There was Kler by Smarzowski, which – according to the priests themselves – is a documentary rather than a feature film. Now there is Plebania by Nowak. The book was written honestly. It is a collection of documented conversations Nowak held with witnesses to how depraved and degenerate the Catholic clergy in Poland is.

“Already in the seminary, a gay man senses his own kind and requests a particular seminarian. And he gets him. There are parishes that are one hundred percent gay, diocesan curias where everyone, literally everyone, from the bishop to the lowest servant, is queer” – Nowak’s informant says in the book.

The Bolesławiec thread appeared in the book thanks to our meetings with the author while Plebania was being written.

The book is not only about priests’ homosexual exploits. It discusses sacro­philes, meaning women who dream of being a priest’s lover and make that dream come true. Sacro­philes is a word coined by the priests themselves, who add: “behind a uniform, women form a queue; behind a cassock, there is a whole crowd.” Who are sacrophiles? Artur Nowak wrote: sometimes they are married women for whom an affair with a priest is safe, and sometimes single women who are counting on money.

The book also contains a great many amusing stories, such as the one about a priest and his lover who went to Scandinavia to feel free. But whether by God’s will or bad luck, while they were publicly showing affection in a small Scandinavian town, they ran into a tour group... from a place near their hometown, led by a priest they knew.

There are also frightening stories: about seminarians humiliated by parish priests, revenge, and psychopathy. In 2018, residents of Mnichów wanted to expel the parish priest from the rectory because he had beaten a vicar. The parish priest abused his subordinate in the presence of children preparing for First Communion and their parents.

Plebania is available from brick-and-mortar and online bookstores. It is worth picking up, because although it is an interesting read, it is not an easy one.

For those who have left the Catholic Church, this book shows that they made the right decision. Those at the beginning of that journey will find many reasons here to distance themselves further from priests. Those who still believe in the ideal of the priest face considerable disappointment.