From the * Krakow (1536k) community on Couchsurfing: Collection

Wim Vangheluwe

@djiepietoewTorhout, Flanders, Belgium

Collection

Hello fellow couchsurfers! I thought maybe some of the Polish people here would like my little collection of your national hero :) https://popejohnpaulcollection.com/

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Konrad J.

@bolangegeKrakow, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland

It may seem a fine hobby to you, but did you consider the following? For 27 years Karol Wojtyła (JP2) was the supreme omnipotent leader of the Catholic Church - a global organisation which:

a – is a global network of very well organised and institutionalised enablement and concealment of paedophilia. Wojtyła, throughout his career, did nothing about it except to continue and enable it further

b – is and has always been actively suppressing, oppressing and demeaning reliable methods of distinguishing truth from falsehood because it promotes religion of which key tenants are indistinguishable from falsehood, and therefore reliable reasoning methods (rationality, logic, epistemology, scepticism) pose the gravest threat to the very existence of this organisation

c – is pushing multiple antihuman, deeply immoral and barbaric laws and precepts because it bases its understanding of what’s right and wrong on ideas of primitive stone-age desert tribesmen and modern day top-tier bigotry and backwardness.

Be aware of and consider this next time you want to ask for opinions of your little collection. As a Polish, I am ashamed a Pole was at the helm of this organisation.

Wim Vangheluwe

@djiepietoewTorhout, Flanders, Belgium

Dear Konrad,

Thank you for your reaction. I sense a deep feeling and commitment towards justice in your thinking.

As a Catholic priest I am well aware of the good and the bad things that have happened (and sometimes still happen) by members of the (highest) clergy. Personally, as a child, I had the privelige of knowing good religious sisters and priests who's only desire was to do good to all people (and not only fellow believers). During my years in the seminary, and later during my priestly life, I did, however, several times felt how the Church can not only be loving and caring, but also be harsh and to use your word, inhuman.

I do notive a one sided view on the Church in your reaction (no offence please). Some of the reasons you give are true and it would be foolish of me to argue against it. But personally, I prefer to see it this way: I see that the larg majority of catholics (lay people, priests, religeous) are just traying to be a good person, and just as every single person, this goes with ups and downs.

No one is without sins, not even Karol Wojtyla, but for me (and for many) he is an example of how to live as a good person.

Friendly greetings from cold Belgium!

(By the way: Krakow is an amazing city!)