialnej ("The College of
Social and Media Culture") in Toruń. The rector of the College
until recently was Rydzyk. Radio Maryja's opponents say that this
network of six enterprises is dominated by Rydzyk and call it the
"Media Empire of Father Rydzyk", or the "Rydzyk holding
company".
Criticisms and controversies
Allegations of intolerance
A survey on European "hate radio" prepared by Radio Netherlands
cited Radio Maryja as controversial. One of Radio Maryja's
programmes, "Unfinished Conversations" is, according to the
magazine
Polityka, "dominated by
intolerance and
authoritarianism".
Lech Wałęsa, a
Nobel Prize laureate and a former
president of Poland, stated that "Radio (Maryja) is lying if it
considers itself a Catholic station". Nevertheless, Radio Maryja
claims that it is the only independent radio station in Poland. It
accuses other media, mainly leftist
Gazeta Wyborcza, of
fiercely attacking the "only entirely Polish radio station",
referring to the fact that almost all mass media, including
Gazeta Wyborcza, is controlled by foreign capital. Critics
claim that the station uses propaganda which emphasizes
nationalism,
antisemitism,
anti-communism and
anti-German prejudice
Allegations of antisemitism
Critics argue that the radio station crosses the line of
xenophobia. and contend that it propagates
"extreme"
antisemitism and hate
concepts such as
żydokomuna. The Council for Media
Ethics referred to the station's "weakly documented accusations" as
"primitive anti-Semitism".
In January 2000 another controversy was
caused by Ryszard Bender, a historian from the Catholic
University of Lublin
, speaking on Radio Maryja with a convicted
Holocaust denier, Dariusz
Ratajczak. He stated that Auschwitz
was not an extermination camp but merely a large
labour camp for Jews. In April, 2006,
leading Polish essayist Stanisław Michalkiewicz was
reported in Gazeta Wyborcza
as stating that "men from Judea
... are
trying to surprise us from behind", and referring to the World
Jewish Congress as "a main firm in the Holocaust Industry".
Michalkiewicz responded by calling
Gazeta Wyborcza "an
unusual example of the Jewish
fifth
column in Poland" and "a Jewish newspaper for Poles".
Supporters of Radio Maryja claim that hateful or anti-Semitic
statements transmitted by the station are very rare and originate
from its listeners and not its employees.
The alleged antisemitism of Radio Maryja has brought the station to
worldwide attention. A report of the
Council of Europe stated that Radio Maryja
has been "openly inciting to antisemitism for several years" and
that there is "a lack of effective implementation of measures
intended to prohibit antisemitic acts and statements" in Poland.
The
Simon
Wiesenthal Center
initiated a fierce petition condemning Father
Rydzyk's alleged antisemitic statements.
In 2004 Radio Maryja went on a campaign to defend Father
Henryk Jankowski, a priest accused of
antisemitism and
pedophilia. State
prosecutor found no proof of child molestation, but stated that
relations between Father Jankowski and the altar boys were
improper. The scandal resulted the removal of Jankowski from the
post of parish priest).
In July 2007 over 700
[196952] Polish Catholic intellectuals, journalists,
priests and Catholic activists signed a public letter of protest
condemning Father Tadeusz Rydzyk.
In August 2007
Nasz Dziennik, a newspaper tightly linked
with Radio Maryja, suggested papal approval of for Father Rydzyk's
behaviour - an article described in detail how Rydzyk and his
followers went to the Vatican met the pope, kissing his hand. The
Vatican promptly announced: "In reference to requests for
clarification related to (Father) Tadeusz Rydzyk's 'kiss' ... the
matter does not imply any change in the Holy See's well-known
position on relations between Catholics and Jews".
Conflict with Vatican
Indeed, the Vatican has voiced deep concern regarding Radio Maryja.
The
papal nuncio to Poland, Archbishop
Józef Kowalczyk, wrote to that
country's bishops requesting their aid
"to overcome
difficulties caused by some transmissions and the views presented
by Radio Maryja". In response the Polish bishops established
an supervisory body: the Cooperative Unit for Pastoral Care of
Radio Maryja (headed by bishop Sławoj Leszek Głódź). However, some
bishops support the Reverend Rydzyk, and
"thanked for the great
evangelizing work conducted by Radio Maryja". Also a group of
Polish
Sejm deputies and MEPs addressed an open
letter to the chair of the Polish Bishop's Conference concerning
"protection for Radio Maryja". The controversial Rydzyk remains the
head of Radio Maryja and has ignored the warning from the papal
nuncio.
Several Polish
bishops have criticized Radio
Maryja for spreading opinions incompatible with the official
teaching of the Catholic Chhurch. Critics note that the Polish
bishops have been divided over Radio Maryja for a long time. Media
speculated that the Roman Catholic Church in Poland might be
heading for a
schism.
An imaginary
breakaway church led by the Reverend Rydzyk has been named "The
Rydzyk Church of Poland", an ironic expression, or the "Toruń-Catholic Church" (in Polish: kościół
toruńsko-katolicki). In Poland the latter term is
sometimes used to refer to the
ideology of
Radio Maryja in general.
Bishop
Tadeusz Pieronek, the former
secretary general of the Episcopate of Poland, said that Radio
Maryja is
"'a real and growing problem
",
it "offers a reduced view on Christianity" and "is
extremely compromising and shameful, sick and
dangerous".[196953] According to the official Vatican web
page: "Radio Maryja (...) became much more involved in
spreading risky politics than in spreading the Gospel."
Euroscepticism
Radio Maryja strongly opposed Poland joining of the
European Union in 2004.
The station also
suggested that a close cooperation with Russia would better serve
Poland's national interests rather than joining NATO
.
Until 2003 the Catholic Radio Maryja was also aired on
shortwave from Russia. Despite his
euroscepticism, Father Director applied for
funds of the European Union alloted to help boost Polish businesses
and researchers from 2007-2013. Radio Maryja often states that it
is attacked by liberal politicians and by media who are doing
everything to assault "the only alternative for Poland".
Support for death penalty
Radio Maryja promoted the political programme of
Law and Justice, a Polish conservative
party, which together with the
League of Polish Families sought
to introduce
capital punishment
in Poland and throughout Europe. The support of Radio Maryja for
the death penalty does not go along the declaration of the Pope
John Paul II .
Involvement in politics
Direct involvement in political issues is against the Catholic
Church's directives for priests. Nevertheless, politicians,
including
Andrzej Lepper,
Roman Giertych,
Jarosław Kaczyński, and
Zbigniew Ziobro, were often invited
to promote their views on Radio Maryja. Thus the religious station
serves as a political channel of conservative parties, although the
Vatican has ordered Radio Maryja to "drop the politics". Asked
whether the Reverend Rydzyk would himself form a party, bishop
Tadeusz Pieronek, the former secretary general of the Episcopate of
Poland, replied that he could not imagine a priest starting a
political organization.
In January 2006, a journalist from the Polish tabloid
Fakt phoned the minister for agriculture
Krzysztof Jurgiel, claiming to be Father
Director's assistant, and told Jurgiel that Father Director's car
had broken down. The minister immediately sent a government
limousine for the Reverend Rydzyk. The reporter said he had carried
out the provocation to check Rydzyk's influence in the
government.
In February 2006 the
Law and Justice
party signed a key agreement with two other political parties. To
the fury of the Polish press, only journalists from Radio Maryja's
sister television network Trwam and its director the Reverend
Rydzyk, who actively supported Law and Justice during the election,
were allowed in the room. The president of the Polish National
Broadcasting Council, Elzbieta Kruk, stated that she has no
authority to act in regard to these complaints, as she has been
appointed by the Polish president
Lech Kaczyński; critics add that the
government fears of alienating the station's dedicated audience,
who make up a significant fraction of the constituency of the
governing party Law and Justice.
In March 2006, Polish literary critic and television personality
Kazimiera Szczuka satirized a
young woman who frequently recites prayers on Radio Maryja, not
knowing that the woman was confined to a wheelchair. Despite
Szczuka's public apology, she was found guilty of "insulting a
disabled person and mocking her religion" by the Polish National
Broadcasting Council. The station on which she had appeared was
fined the equivalent of $125,000; according to the Polish press,
the highest fine the Council had ever levied. The sole dissenting
member of the Council, Wojciech Dziomdziora, stated that "It is
probably right to say" that the political support of Radio Maryja
for the ruling party "is the real reason" for the serious
punishment of Szczuka, while Radio Maryja is given a free hand for
disparaging comments on other's religions.
Governmental back up
The former
cabinet of Jarosław
Kaczyński openly supported Radio Maryja. In December 2006 the
Prime Minister of Poland,
Jarosław Kaczyński, joined the
15th anniversary celebrations of Radio Maryja and praised the
station as a source of "
comfort and hope". Kaczyński
warned that
"an attack on Radio Maryja is an attack against
freedom". Jarosław Kaczyński, the twin brother of the
President of Poland, was a regular guest of Radio Maryja.
Scandals with President's wife
In 2007 Rydzyk offended
Maria
Kaczyńska, the wife of the Polish President Lech Kaczyński, and
50 women journalists who met with the Polish first lady on the
International Women's Day.
The Reverend Rydzyk said that the meeting was a
cesspool -
"We will not call it anything
else. We will never refer to a cesspool as a
perfumery." The women signed a statement to protest a
tightening of the country's already strict abortion laws. Later the
Wprost magazine published a
recording from a lecture given by the Reverend Rydzyk at his
private College of Social and Media Culture in Toruń, in which,
according to Wprost, he called the President's wife
"a witch
who should perform euthanasia on herself" and stated that
"the President cheated him". He allegedly called the
Polish President
"a swindler who had bowed to pressure from the
Jewish lobby". Rydzyk refused to apologize saying that the
voice recording was
"a manipulation" and a result of a
"fight of spirits".
BBC News noted
that
"Mr. Rydzyk has not denied making the
comments".
Attacks on Radio Maryja
In 1996, an anonymous person phoned Radio Maryja and spoke in a
vulgar language to the priest hosting a live program. As a result
Radio Maryja uses a delay loop which allows filtering of callers'
comments.
The station used to continuously broadcast an
RDS signal for traffic announcements
making car radios in Poland notoriously switch to Radio Maryja -
see
Usenet post.
The radio was
Google bombed in 2006,
targeting the phrase "siedziba Szatana" ("dwelling of
Satan").. The bomb appears to be still partially in
effect.
References
External links
See also
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