Exit Interview

A week from Sunday, after an unexpected extension of duty at the helm of Poland's largest flock, Cardinal Josef Glemp will finally get his retirement as his second successor of the year, Archbishop-elect Stanislaw Nycz, is installed at Warsaw's St John's Cathedral.

Not terribly famous for his media exposure, the Primate -- who'll be keeping that title for another two years -- was forced to stay on and lead through the storm following the shock resignation of his first successor, Stanislaw Wielgus, minutes before the latter's scheduled Epiphany-day installation as archbishop of Warsaw.

In another coup for the Witness chair, our friends at Salt + Light are currently airing Fr Tom Rosica's interview with Glemp, who's led the Polish church since 1981. While John Paul and the state of Catholicism in what's arguably its firmest European bastion are on the docket, an emotional high-point is the cardinal's remembrance of Fr Jerzy Popieluszko, the Warsaw cleric whose outspokenness in the face of the Communist regime led to his murder at 37 in 1984.

"I wanted to save him," Glemp said. "[B]ut God wanted things to happen this way, and today he is a martyr of liberation by defending faith."

Opened in 1997, Fr Jerzy's cause for beatification proceeds apace.

Also from S+L, a visit to the Internet Office of the Holy See, whose director Sr Judith Zoebelein -- the Vatican's Webmistress -- seemed to make quite the impression some weeks back.

As always, the programming is a joy to pass forward.... And especially with all this snow on the ground here in the Northeast, I'm missing TO especially tonight.


PHOTO: AFP/Janek Skarzynski

-30-