• Poland
    1994 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses

    • The previous year Franciszek Puchała had returned from America and privately published a leaflet containing a list of 13 church doctrines. He offered 10,000 Polish marks to anyone for each doctrine that the person could prove to be based on the Holy Scriptures. Included were immortality of the human soul, hellfire, purgatory, sacrifice of the Mass, celibacy of the clergy, confession to priests, use of the rosary, and so forth. “It was like poking a stick into an anthill,” Brother Puchała later wrote.

      The clergy, speaking through Catholic papers, demanded a public renunciation of the leaflet. Otherwise, they declared, they would prosecute Franciszek Puchała for slandering the church. Not to be intimidated, he called for a public discussion.

      After consulting the Roman Curia, the clergy agreed to a discussion, but only behind closed doors, ‘because of the sacred nature of the things involved,’ as they put it. Brother Puchała agreed. So sure were the clergy that they would win that they arranged to have present a lawyer who was to launch legal action against the brothers as soon as they were defeated. Arrogantly the church newspaper declared: “We will see who is right​—the centuries-old Roman Catholic Church or this pitiful handful of misled creatures who are incapable of even correctly reading the Holy Scriptures.”

      The well-known Jesuit theologian Jan Rostworowski led the Catholic delegation, accompanied by two other priests. The Bible Students were represented by Franciszek Puchała and two other brothers. Stenographers, as well as several persons to serve as witnesses, were also present. The Jesuits came equipped with two large suitcases full of books. The brothers had only their Bibles and Greek and Hebrew dictionaries.

      The clergymen asked that point 13 on the leaflet (immortality of the soul) be considered first. After two hours or so, the theologians excused themselves, saying they had no more time, and left. Although never publicly conceding defeat, they did confess in a newspaper article: “We must admit that the Bible Students . . . are not totally ignorant.”

      The entire discussion was published in a booklet entitled Bitwa na niebie (The Battle in the Heavens), which had an initial circulation of 10,000 copies and was reprinted a number of times. The traditionally religious community of Kraków along with the surrounding area was forced to sit up and take notice. The result? By 1923, there were 69 persons present for the Memorial celebration in Kraków.

      The clergy, of course, never forgave Brother Puchała for publicly undermining the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. They tried everything possible to make his life difficult. A policeman was sent to take notes at meetings held in his home, and he was later hauled into court several times. More than once hired killers threatened his life, but Jehovah protected him.

      During a sermon in the village of Wawrzeńczyce, a priest incited the people to attack Brother Puchała with wooden clubs when he came to give a discourse. A group of overly zealous women were anxious to do the priest’s bidding. They lay in wait for Brother Puchała from early morning until late afternoon. When he arrived, he addressed them calmly, saying: “The one among you without sin should strike me with her club first.” Eventually the women withdrew. Upon returning home, however, they were struck by their husbands with the very clubs they had taken to use on Brother Puchała. Why? Because the husbands were upset at having been forced to wait so long for dinner!