News Abortion, Faith

Bree A. Dail

POLAND, January 21, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – A Polish lawmaker has invited U.S. Catholic students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky to speak at the Polish Parliament after they were falsely accused by mainstream media over the weekend of mocking Native Americans outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Urge Covington bishop to apologize for condemning pro-life teens. Sign the petition here.

“Dear Covington Catholic students, I’d like to invite You to the Polish Parliament. After watching this video, I Am now standing up for these wrongfully accused young men and all of You!,” wrote Dominik Tarczyński, Conservative member of the Polish Parliament, and newly elected Vice President of the European Conservatives in Council of Europe, in a Jan. 20 Twitter post.


“You are very welcome to come and speak out what You believe in,” he added.

Dear Covington Catholic students, I’d like to invite You to the Polish Parliament After watching this video, I Am now standing up for these wrongfully accused young men and all of You! You are very welcome to come and speak out what You believe in! ����������#StandWithCovington — Dominik Tarczyński (@D_Tarczynski) January 21, 2019

In an exclusive interview with LifeSiteNews, Tarczyński said that it is “very important at this moment” for the Catholic boys to be “brave” in the face of the false and slanderous reports that have been thrown at them.

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"Dear American Friends—dear students—be brave as your President has been brave. Bravery is very important at this moment in time, for America and for the world. We need you. Be brave!” he said in an interview this morning.

At the January 19 March for Life in Washington, D.C., the group of high school students from Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Kentucky, was filmed in what looked like a face to face altercation with a Native American protestor. Left-leaning media went into high gear, portraying the event as racist.

Video evidence that surfaced later, however, shows that it was Native American Nathan Phillip who first approached the group and attempted to provoke the young people to react.

It turns out that Nick Sandmann, the young man at the center of the controversy, was actually attempting to “defuse the situation” by his stance in front of the Native American man.

The Polish lawmaker accused U.S. mainstream media if “manipulation of the facts.”

“This is about honest reporting of basic facts. In my opinion—considering the whole situation—there are some members of the American Media that are engaged with full manipulation of the facts. These students were harassed—they did nothing wrong—and yet, even now, so many are targeting them and blaming them,” Tarczyński told LifeSiteNews.

“It’s absolutely uncalled for, and unfair. This is why I thought it would be a good thing to have representation from the school, at the Polish Parliament, to have them as witnesses to this debate, fairly,” he continued.

“To have a conference, and to witness to our experiences as Catholics thrown into the public sphere—about the role of Catholic Youth in public and political discourse throughout the world. To spark the conversation about the role of Catholic Politicians—how we can cooperate, how we can support one another. Frankly, I did this as an act of solidarity, of support—these young people need support, and their voices, unhindered,” he added.

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Full LifeSiteNews interview with Dominik Tarczyński

LifeSiteNews (LSN): Mr. Tarczyński, for our readers who may not be familiar with you, could you give us a synopsis of your political background?


Dominik Tarczyński (DT): I am a member of the Polish Parliament—the Polish “Congress”—and a member of (the political party), “Law and Justice”. This party was formed in 2001, it’s a Conservative party—a pro-life party—and has been unjustly targeted by, obviously, the left-wing media as “nationalist” as a way to malign or describe us. We are just European Conservatives, you understand. I, myself, am the Vice President of European Conservatives in the Council of Europe—which is an International Organization of 46 Countries—I was actually elected this morning.

LSN: Congratulations, sir—so, with this election, then, you make this announcement that you would like to invite the Covington Catholic students, who’ve been really harassed in the last 48 hours since the March For Life. Tell me what drove you to making such a public statement?

DT: Well, first of all, my personal experience—with the media, with this spiritual warfare we are facing, around the world. I’m a Catholic, myself. So when I saw these videos, I found myself witnessing just terrible, terrible harassment and I felt they needed support. They need support now. You see this example isn’t only isolated to America. It isn’t just “American Catholics”. It’s not even about Poland. This is about honest reporting of basic facts.

In my opinion—considering the whole situation—there are some members of the American Media that are engaged with full manipulation of the facts. These students were harassed—they did nothing wrong—and yet, even now, so many are targeting them and blaming them. It’s absolutely uncalled for, and unfair.

This is why I thought it would be a good thing to have representation from the school, at the Polish Parliament, to have them as witnesses to this debate, fairly. To have a conference, and to witness to our experiences as Catholics thrown into the public sphere—about the role of Catholic Youth in public and political discourse throughout the world. To spark the conversation about the role of Catholic Politicians—how we can cooperate, how we can support one another.

Frankly, I did this as an act of solidarity, of support—these young people need support, and their voices, unhindered.

LSN: You speak about being a Catholic politician and Conservative in Europe—can you expand on this “spiritual warfare” you’re witnessing, as a Catholic in the public sphere?

DT: Speaking for myself, I see myself as a Catholic Politician. I’m the same person in the Parliament, and in the Church. I cannot separate who I am at work with who I am and what I believe in the Church. So, for me—to be a Catholic—it’s a 24-Hour thing, not just one-hour a week on Sundays. What the Left is trying to do—especially in Europe— is to force us to separate Faith from the State, to separate your actions at work from your beliefs. No. I don’t think so. This is my faith, this is what I believe—this is why I was elected. During the campaign, I told people who I was, and why I was asking for their vote—and they are expecting me to behave as I promised I would. To be authentic and transparent, and unafraid. Like these students were.

You see, the main course of this debate—this emphasis of separation of Church and State in a very personal way—it’s just another form of attack against the Faith, now. Those pushing this narrative cannot use a logical argument, so they try to push us aside and delegitimize our voices. They try to restrict even our rights—“you shouldn’t demonstrate your Faith; stop mixing your politics with your Religion”—no, I should. This is my conscience, and my duty as a Catholic. We both of us live in democratic countries—anyone may be elected, it doesn’t matter what you believe in, Muslim, Jew—I was elected as a Catholic and I will vote and act as a Catholic.

LSN: With Poland being solidly founded in Catholic culture, however—witnessing what has occurred in Europe, seeing the results of the spread of secularism—do you believe yourself fighting a loosing battle? Did you see yourself in these Covington Catholic students, perhaps—fighting overwhelmingly loud voices in opposition?

DT: Yes! We have a huge fight on our hands now, in Europe, for our Christian identity. Every time we have this debate in the European Parliament—when politicians try to tell us about “European values”, I ask them—what is the basis of these values? European values are essentially Christian values—Christian culture built on Roman law and the Greek philosophers—these are the values from which all European nations are based. This idea of “openness”, “diversity” and all this humanistic, secularist rhetoric—when you simply look at the history of our continent, the history of Europe it was logically based—built on Christian Faith and a culture derived from that Faith. It is easily, and historically provable that this is a Christian continent.

So when this madness of illegal immigration was started—mainly from Germany, but not only from Germany—these defining “values” were changed. The result, what we are facing now, is a fight for our very identity—for our future, for who we are. It’s not been easy, most of the politicians in Europe, at the moment, are left-wing politicians. We are having, however, elections for the European Parliament in May, this year—and I strongly believe that the fate of the European Parliament will be changed, and Europe will be saved. I truly believe that Poland will be essential to the restoration of Europe, and Poland will (once more) defend Europe.

LSN: What is the message you wish to send to the students at Covington Catholic, and to our readership?

DT: Dear American Friends—dear students—be brave as your President has been brave. Donald Trump is a very brave man—this is what I think, this is what I believe. Be brave, then, as he is brave. Courage is very important at this moment in time, for America and for the world. We need President Donald Trump’s continued leadership in it and we need you in the same way. Be brave!