The radical Catholic Radio Maryja (RM) station of Father Tadeusz Rydzyk has been presented under supreme Church authorities' decision with a special program council to deal with the most controversial question-the station's political involvement, recently criticized in an unprecedented letter from the Vatican. At the same time, however, Church hierarchs expressed highest recognition for the RM's evangelizing activity.

The RM program council established May 2 by the Permanent Council of the Conference of the Episcopate of Poland and the diocesan bishops during deliberations in Poland's most important sanctuary on Jasna Góra will start activity in the coming days, advised Archbishop Sławoj Leszek Głódź, the present chair of the Polish Episcopal Council for Mass Media, and also the superior of the Warsaw-Praga Curia, where the first meeting of the council will take place.

Głódź added that the most important related documents had already been analyzed, including an agreement specifying the principles of operation of the program council and relevant statutes of the province of the Redemptorist order, the formal owner of the controversial broadcaster accused, among other things, of promotion of nationalism and anti-Semitic ideas. The documents were adopted by an overwhelming majority of the bishops, but only after almost nine-hours' deliberations described as "stormy," the media stressed. It is no secret that among Polish hierarchs the attitude to the RM varies. Some of the bishops approve of the contents promoted by the station shutting their eyes to the involvement in politics, others want to restrain the journalistic temperament of both spiritual and lay authorities speaking on the RM to comment on political subjects.

"The deliberations as a whole took place in a very responsible atmosphere of genuine pastoral care for Radio Maryja," diplomatically said Głódź. But, according to Church rules, the discussed and adopted documents will not be made public. Głódź only stressed that the agreement emphatically stipulated that the RM must not become involved with any political party.

According to the statement, the chief purpose behind appointing the program council is "supervising the program and synchronizing it with the pastoral program of the Conference of the Episcopate of Poland." The council composition will include four representatives of the Episcopal conference and four of the Redemptorist order province. The Episcopate will be represented by Father Prof. Wacław Depo, the president of the Seminary in Radom, as the council chair; Father Daniel Brzeziński, professor of dogmatic theology of the Seminary in Płock; Father Tomasz Dutkiewicz, professor of philosophy of the Seminary in Toruń; and Father Prof. Jerzy Troska of the Department of Theology of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, where he chairs the Moral Theology Unit.

Depo, who learned about his appointment to the position of chair of the RM program council from the media, said in his first commentary that "the council has the goal of very faithful transmission of the teachings of the Church... I perceive that as a tremendous task, difficult beyond a doubt, that will require cooperation both on the part of my fellow-clerics and the Redemptorist order, and the faithful, constituting the range of cooperators of Radio Maryja," added Depo.

Asked about the fate of RM Director Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, Głódź said that he would remain at the post, as the question of a possible reshuffle at the position does not belong to the bishops but to the Redemptorist order and it was not discussed by the Episcopal Commission.

On the other hand, the bishops discussed the Radio Maryja Families founded at the suggestion of the Toruń radio station and the RM Family offices. Part of the "pastoral care," they will also have a Church assistant active at each respective diocese, while the annual pilgrimage of the Radio Maryja Family to Jasna Góra will be organized in consultation with the Redemptorist province.

The appointment of the RM program council does not mark the end of interest in the RM station on the part of supreme Church authorities in Poland. "As shepherds of the Church, the Polish bishops expressed recognition and thanked for the great evangelizing work conducted by Radio Maryja," says the statement following the deliberations at Jasna Góra. The hierarchs encourage undertaking intensive preparations before the approaching visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Poland from May 25-28. In this connection, the bishops call for ardent prayers in parishes and religious communities. They also appeal to all the faithful for adapting the rhythm of their life during the visit to the event.

The controversy concerning the activity of the RM was also actively joined by politicians of the ruling team. "The media attack at the RM and Father Tadeusz Rydzyk is an attack against the reform of the Republic," said Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jarosław Kaczyński April 30. He said that the RM had always been a committed station and "has effectively activated politically a substantial part of the traditional communities linked to the Church." "Those who repeatedly invoke the principle of freedom of the media, for example while insulting people, including the head of the state, at the same time are waging a fierce campaign against Radio Maryja and Father Rydzyk," said Kaczyński. "The opinion that the station is a media that has no right to exist in a democratic country may only be voiced by those who are simply enemies of freedom and hence also enemies of democracy, because there can be no democracy without freedom," added the PiS leader.

A group of Polish Sejm deputies and EuroMPs has also addressed an open letter to the chair of the Episcopate of Poland concerning "protection for Radio Maryja." The letter addressees also include the Toruń Ordinariate, the Redemptorist provincial and the media. The letter was signed by 20 individuals, including EuroMPs Bogdan Pęk, Bogusław Rogalski, Urszula Krupa and Witold Tomczyk and deputies Anna Sobecka and Zygmunt Wrzodak. All of them have long been known for their presence on RM.

"Among the uproar concerning the politicization of the radio, we feel passed over as the station's contributors. We are not a submissive mass, but many a million-strong Radio Maryja Family and we have a right, and even a duty, to participate in the political and public life," reads the letter.