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The author describes the collection of coffin portraits from the church in Skrzatusz. The presentedobjects date from XVII century and they are the largest collection of coffin portraits inthe northern Greater Poland.
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Shrines both in the tradition and in the modernity of the Church have been a special placeof preaching the Word of God. The Code of Canon Law sanctioning the Vatican Council IIwith regard to organize the teaching of the Church, in one of the paragraphs reminds thatespecially such places should provide the faithful with abundant means of salvation throughzealous preaching the Word of God, a respective revival of liturgical life and the cultivationof approved folk forms of piety. Moreover, the Vatican Council II brought forth the spirit ofrenewal of charismas of religious orders. The article attempts to analyse how these guidelineswere implemented at the Marian shrine in Skrzatusz in the 80s where the Salesians run thepastoral ministry. At that time they both took care to increase the quality of spiritual ministryof preaching the Word of God and promote, in accordance with their charism, the cult of theBlessed Virgin Mary Help of Christians and St. John Bosco.
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The manuscripts of the seven sermons (in German called Schütterlin) in the Archives of theDiocese of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg come from the nineteenth century. The manuscripts come fromthe archives of the parish and the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Skrzatusz then located withinthe Archdiocese of Poznań. The article is an attempt to decrypt and to translate into Polish thetext of the shortest manuscript. It is a catechetical sermon on a prayer for the fifth Sundayafter Easter (Dominica Quinta post Pascha) when the gospel reading was taken from the John16. The content of the sermon is composed of two parts. The first part contains meditation onprayer “in my name” John 16 and the second part explains in a similar style the verses of OurFather. The manuscript of an unknown author is a testament to the catechetical preaching inthe nineteenth century.
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One of the many topics that have found their place in the teaching of Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko was the truth about freedom and human dignity. Żoliborz preacher of his life, and in every sermon preached during the Mass. for the Homeland in the church Stanislaus Kostka in Warsaw's Żoliborz, courageously stood in defense of fundamental values that shape society and man. The issue of freedom he effected a distinction between freedom: inside and outside. Despite the many socio-political changes in Poland and Europe in many regions of the world. Especially when changes leading to democracy and economic liberalism, human freedom is sometimes treated lightly. Freedom „external and internal” so much at stake in times of ministry of Fr. Popieluszko, is again in danger of enslavement „interior” of man through various ideologies and trends. „Martyr of communism” very often emphasized that the freedom given to man is not itself a goal, but a means to an end, and this goal is good, namely, love. What regulates the correct procedure in freedom and using it, the Decalogue, and guided by the law of God's love. He expressed Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko in his preaching. Life Christian truth, he put a sensible use of the gift of freedom.
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The basis for theological reflection about freedom is the truth about creation of man in the image and likeness of God who is absolutely free. Here is the source of human’syearning for freedom, pursued through endless tension between good and evil. Abstractingin the definition of freedom from the religious foundation inevitably leads to replacing the truth about freedom with the ideology of freedom, the example of which may be modern and contemporary liberal world views, converting themselves into totalitarian social and political systems. Though just in itself, the mere desire for freedom leads humans to nothingness and enslaves them, if it takes the form of lawlessness and Promethean struggle with God. Christianity shows that freedom is not a human prey, but a gift of God, grounded in ontology; the man is free because he was created and saved — he is a son in the Son. Christ is a new Prometheus, who “cast fire on the earth,” in the gift of the Holy Spirit — the Spirit of freedom. What constitutes the way to man’s freedom is not autonomy, but grace, leading to love.
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This article is dedicated to the Christian understanding of freedom, its kinds and how does a present-day Orthodox Christian use freedom in his/her life. The first kind of freedom pertains to metaphysical dimension. Here we talk about the free will of a human as an image of God, the freedom which is characterized by the presence of a very limited inner choice between the good and the evil. This freedom from the Christian point of view is the person’s quality, the losing of which can lead to the complete degradation of a human. There is also a different understanding of freedom. It is connected with a possibility of an individual’s actualization in a society, in the social conditions, in a nowadays environment. Here we talk about the freedom of human deeds. One may call it the outer freedom. If we speak of more concrete facet of human life, the social dimension thereof, then it translates into the human rights — the human’s freedom. But this outside freedom is not only restricted to human rights. Every country guarantees its own rights, but the external freedom is more complicated — it represents the human attitude to nature. So the outer freedom is a very broad concept. Christianity points to the third kind of freedom, the most important one from the Christian point of view. This is the spiritual freedom. This third category means the human’s superiority to his/her desires, in other words, the rule of mind’s priority over the heart. In Christianity this ascendancy has a special content because here we first of all talk about the root of all addictions, which is pride.
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The conditions in which a family comes to work can be conducive to its functioning or to its challenges. This family experience is common in space as well as in time. Challenges, however, are different in different epochs.In the past centuries, all dimensions of life formed a coherent system, and the institutions supported each other in the service of man and family. Over time this situation began to change. Among the many challenges the modern Polish family experiences are both ideological and socio-economic.In this paper, from the many challenges facing the modern Polish family, the following dilemmas will be analyzed: anti-family ideology of the radical feminism and postmodern doctrine, postmodern crisis of values and family dilemmas of emigration.
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In the article, I am focusing on the ecumenical dimension of marriage between Catholics and Orthodox Christians. In the course of history, the attitude toward mixed marriages both in the first and in the latter Church tradition has evolved to a considerable degree – from absolutely forbidding this kind of relationships to their limited acceptance and perceiving their ecumenical function. As a result, both these elements can be found side by side in the latest Church documents and in the texts of the Catholic-Orthodox ecumenical dialogue. This points to a specific identity of mixed marriages. The process of evolution of the respective stands on a Catholic-Orthodox marriage and the differences in emphasizing either aspect of the complex reality has been closely related to the Churches’ stands on the ecclesial character of other Christian denominations and on the validity of their sacraments.
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Death has been one of the major themes of philosophy since the ancient times. The article attempts to analyze last works of Boethius Consolatio philosophiae with particular reference to this subject. It is divided into two parts in which the author tries to present Boethius predecessors’ point of view such as Plato, Plotinus, St. Augustine and Proclus. Consequently, the second part of the fragments’ enquiry related to death finds its depth and clarity.
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One of the basic functions of the Catholic Church parish community is creating the space for communing with God in common prayer, the holy sacraments and the Word of God, creating the environment shaping the faith and enabling the experience of faith. This multidimensional task, being part of the parish community work, is implemented, among others, through scheduled and systematic catechetical service, especially when it comes to preparing for the reception of the holy sacraments. Considering the pluralism of contemporary youths’ religious experience and the need for the most effective catechetical impact, especially during the time of preparation for the sacrament of confirmation, what is currently being suggested is the involvement of a larger group of people, both the clergy and the laity, who could enforce the catechetical message with their testimony of the life of faith. This elaboration will show the role of lay animators in the time of preparation of candidates for the sacrament of confirmation, relevant elements of the animators’ formation and forms of service. Responsible cooperation led in the spirit of dialogue and generosity may bring fruit in the future adult life of the catechized.
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The analysis of contemporary practical preparation for the sacrament of confirmation in Poland and Germany allows us not only to diagnose its present situation in both countries but also to discover the challanges which are to be faced. Considering the hardships of the present pastoral work connected with the sacrament of confirmation, the appropriate theology needs to be clearly specified in order to define the objectives of the religious education for confirmation. It seems more accurate to talk about “the way” to confirmation, meaning the process in which a young man is accompanied not only before but also after receiving the sacrament. The main challenge for the present practice of preparation for the sacrament of confirmation is its operating on two dimensions. The first is the divergence of expactations of the church community (the parish) together with the expectations of the youth, the other is the heterogeneity of the group involved in the process of preparation for the confirmation. The answer to those should be the optimization of the proportions between the uniform and diversified preparation for the sacrament, applying appropriate discourse together with the right choice of people who accompany the young at this stage of their lives. All these actions should be taken not only to prepare young people for receiving the sacrament but also to move their inner side. It is indispensible to emphasize the element of evangelism in “the way of confirmation” as well as benefiting from the rules developed by the practice of catechumenate.
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The Church was called by Jesus Christ to be a community of love for every human being. That community draws love from life of Jesus Christ: He actualizes His presence when people try to love others. In that context the author of publication tries to focus on rights of mentally disabled people: they need the sacramental gifts as well as every Christian. And the sacrament of confirmation is also deeply important. This is the last of sacraments of initiation. For the mentally (even in deepest degree) disabled people that fact means an experience of love in others and community. The author claims that such people are very special gift for the community which is responsible for the fragile aspect of human life.
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