Urszula SwadźbaInstitute of SociologyUniversity of Silesia

Katowice

Silesian religiousness –

cultural phenomemenon in urban areas

Introduction

Religion has always belonged among the most important values in Upper Silesia. Silesia has from the middle of the nineteenth century belonged to the industrialized and urbanized areas of Europe. Most communities included in the process of industrialization and urbanization were also subject to secularization. This did not happen in Upper Silesia.

The presentation is to show the origin of this cultural phenomenon (historical conditions in the mid-nineteenth century), the fixation in the interwar period, the evolution in time of real socialism and the weakening during the systemic transformation. In the conclusion the author’s latest findings on religiousness in Silesia will be presented.

Upper Silesia

The genesis of Silesian religiousness

- up to World War I The analyzed area of Upper Silesia belonged to

Prussia. The Kulturkampf (1871-78) - intensified fighting of the German government with the Catholic Church - was an important factor in this period in strengthening the role of religion and the Catholic Church in Silesia.

In response to the actions of the German authorities followed by coordinated actions of Silesian priests and social workers in various fields, in order to strengthen the Polish language, which you could use to reach out to the faithful.

During the second half of the nineteenth century and until 1914, during the membership of Upper Silesia to Germany, the religiousness of Silesians became established and cemented. It was a traditional religiousness, very strict in matters of morality, in which the priest had a very high authority.

A catholic church in Katowice – Bogucice (1912)

Sisters of Notre Dame - the parish in Bogucice (1914)

Catholic journal (1875)

The interwar period - the strengthening of the Silesian

religiousness After Poland regained independence, much of the

industrialized area of Upper Silesia, fell under Poland. In the interwar period the traditional Silesian religiousness was faced with the challenges that carried the integration of Polish and Poles from other partitions, and also the kind of Catholicism.

Strengthening of the value of religion also fostered confrontation with immigrants. Intellectuals migrating to Silesia did not only differ from the Silesians by belonging to a different culture, but also a different approach to religion.

Although people flooded the Catholic religion, they did not have such principled treatment of religious principles in daily life, as the Silesians did.

Women`s catholic association (1932)

The period of real socialism - the evolution of the Silesian

religiousness

After World War II the industrialized part of Upper Silesia changed its geopolitical position and was no longer a projecting piece of the Republic of Poland. Religion and the church, after the Second World War and the change in the system, were in a difficult situation.

After the war, the Katowice voivodeship became a place of quick population change. Arriving Poles were mostly Catholics, but their Catholicism was different from the Silesian one.

However, it can be assumed that in communities with predominantly autochthonous populations, religion and religiousness did not change too much and the pressure of the system to eliminate religion from public life contributed to its strengthening.

Silesian women`s pilgrimage (1961)

The period of systemic transformation - the changes of Silesian religiousness

The period of transformation and systemic changes were large challenges to religion and the Church.

Sociological studies indicate that religion in Silesia was still of great importance.

Despite the urban character of the community there is still a dominating religiousness, having a high frequency of religious practice and the high intensity of individual prayer.

Certainly the factors affecting the participation in religious practices are cultural transformations, characteristic of large cities. They are associated with individualization and subiectivization of criteria for living their faith and weakening the importance of religious institutions and institutionalized model of religiousness.

A religious ceremony (2009)

Silesian religiousness – empirical research

In seeking answers to question about the change in silesian religiousness, I conducted sociological reseach in 2010 on a sample of 540 people (interviems categorized) and 45 people (free inrevievs) in three different communities in Silesia:

Bogucice – a district of Katowice Rydultowy – a small mining town near Rybnik suburban community Wyry (near Mikołów -

25 km from Katowice)

Self-declaration of religiousness (%) N = 540

10

66,9

16,7

3,9 2,50

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Deeply believingand practicingBelieving andpracticingBelieving and nonpracticingNon believing andnon practicingNo response

Self-declaration of religiousness and ethnic identification (%) N = 540

10,6

73,7

11,4

3 2,38,3

57,1

22,9

8,63,1

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Silesian Non-Silesian

Deeply believingand practicingBelieving andpracticingBelieving and nonpracticingNon believing andnon practicingNo response

Self-declaration of religiousness and education (%) N = 540

12,1

66,7

16,7

1,13,410,2

66,7

15,7

6,5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Basic vacational Higher

Deeply believingand practicingBelieving andpracticingBelieving and nonpracticingNon believing andon practicingNo response

Conclusions Sources of Silesian religiousness specificity

can be sought in the socio-historical conditions in the second half of the nineteenth century (Kulturkampf). They caused that the urban and industrialized communities of Silesia did not fall under the secularization process. Specific Silesian religiousness was strengthened in the interwar period.The period of real socialism led only in part to the weakening of Silesian religiousness.

In the period of systemic transformation Silesian religiousness weakened, as in the rest of Polish society, but not as quickly. In comparison with other Polish urban areas, religiousness in Silesia is stronger (religious faith, the frequency of religious practice).

A meeting of one silesian family This starts with a church service (2010)

Thank You