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President Biden Attends Ash Wednesday Mass With Polish Priest In Hotel Room

President Biden Attends Ash Wednesday Mass With Polish Priest In Hotel Room

Ash Wednesday Mass: Polish Priest celebrates with President Biden in private hotel room during Poland visit.

by Newsroom—ThePavlovicToday.com

20 hours ago

Polish Father Wieslaw Dawidowski poses with U.S. President Joe Biden after Father Wieslaw celebrated Ash Wednesday Mass in a Marriott Hotel room in Warsaw, Poland, Feb. 22, 2023. Biden was wrapping up his three-day visit to Poland. ©Facebook



President Joe Biden attended a private Catholic Mass on Ash Wednesday during his visit to Poland, according to Polish priest Wieslaw Dawidowski. The Mass was held in a room at the Marriott Hotel, where the President stayed during his trip to Warsaw, and was celebrated by Father Dawidowski.

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In a post on his Facebook page, Father Dawidowski revealed that he had the honor of placing ashes on the forehead of the US President. The Mass took place in an improvised chapel in a hotel room, with the two praying for peace, the conversion of Russia, and the light of the Holy Spirit for President Biden.

Although the President’s attendance at the Ash Wednesday Mass was not on his official itinerary, a faded cross was observed on his forehead during the family photo at the B9 summit held at the Presidential Palace.

Father Dawidowski is an Augustinian, doctor of theology, and a publicist. He has a history of involvement in the anti-communist movement, having been arrested and sentenced to six months in prison during martial law as a high school student.

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U.S. President Joe Biden is welcomed by Polish President Andrzej Duda

President Biden’s Meeting with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland

Readout of President Biden’s Meeting with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland: 21 February 2023 Following his speech in Warsaw today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland in Warsaw to

In Poland, Religious Representatives Meet with the Nation’s President

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

In Poland, Religious Representatives Meet with the Nation’s President


Adventists among the invited at the annual event.

By: Daniel Kluska, Polish Union Conference, andAdventist Review

“Despite differences in faith and ethnicity, we create a national community of people on Polish soil,” Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, emphasized during a meeting with representatives of all major churches, religious associations, and ethnic and national minorities present in Poland.

Four leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Poland were among the invitees who met at the Presidential Palace on Saturday (Sabbath), January 19, 2019.

Poland Leads the Way in Bringing Back the Day of Rest

 Lorenza Formicola December 21, 2017

It was A.D. 321, and the Emperor Constantine decreed that the venerable “Day of the Sun” ought to be dedicated to rest. As we read in his imperial edict: “The magistrates and inhabitants of the cities shall rest on the venerable Day of the Sun, and all the stores will remain closed.” But it was Emperor Theodosius I in 383 who converted the “dies Solis” into the “dies Dominica,” or “day of the Lord.” The Lord’s Day is the day of Christianity par excellence, in which the key words are tradition and family.

And now, amazingly, in a strange coincidence just a few days before Christmas 2017, family unity, traditions, and rest have returned to the center of public attention, if not so much to the attention of the media, since the Polish Sejm (the lower house of parliament) voted in late November to return Sunday to being the Lord’s Day for everyone and thus also for shop-owners. By 2020, all purchases on Sunday will be made illegal.

At the heart of the purpose of this law is the express desire to allow the people of Poland to have more time to spend with their families and less time shopping on Sundays. With 254 votes in favor, 156 against, and 23 abstentions, the legislation introduced a year ago by “Solidarnosc” – an originally Catholic and anti-communist movement that with the fall of communism became one of the leading trade unions of the nation – is now in the hands of the Senate, and it will be presented to President Andzrej Duda for his definitive approval. Under the law, beginning in March 2018, stores will be allowed to remain open only on the first and last Sunday of the month. Then, beginning in 2019, only the last Sunday of the month is allowed, and finally, in 2020, the ban will be almost total. In fact, Sunday shopping will be permitted only on seven Sundays of the year, including the two Sundays before Christmas and the Sunday before Easter. Foreign chains with wide distribution will have to conform to the new arrangement, but not small shops like bakeries.

On the heels of the “rosary on the borders” (of October 2017), this is now the second time that Poland is taking a striking position to affirm, and reaffirm, to the world its Christian roots and identity. It is a gesture that is much more than symbolic if one remembers the history of a nation like Poland, whose memory cannot whitewash its “red past”: the torments of the communist regime that tried to change Poland’s identity precisely by beginning with an attack on the concept of the Lord’s Day. 

Pope Francis Rejects German Proposal for Intercommunion

Posted by Elise Harris/CNA/EWTN News on Monday Jun 4th, 2018 at 9:46 AM

Cardinal-elect Luis Ladaria said the Holy Father ‘came to the conclusion that the document is not mature enough to be published.’



VATICAN CITY — One month after Vatican and German delegates met in Rome to discuss a proposal put forward by German bishops to allow Protestant spouses in interdenominational marriages to receive the Eucharist in certain circumstances, Pope Francis has rejected it.

In a letter dated May 25 and addressed to Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich and president of the German bishops’ conference, Jesuit Cardinal-elect Luis Ladaria, the Vatican’s top authority on matters of doctrine, said the text of the German proposal “raises a series of problems of considerable importance.”

The letter was published June 4 on the blog of veteran Vatican journalist Sandro Magister.

The Holy See Press Office has confirmed the authenticity of the letter, which was also sent to members of the German delegation who attended a May 3 meeting between German prelates and Vatican officials on the topic in Rome, including Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, archbishop of Cologne; Bishop Felix Genn of Münster; Bishop Karl-Heinz Wieseman of Speyer; Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg; and Bishop Gerhard Feige of Magdeburg.


After speaking with Pope Francis about the matter in light of the May 3 discussion, Cardinal-elect Ladaria said the Pope “came to the conclusion that the document is not mature enough to be published” and cited three main reasons for the decision.

First, Cardinal-elect Ladaria stressed that admission to Communion of Protestant spouses in interconfessional marriages “is a topic that touches the faith of the Church and has relevance for the universal Church.”

Allowing non-Catholics to receive the Eucharist, even in certain limited conditions, would also have an impact on ecumenical relations with other churches and ecclesial communities, “which should not be underestimated.”

Finally, he said the question of Communion is a matter of Church law and cited Canon 844 of the Code of Canon Law, which deals with access to the sacraments of the Catholic Church.

Specifically, Canon 844 states that “Catholic ministers administer the sacraments licitly to Catholic members of the Christian faithful alone, who likewise receive them licitly from Catholic ministers alone,” apart from a number of exceptions spelled out in the canon.

Poland's Catholic Church bucks Pope Francis' liberal embrace

Pope Francis celebrates the Holy Mass as he pays a visit to the town of Ostia, in the outskirts of Rome, Sunday, June 3, 2018. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) more


Close ties to conservative government proves divisive, leads many Poles to question their faith


By Karol Bulski and Austin Davis — Special to The Washington Times - - Monday, June 4, 2018


WARSAW — During the long period of communist rule in Poland, the Catholic Church was seen as an institution embodying the resiliency of the nation’s identity, a pragmatic counterforce to a repressive, officially atheistic regime.

But today, as the Catholic Church of Pope Francis has embraced a liberal version of the faith stressing modernity and pluralism, the Polish Catholic Church has pulled an about-face, positioning itself as an anchor for traditional values — and an ally of the government here — in the face of liberal demands for change.

In one of the West’s most heavily Catholic countries, the Polish church has embraced and defended the socially conservative policies of the nation’s nationalist government, dividing an overwhelmingly Catholic body politic striving to revive links to Western Europe and liberal political current while trying to protect Poland’s uniqueness and historical legacy.

The balancing act, however, has led many Poles to question their faith.

“While Pope Francis meets society’s expectations, leading the church into the future, I have the impression that the ideas of the church in Poland are leading it into the past,” said Bozena Kampa, a 31-year-old lawyer in Krakow who identifies as Catholic but doesn’t support the church. “People will become more aloof unless the church deeply reforms.”

Stores closed as Poland phases out Sunday shopping

Taking Sunday Seriously — Poland Leads the Way

Posted by Nicholas Wolfram Smith on Monday Apr 2nd, 2018 at 10:05 AM


The European nation’s new law sharply restricting Sunday shopping provides an opportunity to take a closer look at American habits.



Sunday has just become a little less busy in Poland, thanks to a new law banning most commercial shopping that took effect in March.

And Poland’s move, which bucks the prevailing trend in secularized countries toward an ever-more commercialized Sunday, could provide a constructive example for the United States, where the network of state “blue laws” that once restricted Sunday business activities has been substantially reduced.

The Polish government enacted a new law that bans most businesses from being open more than two Sundays a month in 2018. By 2020, retailers will only be able to open on seven Sundays a year. The law, initially proposed by the Solidarity labor union in 2016, was endorsed by both the ruling Law and Justice Party and the nation’s Catholic bishops.

Some exceptions remain: Gas stations, cafes and pharmacies, among others, will be unaffected by the law. Small family businesses can remain open, as well, on the condition that only the owners work on Sundays.


Polish President Andrzej Duda praised the law for helping workers to spend time with their families on Sundays and anticipated it would help strengthen Polish society.

While President Duda said the law was restoring “normality” to Sunday, the legislation runs counter to the prevailing trend of Western democracies to end trading prohibitions on Sunday. In the United States, restrictions on Sunday shopping — often called “blue laws” or Sunday closing laws — are comprised of more exceptions than rules. Just 18 states restrict auto sales on Sunday. Several others ban hunting or alcohol sales.

Even modest restrictions have ended, to popular acclaim. Indiana ended its ban on Sunday alcohol sales in March, and Minnesota repealed a similar law in 2017.

Stores shut in Poland as Sunday trade ban takes effect

Last updated 05:00, April 1 2018

Czarek Sokolowski/AP


Polish shops will close on Sundays, having enjoyed more liberal trading laws since the 1990s.



A new Polish law banning almost all trade on Sundays has taken effect, with large supermarkets and most other retailers shut for the first time since liberal shopping laws were introduced in the 1990s after communism's collapse.

The law was introduced by leading trade union Solidarity which wants employees to be able to rest and spend time with their families, and was approved by the conservative and pro-Catholic ruling party.

Pro-business opposition parties have decried it as a blow to commercial freedom and warn that tens of thousands of workers could lose their jobs.

The new law at first bans trade two Sundays per month, but steps it up to three Sundays in 2019 and finally all Sundays in 2020, except before the Easter and Christmas holidays.

The change is stirring up a range of emotions in a country where many feel workers are exploited under the liberal regulations of the past years, but many Poles also see consumer freedom as one of the most tangible benefits of the free market era.

In Hungary, another ex-communist country, a ban on Sunday trade that was imposed in 2015 was so unpopular that authorities repealed it the next year.

Elsewhere in Europe, however, including Germany and Austria, people have long been accustomed to the day of commercial rest and appreciate the chance to escape the compulsion to shop.

Solidarity's push for the law change found the support of the conservative and pro-Catholic ruling party, Law and Justice. The influential Catholic church, to which more than 90 per cent of Poles belong, has also welcomed the change.

Seventy-six year-old Barbara Olszewska, saw it as a good think as she did some last-minute shopping Saturday evening in Warsaw.

``A family should be together on Sundays," she said..

Before she retired, Olszewska said, she sold cold cuts in a grocery store, and was grateful that she never had to work Sundays.

But pro-business opposition parties warn that the change will lead to a loss of jobs, and in particular hurt students who only have time to work to fund their studies on the weekends.

Even the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions opposes it, arguing that it will just push employees to work longer hours Fridays and Saturdays and that the work will be harder because there will be more customers.

Poles are among the hardest-working citizens in the European Union and some complain that Sundays are sometimes the only days they have free time to shop.

Another last-minute shopper on Saturday evening, Daniel Wycech, 26, saw more drawbacks than benefits.

``It's not really a problem to do more shopping a day ahead of time, but if something breaks in my kitchen or bathroom on a Sunday, there will be no way to go to the store and fix it," said Wycech, an accountant.

There are some exceptions to the ban. For instance, gas stations, cafes, ice cream parlours, pharmacies and some other businesses are allowed to keep operating Sundays.

Stores at airports and train stations will also be allowed to open, as will small mom-and-pop shops, but only on the condition that only the owners themselves work.

Anyone infringing the new rules faces a fine of up to 100,000 zlotys (NZ$40,063), while repeat offenders may face a prison sentence.

Mateusz Kica, a 29-year-old tram driver in Warsaw, did his weekly shopping early Saturday to avoid the huge crowds he expected later in the day. He complained that the new law only relieves shop employees, but that workers like himself will still have to keep working weekends.

``This law isn't really just," Kica said.

- AP

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‘Time for God…and rest’: Catholic Poles rejoice as Sunday shopping ban comes into effect

Shutterstock.com

Dorothy Cummings McLean

Tue Mar 13, 2018 - 5:19 pm EST

Poles rejoice as Sunday shopping ban comes into effect



POLAND, March 13, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Stores remained shuttered all over Poland as the country’s new Sunday shopping ban went into effect on March 11.

The new law will be introduced in stages. From now until 2019, stores will be allowed to open two Sundays a month. In 2019, they will be allowed to open for only one Sunday. But in 2020, they will be shut every Sunday, with the exception of a few Sundays falling before Easter and Christmas.

Maciek Kwiatkowski of Otwock, a town near Warsaw, told LifeSiteNews that he welcomed the return of peaceful Sundays. And he wasn’t the only one.

“Salespeople with whom I’ve spoken were really happy because finally they have Sunday for themselves,” he reported. “From my perspective, I didn’t see dissatisfaction among consumers. People simply plan to do their shopping on another day.”

Living in the famous city of Częstochowa, Daria Pietrzak said that Sunday was no different for her, since she has always avoided shopping that day. Sundays are “time for God, family and rest,” she stated. Nevertheless, a number of jokes are circulating on social media, predicting that Poles will overshop on Saturdays and pretending to commiserate with countrymen who now have no idea what to do on Sundays.

“When I was a child all shops were closed on Sunday,” Pietrzak told LifeSiteNews. “On Saturday they were open only until 2 PM. People shopped on Friday. On Saturday they cleaned the house, and on Sunday they rested.”

Traditionally Poles have spent Sundays in church, at family mid-day meals, walking in the woods or countryside or sightseeing, she said.

Most stores shut in Poland as Sunday trade ban takes effect

Associated Press

5:48 a.m. Sunday, March 11, 2018

National news


WARSAW, Poland


A new Polish law banning almost all trade on Sundays has taken effect, with large supermarkets and most other retailers closed for the first time since liberal shopping laws were introduced in the 1990s after communism's collapse.

The change is stirring up a range of emotions in a country where many feel workers are exploited under the liberal regulations of the past years and want workers to have a day of rest. But many Poles experience consumer freedom as one of the most tangible benefits of the free market era and resent the new limit.

In Hungary, another ex-communist country, a ban on Sunday trade imposed in 2015 was so unpopular that authorities repealed it the next year. But elsewhere in Europe, including Germany and Austria, people have long been accustomed to the day of commercial rest and appreciate the push it gives them to escape the compulsion to shop for quality time with family and friends.

The law was introduced by a leading trade union, Solidarity, which has argued that employees should have the chance to rest and spend time with their families. It found the support of the conservative and pro-Catholic ruling party, Law and Justice, whose lawmakers passed the legislation. The influential Catholic church, to which more than 90 percent of Poles belong, has also welcomed the change.

Blue laws making comeback? Poland limits Sunday shopping

By staff and wire reports
Posted at 9:28 AM

WARSAW, Poland — Polish President Andrzej Duda has signed into law a bill that largely limits trade on Sundays, saying it will benefit family life.

The legislation, worked out by the conservative government and the Solidarity trade union, is expected to draw protests from large Western supermarket chains that are the main target of the law. A large part of their profit is earned on weekends.

As of March 1, shops and markets will be closed on two Sundays per month; in 2019 only one Sunday a month will be open for shopping; and starting in 2020, there will be no Sunday shopping, with a few exceptions.

Duda praised the law on Tuesday as giving children a chance to be with parents and giving shop workers some needed time off.

Laws preventing shopping on Sundays – known in the United States as “blue laws” – were once a standard feature of Christian-majority countries through the mid-20th century. By limiting secular activities, the laws were designed to promote Sundays as a day of rest and church attendance. But by the late 20th century, most countries, as well as most U.S. states, had removed blue laws from their books.

Even today, however, many states still have restrictions on Sunday alcohol sales.


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Poland Bans Sunday Trading: Law and Justice Remembers the Sabbath

 

By Natalie Dabkowski | December 26, 2017



With the American market in the midst of the consumerist joys of the holiday season, other countries have paused for a moment of reflection on domestic consumer spending habits. In Poland, the conservative Law and Justice government has taken a decidedly regulatory approach.

On Sunday, November 24, the government approved a law to ban Sunday trading—the sale of merchandise on Sundays—within the next three years. If the law passes parliament, trading will be banned on two Sundays per month in 2018, increasing to three in 2019, and phased out altogether by 2020. The ban, however, does accommodate several exceptions. It does not pertain to gas stations, train stations, seaports, pharmacies, flower shops, and souvenir shops, and allowances will be made for the holidays. There will be seven trade Sundays permitted during the year, including two leading up to Christmas and one preceding Easter.

While this ban may sound strange to American ears, Poland would actually join eight other EU countries with regulatory legislation pertaining to Sunday shopping habits. Recently, increased demographic and work-related pressures have led many Europeans, and Poles specifically, to welcome Sunday trade bans as a way to improve quality of life.

For the Ban

In Poland, the trading ban has been a long time coming. It was preceded by a holiday trade ban in 2007, then formally proposed by Solidarnosc Trade Union in 2016, finally circulating across parliament and coming to fruition in a gradual plan with the potential to positively impact various aspects of Polish life.

For one, the government argues the Sunday ban will generate more free time for families, which in conjunction with the 500 zloty stipend for mothers—around $140—may contribute to a greater emphasis on family and the much needed population growth that comes with it. With a fertility rate of 1.32, anticipated labor shortages, and potential economic stagnation,Poland is in significant need of an increased birth rate, and it is through initiatives like the trading ban that the government hopes to cultivate Polish society.

Fertility aside, the ban is aligned with Polish values. For one, it appeals to the Christian understanding of Sunday as a day of rest, and in a country where 96% of people identify as Catholic and over 57% actively engage with the religion, this falls in line with traditional concepts of work-life balance. Furthermore, pursuant to values like equality and respect, the ban may serve to lift stigma towards low-income workers by allowing laborers and retail workers greater individual freedom and a reprieve from an overwhelming work week.

An Economic Question

These societal benefits aside, the ban’s economic impact is its primary point of contention. Opponents of the ban claim that it will have detrimental impacts on businesses; however,, it is expected that the ban will have little net economic benefit, while substantially improving quality of life for Polish citizens.

First, the ban provides openings for smaller businesses and local enterprises by removing much of the large retail competition on Sundays, consistent with a broader Polish economic strategy of revitalizing domestic businesses. Furthermore, with greater leisure time available, restaurants, bakeries and entertainment venues may see a spike in clientele and an increase in profits—Sunday losses experienced by other types of businesses are expected to be covered by increased purchasing during weekdays. The ban is also predicted to have no significant negative impact on the labor market.

Expectations of a net neutral effect are supported by historic implementation of the ban in other countries. In Hungary, for example, a Sunday trade ban implemented in 2015 left the economy largely undisturbed. Popular spending habits shifted to other days of the week, retail sales did not waver, and there were no major layoffs. Despite the absence of detrimental economic impact, the ban was lifted this year in conjunction with a decline in popular support. Hungary aside, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and several other European countries implement Sunday trade bans to varying degrees, compensating for any side effects of regulation with other incentives and extended weekday business hours.

Of course, the Sunday trade ban is not without its flaws. It will likely disadvantage Polish businesses operating on the Polish-German border, generate a dent in tourism revenues which largely occur during the weekend, punish larger companies, lead to some layoffs, and paint a less favorable picture for foreign investment. Regulating Sunday trade will thus be a challenge, requiring careful mediation and gradual implementation on the part of the government. However, this ban holds both a cultural mandate and broad societal impact, giving it great potential to improve the Polish quality of life and rejuvenate family life.

Image Credit: Radosław Czarnecki/Wikimedia Commons

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