At this time, Bishop Jasiński from Łódź, backed by Catholic Action,a set up “An Office Against Religious Minorities.” This agency, in turn, systematically worked its own people into the highest governmental offices. One of their objectives was to confiscate all Watch Tower literature. Despite the risk of being caught, the Witnesses went ahead and published two new brochures. Penalties were imposed by the authorities. But who was behind the action? Rather than secular laws, canonical laws of the Catholic Church were often used to press charges. It would be hard to find better proof that the whole campaign was carried out under the direction of the Catholic hierarchy.

During 1937, Catholic Action was responsible for violence against the Witnesses in 75 instances; in 2 of these, brothers were murdered. Of 263 court cases, 99 ended in acquittal and 71 in sentencing. The rest were postponed. Literature was confiscated in 129 instances, but the brothers fought successfully to have it returned in 99 cases. The 1938 Yearbook report noted: “All the Lord’s people in this land are determined to carry on the witness work regardless of whether it pleases men or not, remembering . . . that ‘we must obey God rather than man.’”