POLISH WHISTLE-BLOWER PRIEST WINS GOVERNMENT AWARD

Catholic World News
Dec 12 2007

Warsaw, Dec. 11, 2007 (CWNews.com) – The Polish government’s
human-rights ombudsman has conferred an award on a priest who has
drawn controversy by investigating the collaboration between Catholic
clergy and the secret police under the old Communist regime.

Father Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski was honored for "his courage in
defending basic values and the truth." He received the award from the
ombudsman, Janusz Kochanowski, in a ceremony at Warsaw’s royal castle.

Father Zaleski, a graduate of Rome’s Pontifical Armenian College who
was brutally beaten twice by the former secret police, currently
directs an apostolate for handicapped people. His book exposing
the collaboration between clerics and the Communist government was
published despite the initial reservations of Krakow’s Cardinal
Stanislaw Dziwisz. The primate of Poland, Cardinal Jozef Glemp,
charged that Zaleski was "pursuing and hounding priests all over
Poland" before later apologizing for that remark.

recnum=55283