CATHOLIC POLAND TODAY
The subject of the state of the faith in different countries came up during one of the exchanges of comments within the Multiply Catholic Friends group which I visit. A lady from Poland, a schoolteacher in a public school, painted a bleak picture, especially as she contrasted the state there with what appears to exist in the Philippines. A correspondent from the Philippines spoke of how churches there are nearly filled, attendance is high, and not only at Sunday Mass, but also at Daily Mass and at other services.
In Poland, “the latest statistics about Sunday mass attendance … said that 30 % go to mass regularly. It varied in some regions. There were some that had 25 % and others that had 45%. In Warsaw region it is about 30% but in Lodz … it is less than that.”
It reaches into the schools: “When asked during a catholic religion class (that we have at school!) who was to church last Sunday, out of 20 kids just 3 or 4 , sometimes 5 raise their hands.”
Regarding her own parish: “The problem with my parish church is that the priests cannot attract kids into the church. There is no special mass for kids on Sunday unlike in some other parishes. There is also almost no link between the parish and the school.”
More generally, “the mentality of the people … is changing. We cannot have any obligatory masses. And parents now place great importance on education for their kids. Apart from school, they send them to numerous extra paid classes such as language courses, music lessons, various sports, drama etc and care very little about their religious education.
“I live in Warsaw region, which is much worse about it than some other parts of Poland as you can see the rat race starting very early here. Not whole Poland is that secular yet, but the trend is increasing. Still plenty of people stick to faith on the great feast days (Easter, Christmas, Corpus Christi) but more because of tradition than their personal involvement.”
I imagine Polish-American people returning for a visit will be struck by the new state of affairs regarding the faith. It is closer, they might conclude, to what obtains in America now.
