Having read Chciwość and Bogowie (about doctors), magnificent books by Paweł Reszka which I hold on my bookshelf, I did not hesitate much when I spotted the most recent piece, Czarni, published early this year and being a bunch of odd talks with… priests.
The convention of the book remains the same as in two previous ones – the author interviews anonymous representatives of a specific profession and then brings their stories together (in a fairly chaotic way) and paints a picture what they are like. The sample of priests who agreed to be Mr Reszka’s interlocutors might not be entirely demonstrative, yet their confessions appear as straightforward and trustworthy sources of inside knowledge on how the oldest corporation in the world functions.
The way the book is structured into chapters lacks an easily recognisable order, however main sins of the clergy emerge from the entire work.
Firstly, hubris which gives rise to conviction that priests are selected ones and superior to other people, a conviction which according to humble priests is totally unfounded.
Secondly, greed, one word which does not necessitate further comments.
Thirdly, disdain for people, which is inevitably linked to hubris, but manifests itself in little respect for humans priests deal with on everyday basis and (more often) to one another.
Fourthly, career pursuit, not a very common sin, yet there is a group of priests for who end justifies the means if a step up in the hierarchy is at stake.
Fifthly, the life of ease they pursue. Priests usually hire ladies to clean their dwellings, cook meals, iron clothes, know little about running the house and everyday duties (some have never cleaned a toilet bowl, to quote the most vivid example). They do not even know what costs of living are.
Sixthly, the Church as an institution is obsessed with ordinary people’s sexuality and attempts to instruct them how to get on with it, while representatives of the Church are officially not allowed to have a little notion what real life looks like.
The spate of interviews is also an account of solitude. Once a man decides to become a priest, he decides to forsake a family life forever. It is also a poignant reminder being surrounded by people does not guarantee salvation from loneliness. Priests seem to be poor at filling it and generally cannot boast about reasonable ways of filling the void such as sport, hobbies, passions, highbrow culture. They spend evenings watching TV, eating, sipping alcohol.
A gap between how people perceive life of a priest and reality is the most astonishing conclusion from the book I have drawn. Bear then in mind your priest’s life is far from being divine.
With few young lads eager to sign up for seminars these days, the Church in Poland will be facing a shortage of priests in years to come. Until early 1990s the Church was a backbone of freedom, one of the strongest institutions in the opposition to the communist governors. Today the freshmen are not as open-minded as their predecessors, therefore the Polish clergy is bound to evolve towards conservatism, drifting away from vision of the world espoused by the current Pope who does a lot to move with the times.
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