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The Day of Judaism in the Catholic Church of Poland Seton Hall University eRepository @ Seton Hall Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs) Spring 5-18-2015 The aD y of Judaism in the Catholic Church of Poland Piotr Dudek Seton Hall University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Dudek, Piotr, "The aD y of Judaism in the Catholic Church of Poland" (2015). Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs). 2098. https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2098 The Day of Judaism in the Catholic Church of Poland by Piotr Dudek Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Department of Religion Seton Hall University May 2015 © 2015 Piotr Dudek 2 SETON HALL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION APPROVAL FOR SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE Master’s Candidate, Piotr Dudek , has successfully defended and made the required modifications to the text of the master’s thesis for the M.A. during this Spring Semester 2015 . DISSERTATION COMMITTEE (please sign and date beside you name) The mentor and any other committee members who wish to review revisions will sign and date this document only when revisions have been completed. Please return this form to the Office of Graduate Studies, where it will be placed in the candidate’s file and submit a copy with your final diss ertation. 3 Abstract: The Day of Judaism in the Catholic Church of Poland This master’s thesis discusses “The Day of Judaism in the Catholic Church of Poland,” a special time in the Polish Church calendar to rediscover her roots in Judaism. Thus, the aim of this study is to present the changes taking place in the Catholic Church in Poland in the wake of the Second Vatican Council—changes that seek to present Judaism in an impartial and authentic way, and changes that seek to understand the Christian identity of Catholics. The scope of the current work covers the history of Polish-Jewish relations from Communist Poland to the present day (2015), in parallel with the history of the Catholic Church in the same time frame. The study also employs the method of comparative- historical analysis regarding Polish-Jewish relations and the plight of the Church in the Communist era and today, to indicate why the interfaith dialogue gained momentum in recent years. The First Chapter presents a historical analysis of Polish-Jewish relations from 1945-1989 and shortly after the fall of Communism. The description includes in particular the postwar difficulties in the coexistence of Poles and Jews, State-citizen relations, the brutal repressions of Jews and Poles by the Communist regime, and the problem of antisemitism. The Second Chapter covers the situation of the Church in Communist Poland along with a description of the first incentives that led her to the dialogue with Jews. This chapter is divided into the four subsections. Subsection 1 is devoted to the overall situation of the Church in Poland, including the relation on the level of Catholic Church- 4 Communist state authorities, which touches upon persecutions of the priests and Church adherents. Subsection 2 addresses the reception of the Second Vatican Council by the Church in Poland. Subsection 3 presents the controversy around the Carmelite convent at Auschwitz. Finally, Subsection 4 focuses on the issue of the Church’s approach to Judaism. The Third Chapter raises, among other subjects, the origins of the Day of Judaism in the Catholic Church in Poland, an analysis of its documents, content of the brochures disseminated for the Day of Judaism, the evaluation of the initiative by Catholics and Jews, and in conclusion the fruits that this Day brings to the Church. Finally, the analysis of the Day of Judaism confirmed that the reforms of the Second Vatican Council have been applied in Poland. Another question that has been answered to a large extent in this master’s thesis was how the post-conciliar changes, in particular development of the Day of Judaism, are adopted in practice—in the parishes and in the public opinion. 5 Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………4 Abbreviations……………………………………………………………………………...8 Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………..9 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………10 Chapter 1: After the War—Rising From the Ashes. Polish-Jewish Relations 1945-1989……………………………...…………..14 Chapter 2: Getting Through Hard Times—Embarking on New Directions. The History of the Catholic Church in Communist Poland……………….....41 1. The overall situation of the Catholic Church in Poland: 1945-1989………….....41 2. Around the Second Vatican Council……………………………………………..52 3. The controversy around the Carmelite convent at Auschwitz…………………...58 4. The Church’s position regarding the Jews under Communism and the first steps toward the dialogue…………………………………………...63 Chapter 3: The Day of Judaism in the Catholic Church in Poland………………………73 1. Genesis…………………………………………………………………………...73 2. Objectives of the Day of Judaism………………………………………………..78 3. The first Day of Judaism in the Catholic Church in Poland……………………..80 4. Why is the Day of Judaism observed on January 17?...........................................82 5. Form of observances……………………………………………………………..82 6. The Day of Judaism from the Jewish point of view……………………………..90 6 7. The Day of Judaism from the Catholic point of view……………………………92 8. Putting the Day of Judaism on the map………………………………………….94 9. The pastoral materials for the Day of Judaism at a glance………………………98 10. The need for education………………………………………………………….106 11. Taking action—the controversy around painting in the Sandomierz’s cathedral..............................................................................107 12. The Day of Islam in the Catholic Church in Poland……………………………108 13. Positive fruits of the Day of Judaism…………………………………………...109 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...111 Appendix………………………………………………………………………………..116 1. Pastoral materials for the Fourteenth Day of Judaism in 2011............................116 2. Pastoral materials for the Fifteenth Day of in 2012…………………………….132 3. Pastoral materials for the Sixteenth Day of in 2013……………………………147 4. Pastoral materials for the Seventeenth Day of Judaism in 2014………………..164 5. Pastoral materials for the Eighteenth Day of Judaism in 2015…………………183 6. A Letter of Father Alfred M ąka………………………………………………...201 7. Maps…………………………………………………………………………….205 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………208 7 Abbreviations DKR (Ger.) Deutscher Koordinierungsrat der Gesellschaften für Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit (German Coordinating Council of Societies for Christian-Jewish Cooperation) ICCJ (Eng.) International Council of Christian and Jews KAI (Pol.) Katolicka Agencja Informacyjna (Catholic News Organization) NSZ (Pol.) Narodowe Siły Zbrojne (National Armed Forces) PPR (Pol.) Polska Partia Robotnicza (Polish Workers’ Party) PRL (Pol.) Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa (Polish People’s Republic) PZPR (Pol.) Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza (Polish United Workers’ Party) SB (Pol.) Słu Ŝba Bezpiecze ństwa (Security Service) UB (Pol.) Urz ąd Bezpiecze ństwa (Office of [State] Security), Predecessor of SB śUL (Pol.) śydowski Uniwersytet Ludowy (The Jewish People’s University) 8 Acknowledgments First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my thesis promoter Reverend Father Lawrence E. Frizzell, Ph.D. for the continuous support of my master’s study and related research, for his patience, motivation, and immense knowledge. His guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis. I could not have imagined having a better advisor and mentor for my master’s study. Besides my promoter, I would like to thank the rest of my thesis committee: Prof. David M. Bossman, Ph. D. and Rabbi Alan Brill, Ph.D. for their insightful comments and encouragement, but also for the hard question which incented me to widen my research from various perspectives. Last but not the least, I would like to thank my spiritual mentors and friends: Luna Kaufman, Dr. Rivka Halperin, and my parents for supporting me spiritually throughout writing this thesis and my life in general. 9 Introduction The subject of this master’s thesis is the Day of Judaism in the Catholic Church of Poland. This theme is important for the Church, because the Day of Judaism is a special time in her life, a time that allows her to realize and acknowledge her own identity—to see her roots in the Jewish faith—the faith of Abraham. This goal is achieved mainly through [common] prayer of the both groups of believers—Catholics and Jews. Indirectly, this special time gives an opportunity for a valuable encounter—to bring together the followers of Judaism, the Catholic Church, and to the extent possible, other Christian Churches. Furthermore, the Day is important in Poland, which after the World War II became predominantly Catholic. In contrast, during the pre-war years, because of different borders and other reasons, the country was home to followers of numerous different religions, and one tenth of its inhabitants was a follower of Judaism. Therefore, it must be noted that the War brought a change in the Polish national consciousness. A country that for centuries had been diverse basically became a mono-denominational nation-state. Essential for the creation of this work was the fact that as a result of the war atrocities and unprecedented genocide of the Shoah , 6 million Jews, including over 3 million Polish
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