Published: 2022-12-31

Priestly vocation, hierarchical priesthood and priest in the light of sociological concepts and in the perception of adult Polish Catholics. Based on the results of sociological research in the years 1986–1987 in Kalisz, Kotłów and Przedborów

Józef Baniak
Academic Journal of Sociology
Section: Articles
https://doi.org/10.21697/ucs.2022.30.2.04

Abstract

This article consists of two parts – theoretical and empirical. In the theoretical part, I present various sociological concepts of priestly vocation, hierarchical priesthood and the profession of a Catholic priest, highlighting the concepts of Edward Ciupak and Joachim Wach. In the empirical part, I present priestly vocation, hierarchical priesthood and priests in the images and assessment of adult Polish Catholics in Kalisz, Kotłów and Przedborów whom I surveyed in the 1980’s. Here I consider the following issues: the essence of priestly vocation; the hierarchical structure of priesthood and the circumstances that define the religious character of hierarchical priesthood. In other words, I answer the question of how adult Catholics in Kalisz, Kotłów and Przedborów explain the essence of priestly vocation and its role in the choice of the priesthood by a man and his persistence in priesthood. How did the surveyed Catholic adults, in town and country, view the hierarchical structure of priesthood? How did they explain the question of the durability of the priesthood exercised by a priest – is a priest a priest in every situation and circumstance (always and everywhere), or is he a priest only in certain circumstances of priestly life? The results of sociological research constitute the basis for the analysis of the attitudes of adult Polish Catholics towards priestly vocation and hierarchical priesthood at that time.

Keywords:

sociological concepts of priestly vocation and priesthood, essence of priestly vocation, structure of hierarchical priesthood, adult Catholics

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Citation rules

Baniak, J. (2022). Priestly vocation, hierarchical priesthood and priest in the light of sociological concepts and in the perception of adult Polish Catholics. Based on the results of sociological research in the years 1986–1987 in Kalisz, Kotłów and Przedborów. Academic Journal of Sociology, 30(2), 35–52. https://doi.org/10.21697/ucs.2022.30.2.04

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