Attack on the bishop in Grojec. The crowd broke into the church after the parish priest was dismissed

The reason for the whole situation was the dismissal of the long-time parish priest, Józef Zborek. Last week, the Bielsko-Żywiec diocese announced that the parish priest of St. Lawrence Parish in Grojec had been dismissed from office "due to identified and proven serious irregularities in the performance of this office." No exact reason was given.

As justified, Father Zborek exercised his right to appeal to all instances of the Holy See. "The Dicastery for the Clergy confirmed the correctness of the Bishop's decision, and the proceedings were definitively ended by the decision of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura," it was emphasized.

Meeting of the bishop with the parish council in Grojec

In connection with this decision, the Bishop of Bielsko-Żywiec, Roman Pindel, met on Sunday evening with the Parish Council of St. Wawrzyniec in Grojec. The meeting lasted 2.5 hours. and, as the diocese assures, it took place in a peaceful atmosphere.

After the meeting, the bishop went to the church where the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament continued. "The Vicar blessed everyone gathered with the Blessed Sacrament. The Bishop approached the microphone at the altar. He thanked them for the prayers. He didn't have time to say anything more because an aggressive crowd of people shouting curses broke into the church," we read in the diocese's statement.

“They pushed a group of priests back into the church.”

According to the diocese, "in order to avoid desecrating the temple and save his safety, the Bishop and several priests went to the sacristy of the church and wanted to go outside."

"There he met another crowd of aggressive people. They started shouting, swearing, pulling hands - they pulled Father Bishop, Father Marek Studenski and Father Stanisław Morawa. They pushed a group of priests with the Bishop back into the church. There, the group of priests' path was blocked off," the statement read.

According to the report on the website, there were curses. After several minutes, the police arrived at the scene. She led a group of priests to the church room.

Police intervention

Bishop Pindel went out to the gathered people again. He was accompanied by negotiators from the Małopolska police. "He explained that the decision to dismiss the parish priest, confirmed by the Holy See, is final," the statement added.

Finally, the priests left the parish at 1 a.m. – thanks to the help of the police.