Abstrakt: | In this monograph the author aims to depict the role of bishop Józef Gawlina as
a spiritual leader of Polish emigrants after the Second World War. Bishop Gawlina, who
came from the diocese of Katowice, was a pre-war Field Bishop of the Polish Army. He
accompanied Polish soldiers outside Poland during the Second World War. After 1945,
he remained abroad and when living in Rome he coordinated the life of Polish Catholics,
who for different reasons lived outside of their home country. The Pope Pius XII
nominated him Protector of Polish Emigrants, a role he served for fifteen years (from
1949 to 1964).
Relying on publicly available sources as well as on information which has not yet
been widely known, found in Polish and foreign archives, the author explains and specifies
the scope of the Church jurisdiction of this hierarch in the consecutive years of his
service, and presents his contribution to the pastoral work with emigrants, highlighting
that he formed its specific character. Bishop Gawlina’s major achievement was that he developed
the structures of pastoral care for Polish emigrants after World War II. Therefore,
a big part of the monograph is dedicated to this aspect of his ministry: establishing centres
of the Polish Catholic Mission, appointing their rectors and coordinating their work.
Setting the time frame presented in the thesis was dictated by the papal decisions
and Church decrees, which several times extended and specified the scope of bishop
Gawlina’s mission. In this thesis, the author aims to present, as fully as possible, the activity
of bishop Gawlina in the field of pastoral care for Poles living abroad. A serious challenge
was to document the consecutive stages of the extension of his jurisdiction, which
originally covered only Polish soldiers on the territory of Poland and during the peak
period it concerned Poles living in many countries on different continents. This was the
situation when bishop Gawlina was appointed an ordinary of the Polish Catholics who
were leaving Russia. Later, he was appointed an ordinary of Poles in Germany and Austria.
The situation changed a bit after 1949, when he became the protector of emigration.
For the sake of accuracy, it is worth mentioning that in this capacity he did not have the
jurisdiction the ordinaries had. Nevertheless, Gawlina felt his responsibility for the whole
clergy and all lay Catholics who maintained their Polish identity while living abroad. He
fulfilled these duties with deep commitment until the very last moment of his life.
The author refers to bishop Gawlina as “the protector of Poles living abroad”, claiming
that it is the most suitable title to describe the mission entrusted to him. The Latin
word protector is translated as “a person who shelters, a defender, a carer”. This term was
used in the decree assigning responsibility for Polish emigration to Gawlina.
The author used analytic-synthetic method in his research. The thesis is divided into
five chapters according to the problems. The source documents were found in several
archival institutions in Poland and abroad, which were connected with bishop Gawlina’s
ministry. Among references, it is especially worth to mention Diaries, which bishop Gawlina wrote during almost the entire time of his ministry. The author found valuable
materials in the Archives of the Central Emigration Pastoral Centre in Rome, the Pontifical
Institute of Ecclesiastical Studies in Rome, Archives of the Polish Catholic Mission in
England and Wales, the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London, Archives of
the Archdiocese of Katowice, Archives of the Archdiocese of Warsaw, Archives of the
Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw, and Archives of the Polish Catholic Mission
in France.
Supplement of the thesis confirms great commitment of bishop Gawlina and it includes
tables with the list of visited countries, the list of the Polish Catholic Missions and
their rectors, the lists of hierarchs whom bishop Gawlina met during his ministry
and the list of his published addresses. The monograph includes also several dozen reference
documents from various archives showing the ministry of the bishop of Polish
emigrants.
The thesis is the first attempt to present comprehensively the role of archbishop Józef
Gawlina in organizing the structures of the pastoral care for Poles living abroad and
forming the model of pastoral work of the Polish clergy among emigrants after the Second
World War. |