Jan Zaryn on the Polish Church's confrontation with the past

The issue of how the Catholic Church should deal with its past during the communist era and the spying activities of some of its priests is currently the subject of heated debate in Poland. Cardinal Jozef Glemp, the Primas of Poland, has now banned Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, a Cracow priest, from continuing his research into the collaboration between members of the Polish clergy and Poland's former security service. Glemp has now commissioned an expert panel of historians to deal with the task. According to Jan Zaryn of Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, which is responsible for the prosecution of communist crimes, the Church misjudged the situation. "Not only historians but also victims are researching the documentary material. The victims proceed less predictably than the historians, but no less legally. They should have set up a commission of historians one or two years ago. Then the commission would have been able to examine the documents in peace. Now there's pressure from the media and from Father Isakowicz-Zaleski. They want names to be published as soon as possible."

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