News / Polish police chief removes crosses [250]


And 60% of people reported themselves to be Christian in the 2011 census in the UK. Pretty meaningless if you ask me - declaring yourself Catholic means nothing if you don't bother to actually practice it at all. You need to look at the numbers actually attending Church to get an idea as to the real number.

As I'm sick of saying on here, people will say "Catholic" if they don't practice, as long as they don't have any particularly strong feelings against the Church. It's rare for children not to be baptised (not least because it's turned into a comedy ritual of getting a child baptised just so you can book an expensive restaurant for a party) here, but it's meaningless.

Law / What banks are people using in Poland? [50]


Show them your certificate of residence as an EU citizen, that's all they need. If they don't understand it (most don't, to be fair) - tell them to get on the phone.

For what it's worth, ING are well recommended.

UK, Ireland / Advice on child support (Irish with my Polish husband) [106]


It doesn't work like that. The non-resident parent paying roughly 15% of his income to support their child is normal in most countries.

Life / Broadband internet in Wroclaw (AeraAer Network vs Netia vs Dialog) [4]


I wouldn't trust a word Netia says. They're renowned for **** poor service and not generally having a clue.


Could be quite good, given the limited footprint and strong local ethos.

News / Polish police chief removes crosses [250]


How strange. CBOS found 93% were Catholic, but the Catholic Church themselves found only 60%? How does that work?


This is why I sing Flower of Scotland and don't even know the words to God Save The Queen ;)

(although I'm not an atheist)

UK, Ireland / Advice on child support (Irish with my Polish husband) [106]


What, that she can't be bothered to work full time and expects a child in Poland to go without?

Travel / About tram tickets (Poznan) [22]


Still valid - the whole fuss proved to be over nothing. It's absolutely invaluable.

News / Polish police chief removes crosses [250]


Where did the figure come from?

UK, Ireland / Advice on child support (Irish with my Polish husband) [106]

Seems very reasonable - what's that, roughly 15% of his income?


Those aren't obscene luxuries in Poland, they're quite normal for many children.

Life / The changing RCC habits of Poles [70]

Polonius, why do you assume that 'anything goes' and 'whatever rocks your boat' is what young people want?

Life / The changing RCC habits of Poles [70]

(Paulina, it's nice to have a reasonable debate about the RCC without the usual nationalist nonsense)

I need to reply properly, but I thought I'd quickly reply to this -


I imagine it'll react in a bad way for everyone - you'll have bishops fighting for influence openly, the Church will get dragged down in a mess of political infighting and you would see the sudden decline of the Church. What I mean by the Church behaving like a cornered animal is that it would react irrationally - with the consequences of the faithful leaving in droves. No-one would be attracted to a Church that is divided and fighting, would they?

That's why I think a strong Church that is able to appeal to the youth is the only option to try and reverse the decline - the old people will go anyway, but the youth are demanding a Church that represents them and their needs, not a Church that represents bitterness and hatred.

Genealogy / Polish blood only makes up 1% of your "Polishness" [77]


He lives in the UK, I'm just using his logic against him ;)

(couldn't care less personally)

Genealogy / Polish blood only makes up 1% of your "Polishness" [77]


No, she got banned for insulting you after Lenka said stop. Don't try and change things.


And you are a FOREIGNER too. Stop whinging.

Genealogy / Polish blood only makes up 1% of your "Polishness" [77]


Fortunately, Mocha is far more Polish than you'll ever be.

Life / My take on Poland - My Top 10 [31]


Except it doesn't. Anyone who knows Poland knows that Biedronka isn't the cheapest at all, particularly for anything branded. The prices of meat aren't usually that good as well, although the quality is high.


No, it reflects a company that has judged the Polish market to perfection. I know you frequently lie on here about the wealth of Poles, but please stop misrepresenting the facts.


Alma has shocking customer service and their fresh products are of questionable quality at times, and Piotr i Pawel is beginning to have serious problems with customer service too. I like Piotr i Pawel in terms of range and prices, but the service is enough of a problem to discourage me from going there. Biedronka's employment policies (employing older women who want to work hard/well in exchange for relatively good salaries for retail) also are in stark contrast to Piotr i Pawel's tendency to hire young people with attitude problems.


Hardly. Piotr i Pawel are in many locations in Western Poland and isn't seen as 'expensive'.


See, your arrogance and ignorance shines through again. Do you know where many of the Biedronka own brand products come from? Ah, that's right - exactly the same producers as more expensive products.

Life / My take on Poland - My Top 10 [31]


I think this is partially because they've done a truly fantastic job of making it a shop for everyone. I do quite a lot of shopping there for one reason - it's the shop with the best customer service and consistent quality within a reasonable drive. I still prefer Auchan for buying things in bulk, but for day to day things, Biedronka is impossible to beat in terms of consistency and standards. They open up new tills quickly, the shelves are always filled, nothing is lying around, they're always very polite and helpful - it's no surprise that they're conquering the market.


Indeed. Works sometimes, other times it drives me nuts. In general though, following rules is just madness - no-one else is!


A very interesting point - especially within the Polish Church, there seems to be a total lack of role models in prominent positions for the younger generation.

Life / My take on Poland - My Top 10 [31]


Not really. There's much less in the way of drunken trouble here compared to the UK/Ireland, and Poles generally can be trusted to buy alcohol at all hours. It would be insane for most Poles if they couldn't pop to the shop to buy beer whenever they wanted - and I doubt you'd find much support among anyone living in Poland to restrict alcohol sales. Alcohol gets abused here by people who wouldn't really be affected by night bans - they get up early to drink and go to bed early.

As for the driving - it's downright fun when you get used to it. For instance - my drive home late at night is along a 4 lane road with a 60 speed limit. I can do anything up to 85 without much fear - the road is wide, empty and sightlines are great. Or another part of the road is a 90 limit, but is so well designed that doing 110 is no issue at all at night.

Life / The changing RCC habits of Poles [70]


It is strange that some journalists were allowed to remain when the majority of Western journalists were swiftly kicked out in December 1981.


How strange that you would describe the faithful as being into "social engineering, phoniness, propaganda and scams". The PRL is dead, Polonius.

Life / The changing RCC habits of Poles [70]


Yes, anyone conducting "keen observation" in the PRL would certainly see this. What their motive was for "keenly observing" is another question.


What does PO have to do with the RCC habits of Poles, apart from the fact that many Churchgoers and priests support PO?


I don't think it's in anyone's interest to have a Church weakened and divided, not least because of how a cornered animal tends to react.

News / Polish police chief removes crosses [250]


About the same time that you take Polish citizenship.

Life / The changing RCC habits of Poles [70]


What's more amazing is that your agenda is so terribly obvious.


Yes, you would be rather familiar with the PRL and the methods used, wouldn't you?

For what it's worth, you're the last person that should be lecturing anyone about the Church.

Life / My take on Poland - My Top 10 [31]


Likewise here - if you ignore the people on the fringes of society, it seems very rare to see out and out wasted people. Compared to Ireland or the UK, Poland is remarkably sober.

Life / The changing RCC habits of Poles [70]

I think this is one of the wisest things I've ever read on PF.

The future of the RCC lies with the youth, not with the old - I think it's absolutely vital that they do something about the outright hostility that many teenagers/young adults have towards the Church. They don't have to fear the older people leaving - even Rydzyk knows fine well that if he left the RCC, the Church authorities and the Government would take him down almost immediately. But the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow - and as we saw, these people are starting to find their political voice in Poland.

I think it has to be a priority to remove themselves from the political mess that they're in. They have a privileged position, I don't think they need to fear this position being changed - but they do need to fear the consequences of being seen as an ally of a hard right wing socially Government. 2005-2007 did enough harm to them, after all.

Catering to the Polonius' and Kondzior's of Poland might get them rabid support on the streets now, but in the long term, it is a destructive policy guaranteed to lead to what happened in Spain, Ireland and so on. It doesn't mean embracing abortion, gay sex and so on (no-one reasonable expects that) - but it does mean putting a stop to the excesses such as priests driving around expensive cars, building hideously expensive churches and so on.

Life / The changing RCC habits of Poles [70]


When they fail to meet the minimum expectations that Harry listed, I guess.


Well, the Church has their own criteria that they judge by - you can only base it on that.


I dunno - among my friends, there's plenty of them who would say "I'm Catholic" to the question "what religion are you?" - but who don't go to church and so on. If Poland was anywhere near 92.2% practising Catholic, the country would be far more right wing socially than it is.


But... actually, understanding the RCC is pretty much vital to understanding Poland.


A more detailed breakdown by age would be an interesting start, as would information about political affiliation. Despite the rants of Polonius, I know a considerable amount of middle aged PO voters who would be called practising Catholics by anyone reasonable.

Life / The changing RCC habits of Poles [70]


I think it's more the point that these are the expectations that the Church has of Catholics - if someone doesn't do them, then they can hardly call themselves practising Catholics. I suspect that much of what we talk about is muddled by the difference between being baptised Catholic (and thus answering Catholic to the question : what religion are you?) and actually being an active Catholic.


Why not? It would certainly help with understanding Poland more - I would be very interested in detailed statistics too, particularly if they proved that the RCC in Poland is not dominated by the type of people that Polonius and other extremists claim it is.

News / Polish police chief removes crosses [250]


The problem is that the Church doesn't see it that way.

The RCC rarely excommunicates anyone, but the rules are clear - someone that doesn't do the minimum expected of Catholics can be denied sacraments, which is more or less a way of saying that the Church doesn't count you as a believer. A blind eye may or may not be turned - but a priest would be well within his rights to refuse a Catholic marriage to a couple that didn't meet the minimum obligations.

News / Polish police chief removes crosses [250]


Hard to say that they're Catholics if they can't even receive the most important sacraments in the Church.

News / Polish police chief removes crosses [250]


There can be consequences, particularly in smaller parishes. Someone that fails to comply with this can find themselves refused Catholic sacraments - for instance, marriage and burial. Being baptised (or claiming to be Catholic) won't be enough. Even not letting the priest in can have consequences, so I'm told.

Law / Poland and the Euro - benefit for Polish economy? [49]

Indeed, as far as I remember, they largely discredited the myth that prices increased like that.

As I recall, one of the few groups with a genuine grievance against the Euro were Parisian waiters - it used to be common to leave a 10FF tip, which changed into 1 Euro tip - a loss of something like 35%.


Thanks, Polonius - I've been waiting for you to make a particularly slanderous accusation against PO.

Life / The changing RCC habits of Poles [70]


That quote I found from the fronda.pl journalist would probably ring true - less than 2 in 10.