Young priests in Poland have been plagiarizing sermons from the internet

28,000 Roman Catholic priests in Poland were told that if they were caught plagiarizing their sermons from the internet they would be fined and could even go to prison. It’s not the word of God they are spreading, but the words of others, and apparently the Roman Catholic church believes in intellectual property and copyright as much as the next religious group. This kind of “pastoral plagiarism” even spurred the creation of a church sanctioned “self-help book on writing sermons,” akin to a “How not to plagiarize from Wikipedia” book given to a high schooler.

Apparently it’s not just college students and high schoolers resulting to plagiarisms out of sheer panic and procrastination:

The main culprits are said not to be older priests, who often do not have access to the internet, but their more youthful counterparts.

Young priests turn to the web when they are less than proficient at public speaking, and particularly on a Saturday night when they are panicking about having nothing to say at mass the following morning, said Przyczyna.

In order to stop the “pastoral plagiarism” the church is planning on carrying out systematic checks and relying on parishioners themselves to compare online texts with the sermons of priests in Poland. These parishioners have earned the nickname “sermon snitches,” and are not very appreciated by the young, hip, plagiarisms Polish priest posses.

We wish the church and Wieslaw Przyczyna (co-author of To Plagiarize or not to Plagiarize) the best of luck in converting these sermon sinners to sermon winners!

[The Guardian]

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• Former Polish Prime Minister says internet is for people who watch pornography, not voting
• Cheating at a church blackjack game, that’s low…
• Plagiarizing an honor code? Now that’s just ironic and sad.