The third day I was in Poland, I encountered my first Corpus Christi procession.
Suddenly the bells began ringing and eventually I caught sight of a procession coming around from behind the church. Choir boys were dinging small bells and behind them was a procession of relics. A little behind that was the priest, walking under a canopy supported by six men, preceded by a young priest waving an incense burner. The head priest was holding a staff with a gold sun in front of his face — he was led by the arms, for he certainly couldn’t see where he was going. Behind the priest was a group of loosely organized lay-persons, singing a capella. The woman beside me knelt as the group went by.
Not having had much exposure to Catholicism, I’d assumed that the doctrine of transubstantiation was a relic of the past. (I also didn’t know what a monstrance is, but that’s really not the point.) But it is a belief alive and well among more traditionally-minded Catholics, which used to be, I think, much more of a universal description of Poland than it is now. I was in Radom when I first encountered Corpus Christi, and while Radom is no Warsaw, it’s not some backwater village, virtually cut off from the urban realities of contemporary life. Still, when the Corpus Christi passed by, even those not participating knelt.
I used to wonder how many of those kneeling really believed in the doctrine of transubstantiation, that the host really is the body of Christ (hence Corpus Christi). It’s a strikingly literal interpretation of the Bible. When Jesus said, “This is my body,” he meant it.
52 Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:52-58)
The argument is simple: if Jesus was only being metaphorical here, he would have said so. This is why Catholics kneel so much: it’s a belief that we are in the physical presence of Christ, and if that’s the case, kneeling is the logical response.
And so in predominately Catholic countries, on Corpus Christi, when the procession passes by with the glorified body of Christ in the monstrance, the usual reaction is to kneel. Or it was.
Photo by Jakub Szymczuk, used most decidedly without permission
This shot comes from a Corpus Christi procession in Warsaw earlier this month. Two things are striking: the first is the rainbow in the background, a sign of growing tolerance toward homosexuality in Poland. The second is what really caught my eye, though: the folks in the front, enjoying an afternoon at the cafe, appear to be completely oblivious to what’s going on behind them. We can interpret this a couple of ways:
- No one at the cafe has noticed that there is a Corpus Christi procession passing by.
- No one at the cafe cares that there is a Corpus Christi procession passing by.
The first reason seems unlikely, but we can construct an argument: It happens so often, throughout the country on Boze Cialo (“Corpus Christi” in Polish) that perhaps it’s just common place to them, and they just really don’t think about it. Still, enough people are facing the procession to make this unlikely.
The second reason, to me, is quite sad. It’s not that I’m worried about the de-Catholic-sizing of Poland. I am, and I think it’s a great but inevitable tragedy. The Catholic faith has been the social glue that held Poland together for centuries, and it’s gradually weakening effect suggests a gradually weakening sense of cultural identity. Certainly there’s a lot about the Polish Catholic church that is, quite honestly, horrendous, but babies and bathwater come to mind in such a case.
What’s really depressing about the picture is the fact that this group of young people doesn’t even see it as important to show respect to those participating in the procession. Sure, they clearly don’t believe in the faith once delivered, but showing respect to others beliefs just seems like a sign of maturity that I see as lacking in contemporary society, and clearly it’s spread to the east as well.
Then there’s the irony of the caption: Wszystko jest inne niz 10 lat temu. Boze Cialo jest tutaj inne. Fotografia jest inna – zdjecie zostalo zrobione telefonem komórkowym. “Everything is different than it was ten years ago. Corpus Christi is different. Photography is different: the picture was taken with a cell phone.” So Szymczuk himself was at the cafe, but ironically he stood, perhaps out of respect but more likely to better frame the image.
I showed the picture to K, who was not surprised — nor was I, to be honest. “Things are changing in Poland,” she said (translating — no need to put the original Polish). “Everyone in Poland is Catholic by birth, but fewer and fewer actually believe.”
Again, it’s not the lack of belief that’s troublesome: it’s the lack of respect.
That seems to be the defining characteristic of this new millennium. It’s slowly becoming the case that I’m more surprised when a student is consistently respectful — to me and to peers — throughout the year than I am when someone is consistently disrespectful. And where does this come from? I think a song the DJ played today during the eighth-grade day celebration
I was mercifully unfamiliar with the number, but plugging “watch me song” revealed that it’s someone who goes by the name Silento. The lyrics are fairly typical of today’s music:
Now watch me whip (kill it!)
Now watch me nae nae (okay!)
Now watch me whip whip
Watch me nae nae (want me do it?)Now watch me whip (kill it!)
Watch me nae nae (okay!)
Now watch me whip whip
Watch me nae nae (can you do it?)Now watch me
Ooh watch me, watch me
Ooh watch me, watch me
Ooh watch me, watch me
Ooh ooh ooh oohOoh watch me, watch me
Ooh watch me, watch me
Ooh watch me, watch me
Ooh ooh ooh oohDo the stanky leg, do the stanky leg
Do the stanky leg, do the stanky leg
Do the stanky leg, do the stanky leg
Do the stanky leg, do the stanky legNow break your legs
Break your legs
Tell ’em “break your legs”
Break your legsNow break your legs
Break your legs
Now break your legs
Break your legsNow watch me (bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop)
Now watch me (bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop)Now watch me whip (kill it!)
Now watch me nae nae (okay!)
Now watch me whip whip
Watch me nae nae (want me do it?)Now watch me whip (kill it!)
Watch me nae nae (okay!)
Now watch me whip whip
Watch me nae nae (can you do it?)Now watch me
Ooh watch me, watch me
Ooh watch me, watch me
Ooh watch me, watch me
Ooh ooh ooh oohOoh watch me, watch me
Ooh watch me, watch me
Ooh watch me, watch me
Ooh ooh ooh oohNow watch me you
Now watch superman
Now watch me you
Now watch superman
Now watch me you
Now watch superman
Now watch me you
Now watch supermanNow watch me duff, duff, duff, duff, duff, duff, duff, duff (Hold on)
Now watch me duff, duff, duff, duff, duff, duff, duff, duff, duffNow watch me (bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop)
Now watch me (bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop)Now watch me whip (kill it!)
Now watch me nae nae (okay!)
Now watch me whip whip
Watch me nae nae (want me do it?)Now watch me whip (kill it!)
Watch me nae nae (okay!)
Now watch me whip whip
Watch me nae nae (Can you do it?)Now watch me
Ooh watch me, watch me
Ooh watch me, watch me
Ooh watch me, watch me
Ooh ooh ooh oohOoh watch me, watch me
Ooh watch me, watch me
Ooh watch me, watch me
Ooh ooh ooh ooh
This is the “watch me” generation, to the point that a current hit is literally just the words “Watch me!” And this is why I see this as an issue of maturity: who typically runs around saying, “Watch me!”? Now, of course, we have seemingly countless ways to get people to watch us in the form of the endless stream of social media we’re surrounded with. The point is simple: while we’ve always been a narcissistic species, technology has made it easier never to grow out of that.
He says on his blog.
No, watch me!
Well, I don’t entirely agree.
First, the photo is from Plac Zbawiciela in Warsaw — it’s the place that is currently associated with the hipster movement in the city. (That rainbow isn’t really gay pride –it’s been there for a while, a sort of confluence of hippie thought and youthful optimism.) If you think respect for Polish Catholic tradition is important, then may I put in a plug for respect for the new, the testing the boundaries, the innovative side to Poland that will make it a truly important player in the world community? I don’t have to buy into the hipster movement, but I do applaud the fact that they now have a place in what has been, for decades, a somewhat socially stagnant society. (I exaggerate, but only a little.)
And here’s the other thing — and I write this with utmost respect for Catholicism: one of my daughters joined the Catholic church on her own as an adult and she is more involved in the church, though these days more on the Episcopalian side of things, liking their more liberal stance on social issues. But here’s the thing: the Catholic church has a lot to account for. Its wealth, its blind eye toward social realities, its blind eye toward violence within family life (this is SO true in Poland), its blind eye toward sexual violence toward the young — this is no small thing that you can just shrug at and cast aside. It’s huge! That reverence toward organized religion is lacking, well now, can we perhaps understand why? In other words, these young people that you call disrespectful — I’m not so ready to dismiss them. Maybe they can define faith in ways that are more honest and less self serving than what they themselves have seen among those who stand for faith but actually perhaps dont stand for true faith at all?
I don’t mean to sound harsh — but it’s my immediate response to your words which, to me, sounded even harsher.
In my own mind, I was thinking about the church as two different entities. You have the administration, the church proper: the bishops and priests and administrators and canon lawyers and such. As a group and as individuals, they have much to answer for, both in the States and in Poland. Because the Catholic church until recently has had very little competition for the spiritual lives of the Poles, they have abused that power greatly. Every Pole, I’m sure, can tell stories. But the church is also made up of the individual believers. It was about them I was thinking, it was to them I was thinking. It was to them that I think the respect was due.
When, as an unbeliever, I went to mass with K, I stood when everyone stood, knelt when everyone knelt, and expect for crossing of oneself and taking communion, I tried to be indistinguishable from all the others in the church. I thought what was going on around me was complete nonsense, but I felt compelled to be as invisible as possible, to blend in. I did this of course out of respect for K of course, but even on occasions when I was in a church alone, which happened rarely, mostly when visiting a new city, I did the same thing. When I first saw a Corpus Christi procession in Radom, two or three days after my arrival in Poland, I was waiting at a bus stop and the procession came by. I didn’t kneel, but I stood in respectful silence, and had I been talking to someone then, I’m fairly certain I would have stopped at that moment.
As for the rainbow, in some ways I feel that why it was put there is less important than what it means to everyone seeing it. I guarantee that many of the young people see it as a subversive statement that the powers that be either turn a blind eye to or are completely ignorant about. Not every Pole my age is going to look at that flag and make a connection to gay pride, but I’d everyone wager everyone in that cafe in the photo knows the connection. And the photographer made the connection. Again, I’m not worried about the increasing toleration of homosexuality in Poland. That’s one of the areas in which I disagree with the Catholic church myself. But there’s no doubt the photographer sees a connection, and there’s little doubt those in the cafe don’t, when they think about it, snicker at the subversiveness of it.
Finally, the harshness: I didn’t necessarily mean to be harsh. I guess I’m growing into a certifiable curmudgeon as I age.
No, not a curmudgeon. Always interesting though! :)
If I wanted to pick up your argument I would say that you, going to church and standing out of respect, is appropriate in my book. I do the same. I stand, I sit. I dont kneel — that’s hypocritical, but I observe the solemnity of the place. But that’s because I’m on their turf. When the procession takes to the public spaces, then they need to understand that everyone plays by their own interpretation of faith. For instance, I would not have even known that there are rules to follow. And many regard such rules as being very much dictated by an administration that demands obedience without explanation.
The rainbow — I actually smiled in disbelief when I first saw it. I grew up less than half a block from Plac Zbawiciela. It was a somber and extremely busy intersection of many streets. The artist who put up the rainbow with its fake flowers was mimicking a similar rainbow in Belgium. It apparently stands for love, peace, hope – the more universal associations one has with rainbows. But of course, in recent years, people realized that in some communities, it mimics the flag that stands for LGBT pride. Since then, it has been burned, vandalized and destroyed more than once by the far right conservative factions and yes, Catholic groups. They call it the faggot rainbow. Talk about intolerance! Now, for Varsovians, the rainbow represents the schism between the old Catholic values and the new progressive ideas. So yes, I think the photo was very intentional. But I don’t know who is being more aggressive here — the onlookers who are probably not making any statement at all, or the processionists who probably are.