Abstract

The Polish National Catholic Church, commonly known as the National Church (,,Kościół narodowy"), was founded in the USA at the end of the nineteenth century and transplanted into Poland when the country regained its independence. There still are many problems to be explained regarding the Church's doctrine and interna! organization, and there still is a need for new light to be cast on some facts of its extremely stormy bistory. The article is based on written evidence: correspondence between members of the Church, its. official publications and its documents preserved in state archives. The author describes the structure of the Church and the circumstances of its development in Poland, characterizes the spiritual profile of its propagators and discusses the rivalries that led to continual fluctuations in its cadre and to frequent splits~ The most important split, brought about by bishop Władysław Faron, occurred in 1931. The division within the Polish National Catholic Church in Poland did not merely stem its growth but in effect greatly diminished its congregation. The author's view is that, contrary to current opinion, the split was not due to the whim of one individual, but was a consequence of many unresolved problems within the Church, and above all of its faulty organization and ideology. Confronted with the reality, the Church's grandiloquent declarations of its own freedom and democracy did not stand the test of time. Administration with the help of the dollar sums sent by the founder of the Church, bishop Franciszek Hodur, and bishop Hodur's own excessive authoritarianism led to frictions and controversies. The Polish government refused to recognize the Church, on the ground& of low morale of the clergy and the Church's alliance with the parties of the left. The lack of !egal recognition and the nonexistence of ideological bonds, among the clergy lay at the basis of the enormous difficulties that the National Church encountered in its work in Poland.