The Attempts to Subordinate Religious Education to the School Authorities in 1926–1937

Abstract

The idea of state education developed by activists associated with the governments that ruled in Poland after the May Coup which they put into practice was to educate citizens to be strongly attached to the Polish state, regardless of nationality and religion. All educational factors, including religious education, were to serve this purpose. Based on this assumption, the educational authorities aspired to have a decisive influence on the appointment of religious teachers, determining their qualifications, establishing the curricula and the choice of textbooks. This led to conflicts with Catholic bishops, generally concerned with autonomy and exclusivity in setting rules on these issues. Ecclesiastical autonomy in matters of communicating the faith, formally accepted by law and church authorities, presupposed that the Church determines the content of religious instruction (curricula and teaching manuals), the scope and shape of religious education (religious practices), and selects teachers to communicate the principles of the faith to Catholics on its behalf. The bishops could not give the state a casting vote, for to do so would be to misappropriate their own duties, which stem from the nature of the episcopal mission. This was not understood by the state authorities who were unwilling to compromise in any way between the May Coup and the beginning of 1937 and wanted to have a decisive voice in the appointment and qualifications of religious teachers, in the scope and shape of religious curricula and textbooks, as well as complete control over church organizations allowed to function in schools (with a simultaneous ban on the gathering of children and young people in church organizations and groups).

While church authorities, Catholic columnists and educators, as well as the activists of church organizations spoke out and discussed and even protested publicly about coeducation, the presence of non-Catholic teachers in mainstream schools, and the anti-religious attitude of teachers affiliated with left-wing trade unions, the issues of the appointment and qualifications of religious teachers, curricula and textbooks, on top of the control of church organizations in schools were raised only during discussions and correspondence between the church and school authorities. Except for one statement by the School Committee published in the diocesan journals intended for the clergy, these disputes were not publicized on a national scale by either the Church or the state side.