Transcript Document

Faith Histories of Polish Parents:
Diversity and Commonalities in a
community
by John Jessel and Malgorzata Woodham
Parents:
Grzegorz and Beata
Ania and Wojtek
• Background information
• Faith histories
• Diversity and commonalities
Grzegorz and Beata
Grzegorz and Beata – background
information
• Grzegorz came to London about 4 years ago and works
as a refuse collector. He has two grown up children from
previous marriage in Poland . He knows very little
English
• Beata came to London about 3 years ago and looks after
their 5 children. She does not speak English
• They live in a rented house about a mile away from the
Polish church and community centre
• In Poland they lived in neighbouring villages/small
towns in central Poland
Faith history
Church as a centre of village
community life
Grzegorz: and....and...and going to church was
important, that it was something important, that
the priest was some kind of authority....er...people
were close..people who went to church there, they
came to church a little earlier before the mass and
stayed a bit longer afterwards, they contacted one
another... there was a place ,near the church, of
meetings not only of adults but also for children
and young people...
• Strong family tradition of attending church and
taking part in all Catholic rituals such as Baptism,
First Communion, Confirmation, church marriage
etc.
• Grzegorz was an altar boy
• Mother and grandparents having most influence
on their religious upbringing
• Memorable moments/people in religious lives
• Church (religion) linked with Polish history and
politics (resistance to communism)
• The role of the priest
Grzegorz:... I also remember when I was a little boy there
were joint women's prayers in the country..., such.. why they
called it 'zmianka', 'z,zmianka' , why? because, maybe.. they
changed the place of the prayer, because they ..once it was
in one woman's house and then in another's
….. and those grannies and those grannies always brought
er...little kids because they had to be looked after and they
couldn't be left by themselves for a long time and we always
went there and there were also a few children, we sat quietly
there and..everyone prayed.. and I remember that there was
semi-darkness,er... the paraffin lamp er....by the table and
there was somebody reading and the rest of the people, the
women sitting around in a circle on benches, chairs, beds,
and everybody was praying, I don't know how long it was.
Beata: We had a priest, Father Roman Kotlarz who, who...
Grzegorz: became famous as as a priest who led er.., er...
[He led the workers' march] during strike in Radom in 1976...
….. and that was my wife's educator, that parish priest, the one who
taught religion and later...er.. the priest was tortured to death by the
Security Police..., they kept coming to his house at night and beat him
until he landed in hospital and died.
Grzegorz: Yes, that was, that was a man, father Kotlarz was a very,
I'd say, a simple man, because it was a priest in the country parish,
but how he.., he was er,er..close to people, didn't he so he felt those
things and it didn't matter that he wasn't a politician, he knew if...
Beata: He simply er.., er..met people, [he walked.. ]
Beata: And and he.. talked sense, I mean, I can't
remember very well, but for example religion had to
be...like..properly
Grzegorz: learnt thoroughly
………………
Beata: and when it was playtime... I remember that
...we played with him...
Grzegorz: ...he gave children everything....
Beata: When it was play it was play but religion was
religion
Ania and Wojtek
Ania and Wojtek – background
information
• Wojtek works as a decorator. He came to London
about 8 years and Ania about 6 years ago
• They live in a rented flat a mile from the Polish
church and community centre
• They both speak English
• Ania used to work as a teaching assistant in a
nursery school, she now looks after the two
children and teaches at the Polish Saturday
school
•Both have previous experience of living and working in
London (after one year in London they went back to
Poland for 5 years and later came back to London)
•Lived in the same town in south western Poland
•They both come from lower middle class background
•Both have secondary school and college education
(Ania- languages, Wojtek- economics)
Faith history
•Strong family tradition of attending church and
taking part in all Catholic rituals such as Sunday
Mass, Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation,
church marriage etc., church celebrations and
festivals
•Wojtek was an altar boy
•Family involvement in church life
•Memorable situations and moments in religious
lives
• Father - a strong influence on Wojtek
• Church (religion) linked with Polish history
(resistance to communism)
Wojtek: yes, for sure, I think my father, father; Father was
always, from the early childhood he taught me the real
history, not that filled with lies as it was during
communism and this has stayed in my memory. Then in
secondary school, I had a circle of friends similar to me,
not believing in lies, so one learnt something new from the
other and this is how it has been forming in me later
[ my father was a leader of Solidarity at his place of
work]. So I remember very well
• Mother – an influence on Ania
• The role of the priest
Ania: … there were religious classes organised for
nursery children from the age of three, hmm and I went
with my mum.., it was every Sunday at 12, if I remember
well, or 3 o'clock. It was a priest who organised such
classes for children on Sundays and mum went with me
to those classes from the early age. This is what I
remember and I remember such moments, not in detail as
I was very little but... From that early age I liked those
meetings in church very much and it was getting those
little ones familiar with God, in such a cool way, through
play and song.. this priest was so cool, I remember him
even now.. a young, cool priest who through song was
engaging children in getting to know all that was about
church.
Ania: My mum sang in the choir and this had some
influence on us because mum was involved very
much in religious festivals such as Christmas,
Easter, and inevitably that time she devoted to
church influenced us as well, didn't it? Mum often
took me to church onto, we called it balcony
where the choir was, and I was very excited about
it as I was little, I had shivers when I was looking
down as the church was huge ...
Ania: because I was involved in the Marian group
until the last year of primary school , with other
girls, so in all the church processions, Corpus
Christi, in all more important ceremonies and
festivals the children from the Marian group took
part. They also prepared mystery plays,
performances, songs.. we also had our choir and
we sang all the religious songs. … I took part in
all the parish processions
• Church = mind opener ( to different ways of
thinking)
Ania: And then in secondary school, also through girlfriends, I got involved in the Franciscan Movement ..
… we liked it very much, because Franciscans have
tremendous approach and ways of involving young people
in the faith community…
… Once a month they organised meetings for young people,
and everyone who wanted, whichever monastery was
closest….
…They lasted two days and were organised in such a way
that there was a Mass and a prayer and there were talks
for young people on different subjects. they put the
programme of talks themselves, for example rock music,
about different bands, about various different satanic
verses that bands have in the texts of songs, what one
should listen to and what we shouldn't listen to .. for
example about fortune telling, everything that was linked
with Catholic religion
… they presented it in a very interesting way and opened
our eyes on certain things which such young people as
us had no idea about
and certainly one would have never learnt about such
things from the papers or television.
And also what was cool was that at the end of alvernias we
prepared a performance, a miracle play. Generally the
theme was chosen by the Franciscans, for example
something from the life of St Francis, as it was all linked
with st Francis..., the theme might have been 'the
conversion of St Francis or something about St Francis
and we acted in a spontaneous way, we had to think of
dialogues ourselves and act out our own parts, for
example a Franciscan would say you are this or that, you
play this part or that part, you are St Francis and you do
this this and this, and we.., without any preparation,
without rehearsals, acted out roles 'live'. and it came out
fantastically, everything worked out later, there was a lot
of laughter, a lot of joy and sometimes there were such
cool situations that it took our breath away that we
could have thought of such things. (laughs)
• Wojtek – family involvement in church
Wojtek:[ My mum worked in the parish house for a long
time ]
Ania: [and cooked for priests, but in a different parish,
because there were three parishes in Brzeg, big parishes,
so Wojtek's mum worked in a different parish, Saint
Nicholas's
Wojtek: Some help to do with the church building during
communist times, it was difficult to get a permission to
build.. when there was permission parishioners were
needed to help . I remember I as a schoolboy,.. one used to
push a wheelbarrow, build churches… (laughs)
Diversity
•
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Length of time in UK
Ability to speak English
Social background
Education
Age
Commonalities
• Strong family tradition of attending church
and taking part in all Catholic rituals such
as Baptism, First Communion,
Confirmation, church marriage etc. and
church festivals
• Strong family tradition of involvement in
church community life
• Own involvement in church community life
• Religious experiences linked with social
interaction within the church community
• Involvement in church = positive and fulfilling
experience
• Church as an employer
• Church as provider of alternative way of thinking
• Church as a symbol of resistance
• Church as a keeper of moral and ethical values