Václav Malý

"It was really unconfortable because I sit there with murderers. For example I rememeber one boy who was around twenty and who here [in Prague] in some sort of store in the middle of the city cut some accuntants head off. It was a mother of two and [the murderer] was then executed. I was there with murderer who killed his own mother with five axe hits to her head. That was really heavy. In that small room - I don't know 4x2 meters or something like that - where one had to satisfy even those intimate bodily needs in front of others and that really was not pleasant. I was also affraid. I got along well with all of them, but I was this sort of mental pressure. But it was there where I confirmed for myself that one can't ever know what he can endure but also can really stremghten his endurance. And that was also where I truly strenghten my faith in some ways. Because there wasn't anyone to support me. No co-religionist. Only later I got Bible. And I lived with people whose behaviour was very damnable - if I put it softly. It was there where I learnt to see even the good in other people. And that really helps me even today and that's why I'm very careful with my judgements. When one doesn't see other from the perspective of some bad act, he can discover even a small amount of humanity in them."

"We were not raised up in conditions where our parents pressed their fingers on our mouth, [with] you can't say this. We discussed with our parents totally openlly about how the system was and what was going on. Of course that when I went to school I didn't talk with anybody about what I heard at home. But we were also often visited by people who had just got from jail, so it was clear to me from the beginning in what system we live in. And also that even in system like this, one can keep his spine straight and keep his own face. One doesn't change his way of life according to which system rules. But when he is sure about something, it might cost some hit or sacrifice. That's what I took with myself to further life."

“Nobody talked me into it, it really was my own decision. On the contrary, Ivan Medek and professor Hejdánek, with whom I was later in touch a lot, I was attending his philosophy seminars, they have even tried to talk me out of it, asking me whether I realized that this would cost me my state approval for the pastoral service, and all the consequences. And I was saying: ´Yes, I am aware of it, and even though I remain a priest and I want to remain a priest, I am also a citizen at the same time, and in this sense I have decided to sign it.´”

“It was tough. It’s easy to be wise after the event, but I have not experienced any personal crisis while in detention, on the contrary, it was clear that we had immense support, and that’s what was giving me strength. And the prison, as I have said many times, helped me to realize again what it meant to believe without any external support, because while there, I was not able to celebrate mass, to read the Scripture, or to lean on the faith of some other person. Thus I had to give out the best in me, and live on that somehow. Without adopting some pose of heroism or anything like that, I consider these seven months a great gift in terms of spiritual growth and maturity.”

“I come from a Catholic family, I have never experienced any such crisis, when I would doubt Christianity as a worthy course of life. But naturally, I did ask these questions in some way when I was becoming an adult, in order to base my faith on some more solid foundation. But my decision for priesthood was partly influenced also by the political or social atmosphere, because I could see how in spring 1969 people again began to pretend, how they became afraid and double-faced again. And I said to myself, it can’t be, that a man would be changing his attitudes all the time according to where the majority is heading. And since I had been brought up in faith and since I believed, I reasoned the in following way: ´Yes, I want to be a priest, to encourage people, to tell them that it’s worth it to stand on a firm spiritual foundation.´ And for me, this was the Gospel. This was what I wanted to share with others, and to show them the way at the same time. This was the impulse for my decision to go study theology in 1969, even though originally I had wanted to study something entirely different. But my decision was certainly not motivated by some political revolt. That would be too weak and unworthy motivation, I think.”

“Of course, I was not that sure, and inside, I was hesitant. Eventually, after I had introduced the members of police forces, who came there to apologize, I decided: ´I will risk it.´ And I did not have any illusions, since most of the people gathered there did not even know the words of the Lord’s Prayer, as it was revealed afterwards. Nevertheless, it was very touching to see the people at least opening their mouths. But it was either - or. Meaning it was a total risk, which however turned out successfully. The only thing I am sorry about, and I have to say this, is that to some people – I shall not name them, but they are people from whom I would not have expected this – it seemed too much, and they kept telling this to me afterwards. Today everybody says that it was something special, foreign journalists still talk of it; I am even surprised that they still remember it. But at that time it was a surprise to many. But I was taken aback by objections from people, from whom I would not have expected it. Those forty years of repression must have had some influence even on these people after all, this cautious attitude of theirs. Some of them thought that it was taken too far. I have already explained it many times. I think that it was the very best way, and I don’t regret to have done it at all, to demonstrate that this freedom just fell into our lap, and that above all it is a great gift from God. That it cannot be credited to individuals, or to some movements, but that it is an interplay of many circumstances, and saw God’s guidance in it. This is how I still view it today, without any mystifying or spiritualizing it.”

“At that time, I welcomed the birth of Charter 77 as great liberation, because for me it was an impulse which was giving a clear form to the expression of discontent with the political system in power. As for myself, I obviously had no qualms when preaching, but my politically-loaded sermons were not always based on the gospel, they were also naturally reacting to the atmosphere of that time. Therefore, for me the creation of Charter 77 was a step towards giving this a concrete shape, a way to express my civic responsibility.”