From Niedziela, the Polish (Roman) Catholic Weekly: Patrons of scientists and intellectuals by the Rev. Ireneusz Skubis

We are approaching the Feast of the Epiphany, popularly known as the feast of Three Kings. It is a reminder of the mystery of God’s manifestation to the Gentiles. The Magi from the East arrive in Jerusalem, seeking the newborn Babe whom they call the King. It makes the royal environment upset and even terrified. We learn from the Gospel passage that King Herod was very upset hearing the news and that he took some actions to annihilate the newly born Infant: many children who were born then were killed and this event was passed down as the slaughter of the Innocents. The Three Wise Men – Kings followed a star that announced them an extraordinary event —“ birth of Someone Great. The Jewish world was expecting the promised Messiah, Price of Peace. The Magi understand that the Newly Born is not the Messiah for one nation, the Jews, but he is the Saviour of the world. They foresee that his coming will concern all mankind and is the most important event in the history of the world. Since God foretold and promised to send the Redeemer to order the history of the world and to bring people to salvation.

This beautiful Gospel story was interwoven with a rich tradition. How many artistic works: paintings, literary [sic] and theatrical works, have been performed by outstanding artists, trying to deepen this meaning of this event. The Eastern Church experiences the mystery of God’s manifestation to the Gentiles in a very profound way. We must realise that we belong to this group of mankind that experiences the feast of the meeting of the Magi from the East with the newly born King as their own feast. The Polish culture carries some features of the presence of this feast in its whole national history. Because of the character of this feast and the reflections that accompany the search of those who would like to reach the manifested God in the intellectual sphere, it can be described as the patron feast of philosophers, scientists and intellectuals…

Unfortunately, the rest of the article descends into a political appeal, urging that the Epiphany be reinstated as a national holiday in Poland (something that failed muster in the Sejm). It is too bad really. Rev. Skubis had a good start here. He could have reflected (more deeply) on the man-made conflicts between intellectualism, the arts, science and God. He could have developed this into a meaningful appeal, reconnecting the West to its intellectual history, describing the Magi as mentors for today’s intellectuals.

This is one of the persistent sins in the Roman Catholic Church in post-communist Poland, its involvement politics over faith, rather than faith as the path that supports the good and opposes evil.