Thursday, July 1, 2010

Poland: March for life and family 2010


An event that doesn’t appear to have received much publicity is the March for Life and Family that took place in Warsaw at the beginning of June, with an attendance of at least 6000 people. The first such March for Life was in 2006 and, since then, the numbers involved have increased by 300 percent.

Tradition, Family, and Property, reporting on the 2010 March, tell us that the crowd
‘consisted mostly of young people and families with children. They represent a new generation of pro-life and pro-family Poles who publicly affirm their Catholic moral values. Also present were several Ministers of Parliament and political candidates. …’

Signs and posters that were carried during the March read: ‘Every Child has the Right to Birth’, ‘Green Light for the Family’, ‘One Man and One Woman is the Only True Family’, etc.

Poland is under great threat at the moment from anti-life and anti-family forces of all sorts – those seeking liberalisation of the laws against abortion, those seeking the promotion and acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle, etc.

The President of the Fr. Peter Skarga Association for Christian Culture (organisers of the March, and inspired by Tradition, Family and Property) urged those taking part to
‘exert influence and pressure upon government leaders to preserve the autonomy of the family which is the foundation of society and the state.’

TFP says that the institution of the family in Poland is threatened by the recent introduction of a piece of legislation
‘aimed at reducing domestic violence. It insinuates that the family is a source of violence toward children because children are disciplined by parents. If passed, it will severely restrict a parent’s right to bring up their children consistent with Catholic moral values. This will devastate the institution of the family and consequently, society as a whole in Poland.’