Sacred Refuge
Adam Lach

Fearing the anger of the Church hierarchs, for years the Polish authorities have been blind to breaking the law, no matter which political party: SLD ( left fraction ), PiS (centre-right fraction ) or PO (liberal fraction ) ruled the country. The disabled people are to be thrown out onto the streets because of unsupported claims for the restitution of Church property taken away during the PRL. The issue is being dealt with by 13 people who are members of a Church/governmental body called the Property Committee, a pecialist in making decisions during closed meetings basing on property evaluations that are far from true. And, there is nothing we can do about it, for the Committee’s rulings are final and irrevocable. In 1991 the Provincial Curia of the Holy Family Missionaries addressed the Property Committee with a request to restore the ownership of a nationalized real estate – a Missionary House of the Holy Family Missionary Priests in Szczytna. The estate is in fact a neo-Gothic castle, which, since 1967, has been home to the mentally challenged. 110 patients have been living there for over 40 years now. The Missionaries claimed, that the estate is their property. Yet, according to documents of the year 1944, the Polish Order of the Holy Family came into an agreement with a German Order “Mariahilfe”, which fact was certificated by German clerks. At that time the Mariahilfe Order occupied the castle of Szczytna, and the German monks declared, in front of a Nazi notary, the intention of making over the property to the Polish monks. The intention was all that was left of it, since after a few months the Nazi country ceased to exist on these grounds. There was no other legal act stating anything about the Order of the Holy Family being the owner of any land or property in Szczytna. There is no such remark about it in land register, either. Nevertheless, the monks demands finished with a settlement in 1995. The residential home for disabled gave the tower of the castle to the monks, together with the right to use a road leading to the tower. In 2007 the same Property Committee, without noticing the parties involved (i.e. the management of the residential home or the authorities of Szczytna) changed its decision of 1995 and gave the whole property, free of charge, to the Order of the Holy Family. Until the end of 2009 there is supposed to be no trace left of the disabled. However, the local authorities have not yet built or found a new place to transfer the 110 inhabitants and 70 personnel. Father Janusz Jezusek pastor from Provincial Curia of the Holy Family Missionaries, is already quite confusing. He says that the missionaries will not do harm to anyone. Wish to proceed, so that human dignity is maintained. Therefore, the Missionaries has agreed to rent the center for 2012. Authorities from mentally challenged home - despite the lack of money - will have to pay 10 thousand zlotys per month plus tax.