A random memory…

They were standing on the street toward the beginning of the flea market area, Jehovah’s Witnesses in a decidedly devout swatch of a very Catholic country. Of all the Christian sects that have sprouted in America — Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Christian Scientists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and hundreds or thousands of smaller ones — it is only the Jehovah’s Witnesses that have had any real success in Poland. According to the group’s website, their numbers are as follow:

• 116,299—Ministers who teach the Bible
• 1,288—Congregations
• 1 to 330—Ratio of Jehovah’s Witnesses to population

It’s a religion that can only cater to a certain population in southern Poland: according to the JW website, the nearest congregation is in Krakow, and its meetings are conducted in English, with some meetings in Mandarin. That narrows potential converts significantly.

My friend R and I encountered the JWs as we were finishing our wanderings with our children through the market. I’ve known R for twenty years. He lived in Warsaw, and we shared a love of chess. I’d often spend the weekend at his apartment playing chess most of the day and hanging out in bars during the evening.

He married shortly after K and I left Poland in 2005, and his wife, fluent in French, got an administrative job in Brussels working for the EU. They’ve lived there ever since. A few years ago, R underwent a religious conversion and became what could only be called a Polish Evangelical living in decidedly-secular Brussels.

We met up again when we were last in Poland, and he stayed with his two children at Babcia’s bed and breakfast for a few days. We played a little chess, talked about parenthood, took our children to various sites, and discussed religion. A lot.

He had a few words to say about the JWs we encountered, and when I suggested we go talk to them, he balked. Indeed, he was right: what would an Evanglical and a highly-skeptical nearly-lapsed Catholic have to say to them? There’s no point getting into a discussion that would likely devolve into an argument for no real reason at all.

I couldn’t help but be curious, though. How did the local population receive them? Did they face hecklers? Did anyone act aggressively toward them? Catholicism and nationalism go hand in hand in the mountains of southern Poland, so I wouldn’t have been surprised to find that they were also accused of being traitors as well as heretics.

If they’re hanging around this summer while we’re in Poland, I’ll make the effort to talk to them.