It is a well-known fact that Poland is a country largely dominated by the Catholic religion – 96 per cent of the country is white, Catholic. However, only fifty-two percent of the nation – still a huge percent, in my opinion – claim to be at least semi-regular churchgoers, according to a survey released last fall.
Presented by Magdalena Jensen.
I, myself, was raised Catholic and I attended a Catholic high school. While I no longer practice the religion or really associate myself with the Church formally, I have attended Mass several times in Poland – it is required when I visit my grandmother, for example, and because she is 97 years old, I am more than willing to acquiesce to her habits, though I would not actually choose to go if the choice existed.
Sitting in church – typically at the 10:30 Mass – I have often looked around and wondered where this 52 percent of the population is. I mean, I find that I am always surrounded by a sea of grey haired people complete with hunched backs, aging hands and canes. Yes, of course there a few young people – young families mostly with little children. Rarely do I see anyone my age – they are probably still hungover and asleep at 10:30 in the morning. The only logical conclusion that I could come up with is that 52 percent of Poland is old – but that is clearly not true.
Then, riding the bus Sunday evening on my way home, I noticed a small crowd of relatively young and middle-aged folks filing out of St. Anne’s Church on Castle Square in Warsaw’s Old Town. I asked my friend what they were doing – I mean, surely there is not such a late-night Mass… and she replied that actually there was. Well, okay, that explains a lot. It seems that Polish churches are getting quite hip to reality – that young people certainly do not want to get up at 9 am on a Sunday to scoot off to Church – so they provide an evening option.
I expressed my slight incredulity at this fact, however. I mean, I certainly wouldn’t want to spend my Sunday night going to Church. My friend, however, added that she thinks of the Sunday night mass as entertainment – like going to the movies or something. Well, unless they’re all going to see Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, I can imagine that Pope John Paul II turned over in his tomb when she said that. Comparing church attendance to popcorn and a movie may seem a little far out, but it might just say something about Poland’s religious culture.
My opinion is that Poles take church-going for granted. It is simply a ritualistic activity that one is forced to do as a youth then it just becomes as normal as brushing one’s teeth. Perhaps I am wrong, but I have this suspicion that far less people than seem to admit actually believe in (let alone grasp) the tenets of the Catholic faith.
Now, without wanting to start a huge debate about the depth to which Poles take their religious beliefs, I do want to make a few comments on practices that I have observed. For example, something that rendered me absolutely incredulous is the fact that religious education is mandatory in public school education. Yes, you heard me correctly, every Polish child takes religion classes. Now, while that may seem like no big deal since supposedly 96 percent of the country believes in Catholicism, it is something totally unthinkable for me. How can a state that supposedly supports freedom of religion also financially support the indoctrination of the nation’s youth in one religious value system? It seems just a bit contradictory.
Something else that I have observed amongst my own family and friends is the effect of this mandatory religious education – or at least I consider the two things related. Polish youth are forced to attend church. Now, this phenomenon seems most popular in more rural areas, but it also seems to be a tendency – parents actually force their child to attend church every Sunday. It is almost comical to see the resentful grimace on young teenagers faces as they file into the pew at church, their parents almost pushing them in. Granted, I could be making a huge generalization here or jumping to my own conclusions, but somehow I think it is a trend that parents coerce their children into attending Mass. Especially curious is the number of times I have watched my cousins and their friends tell a boldfaced lie to their parents – something to the tune of – “oh yes mom, I slept a little later than you and went to the 12 pm Mass. Yes, the priest talked about redemption of our sins, yes, indeed,” when I know full well that my cousin simply went to a café with her friend to have a coffee and gossip.
Now, I am not trying to pass judgment at all on the religious tendencies of this nation. Rather, I am trying to simply raise a few questions. First of all: how reliable are the statistics that claim Poland is 96 percent Catholic? Second, how effective is mandatory religious education in schools? Third, is it really the best idea to force someone into attending Mass?
I would argue that, if the Catholic Church wants to avoid the sea of grey effect that their aging regular attendees creates in the future, coercing youth into learning the religion and forcing them to attend mass is probably not the best manner to ensure that churches will be full in 15 years. Rather, I might suggest that the Catholic Church in Poland modernize a bit – try youth outreach, add a little gospel music and warmly invite the believers to come to you – please do not force them to sit through hours of church history and liturgy weekly, that is simply not an effective way to appeal to today’s youth.