The girl in question is a small, twenty-kilogram wisp of a child. Bright, quiet and calm. Very sensitive. When she went on a school trip for the first time and missed her mother, she cried secretly into her pillow in the evening so that no one would see how much she missed her. When her mother asked how she reacted to the priest hitting her, she replied that she was ashamed and that only a tear had rolled from her eye.
According to the mother, the school psychologist spoke with the children and assured her that her daughter was not lying about being hit. According to the mother, other children confirm that the priest took the girl out of the classroom. Apparently, the principal and the psychologist watched the school surveillance footage, but the cameras do not cover every location. Among other things, they do not show the stairs where, according to the child's information, the priest allegedly hit her in the face.
The principal of Oxpress school does not return our calls or reply to our emails. The diocese informed us several days ago that it knew nothing about the matter.
In a telephone conversation with us, the priest only confirmed that he sometimes loses his temper, but that he merely shouts at students and would not slap a child. He also says that he did not leave the classroom with the girl.
The girl's mother informed us that she had spoken with the school principal and does not blame Oxpress for the priest's behavior. She is not satisfied that the priest was merely transferred to another class and can easily contact her daughter during breaks. She is concerned about such contact.
The priest accused of hitting the child, as the mother reports, visited the girl's class in the presence of the psychologist; he apparently only prayed and cried.
There had been problems with the priest before. The parents knew that he lost his temper, discussed it with the principal, and reported that the priest could snatch a child's notebook because the child had copied the Ten Commandments into it too quickly, that he shouted at and intimidated young children, and that he would publish their photos on Facebook with the caption “This is what brats look like.”
Aggressive priests teaching religion—the taboo subject
Aggressive behavior by priests during religious education classes is a difficult subject. No one wants to talk about it. Quite often, a parent prefers to “have peace and quiet” at the child's expense and not blow the matter out of proportion. School principals have their hands tied. The priest is not their employee. The diocese reacts slowly, merely holding talks with the clergyman. Such cases are very rarely reported to the diocese. The diocese knew nothing about the incident at Oxpress for more than a week after it occurred.
An example is a similar case reported to us by another reader at the beginning of this year. In that case, the school was equally reluctant to deal with the matter because the parents did not want to take an official stand against the priest. The reader filed an official complaint with the diocese. They spoke with the priest there and... sent him to another school.
Below is the mother's letter from January 2019:
Hello. I have a problem: there is a priest at our school who teaches religion and takes his anger out on the children. He constantly insults them and yells at them. Once he shouted and struck the desk with a coat rack so violently that he broke it. I reported this to the administration together with two friends. We were promised that they would speak with the priest. However, the principal said that her hands were tied until there was an official complaint; that quite a few people came to complain about the priest, but no one wanted to file an official complaint because he was their parish priest and the children were celebrating their First Holy Communion anniversaries that year. The principal spoke with the priest, and he called the children liars during religion class, saying that they tattled to their parents, told lies, and that their parents came to complain. After the priest's most recent outburst, I withdrew my child from religion class and filed an official complaint together with a friend. It then turned out that the priest was asking us parents to attend a meeting with the principal. [...] it is common knowledge that none of the local parents will speak up, and only the parents of children who commute may possibly do so [...].”
The diocese's response:
God bless,
With reference to the letter received by the Bishop of Legnica on January 19, 2019, I kindly inform you that yesterday a meeting was held with the Priest (...) at the Catechetical Department of the Legnica Episcopal Curia.
During the meeting, together with the Department's Deputy Director, we reminded the Priest about methods of working with children at the fourth-grade primary-school level, as well as language culture and treating children with kindness and respect. Based on the information submitted by the administration of the John Paul II School Complex in Osiecznica, we demonstrated that the Priest's absence during the first semester of the 2018/2019 school year had indeed been substantial.
The Priest (...) received specific recommendations for implementation. They were also conveyed to Ms Anna Goździk, principal of the School Complex in Osiecznica.
Thank you for providing the disturbing information concerning the Catechist Priest. We hope that a cordial conversation will help resolve these difficult matters. Should the need arise, we remain at your disposal.
With due respect,
Rev. Dr Jarosław Kowalczyk
Director of the Catechetical Department
of the Legnica Episcopal Curia
Inappropriate behavior by priest catechists should be reported to the diocese and the school administration. The effect is limited, but perhaps the more people speak out, the fewer pathological behaviors by priests toward our children there will be. Unfortunately, the Catholic Church has no interest in publicizing cases involving aggressive catechists, just as it is not in its interest to protect children from pedophiles in clerical garb. There is only one response: quietly settle the matter and transfer the aggressor to other children until a tragedy occurs. Only parents can protect their children from pathology in the Catholic Church.