Tadeusz Rydzyk
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Tadeusz Rydzyk, C.Ss.R, also known as Father Director and Father Founder (Polish: Ojciec Dyrektor, Ojciec Założyciel), born May 3, 1945 in Olkusz, is a mighty Roman Catholic priest and Redemptorist, creator and head of the controversial Radio Maryja station, and a powerful leader of the Radio Maryja Family socio-religious movement in Poland. Although Father Director usurped a position of extremely high authority, he is not the Primate of Poland but an ordinary priest.
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[edit] Early Life and Career
Born to a poor family Tadeusz Rydzyk spent his early childhood in Olkusz. He studied at the Higher Spiritual Seminar of Redemptorists in Tuchow, and later studied Biblical theology at the Catholic Theology Academy in Warsaw. He was ordained a priest in 1971. Subsequently, he taught religion in Torun, Szczecinek and Krakow.
In 1986 he left for 5 years for Germany where he gained contact with a xenophobic radio station Radio Maria International in Balderschwang [1] (later closed by the German Catholic Church). His tenure in Germany was opposed by the Catholic Church.
Following his return to Poland in 1991, Rydzyk made a spectacular career. He started Radio Maryja, a radio station marked by arousing controversy, which made him famous in Poland and worldwide. He also initiated the nationalist newspaper Nasz Dziennik (English: Our Daily). A few years later he started the television station Trwam (English: I Persist). He opened The College of Social and Media Culture in Toruń, in which he educates future journalists in the spirit of his teachings.
[edit] Charisma
Father Director has gathered a large group of committed followers, the Radio Maryja Family, to which he is an unquestionable charismatic authority.[2] The Radio Maryja Family movement, also known as Mohair berets, has been likened by critics to a sect.[3]
[edit] Involvement in Politics
Rydzyk and his team actively supported the victorious Law and Justice party during the 2005 election. [4] In January 2006, a journalist from the Polish tabloid Fakt (English: The Fact) phoned the minister for agriculture Krzysztof Jurgiel, claiming to be Rydzyk's assistant, and told Jurgiel that the Father's car had broken. The minister immediately sent a government limousine for the respectable Rydzyk. The reporter said he had carried out the provocation to check Father Rydzyk's influence in the government. Moreover, when Self-Defence, League of Polish Families, and Law and Justice parties paraphed an important document (a "stabilization pact"), the only media allowed in the room were those run by Tadeusz Rydzyk.
Asked whether Rydezyk would form a political party, His Excellency Tadeusz Pieronek, the former secretary general of the Episcopate of Poland, replied that he could not imagine a priest starting a political organization.[5].
