The Oasis or Light-Life movement, whose aim was to produce mature Christians genuinely living in the spirit of the Gospel, was a sign of the vitality of the Church. It totally contradicted the official model of a Church “confined within the four walls of the sacristy” and the atheist authorities could not tolerate it. Over the years, various attempts were made to infiltrate the movement, to restrict its activities and even to destroy it totally. In the sixties, when the movement was still small in size and influence, petty harassment such as interrogation, blackmail and refusal to permit travel abroad (even to other communist-bloc countries), was directed only at the most active members. In the seventies, when the movement had grown to number thousands, systematic repression began, although by that time Oasis was under the protection of the Polish hierarchy, being described officially as “a part of the church’s pastoral mission”, and a special agreement on Oasis retreats had been signed by the Church and State authorities. The Oasis movement had also developed a special relationship with the bishop of Krakow, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, who since 1970 had regularly participated in the summer retreats; the last took place on 3 July 1978, a few days before the Cardinal’s departure for Rome, for the conclave during which he was elected Pope. Cardinal Wojtyfa promoted the Oasis movement not only within the Episcopate (in December 1976 he organised the official presentation of the movement before the Episcopal Commission for the Lay Aposto- late, of which he was the head) but also among the diocesan believers.
Despite such protection, harassment of Fr
Blachnicki and his close associates increased. The Oasis house in Kroscienko
was heavily taxed, and attempts were made to install bugging devices in it, as
well as a compulsory “lodger”. Oasis activists were continuously held for
questioning without an arrest warrant. In the severe winter of 1977 Fr
Blachnicki was suddenly forbidden to buy any coal for the house in Kroscienko.
The main efforts of the authorities, however, were concentrated upon hampering
Oasis retreats. Administrative pressure, aimed both at the participants and the
people giving them accommodation, increased steadily, reaching its height in
the summer of 1977. By a special decree, the head of the local administration
in Nowy S§cz, where two-thirds of retreats took place, formed a “unit for the
liquidation of Oasis retreats”. The unit was to treat Oasis retreats as
“illegal camps”, usually on the ground of breaking sanitary regulations. This
unit, its actions enforced by members of the security forces, harassed Oasis
members and local peasants, threatening them with heavy fines. In a number of
cases the fines were actually imposed. The Polish Episcopate reacted sharply
and sent a letter of protest to the Ministry for Religious Affairs. In the
parishes where the retreats were held, letters from local bishops were read out
assuring the peasants of the Church’s financial assistance whenever necessary
and encouraging them to continue taking in Oasis lodgers. Since 1978 direct
harassment of Oasis retreats such as an unexplained fire which broke out during
the 1979 retreat in Stasinowka has continued. The state authorities have
pursued a policy intended to discredit the movement in the eyes of the Polish
Episcopate and cut it off from Pope John Paul n. Anonymous memoranda and appeals alleging “serious
doctrinal deviations” in the movement have been circulating among the Polish
hierarchy and clergy. People posing as Oasis members have also appeared; they
are openly critical of the Polish hierarchy and of all traditional methods of
pastoral work, “popular religiosity” in particular. During the Pope’s visit to
Poland in June 1979 everything was done to prevent a mass meeting between the
Pope and the Oasis movement, and even a token meeting with 3,000 Oasis members
during the Pontifical mass in Nowy Targ took place with difficulty. Since 1979,
when the first Oasis retreats “Ecclesia mater — Mater ecclesia” took place in
Rome at the invitation of John Paul II, many Oasis members have been refused
passports to travel to Rome.
During its struggle for survival
in the 1970s, the Oasis movement worked out a new theology of liberation. Its
essence lies in the free acceptance of truth and faithful witness to it in
personal life. In order to gain liberation through the truth people must
overcome fear. Fear can be totally overcome only through faith in Christ and
the Cross — a symbol of acceptance of suffering and sacrifice, even of one’s
life, in defence of the truth. This theology of liberation was first outlined
in 1979 in the programme of the “Crusade for the liberation of man” — in origin
a campaign against alcoholism—buf was developed fully over the next two years.
It was influenced both by the political situation in Poland and the teaching of
Pope John Paul II, especially his two Encyclicals Redemptor
Hominis and Dives
in Misericordia, which emphasise the liberation of man through truth in Christ. In March
1980, at the national congress for the leaders of the Oasis movement, 460
delegates issued a declaration on the movement’s involvement in combatting the
nation’s problems. It rejected any “escapist tendencies” — temptations to
withdraw from an unpalatable life into “elitist” communities, or a kind of
spiritual oasis, which would offer comradeship and friendship based on the
Gospel instead of grappling with the real problems of the day. The document
stressed that true Christians must participate fully in the Church and the
community, serving as a source of regeneration and joining in the efforts of
other opposition groups engaged in the struggle for truth and justice. The
following year this programme of liberation through truth and love was readopted
by the sixth national congress and the Oasis movement officially declared
itself part of a worldwide “non-violent” movement, which would undertake a
campaign to liberate people from any form of enslavement in the manner revealed
by Christ in his Gospel. Since the enslavement of man in a totalitarian state
is based on manipulation by means of fear and the lies of official propaganda,
the theology of liberation through truth and love has acquired a clearly
political dimension. .Threats have been made that unless the Oasis movement
restricts itself to religious activities its future existence will be put in
jeopardy.
Since the 1980 Declaration the
movement has become an especial object of interest for the Ministry of
Religious Affairs. Special memoranda on the movement sent to the Polish
hierarchy accused the Light-Life movement of taking part in political
activities and allying itself with the political opposition. The movement
chose, however, to follow its principles, obeying only the demands of the
Gospel and uninfluenced by any diplomatic considerations. In 1981 it decided
to promote its concept of liberation among members of the unofficial trade
union Solidarity through retreats and literature.
In November 1981 a full programme
for the “Independent Christian Service — Truth and Liberation” was formulated
by the leaders of the Light-Life movement and presented to a group of
Solidarity activists in Lublin. The programme was later presented to Solidarity
members in other towns: Krakow, Wroclaw, Poznan, Gdansk and Warsaw. Fifteen
hundred copies of the bulletin, “Truth and Liberation” were distributed. In
addition, on 28 November 1981, during the sit-in strike at the Catholic
University of Lublin, the first committee of the “Independent Christian Service
— Truth and Liberation” was created. Since the imposition of martial law in
December 1981 the Oasis Movement’s founder, Fr Blachnicki, has been living in
the West, where he has created the “Christian Service to Aid Poland — Truth and
Liberation”.
Despite martial law, the Oasis movement in
Poland has not ceased to promote its programme of liberation, believing that it
represents the only possible way of working for true freedom in Poland.
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