While I am on the subject of the Tatras and Goralskie culture I wanted to make mention of one of the pre-eminent Polish priest-philosophers of Goralskie heritage, Fr. Józef Tischner (1931-2000)
Father Józef Tischner was born on March 12, 1931 in Stary Sacz in the Tatra Mountains in Southern Poland.
One of Poland’s foremost priest-philosophers, Father Tischner maintained his close connection with the Goralskie (Highlander’s) culture and its dialect. The mountain culture had a tremendous impact on his philosophy and style.
Górale (Highlanders) are considered as a romantic, rural, freedom loving people by Poles and in Polonia and Father Tischner made a point of stressing his heritage and cultural affinity as a Góral.
In 1997 he published a short book with a tape-recorded transcript in which he relates the history of philosophy in the Highlanders’ dialect, Historia filozofii po góralsku. He especially stressed his love and connection to the land, and in particular, the Tatra mountains. Jan Andrzej Kloczowski OP commented: —… because he felt the land, he believed his responsibility was to be vigilant towards the thinking of those who walked and lived on that land.—
In 1981 Father Tischner was elected chaplain of the Solidarity movement. As a resident of Krakow, Father Tichner held a particular duty of care toward the steelworkers in the suburb of Nowa Huta, site of the ‘Lenin’ Steelworks and the home of the Ark church built by Krakow’s Roman Catholic Bishop, Karol Wojtla, in definance of the communist authorities.
Of solidarity Father Tischner wrote:
“This old but also very new word, solidarity, what does it mean? To what does it call us? What memories does it bring back? To explicate it more precisely, perhaps it is necessary to reach back into the Gospel and seek the origin of the word there. Christ explains its meaning: —Carry one another’s burden and in this way fulfill God’s law— (cf. Gal. 6:2).
What does it mean to be in solidarity? It means to carry the burden of another person… Solidarity has still another facet; solidarity does not need to be imposed from the outside by force… And one more thing – solidarity, the one that is borne from the pages and spirit of the Gospel, does not need an enemy or opponent to strengthen itself and grow. It turns towards all and not against anyone.” (Józef Tischner, The Spirit of Solidarity, trans. Marek B. Zaleski and Benjamin Fiore, S.J. (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1984) 2-3.)
Father Tischner echos the thoughts of the PNCC’s first Bishop, Francis Hodur in regard to the need to be regenerated, to make a free choice for God in our lives. He wrote:
“The freedom of God in relation to creation and the freedom of the human being towards God is the basic principle for understanding the history of salvation. In this history nothing ‘must be.’ It is rather the case that ‘everything can be.’ (Józef Tischner, Ksiadz na manowcach (Kraków: Znak, 1999) 74 -75.)
A tip of the biretta to Father Ben Fiore, S.J., a long time friend from my Buffalo days. We taught together in Poland as part of the Pomost International program. I first came across mention of Father Tischner while teaching in Rzeszow, Poland. One of Fr. Fiore’s  student’s noted that her husband was a translator for Fr. Tischner.
