Bulletin N°45

Introduction

Comparing with other states in Europe, Poland characterizes a high number of the Catholic religious priests, brothers and sisters. Globally speaking, according to Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae in the period between the 1970s and 2015 there was a fall in the number of women religious, religious priests, and religious brothers. At the same time, in Poland the number of the religious priests had leveled during the harsh time of the communist regime but there was also a drop of the religious sisters and brothers.

At a global scale, in 1974 there were, over 982,500 women religious and in 2015 almost 32% less (670,000). The number of religious brothers fell by 23.2%. Over the same period, the smallest downturn affected religious priests – 8.7% (from almost 147,000 to 134,000). Focusing on Europe only, the number of women religious dropped by 55% between 1974 and 2015 (from almost 552,000 to almost 248,000), of the religious priests by 26% (from 71,00 to 52,500) and of the religious brothers by 53% (from 34,000 to 16,000). Against this background Poland presents as specific case – in all Western countries expect Portugal there was a drop of the three categories while in Poland the number of the religious priests increased by 72% (from 2,800 to 6,700). However, the number of the women religious and the religious brothers also dropped  by 22% to 20,000, and by 15% to more the 1000 in 2015. The increase of the religious priests also contrasts with Central and Eastern European countries.

In this article  I mainly focus on the historical period of 1945-1989 when Poland was under the communist regime. This situation affected the Catholic Church in Poland, and the religious but may be also understood as one of the factors that contributed to the high ration of vocation in comparison to the European countries. While Western countries undergone accelerated secularization processes, the religious in the Eastern countries, including Poland, had to fight and to adapt to the new harsh conditions. What was specific about Poland is that – comparing to other people’s democracies – the religious communities were not entirely dissolved, even though they “were not spared torments and harassment^[1]Agata Mirek, ”Female religious congregations in Poland in the face of changes from Communism to the transformation period (1945–2000)”, In Stefania Palmisano, Isabelle Jonveaux, Marcin … Continue reading”. In Poland, the concrete opponent – the communist state – consolidated the Church and the religious life. On the other hand, it also created the specific conditions for its development – as one nun told me, discussing with me the reception of the Vatican II in the Polish female congregations: “while they were discussing which habits to wear we were opposing communism”^[2]Of course, the Second Vatican had impacted the religious life in Poland in many respects. The above quotation only highlights one view on the differences concerning its impact among diverse European … Continue reading.

Of course, there are many factors that contributed to both global and local changes of the number of the religious: societal, cultural and economic. There is no space to discuss this phenomenon from as many angles as it would be necessary to investigate it comprehensively^[3]The extended discussion: Marcin Jewdokimow, A Monastery in a Sociological Perspective: Seeking for a New Approach, Warszawa, Wydawnictwa UKSW, 2020.. Rather, in this article I will focus only on the role of the communism in shaping the Polish religious life - one may claim that challenging conditions was one of the factors for the specific development of the religious life in Poland (with the spectacular increase of the number of the religious priests against other European states) among such relevant factors as: the place of Catholicism in the Polish history and its link to the Polish identity, specificity of the Polish communism, and – of course – the pontificate of the Jean Paul II who inspired many individuals to search for his/her religious vocation.

Dissolutions, the revival, and the WWII

In order to understand the situation of the religious under communism one has to take a step back into the XIXth century and the WWII contexts. In the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries the religious life in Europe underwent politically driven wages of dissolutions. In the case of Poland between 1772 (beginning of the partitioning) and 1914 (reclaiming the independence) the number of male monasteries dropped by 80% from around 990 male monasteries with 14,540 religious (plus 73 male monasteries with 1,334 religious in Silesia, ruled by Prussia and with a small part ruled by the Austrian Empire) to 188 male monasteries with 2,252 religious (there is no corresponding data on female monasteries)^[4]Marek Derwich, « Główne założenia projektu Dziedzictwo kulturowe po klasztorach skasowanych na ziemiach dawnej Rzeczypospolitej oraz na Śląsku w XVIII i XIX w.: losy, znaczenie, … Continue reading. Of course, this tremendous drop triggered a crisis of the religious life in Poland. However, the situation changed in the second half of the XIXth century which in Europe brought the revival. Another positive impulse corresponds with the reclamation of the independence – while in 1914 there were 2,000-2,500 religious, in 1937 – already 7,100 male and 22,000 women religious. There were 44 male congregations in 1939 and 84 female ones (including new ones: seven male and thirteen female, which were created after regaining independence). During this time the state allowed the religious orders to act without constraints which resulted in (re)establishing many institutions (schools, hospitals, press) run by the religious. During the Second World War, the religious suffered great personal and material losses. Jerzy Kłoczowski indicates that over five hundred religious and two hundred and fifty women religious were killed. Other religious would engage in many-dimensional social and religious activities (e.g. Fr Maksymilian Kolbe^[5]He is a Polish priest, mainly known because he volunteered to die in place of a man named Franciszek Gajowniczke in the German death camp of Auschwitz, during WWII. In 1982, Pope John Paul II … Continue reading), which translated – as Kłoczowski argues – into the rise of their prestige in the post-war era^[6]Jerzy Kłoczowski, Od pustelni do wspólnoty. Warszawa, Czytelnik, 1987..

Hence, the WWII impacted negatively on the reviving religious life in Poland. The communist period was about to create new conditions: constrains and challenges which together with other factors fueled the religious life with new energy translating into the increased of the religious priests in Poland. However, before discussing the central topic I will depict the condition of the religious in other communist countries between 1945 and 1989. The comparison displays that even though the communist regime in Poland limited and challenged the religious it was not as harsh as it was in other similar countries. For instance, in Hungary, religious life was liquidated in 1950 with the dissolution of 23 male religious orders and 40 female ones, involving 3,000 religious priests and brothers, and three times as many women religious. Under the communist rule, only four orders operated legally. Some religious orders functioned in secrecy^[7]Edit Révay, Újrainduló szerzetesrendek egy megújuló társadalomban [Reviving Monastic Orders in a Reviving Society], Budapest-Csíkszereda: Magyar, 2003. See also Zsuzsanny Börge, „”We … Continue reading. Basing on fifty life stories of women religious who went underground, the Hungarian scholar Zsuzsanna Börge demonstrates that the communist period transformed the religious identity of Hungarian women religious from a collective to an individualized one, which was related to the loss of the primary reference group – the religious order. Emmerich András shows, in turn, that the process of reviving religious life began in this country in 1989 when authorities decided to reorganize it and return some of the appropriated assets (in the 1990s it was possible to reclaim properties, allowing religious orders to function properly)^[8]Emmerich András, “Situation of Revived Religious Orders in Hungary”, Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe, 14 (2), 1994. [Online]http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree/ vol14/iss2/2..

The religious life in Poland under the communist regime

The situation on the Catholic church in Poland between 1945 and 1989 was a diverse period characterized with mounting tensions and relaxations of the relationship between the communist regime and the Catholic church – what was constant was the recognition of the two sides of the conflict: for communists the Catholic church was an opponent threatening installation of the new social and political system, for the Church representatives communists were threatening the Polish nation. In 1975, the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, during a public meeting in Cracow encapsulated this in the following sentences:

"The Church... in our homeland... defends, so to speak - the national raison d'état, which means something more than a political raison d'état, because the political raison d'état changes its dimensions, and the nation endures, it has its own religious culture , national, your national custom...^[9]Jan Żaryn, Kościół a władza w Polsce (1945-1950), Warszawa, 1997, p. 378. ".

The regime took different measures to fight with the consolidated and socially approved opponent and ameliorate its atheization plan such as: removing religion from schools, liquidations of dormitories and schools run by the religious, evicting  priests and nuns from their residences, nationalization of the Church belonging and personal and political repressions also by the secret service just to mention some measures.

Taking about the religious orders, there were concrete actions designed for limiting the social impact. The act of 20 March 1950 on the takeover of ‘dead hand properties’ introduced a legal situation in which religious congregations lost their own estates and households. As Czesław Stryjewski shows, until 1950 religious orders would support themselves mainly through economic activity^[10]Stryjewski Czesław, Zakony, Warszawa, Książka i Wiedza, 1961. . He estimates that religious orders used to hold ca 75,000 hectares of land. The 1950 legal act annexing so-called “dead-hand lands,” i.e. ones that would not be sold, left them with 2,000 hectares for 458 male houses, and 7,500 hectares for 2,321 female houses, stemming from the fact that “houses would be left with an average of 5 hectares of land and religious structures^[11]bid., p. 155.”.

Other attack from the state was designed specifically towards women religious. In 1954, action codename “X-2” commenced on order from state authorities, leading to the “creation of eight work camps in areas of Krakow and Poznań for women religious from Lower and Upper Silesia^[12]Agata Mirek, « Wysiedlenia sióstr zakonnych w 1954 roku na Śląsku. Obozy pracy dla zakonnic w Polsce w latach 1954-1956”, w. Marek Derwich (ed.), Kasaty klasztorów na obszarze dawnej … Continue reading”. These work camps were created in monasteries from which the religious were removed. Overall, more than a thousand women religious ended up in these camps. In 1956, the Church and the government reached agreement, allowing them to return.

However, after the Second World War one could also noticed a number of instances that were not about limiting the religious life. This was due to the complicated relationship with the state. The communist regime had not decided to fully liquidated the religious orders, and in the periods of lower tensions with its opponent, it granted approval for some of their initiatives.

After 1945, 43 male orders began to operate, including the Benedictines and the Cistercians^[13]Dominik Zamiatała, Zakony męskie w polityce władz komunistycznych w Polsce w latach 1945-1989, t. II, Warszawa, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, 2012, p. 18.. In the post-war period they would “become stronger in organizational terms […]. Religious life was being restored swiftly, both in personal and material terms […]. New institutions were opened: tutelary centres, schools, hospitals, and publishing houses^[14]Ibid., p. 19”. The situation of monasteries after 1945 differed from that of other countries under the influence of the USSR, where religious activities were curbed. In Poland, on the contrary, the state would even support them, e.g. by returning the Cistercian monastery in Jędrzejow to the order in September 1945, although it was dissolved in 1819. However, restoration did not include all assets from before the dissolution, including 15 manors, tithes from founding areas, etc.^[15]Piotr Pawel Gach, “Opactwo jędrzejowskie w latach kasat zakonnych (koniec XVIII i XIX w.)”, w. ks. Daniel Olszewski (ed.), Cystersi w Polsce. W 850-lecie fundacji opactwa jędrzejowskiego, … Continue reading. Whereas all monasteries were dissolved in 1950 in Czechoslovakia and Hungary (though only three operated legally in the latter, many others working in secret^[16]Edit Révay, op. cit. ; Zsuzsanny Börge, op.cit.; in Poland some monasteries were actually rebuilt. As Dominik Zamiatała notes^[17]Dominik Zamiatala, op. cit., after 1945 due to political reasons Polish authorities closed religious cult sites and institutions ran by religious orders, including schools, children’s homes, hospitals, and charity organizations^[18]Ibid., pp. 338-339.. Zamiatała argues that this enforced modifications in pastoral activity. Lack of possibility to realize some of the original goals (apostolates, i.e. pastoral care, education, publishing, missionary activities) meant shifting to work in parishes. This change was relevant also for the women religious: “Communist state authorities had been taking over companies and institutions run by women religious since 1949, which forced their members to enact drastic changes in their usual functions and to switch to work in parishes and provide for the catechisation of children and young people […] In spite of state restrictions, they were able to develop and implement apostolic tasks. This was specific to the Polish Communist state largely due to the significance of the Church in Polish society^[19]Agata Mirek, 2021, op. cit., p. 56.”. Additionally, “women religious were systematically deprived of apostolic activity and unrestricted professional work […] They were also denied opportunities of gaining education […] They were also forbidden access to social benefits such as healthcare, social insurance or pension schemes. Discrimination against them was largely visible in the form of legal provisions which excluded the possibility of their being insured due to their church membership and associated pastoral activity^[20]Ibid., pp. 57-58.”. Limiting their social activities made sisters refocus on parish work. Although in 1949 they would run 680 kindergartens, 73 day-care rooms, and 46 nursing homes, in 1967 they ran none. In this period there was also a radical drop in the number of schools with boarding houses (from 87 to 7), various dormitories (from 95 to 2), and children’s homes (from 263 to 20)^[21]Jerzy Kłoczowski, op. cit. ..

Religious orders that lost their possessions in the Eastern Borderlands would be granted some in newly gained western and northern parts: “as compensation for resettlement [they would be granted] […] churches, buildings, fixed properties, and monasteries […] often post-Evangelical, as abandoned property. This was caused, among other things, by pressure from people resettled from eastern parts, who would not settle in places without a Catholic priest^[22]Dominik Zamiatała, op. cit. p. 20.”. Authorities would also fund religious orders, e.g. to rebuild the monastery in Tyniec in 1948 (3 million PLN^[23]Ibid., p.23.. In 1947 there were 295 male monasteries in Poland, five Cistercian and two Benedictine. After 1949 the authorities “tolerated the creation of new houses” (25), helping to build 250 ones until 1962, despite various restrictions and repressions discussed by Zamiatała^[24]Ibid., p.25.. In 1949 there were already 431 houses. In the 1970s, their number rose from 504 (1971) to 547 (1976)^[25]Ibid., p.26., while at the turn of the seventies and the eighties – to 626. The number of male orders and congregations thus rose to 45^[26]Ibid., p.29.. In 1955 there were 7,958 religious in Poland (religious priests, religious brothers, clerics, novitiates and postulants), and 8,044 in 1963^[27]Ibid., p.32, as compared to 6,562 in 1936. After the war, the number of religious priests rose, while that of religious brothers went down, indicating the internal reorganization of religious orders, which refocused on pastoral work. At the turn of the 1960s and 1970s there was a slight dip in the number of religious (there were 7,707 in 1977, including 4,242 religious priests)^[28]Ibid., p.36.. In the 1970s and 1980s the rise of the number of religious priests continued, with 9,277 in 1981 and 12,117 in 1988^[29]Ibid., p.40.

Religious orders were aiming at counteracting the state designed restrains, so this harsh situation also created condition for a specific development. In 1950s, the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, “develop[ed] a plan in the event of a massive attack on religious life in Poland. The general rules of religious houses were determined in three points. First, resist as long as possible, second, resign from state institutions if necessary but defend religious houses. The last rule stated that every congregation should decide which house it could relinquish and which house it could retain and lease, as a whole or in part^[30]Agata Mirek, 2021, op. cit., p. 62.”.

Hence, even though the communists attacked the religious life the severe and demanding situation triggered a need for adaptation and resistance towards the hostile state authorities. This has translated also into the increase of the number of the religious priests – an unique growth against the dropping numbers in other European countries – and the increase of vocation: “in the period of thirty years spanning 1964-1994, the ‘vocation boom’ involved mainly contemplative orders, both male and female^[31]Józef Baniak, „Powołania kapłańskie i zakonne w Kościele katolickim w Polsce”, w. Józef Baniak (ed.), W poszukiwaniu sensu. O religii, moralności i społeczeństwie, Kraków, Zakład … Continue reading”. The period marked by particular rises was the first decade of the pontificate of John Paul II (1978-2005), i.e. the years 1978-1986^[32]Ibid..

Religious orders in Poland after communist – number and scope of activity

The collapse of communism and the transition into the democratic system was associated with the growing civil, economic, political and religious rights which created conditions for the thriving of the Catholic church in Poland. This was change was cemented by the Concordat of 1993 – an agreement between Poland and the Holy See of the Roman Catholic Church, and materials for instance in the growing presence in the public sphere in the form of the Catholic media and the number of the religious organizations.

However, the new, democratic conditions has changed the attitude of Poles towards the Church which is clearly visible, i.a., in the drop of vocation. This increasing  trend of the number of the religious priests will probably not last due to the ageing of the male population in religious orders^[33]Rafal Lange, „Instytuty życia konsekrowanego i stowarzyszenia życia apostolskiego”, w. Paweł Ciecieląg, Piotr Łysoń, Wojciech Sadłoń, Witold Zdaniewicz (eds), Kościół Katolicki … Continue reading and the fall in the number of order vocations. In the years 1992-2012, the number of seminaristes decreased by almost 68% – from 2,745 to 882, while that of aspirants and novitiates decreased in the years 1992-2010 by 60% (from 541 to 205, i.e. by 62%, and from 745 to 306, i.e. by almost 59%, respectively)^[34]Mateusz Jacob Tutak, „Powołania do kapłaństwa i życia konsekrowanego”, w. Paweł Ciecieląg, Piotr Łysoń, Wojciech Sadłoń, Witold Zdaniewicz, op. cit., pp. 141-154.. The decrease in the number of women religious in Poland began in the mid-1970s. In the years 1992-2010 there was a two-thirds fall in the number of women religious in formation^[35]Ibid.. The number of women entering religious orders is successively falling: whereas in 2000 there were 723, in 2005 there were 484, and in 2011 – 209. This translates into a rise in the average age of women religious. However, in 2010 this tendency regarded only apostolic orders, not the cloistered ones – among the latter a rising tendency continued until 2012 (there are twenty times fewer nuns in cloistered orders than in apostolic ones). In 2012, the number of nuns in cloistered orders slowly began to decrease. In 2012 there were altogether 1,355 nuns in 84 houses (including nuns after perpetual and temporary vows, novitiates and postulants), and in 2016 – 52 fewer.

Conclusions

The harsh time of the communist regime in Poland was also a time of a specific development of the religious. Fighting against the restrictions and adapting to new conditions with their religious lifestyle they have managed to consolidate and to oppose effectively recognizing their actions also as a way of preserving the Polish nation. These conditions together with external impulses such as the pontificate of the John Paul II translated also into the vocational boom and the increase of the number religious priests – an unique situation in Europe between 1970s and 2010s. However, this was the increase of the freedom after the collapse of the communism which has brought new social tendencies materializing in the drop of vocation which will impact of the generally number of the religious in Poland in the coming years.

Parts of the article are revised fragments from: Jewdokimow Marcin. 2020. A Monastery in a Sociological Perspective: Seeking for a New Approach. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa UKSW.