Tadeusz Rydzyk | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Rydzyk in 2013 | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | (1945-05-03)3 May 1945 (age 80) |
| Alma mater | Christian Theological Academy, Warsaw |
| Known for | Conservative activism |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Catholicism |
| Ordination | 1971 |
Tadeusz Rydzyk (Polish pronunciation:[taˈdɛ.uʂˈrɨd͡zɨk]; born 3 May 1945) is a PolishRedemptorist Catholic priest and activist. He is the founder and director of the conservativeRadio Maryja station, and founder of theUniversity of Social and Media Culture inToruń.
Tadeusz Rydzyk was born out of wedlock to his mother, the widowed Mrs. Rydzyk (née Piątek), whose first husband was killed in theBuchenwald concentration camp, and her boyfriend Bronisław Kordaszewski, a laborer with alcohol problems,[1] and spent his childhood in Olkusz.[2] He studied at the Higher Spiritual Seminary of Redemptorists inTuchów, and later at theCatholic Theology Academy inWarsaw. He was ordained apriest in 1971 and taught religion inToruń,Szczecinek andKraków. In 1986 Rydzyk left forWest Germany where he was involved with a radio stationRadio Maria International in Balderschwang (later closed by the Catholic Church authorities for moving away from Catholic doctrine).
Following his return to Poland in 1991, Rydzyk startedRadio Maryja. He established the [atholic newspaperNasz Dziennik ('Our Daily') and the television stationTV Trwam ('I Persist').
On 8 October 2009, Rydzyk earned a PhD in theology from the CardinalStefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw.[3]
Polish journalistTomasz Piątek, who has the same surname as Rydzyk's mother, has claimed that he is the cousin of Tadeusz Rydzyk.[4]
In July 2009 Rydzyk made a racist comment towards a black missionary, Michał, who holds Polish citizenship and speaks fluent Polish. Michał was introduced to the stage by Rydzyk with these words 'Dear, there's a negro. My God, you didn't bathe. Come here brother. He did not bathe at all. Look everyone.' Rydzyk later claimed it was a joke and Michał reportedly found the joke funny. He also praised Radio Maryja after Rydzyk's racist introduction.[5]
In February 2011, Rydzyk was fined 3,500zloty after the local district court inToruń found that he broke the law by using Radio Maryja to call for donations toTV Trwam, theUniversity of Social and Media Culture, and the geothermal drilling conducted by theLux Veritatis Foundation.[6]
In June 2011, while meeting members of theEuropean Parliament, he called Poland "an uncivilized country" and "a totalitarian regime," and claimed that it was not ruled by Poles. The PolishMinistry of Foreign Affairs protested against these statements and sent a diplomatic note to theHoly See, to which Catholic religious orders, including the Redemptorists, are subject.[7]
In 2006, the US-basedAnti-Defamation League accused Rydzyk and hisRadio Maryja station ofantisemitism.[8]
Tadeusz Rydzyk commented on the award-winning documentaryTell No One that covers child molestation by Catholic Church clergy in Poland as follows: "Is it fair; is it caring? It's a fight against the Church calculated for its destruction." He said that the drama of the victims was turned into a "pedophilia industry" and that "we already had a club of antisemitism, Nazism, nationalism, fascism and now a club of pedophilia was formed. Hatred stands behind all this."[9]
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