Młodzież szkolna w Polsce wobec niektórych norm etyki katolickiej
The School Youth in Poland Towards Some Norms of Catholic Ethics

Summary/Abstract: The issue of continuity and changeability of morality has always hypnotised sociologists. The morality of the youth embraces a very broad spectre of questions, their variety and specific character. Therefore of necessity we shall limit ourselves to several more important problems. At the same time we shall not put the into a hierarchy according to their degree of importance. In the study we shall analyse some manifestations of moral attitudes among the youth from secondary schools, from four urban milieus (the Ten Commandments as the basis of morality, moral relativism, the relation to marital and family moral norms and the attitudes towards euthanasia). The Department of the Sociology of Religion of the John Paul II Catholic University conducted a research programme in the years 2002-2005. In this period 2005 subjects from the third grades of secondary schools (Radom, Włocławek, Łomz˙a, Ostrów Mazowiecka) were examined. The moral attitudes of the youth towards some norms of Catholic ethics have been presented with the view to the following independent variables: gender, type of school, place of dwelling, material situation of the family, fathers’ education, and the young people’s achievements at school. One could claim with some probability that the secondary school youth becomes more aware of something that is called non-transparent, dispersed, or post-modern morality. The crisis of institutionalised Catholic morality can be barely noticed at the level of the most general moral principles (e.g. the Ten Commandments), but it is quite clear in concrete ethical principles connected with marital and family morality. The actual morality is full of inconsequencies and selectivity, up to the point of full heterodoxy. In particular, the moral message of the Church in relation to many questions connected with marriage and family become more and more of secondary importance in the awareness and activity among young Catholics. In this context, John Paul II’s moral teaching was also accepted selectively in the awareness of the part of the young generation called „JP II Generation”. His moral authority was more accepted as a solemn value than a value of everyday life.

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