An Army of Normal Folks - Father Jerzy: The Martyred Chaplain

Episode Date: March 3, 2025

Father Jerzy Popieluszko was the chaplain for Poland's resistance movement called Solidarity. And the Soviet communists couldn't bear his powerful voice for faith and freedom. Larry Reed celebrates this courageous martyr for An Army of Normal Dead Folks.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At one point the journalist asked him, Father Yersey, how can you expect to continue to do what you do, to say the things you are and not expect this government to do something awful? They had already planted weapons in his apartment and then staged a raid with cameras to say, ah, see, Father Yersey is trying to start a revolution. They'd done a million things to harass him. Well, Father Yersey's response to that journalist is memorable and chilling at the same time. He said, they will kill me. They will kill me.

And then he went on to say, but I cannot remain silent as members of my own congregation disappear, are jailed, tortured because of what they believe. I cannot. And he didn't. MUSIC Welcome to an Army of Normal Folks. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, I'm Bill Courtney. I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband. I'm a father.

I'm an entrepreneur. And I've been a football coach in inner city Memphis. And that last part somehow led to an Oscar for the film about our team. That movie is called Undefeated. Guys, I believe our country's problems are never gonna be solved by a bunch of fancy people in nice suits using big words that nobody ever uses on

CNN and Fox but rather by an army of normal folks. Guys, that's us just you and me deciding hey, you know what I can help. That's exactly what father Yerzy Papayushko did. He was the chaplain for the Polish resistance movement called Solidarity, and the Soviets murdered this priest because of his powerful witness. I cannot wait for you to hear this story from Real Heroes author Larry Reed

as we pay tribute to him for our special series, An Army of Normal Dead Folks, right after these brief messages we pay tribute to him for our special series, an army of normal dead folks. Right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Hey, it's a Martinez. The news can feel like a lot on any given day, but you can't just ignore Las noticias when important world-changing events are happening. That is where the Up First podcast comes in. Every single morning in under 15 minutes, we take the news and boil it down to three essential stories so

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true crime stories about women who are not just victims, but heroes or villains, or often somewhere in between. Listen to The Greatest crime stories ever told on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last one I'm going to ask you about, and we're good. Last one I'm going to ask you about, chapter 34, and I cannot say this guy's name. Jersey Popoyskow? You're close. Yeah. Yersey. It looks like Jersey. J-E-R-Z-O-S-E.

Popoyskow. Popoyskow is the witness to truth and freedom. I got this far through the book this morning. It also happened to be a chapter that Alex, the producer, said, make sure you read. And so I got this far. And I think maybe it rang true to me because I'm not, you know, in the 80s, I was in high school. So some of this I remembered, but I'm gonna read a little piece that I bracketed and then I'd like you to tell the story. But I'm gonna bracket this as a backdrop for the beginning of the story.

It is not enough for a Christian to condemn evil, cowardice, lies, and use of force, hatred, and oppression, he once declared. He must at all times be a witness to and defender of justice, goodness, truth, freedom, and love. He must never tire of claiming these values as a right for both himself and others." There's this recurring theme as I go through this book that complacency is complicit. That even though you may not be doing an evil act or deed, by knowing about it, turning your head and not engaging in something to stop it,

that complicity is just as evil as the Senate itself. Yeah, yeah. And that passage that you read, Bill, really is a beautiful summary of the life and commitment of Father Jerzy Papayushka, who died at the young age of 37. Tell us the story. It's an amazing story. If any of your listeners ever are in Warsaw,

a must-see site is his church, St. Sanisław Koska Church in Warsaw. He's buried there under a huge stone cross and there is a museum dedicated to him in the basement of the church that guarantee'll leave you in tears. Father Popowuszko from an early age was thin, kind of sickly. You would never see in him, at least physically, the makings of a future courageous hero. He was drafted, as everybody in Poland, even seminarians were in the communist days into the military, but treated very cruelly. Seminarians who were drafted into the Polish army under communism were ridiculed. He himself was made to stand at attention for like 24 hours or more at a time, never

to sit down for that entire time, put in freezing conditions. Here they were drafted to serve in the army and treated like that because, you know, this is an atheist communist government. It doesn't take kindly to people who profess a faith in something higher than the state. But Father Yerze endured that and then later became a young priest. And if you remember the climactic events that spanned a decade that began with Pope John Paul II visiting Warsaw in 1979, he had just been named Pope the year before. The first… Which, I'm sorry to interrupt, but just want to make sure our listeners either recollect, remember or are exposed to.

Popes didn't come from Poland at that time. Not for 450 years had there been a non-Italian. And the Soviet state, which you just explained, is a communist organization where the state is what you worship. And they weren't typically ever going to let a powerful man of clergy into a Soviet state, but they did allow this Polish pope ordained in Italy to go to Poland. Which was in 1979 was a big, big, big, big deal. A shocking deal really that that actually happened. So go ahead. And the communist government thought that they could so regulate his whereabouts and what he had to say. Well in Poland that they would end up benefiting from it. That they could say, well see we're not so bad. We let the folks show up. Well, they did everything they could to keep the crowds down.

Didn't work. He spoke to at least a million, some say as many as three million people in Warsaw, and he spoke his mind. Polls will tell you today that the one line that he uttered that from which they drew the greatest inspiration was this. John Paul looked at them and said with his finger in the air, be not afraid. Now that may sound rather ordinary, but to Poles, they knew what that meant. They had endured communism for decades.

Here is one of their own coming back and telling them, stand up to this. It's a noble cause. Resist. Be not afraid. The Lord is with you. And that gave birth within weeks to the organization we know as Solidarity, resisting the communist government, demanding freedoms of speech and press and assembly and so forth. freedoms of speech and press and assembly and so forth. And then for the 1980s, Poland went through this period of euphoria at first with solidarity growing and pushing for more freedoms, but then such disappointment when the Polish communist government cracked down with martial law in December of 81. They threw thousands of people in prison. They couldn't let solidarity continue to grow. They banned it, arrested Lech Walesa, who would later become a president of Poland. And it was in this period-

Almost a living martyr. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, still living to this day. And it was in this dark night of the 80s with martial law that Father Jerzy Papiuszko in his 30s begins to become known. And he becomes known because from his pulpit in Warsaw, he spoke the truth. And people were so hungry for it that he would not only speak the truth to those within the church, but they put loudspeakers outside the church so that thousands of people could gather and hear what he had to say. He was a relentless critic of the communist government.

In 1984, an American journalist went to Warsaw to interview him. This is recorded in the December 1984 or 6, I forget which, Reader's Digest, an article called Murder of a Polish Priest. It's reported what the conversation was about between this American journalist and Father Yearsey. At one point the journalist asked him, Father Yearsey, how can you expect to continue to do what you do, to say the things you are and not expect this government to do something awful? They had already planted

weapons in his apartment and then staged a raid with cameras to say, ah, see, Father Yerzee is trying to start a revolution. They'd done a million things to harass him. Well, Father Yerzee's response to that journalist is memorable and chilling at the same time, he said, they will kill me. They will kill me. And then he went on to say, but I cannot remain silent as members of my own congregation disappear or jailed, tortured because of what they believe. I cannot. And he didn't. And not long thereafter, as he was coming back to Warsaw from the town of Bydgoszcz, from some priestly duties up there, his car was stopped by three secret police. The only reason we know the details of what happened is the driver of the

car, a friend of Papa Juszko, escaped and later was telling people about what had happened and forcing the government to put the three on trial. He was tortured for two days and his body was thrown into the Vistula River. Actually tied to a rock. The reason that's important is they didn't want him to ever be found. That's right. No, they thought he would just be written off as missing person. But when the government was forced to put on trial the three secret police, one of them broke down under testimony and said, I never knew that a man could withstand such a beating.

and said, I never knew that a man could withstand such a beating. Those three were given prison sentences, but later when the Führer died down, the communist government let him out. So they made a deal to get off easy. But thereafter, Father Yerzy was known as John Paul II's favorite priest. He was and is Poland's greatest martyr. When you visit his church today, as I've done now several times, after you enter the church, if you go behind the pulpit, you'll see the entire wall is devoted to memorabilia of Father Yerze, including pictures of him in his boat on the pond with his dog, and you know, just ordinary, everyday photos of a guy who just wanted to do the right thing

and brought great strength to so many. And grew up sickly, and just average, and someone who you would never point out or pick out of a... If he was part of a litter of dogs, he would be the last one chosen. Exactly. Yep. Yep. And ends up being the guy that stood up for human rights and freedom and dignity and decency of Poles.

Yeah. What a legacy. And if you were to ask, most Poles today, if you were to ask, how was it possible for the Polish people throughout the 1980s to ultimately lead the way among the Eastern European satellite countries of the Soviet Union to revolution, to getting rid of those totalitarian regimes. How were Poles able to stand up against this? Father Popowiczko's name will come up every time because we had people like him. We looked to him. That's what he wanted us to do.

He gave his life for it. How could we do any less? And so in 1989, Poland became the first, as the East Bloc was breaking up, Poland became the first of the Soviet satellite nations to have free elections. And every single seat that was disputed in those elections was lost by the communists, and Poland was liberated. Two years later, the Soviet Union itself collapsed. What a wonderful day. And it happened because of people like Father Popayushko. Phenomenal story and no doubt a real hero.

Yeah, definitely. Thanks for joining us for this special series, An Army of Normal Dead Folks. If Father Yerzy or other episodes have inspired you in general or better yet by acting heroically in our time buying Larry Reed's book Real Heroes where the story came from or if you have story ideas for this series which would be cool if you did please let me know. I'd love to hear about it. You can write me anytime at Bill at NormalFolks.us and I promise I will respond. If you enjoyed this episode,

please share it with friends on social. Let people know about us. Subscribe to the podcast, rate it and review it. Join the Army at NormalFolks.us us consider becoming a premium member there Any and all of these things that will help us grow an army of normal folks I'm bill Courtney until next time do what you can Hey, it's a Martinez the news can feel like a lot on any given day But you can't just ignore las noticias when important world changing events are happening. That is where the Up First podcast comes in. Every single morning in under 15 minutes, we take the news and boil it down to three essential stories. You can keep up without feeling stressed out. Listen up first from NPR on the iHeart radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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I'm Mark Seale. And I'm Nathan King. This is Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli. The five families did not want us to shoot that picture. This podcast is based on my co-host Mark Seale's best-selling book of the same title. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews

with Francis Ford Cobola, Robert Evans, James Kahn, Talia Shire, and many others. Yes, that was a real horse's head. Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.