American Meets Cardinal

June 28th, 2006

The week that followed the hiking was quite intense, and included my last exam, in my Theology of the Body course, which is taught by Fr. Jarosław Kupczak, a Polish Dominican who studied at the John Paul II Institute in Washington, D.C. My exam went well, and with it, I finished up the official schoolwork for the semester, which was quite surreal, and it took a while for me to realize that I am done! I guess it didn’t really hit me, since I am not going home yet, until July, and so while I am still here, I still feel a little as if I am “studying abroad.” Indeed, I do have a lot of things to do still, but not really related directly to school and exams!

After my exam on Wednesday, I was able to take my friend out to breakfast, to an American restaurant called “Jeff’s.” Apparently, it is a chain in Florida, and the one in Poland has a license to operate under their name. I was actually quite surprised when I walked in to find the walls plastered with license plates, random paraphernalia, TV’s playing CNN Headline News, and rock music in the loudspeakers. I have to admit, that it was actually kind of nice to feel a little bit like “back at home,” in a restaurant that was similar to Chili’s or T.G.I.F.’s. What did also strike me, though, was the complete emptiness of our materialist, consumerist culture. This restaurant was truly like any American restaurant, and after being away for so long, I guess I grew unaccustomed to the “American style.” It was interesting to reflect on how American culture must be received in Poland, and in other countries as well. If our country’s modern culture is what I was seeing here, then, honestly, “no, thank you.” Yet, why did I have such a reaction when seeing all of this? I had eaten countless times in places like this, and greatly enjoyed going out to eat at them.

Yet here, there was an aura of falsehood. It was all fake—here in Poland, the land of kings, of churches, of a thousand year history, this 1960’s pop culture restaurant just does not fit. What was even worse, was the dress of the waitresses, who all seemed to have the same “dress” code, or rather, lack thereof. Let’s just say that my shirt might have weighed more than their total attire. It was really sad to see this—is this the image that we Americans project to the rest of the world? Or is this only a misinterpretation of our culture, which is not all based on skimpy dress, bad music, and television? I would hope that it is the latter, since I tend to rather be a strong American patriot, and know that our country does have more enduring values than those that are projected abroad. Yet, it is no wonder that many people have a stereotype of Americans as the immoral, materialistic, obese, and obnoxious people that only some of them are. The pop culture is so strongly projected, that Britney Spears becomes the model of every American girl, and recently, in the wake of all of Chuck Norris jokes, he has become the American man—brutal, tough, and uncivilized.

Honestly, I was very satisfied with my American French Toast, my maple syrup and ham, and my American mug of coffee, but I was also quite relieved to leave the place. It is such a foreign concept here in Poland, that I am surprised that the place actually has customers—of course, there is still a sort of concept that views everything American as good and worthy to be imitated (unlike in Western Europe, where we are not exactly perceived the same way!) What happened later the same day, of which I had no idea, however, would redeem the experience of the morning.

In the early afternoon, I had to take some papers to the Cardinal’s secretary at the Metropolitan Curia. After finally getting in through the double sets of doors, and waiting my turn, I approached Fr. Raś, the secretary, and gave him a my packet of papers, only to be shocked by his question, “You know, perhaps the cardinal himself would like to talk to you. Then you can explain what exactly it is you need. Why don’t you come back in about an hour and a half?”

My mouth dropped—I would be able to see Cardinal Dziwisz, perhaps one of the best-known cardinals in the world, for his forty years of service at the side of Bishop Wojtyla, and then Pope John Paul II? Wow. Lord, what are you doing to me? So, I ran back home to grab my camera (typical American, right?), and then came back. Walking past some dignitaries from the Polish government, as well as new reporters, I walked up to the secretary’s office, and rang the doorbell. A few minutes later, the secretary walked out, looked around, and took my in—leaving the rest behind. Leading me through the cream-colored room, to another similar one, overlooking the courtyard of the Curia, he asked me to sit down and wait on a red tapestry Victorian sofa. Countenances of popes and cardinals watched me from their gold-framed spots on the walls, and the deep voice of Cardinal Dziwisz could be heard from the other room. In a moment, he walked out of the room, and looked at me, signaling that I would be next—only to get stopped by Fr. Nęcek, the press secretary, who had a pressing issue with “Father Cardinal,” as he is known in Polish. So, sitting down to wait again, I went over and over what I wanted to say to the cardinal, who would come out momentarily.

Returning out of his office, Cardinal Dziwisz came towards me. I expected that he would lead me to his office, where I would probably be seen from behind his large desk—but now, he came over to me, and grabbed my arm. “What can I do for you?” he asked, as I knelt to show the proper sign of respect for a Prince of the Church. Holding my hand with his firm, fatherly, fist, he led me over to the couch where I had been sitting, and asked me to sit down. Pulling up a chair next to me, and sitting about a foot and a half across, he began to ask me questions about who I was, where I was from, what I was studying, what I planned on doing in life, who had taught me this semester, etc. Somehow, all of the things that I had planned to say slipped from my mind, as my heart pounded out of temporary shock that this was actually happening. Even though this man had served at the side of John Paul, had been one of the most televised and photographed people in the world, because of his assistance to the Pope, and is a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, he still had the time and interest to talk to me, a simple student! As I noticed by his simple presence in March, at the Ingress to the cathedral, he is a man of deep humility and sincere simplicity. I am sure that much of this is also due to the fact that he is from a small Polish village, Raba Wyżna, in the hills south of Kraków. He has never lost the ability to simply communicate on a very personal and direct level.

After talking to me for a few minutes, his secretary came in to take him away to what were more pressing and urgent matters, I’m sure, but I couldn’t complain. What had started as a day on which I would be taking my final exam, turned out to be the day that I would personally meet on of the Princes of the Church, a voting member of the College of Cardinals, and perhaps a future pope. Ok, that may be complete speculation, but it’s possible…I was definitely reminded of the well-known saying, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him what you’re doing tomorrow.” We may plan our lives, but God manifests His blessings in very unexpected ways, and makes Himself known in our lives in very visible ways at certain times!