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Challenges for Catholic Education in Poland

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International Handbook of Catholic Education

Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Religion and Education ((IHRE,volume 2))

The dynamism of Catholic education in Poland is related to 1989. It was then that the political transformation began, and in 1991 it brought about legislative changes with regard to education. Old Catholic schools have been reactivated and new schools have been established since that time, an important educational phenomenon in the country and an important pastoral phenomenon in the Church. Changes in the law have made it possible for the Church to develop an important mission, which is “to be free in establishing schools of any kind or degree and govern them”.1 These schools, being authentic educational institutions, are obliged to function within the frameworks of the educational law, confi rm with the standards of didactic, educational, and protective function. They are rooted in the Church and have a Catholic character and they aim at evangelisation. They are supposed to carry it out in the context of transformations diffi cult for education and crises of culture. This study seeks to describe how Catholic education functions in Poland, stressing that it has to carry out its specific goals in a confrontation with contemporary challenges. In order to accomplish the intended goal, some manifestations of the crisis of contemporary culture will be discussed; they are threats to an integral development of adolescents and children. Drawing on these threats, some attempts will be shown at responses to them, such attempts that present organisation and programmes.

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References

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Wieczorek, W. (2007). Challenges for Catholic Education in Poland. In: Grace, G., O’Keefe, J. (eds) International Handbook of Catholic Education. International Handbooks of Religion and Education, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5776-2_26

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