tmp1D9.htm

POLAND

That which you have heard in secret, proclaim from the housetops...

F alenica lies a little less than 20 kilometers from the center of Warsaw; it's a residential area of the Polish capitol. A family named Szaniawski who lived there up to the 1980s decided to donate their home to the Jesuits of Warsaw. It was an unusual house: madę of wood brought at the beginning of the 19th century all the way from the Ukrainę. The old house had in the meantime become

the residence of a smali religious community; the Jesuits built another building next to it. This is the site of The European Center of Communication and Culture (ECCC).

The Center was founded chiefly to respond to the various needs of people who want to contribute to the common good, and are looking for ways to commit their lives anew,

after years of passivity under a Communist regime. In other words, the ECCC wants to create a space for personal formation, to help people become the leaven in public life on the basis of the great human and Christian values. And this, not only for Poland, but also in countries which suffered even more under past political systems. One note characterizes the new situation in which these countries find themselves: social passivity, little interest in promoting the common good, but also frustration and disillusionment provoked by the hypocrisy of those who are in power.

This frustration is evident when you look at the ever growing divergence between the few new rich and the many new poor. The real problem of that part of Europe which is still treated by the West like a monolith called "Slavia" consists in a dearth of leaders who are not popularists but are commonly recognized by people for their honesty, and who have the courage to undertake needed reforms along with a sensitivity to those who are weakest. So the ECCC offers space to activities of non-governmental organizations, church groups, social programs which are trying to make a contribution to social awakening in civil society.

Next to the 19th century house where the Jesuits live at present, stands the modern building of the European Center of Communication and Culture

The European

Center for Communication

and Culture

gathers those

who want to work

for the common

good.

Special attention

is given to

journalists,

obvious agents

for social change.

Morę than 10

seminars have

been organized

for them.

The Center offers a great variety of courses

For example, in 2002 the Center hosted meetings of many organizations coming together out of a concern to construct a society based on democratic values. Some of these were: the Society of Offices of Civic Counselors, the Forum for the Victims of Crime, the Center of Mediation, and the European Catholic Center of Study and Information (OCIPE). This last organization was responsible for holding some "Little European Encounters" at Falenica - meetings planned for people of all social levels, geared to offering them

exhaustive information about European structures looking to amplifying the European Union.

ECCCs proposal to form laity committed to public life looks also to the deepening of that faith which sparks in people the desire to incarnate it concretely in life, and to this end it organizes Spiritual

Exercises for different groups of people. In 2002, the group was businessmen; in 2003, journalists -the people who have such a strong voice in creating the social climate of the country. That's the reason that, from the outset the ECCC was conceived as a center for the formation of journalists coming from all the countries of Eastern

Europe, as well as a meeting place for Eastern and Western European journalists. Father Grzegorz Dobroczynski organized the first meeting of this group, which aroused great interest especially among the young journalists of Eastern Europe who sense the need to rethink their identity as professionals and Catholics in a totally new and very demanding social situation.

There have been ten international courses in journalism at the ECCC. Among the most significant was one called "Bridges to Europe" which provided the occasion for reflecting on the path toward better mutual understanding something which already exists but needs to be

TV journalism finds its place at the Center

fostered by European countries. Representatives from Poland, the Ukraine and Lithuania were the principal participants in that meeting; they were guided by an international team of media professionals. Another course was organized for Ukrainian journalists representing various private and public media on the eve of the historic visit of the Pope to the Ukraine in 2001. The idea was to offer them the largest possible overview of the life of the Catholic Church, of the person of the Pope, of ecumenical dialogue, etc. - of everything that could possibly be helpful for serious, professional coverage of the historic event. The purpose seems to have been accomplished: the voyage of the

Holy Father in Ukraine was heralded as among the most professional media coverage in any country.

The ECCC also organized two courses for media representatives from Kosovo. The Muslim participants exchanged ideas with Polish public media professionals about how to reconstruct and further the values of peace and harmony in a country sundered by conflict. Thanks to the ECCC's upgrading of its own professional equipment (professional-quality cameras and technology for TV production) the Center in Falenica also began to organize courses for TV journalists of different countries. One course organized in November,

From 1989 onwards the Jesuits

have joined the state institutions

of communications where they are

considered friends and colleagues.

It is a chance to be leaven in a field

of great influence.

2002 attracted representatives of television stations in Russia, Bielorussia, Letonia, the Ukraine and Kazakistan. The final products of their two-week long effort are four brief television commercials enthusiastically received by media experts and transmitted in part over state public television. Lastly, the ECCC is collaborating with the School of Journalism of Baranovici, Bielorussia in preparing young Catholics and Orthodox to work in the media once the complex political situation allows this.

Organizing these courses would be impossible without the precious help offered to ECCC by Jesuits working in Polish state media. They assure the Center in Falenica of a team of persons who keep the courses at a good professional level.

Jesuits have been working in state media since 1989, that is, since the beginning of the political changes which signaled the end of the old regime. Prior to this date, the Church in Poland (or anywhere under Communist domination) had no access to public media, especially not to radio or television. Because of this, the question of Church access to the media was one of the principal requests put to the Communist government by Polish workers at the outset of Solidarity

in 1980. Some years had to pass before this request was honored. In a follow-up to the so-called Round Table of 1989, in which representatives of the Communist Party, then in power, and of the Opposition took part, the Church was offered 60 minutes of programming weekly on State TV. The suggestion was that this time be dedicated to a transmission of the Mass. The Church also got access to State Radio. Without hesitation the Polish bishops agreed to give Jesuits the direction of Catholic programming for public media, and decisive steps were taken to make the most of the new situation.

Fr. Andrzej Koprowski, first director of programming, decided to divide the time of "Catholic" transmission on State TV into three distinct blocks in order to avoid reinforcing the opinion that its themes of faith were appropriate only to Sunday. Distributed throughout the week, Catholic programs were shorter but more frequent, presenting the broadest possible overview of ethical and religious themes, with reference to the social situation in which people lived. The same decision was made about Catholic broadcasting on State Radio. The second step was to insert the production of "Catholic"

programming into the official structures of public media. Once this was done another possibility opened up for the Jesuits: not only to evangelize via the media, but to do the same thing among the personnel who did the daily programming. After all, there was a very real problem involved: after years of totalitarian atheism and loss of faith among journalists, many of them had developed a kind of psychological block which made the Church seem an unknown and untrustworthy reality.

More than ten years have passed since then. It may be said that today the Jesuits working in public media are considered not "aliens" in the workplace but colleagues or even in many cases, friends. Without a doubt this contributes to the bettering of the work climate and of the understanding of the Church on the part of people who for decades were intentionally separated from it. In the meantime many new journalists have come to State Radio and TV, younger but also more used to the presence of the Church in public structures.

There is another characteristic which suggests an evolution of the presence of the Church in Polish media. Today themes of faith and ethics appear in other programs emanating from various production teams, not just in Catholic programming. The Church is considered a true partner in dialogue on the great social themes treated by radio and television.

But what has been said thus far doesn't eliminate all problems. "A certain danger comes from the fact that people working in the different TV production teams busy themselves cultivating their own garden', without trying to find points of contact with others," observes Fr. Krzysztof Oldakowski, director of Catholic programming on Polish State TV. "Whereas there is an urgent need," he continues, " to find points of contact with themes which reach out to the Gospel in a way that is spontaneous and natural." This need seems easier to respond to in the world of radio, where the Catholic production team begun by Fr. Oldakowski and currently headed

by Fr. Rafal Sztejka has become the paradigm for much other programming.

But let's get back to Falenica and to the family referenced at the beginning of this article. Mrs. Joanna Szaniawski is the daughter of the original benefactors to whom Jesuits owe the erection of their local community. She still lives in Falenica, but her son is a Jesuit; he is a professor of history and a missionary in Japan.

Some may ask: "How in the world did Falenica ever get called 'The European Center'....?"

Andrzej Majewski, S.J. translated by John J. O'Callaghan, S.J.



The European Center for Communication and Culture gathers those who want to work for the common good. Special attention is given to journalists, obvious agents for social change. Morę than 10 seminars have been organized for them.
The Center offers a great variety of courses
For example, in 2002 the Center hosted meetings of many organizations coming together out of a concern to construct a society based on democratic values. Some of these were: the Society of Offices of Civic Counselors, the Forum for the Victims of Crime, the Center of Mediation, and the European Catholic Center of Study and Information (OCIPE). This last organization was responsible for holding some "Little European Encounters" at Falenica - meetings planned for people of all social levels, geared to offering them
	exhaustive information about European structures looking to amplifying the European Union. ECCCs proposal to form laity committed to public life looks also to the deepening of that faith which sparks in people the desire to incarnate it concretely in life, and to this end it organizes Spiritual	Exercises for different groups of people. In 2002, the group was businessmen; in 2003, journalists -the people who have such a strong voice in creating the social climate of the country. That's the reason that, from the outset the ECCC was conceived as a center for the formation of journalists coming from all the countries of Eastern



	From 1989 onwards the Jesuits have joined the state institutions of communications where they are considered friends and colleagues. It is a chance to be leaven in a field of great influence.
	2002 attracted representatives of television stations in Russia, Bielorussia, Letonia, the Ukraine and Kazakistan. The final products of their two-week long effort are four brief television commercials enthusiastically received by media experts and transmitted in part over state public television. Lastly, the ECCC is collaborating with the School of Journalism of Baranovici, Bielorussia in preparing young Catholics and Orthodox to work in the media once the complex political situation allows this. Organizing these courses would be impossible without the precious help offered to ECCC by Jesuits working in Polish state media. They assure the Center in Falenica of a team of persons who keep the courses at a good professional level. Jesuits have been working in state media since 1989, that is, since the beginning of the political changes which signaled the end of the old regime. Prior to this date, the Church in Poland (or anywhere under Communist domination) had no access to public media, especially not to radio or television. Because of this, the question of Church access to the media was one of the principal requests put to the Communist government by Polish workers at the outset of Solidarity	in 1980. Some years had to pass before this request was honored. In a follow-up to the so-called Round Table of 1989, in which representatives of the Communist Party, then in power, and of the Opposition took part, the Church was offered 60 minutes of programming weekly on State TV. The suggestion was that this time be dedicated to a transmission of the Mass. The Church also got access to State Radio. Without hesitation the Polish bishops agreed to give Jesuits the direction of Catholic programming for public media, and decisive steps were taken to make the most of the new situation. Fr. Andrzej Koprowski, first director of programming, decided to divide the time of "Catholic" transmission on State TV into three distinct blocks in order to avoid reinforcing the opinion that its themes of faith were appropriate only to Sunday. Distributed throughout the week, Catholic programs were shorter but more frequent, presenting the broadest possible overview of ethical and religious themes, with reference to the social situation in which people lived. The same decision was made about Catholic broadcasting on State Radio. The second step was to insert the production of "Catholic"