2007年VOA标准英语- Poland's Catholic Church Embarrassed over Reve

By Andre de Nesnera
Washington
12 January 2007

The recent resignation of the archbishop of Warsaw over his collaboration² with the communist-era secret police has deeply embarrassed Poland's Roman Catholic Church. VOA Senior Correspondent André de Nesnera looks at the latest revelations in the context of the Catholic Church's role in bringing down communism in Poland.

 
Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus (file photo)
Bishop¹ Stanislaw Wielgus stunned³ worshippers several days ago by stepping down as archbishop of Warsaw moments before his official installation mass was to begin at St. John's Cathedral. He read from a letter he had sent to Pope Benedict XVI offering his resignation -- a resignation the pontiff accepted.

Experts say Bishop Wielgus's decision was inevitable⁴ after he admitted earlier this month that he had collaborated⁶ with the communist-era Polish secret police.

George Weigel is a Washington-based expert on Poland's Catholic Church. He says secret police documents -- now held by an organization in Poland known as the Institute of National Remembrance -- prove Bishop Wielgus did indeed collaborate⁵. But he says it is not clear what was the nature of his collaboration.

He said, "What we know is that he signed a letter of agreement to collaborate when he was a young man. There is no evidence in any of the materials that have been brought to light subsequently, that he in fact did anything of consequence."

"That may come later -- but what we know now is only the letter of agreement to collaborate. The other 67 documents that have been released publicly are the reports of secret police agents -- they are all second hand," he added.

In his defense⁷, Bishop Wielgus said he never hurt anyone nor did he inform on anyone.

Experts -- such as John Micgiel of Columbia University in New York -- say the revelations concerning Bishop Wielgus are very damaging to the Polish Catholic Church.

He said, "This is extremely embarrassing. It is also, of course, embarrassing for the Vatican," he said. [With] a background check, a serious background check, these files would have revealed this information much earlier had the [Catholic] hierarchy⁸ in Poland been interested in looking for it. But it wasn't."

Micgiel says it hurts the church's image, given its historic role in keeping the Polish culture alive and fighting communist oppression.

He said, "The Catholic Church was, in essence, the repository of polish national thought and culture in the period when there was no Poland. So for 123 years, after the partitions of Poland in the late 18th century, it was basically the Catholic Church that was reminding people about their culture, about their history."

"And that role continued after Poland gained independence in 1918. When the communists took over after the Second World War, which was a huge catastrophe⁹ and tragedy for Poland, people quite naturally looked to the church for leadership -- and they got it," he continued.

 
Pope John Paul II 
Experts say the man who embodied¹⁰ this leadership was Pope John Paul II. George Weigel -- who wrote a biography of the Polish-born Pope -- says his role was vital in helping¹¹ the "Solidarity¹²" free trade movement and, ultimately, in bringing down communism.

"No church, no "Solidarity" -- no revolution of 1989. I mean, the Polish church was absolutely instrumental in maintaining a national will to resist communism from 1945 on," said Weigel.

"The visit of Pope John Paul II [to Poland] in June of 1979 was by everyone's reckoning the crucial trigger that eventually led to the "Solidarity" movement, which eventually, over a ten-year period led to what we now know as the revolution of 1989 in central and eastern Europe," he added.

Now, experts say, the Polish Catholic Church must seriously address the issue of priests who collaborated with communist authorities.

Analysts¹³ believe that as more files come to light, more priests will be implicated¹⁴. But they expect that the number of priests who have collaborated will turn out to be far less than those who resisted Poland's communist government.

1 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

2 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

3 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

4 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

5 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

6 collaborated   

合作( collaborate的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• We have collaborated on many projects over the years. 这些年来我们合作搞了许多项目。
• We have collaborated closely with the university on this project. 我们与大学在这个专案上紧密合作。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 hierarchy   

n.等级制度；统治集团，领导层

参考例句：

• There is a rigid hierarchy of power in that country.那个国家有一套严密的权力等级制度。
• She's high up in the management hierarchy.她在管理阶层中地位很高。

9 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

10 embodied   

v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含

参考例句：

• a politician who embodied the hopes of black youth 代表黑人青年希望的政治家
• The heroic deeds of him embodied the glorious tradition of the troops. 他的英雄事迹体现了军队的光荣传统。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

13 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

14 implicated   

adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的

参考例句：

• These groups are very strongly implicated in the violence. 这些组织与这起暴力事件有着极大的关联。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Having the stolen goods in his possession implicated him in the robbery. 因藏有赃物使他涉有偷盗的嫌疑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》