Published: 2023-06-30

The Catholic Church’s Actions in Defence of School Retreats and their Evaluation in the Light of Party-State Documents

Joanna Mercik
Studia Teologiczno-Historyczne Śląska Opolskiego
Section: Articles
DOI https://doi.org/10.25167/sth.4882

Abstract

The article is an attempt to analyse the actions taken by the Catholic Church in defence of school retreats and to assess their effectiveness in the light of documents from the party-state authorities. Despite the agreement signed with the Church in 1950, the authorities used numerous mechanisms and means to combat the teaching of religion and its manifestations in and outside school. In defence of school retreats, priests carried out extensive information campaigns about the right of young people to have days off to take retreats, also using pulpits and parish communities
for this purpose, adapted the hours of meetings with pupils to their school timetables and made their form more attractive. The measures taken by the Church proved effective, so the authorities secularised schooling by law in 1961.

Keywords:

Lenten Retreats, Secularisation of Education, Action “R”, State versus Church, Removal of Religion from Schools

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Citation rules

Mercik, J. (2023). The Catholic Church’s Actions in Defence of School Retreats and their Evaluation in the Light of Party-State Documents. Studia Teologiczno-Historyczne Śląska Opolskiego, 43(1), 183–198. https://doi.org/10.25167/sth.4882

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