Culture and Catholic Engagement with the broader community

I am reading Rocco Buttiglione's interesting and insightful book, Karol Wojtyla:  The Thought of the Man Who Became Paul John Paul II.  I thought I’d share one paragraph that caught my attention this morning.

“After the Communists came to power, [Cardinal} Sapieha realized immediately that culture would be the decisive battleground between them. … From the beginning, the Polish bishops decided not to petition on their own behalf against the regime which violated their ancient rights…  They chose instead to take a position in support of fundamental human and national rights, renouncing any particular reclamation which would have indicated that they made a distinction, not to say a contradistinction, between human rights and religious rights, between the inspiration of the nation and that of the Church.”

It seems to me that their decision was not only a correct one for them (as history seems to have confirmed) but provides powerful insight for our own time.  What do others think?

Michael S.