Opór społeczny a kościół. Spojrzenie z perspektywy pewnego miasta średniej wielkości
Social Resistance and the Church. A view from the Perspective of a Medium-sized City

Summary/Abstract: In any reflections on the opposition or social resistance during the PRL period, one cannot overlook the part played by the Roman Catholic clergy. That role can be considered through the lens of the clergy’s engagement in specific opposition activities, or more broadly, by analysing the contribution made by priests in showing Poles an alternative axiology to that proposed by the communists. Yet it would be incorrect to locate the Church somewhere in the dichotomy between the authorities and the opposition, since, both in the 1980s and earlier, the Church was more like one arm of a triangle (the other two being the authorities and the changing opposition circles), and strove to attain its own goals. It is worth noting that individual clergymen had different ideas as to the best way of achieving those goals. Some took a critical view of all activities that went beyond what was purely religious; others became involved in the debate over the socio-political order of the time. Still others, without engaging personally, permitted the parishes they were in charge of to be used by people from opposition circles for legal forms of pastoral care (for example pilgrimages, masses, children’s and youth ministries) whose content had de facto anti-system undertones. The article discusses the third of the above approaches using the examples of two parishes in Konin. These were among the pastoral centres functioning in mid-sized towns, which have received less attention in the post-war history of Poland than centres in large cities.

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