On December 8, 1991, exactly 33 years ago, Radio Maria broadcast its first program. Founded in Torun by Redemptorist fathers led by Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, it became a Catholic voice in Polish homes. Father Rydzyk perfectly understood the message of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, who repeated: “if we don’t have Catholic media, we will have empty churches.” Both dedicated their lives to creating Catholic media with the goal of defending truth, goodness, family, Catholic faith, and Polish national identity. In the following years, other media were born: the daily newspaper “Nasz Dziennik” (Our Daily) 27 years ago and Television Trwam, which has been broadcasting for over 20 years.
In Torun, on December 7 and 8, the 33rd anniversary of the founding of Radio Maria (in Polish, Radio Maryja) was celebrated. Participants in the ceremony were welcomed by the founder and director of the Catholic broadcaster, Father Rydzyk. Before the Holy Mass, former Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro spoke, sharing his moving testimony as a cancer patient facing the illness while listening to Radio Maryja. “I would like to express my gratitude to the Radio Maryja family for a gesture of fraternal love which was the prayer for my healing. I share the experience of many Poles, listeners of Radio Maryja who are sick and suffering, who cannot go to church on their own and who find themselves in this prayer community, which is a support and source of hope for them,” said Ziobro. A letter from President Andrzej Duda was also read, in which the Head of State emphasized that the founding of Radio Maryja marked an extremely important turning point in the history of Polish media, highlighting that with its activities, Radio Maryja “strengthens the unity of our nation and the strength of an independent Poland.”
Before the start of the Holy Mass, the administrator of the diocese of Torun, Monsignor Józef Szamocki, recalled that throughout all the years of its activity, the Radio and its founder were supported by Saint John Paul II. Monsignor Szamocki highlighted “the Radio greatly contributes to the work of evangelization also supported by successive Popes.” “The world seems to be constantly surprised by the fact that in times of great progress and civilization changes, there are people who crave supernatural values. They seek the meaning of life, defend the Gospel, pray and want to share their faith,” said the administrator of the diocese of Torun, addressing those present.
Monika Tomaszek/Radio MaryjaThe solemn Mass was presided over by the Metropolitan of Krakow, Monsignor Marek Jędraszewski, and concelebrated by other bishops and priests. Thousands of listeners of the Radio organized in the so-called “Family of Radio Maryja” attended the Mass.
In his homily, Monsignor Jędraszewski emphasized the importance of truthfulness in public life and in the mission of the media to proclaim the truth and take care of democracy, so that it does not become a form of new totalitarianism. The Archbishop spoke, among other things, about religion in schools, recalling the circumstances that made it possible for the return of religion classes in schools during the communist period, which were then eliminated again. “I remember it and when I see what is happening today, then I can say: it repeats what had been, exactly according to the same scenario. Someone is very concerned that the word ‘God’ and objective values do not appear in the classrooms,” warned Monsignor Jędraszewski, referring to the attempts of the Minister of Education of Tusk’s government to reduce and eliminate the religion class in Polish public schools. In this context, the Archbishop quoted the words of Saint John Paul II from the Encyclical “Centesimus Annos”: “If there is no ultimate truth to guide and orient political action, then ideas and convictions can be easily manipulated for power purposes. A democracy without values easily turns into open or hidden totalitarianism, as history shows.” In today’s world, where freedom of expression theoretically exists, there is a danger that Pope Wojtyla spoke about during his trip to Poland (Olsztyn, June 6, 1991): “It is of little use to have the freedom to speak if the spoken word is not free. If it is tied by egocentrism, lies, insidiousness, and perhaps even by hatred or contempt for others, for those, for example, who are different in nationality, religion, or opinions. There will not be much benefit in speaking and writing, if the word is used not to seek the truth and share it, but only to win discussions and defend one’s own – perhaps wrong – opinion. Words, at times, can express truth in a way that humiliates it. It may happen that man says some truth to motivate his own lie. Man introduces great chaos into our human world if he tries to use truth in the service of lies. Many people then find it difficult to recognize that this world is of God.” Citing John Paul II, Monsignor Jędraszewski wanted to warn that the risks to democracy also exist in today’s Poland, governed for a year by a more anti-clerical and secularist government since the democratic turn in 1989.
At the end of his homily, the Archbishop of Krakow recalled all the works that have been born around Radio Maryja and TV Trwam: the daily newspaper “Nasz Dziennik”, the monthly magazine “W Nasza Rodzinie”, the Academy of Social and Media Culture in Torun, the Lux Veritatis Foundation and the Nostro Futuro Foundation, and an association of people operating in the media field: the Radio Maryja family. “My dear friends, all these institutions have been created and work so that democracy in Poland does not turn into evident or covert totalitarianism. Because they preach the truth. And precisely because they preach the truth from the beginning of their existence, these institutions, these entities were and remain today a thorn in the side of all environments that reject the existence of objective truth, objective values, and who want to build their own future and their power on lies,” concluded Monsignor Jędraszewski, referring to recent brutal attacks against the Lux Veritatis Foundation and also personal attacks against the founder of Radio Maryja, Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, by the rulers and the prosecutors at their service.
