PROF. KAZIMIERZ KŁÓSAK – CO-FOUNDER AND SECOND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE SPCh

• The co-founder (together with Rev. Prof. Józef Iwanicki) and second editor-in-chief of the SPCh in the years 1973-1977 was Rev. Prof. Kazimierz Kłósak (1911-1982). He was born into a working class family in Skwarzawa Stara near Zhovkva (then a village in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria within the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire; now a village in Ukraine, in the Zhovkva district of the Lviv Oblast) in 1911. At the age of eighteen, he began studying philosophy and theology at the Faculty of Theology of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. After graduating, he went to Rome to continue his studies at the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas (the ‘Angelicum’). During this time, he was a lecturer there, including for Father Józef Maria Bocheński. However, the style of philosophising that was preferred in Rome did not meet the intellectual needs of the young Kłósak. At the Angelicum, neo-Thomistic philosophy was practised in a conservative manner. The emphasis was on the faithful interpretation of the classics rather than on a creative dialogue with contemporary trends in science and philosophy. A different version of neo-Thomism was presented by scholars at the Belgian Catholic University in Louvain, where Kłósak moved and continued his studies. Kazimierz Kłósak returned to Poland in the year World War II broke out. In October 1939, he started working as a curate in the parish of St. Joseph in Krakow-Podgórze. The parish priest wrote about Kłósak that he "studied days and nights, which had a disastrous effect on his health". In 1940, he became a prefect and lecturer at the Krakow Theological Seminary. For a time, he also served as the rector. His students included Karol Wojtyła, Tadeusz Wojciechowski and Józef Tischner. He lectured at three universities: the Academy of Catholic Theology in Warsaw, the Catholic University of Lublin and the Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Krakow. In the 1950s, he was a member of the Committee of Intellectuals and Catholic Activists organised by Bolesław Piasecki, although at the same time he was known for his polemics with the concepts of dialectical materialism. He analysed various directions of this philosophy and its attitude towards natural sciences, especially physics and biology. He pointed out the implications of the dialectic laws and materialistic monism in cosmology, e.g. regarding the question of the eternity of the universe. He wrote over 130 scientific papers. Kazimierz Kłósak was a man of many anecdotes. His numerous publications were characterised by extensive footnotes, in which he included additional bibliographical references and side notes, enriching the main text with additional content. In addition to his great diligence and ascetic lifestyle, he also impressed with his steadfastness in his relations with the authorities of the People's Republic of Poland. During the period of the struggle against the Church, the Polish authorities wanted to award him the Gold Medal of Merit. However, Kłósak did not accept the award. "He said that at a time when the Catholic Church was being persecuted in Poland, he could not accept any medal. As he told me, after he had returned it, every step he took down the corridor could have been a step taken by Security Service officers" - the philosopher's brother recalled years later. In a telegram sent after the philosopher's death, Pope John Paul II wrote: ‘The passing of the late Professor Kazimierz Kłósak, faithful servant of God and outstanding scholar, is a great loss for Poland and for the Krakow scientific community in particular’. He published six texts in SPCh.

• See more: A. Lemańska, A. Olszewski, A. Świeżyński, K. Trombik, Kazimierz Kłósak (Polska Filozofia Chrześcijańska XX wieku, tom 4), Wydawnictwo Naukowe Akademii Ignatianum w Krakowie, Kraków 2020.