Published: 2017-12-14

An Attempt to Present a Current Situation of the Catholic Church in Poland

Wiesław Śmigiel
Warszawskie Studia Pastoralne
Section: Artykuły
https://doi.org/10.21697/wsp.2017.12.2.35.02

Abstract

The situation of the Catholic Church in Poland is in influenced by numerous factors and conditions. Modern dynamics of the Church in Poland has its historical and socio-political determinants. in the past the Church served as a defender and protector of the nation. Nowadays, in Poland there exist two negative trends; the first one associated with the communist past and the other which results from consumerism and liberal lifestyle. However, a growing activisation of the society might be perceived as a positive factor. Sociological research based on self-declarations and the research on dominicantes and communicantes indicate a stable situation although more individualized and less institutionalized religiosity where Sunday participation in the Holy Mass is not obligatory and the canon of Catholic faith and moral principles are only partially received might be observed. ere is a slight but systematic decrease in priestly and monastic vocations. a positive phenomenon is a slight increase in the so-called participantes (8%) who constitute a core of church communities. Their activity, if rightly directed, might contribute to the transformation of parishes from the institutions of religious services into a postulated community of communities. However, the weakness of the Church in Poland is pastoral immobilism which focuses on maintaining the existing status quo of pastoral ministry (cf. EG 33). 

Keywords:

pastoral determinants, evangelization, pastoral ministry, religiosity, priestly and monastic vocations, pastoral conversions, the Catholic Church

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Śmigiel, W. (2017). An Attempt to Present a Current Situation of the Catholic Church in Poland. Warszawskie Studia Pastoralne, 2(35), 9–23. https://doi.org/10.21697/wsp.2017.12.2.35.02

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