Catholic and Secular Ecological Organizations in Poland and Italy

The paper characterizes four Polish and Italian Catholic organizations that operate within the ecological field. The study of these organizations zooms in on the process of “greening of Catholicism” in Poland and Italy taking place. Studied Catholic organizations in Poland and Italy operate within different social and religious contexts. They face challenges, including resistance from traditionalists who view ecology as a leftist notion. To overcome this, the organizations studied frame ecological issues as religious duties, drawing on diverse traditions within Catholicism and emphasizing figures like John Paul II. They use religious resources such as Catholic identities, values, and symbols to appeal to a broader audience beyond traditional activists. Yet, their emphasis on Catholicism hinders cooperation with secular environmental groups and limits engagement with left-wing environmental politics.

Goal – the purpose of this study was to present proposals for changes in the state’s relations with religious organizations in Poland after the parliamentary elections in 2023. Research methodology – the draft laws and literature on this topic have been thoroughly analyzed for the purpose of this article. Score/results – the article showed that there are projects for changes in the state’s relations with religious organizations in Poland after the parliamentary elections in 2023. Originality/value – the article expands knowledge about the planned changes in the legal situation of religious associations in Poland.

The article analyses the structure of religious organisations in Poland and Ukraine. The paper examines the peculiarities of the hierarchy of religious organisations, their legal status and impact on society. The main religious denominations that dominate in each country, including the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches, as well as the activities of Protestant and Greek Catholic communities, are studied. Differences in the centralisation of governance, the interaction of the state with religious institutions and their social role are highlighted. Special attention is paid to the differences between the two countries, in particular the influence of historical and cultural factors on the formation of the religious environment. Religious organisations play an important role in public life in Poland and Ukraine, influencing cultural, political and social processes. However, their structure, interaction with the state and society, as well as the level of centralisation differ significantly. In Poland, the Roman Catholic Church dominates, with a clear hierarchical structure and significant influence on public policy. In Ukraine, however, the religious landscape is more diverse, and the issue of church autonomy, especially in the Orthodox environment, remains a subject of public and political debate. The purpose of this study is to analyse the structure of religious organisations in Poland and Ukraine, to identify their peculiarities, mechanisms of functioning and interaction with state institutions. The study is aimed at identifying the main differences in the religious life of the two countries, the impact of historical, legal and socio-cultural factors on the development of religious organisations, and their role in shaping social processes.

There have been analyzed the current state of the institute of the military chaplains in the Polish Army. The author reviewed the circumstances of the return of the military chaplains in the military structures of the Polish Republic. In the article there has been researched the legal framework for pastoral work in the Armed Forces of Poland, including analysis of the relevant provisions of the laws of the Republic of Poland and the directives of the Ministry of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland. There was determined that the issues of the military chaplaincy are regulated by the block regulations that apply only to fifteen representatives of churches and religious organizations and the Law of the Republic of Poland On Guarantees of Freedom of Conscience and Religion that covers all religious organizations in Poland. There are only three religious organizations in the structure of the Armed Forces of Poland which have appropriate pastoral institutions consisting of professional soldiers. These institutions include the Field Ordinariate of the Polish Army formed by the Roman Catholic Church in Republic of Poland; Orthodox Ordinariate of the Polish Army by the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Republic of Poland and the Evangelical Military Pastoral Institution by the Evangelical Augsburg Church in Republic of Poland. Activities of above mentioned Military Ordinariates acting within the Armed Forces of Poland are financed from the state budget which is approximately 0.08 percent of annual expenditures allocated for national defense in Poland. In the consequence of the description of the organizational structure and activities of spiritual Ordinariate of the Polish Army there have been found that the largest of the three above mentioned Ordinariate is Field Ordinariate of the Polish Army formed by the Roman Catholic Church in Poland, as the dominate one among religious network Poland. In particularly the chaplains of the Field Ordinariate of the Polish Army take care of soldiers of the Roman and Greek Catholic faith. Accordingly Orthodox Ordinariate of the Polish Army cares Orthodox soldiers and Evangelical Military Pastoral Institution - soldiers representing the Protestant community. Therefore there have been analyzed the conditions for having the right to meet the religious needs in the army for members of other faiths. In the article the author highlighted the positive aspects of organizational experience of military chaplains activities for further introduction it in Ukraine.

Theories about religious desregulation and desinstitucionalization in contemporary society have underestimated the study of the religious movements' organizations. Criticizing this tendency, the present article calls attention to the importance of religious organization. It focus on how the broad Catholic Church's organization has affected the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) leading it to the adoption of an internationally integrated organization that is relatively autonomous in relation to the local catholic community and clergy. Adopting this format, the CCR flourished in faithful numbers, but it had to redefine its original proposal. The Catholic Church possesses organizational devices that allow the growth of movements and communities with such a degree of autonomy that they constitute quasi-churches inside the Church. These devices have helped the Church avoiding ruptures and defections. This article also stresses that the CCR reproduces the same dynamics of the broader Church to its interior. Within the CCR communities have developed with relative autonomy regarding their life styles, behavior rules, and religious discourses. \n\nKeywords: Organization; Roman Catholic Church; Catholic Charismatic Renewal

The legal framework for relations between the state and churches, and other religious organizations in Poland is set out in the Constitution. Constitutional provisions define the scope of religious freedom in the institutional dimension and the individual dimension. These solutions constitute an impassable limit of the legislator’s and bodies’ activities applying the law to shape the relations between the state and religious organizations. The article aims to present the constitutional model of religious relations in Poland based on legal provisions and jurisprudence of the Constitutional Tribunal. In addition, it will be indicated how the main elements of this model function in practice, both from the perspective of the state and in relation to churches and religious associations.

Sex and the Catholic Church in Guatemala

BackgroundNumerous national public inquiries have highlighted the problem of child sexual abuse in religious organizations. Despite this, evidence of population-wide prevalence is scarce. ObjectiveTo provide the first nationally representative prevalence estimates of child sexual abuse perpetrated by adults in religious organizations in Australia. MethodsThe Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS) surveyed 8503 people aged 16 and over about their experiences of child maltreatment. Weighted prevalence estimates were calculated based on responses to the child sexual abuse questions from the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire-R2: Adapted Version (ACMS). ResultsOne in 250 people reported being sexually abused as a child by an adult in a religious organization (0.4 %, 95 % CI, 0.3–0.6 %). Men reported significantly higher rates of child sexual abuse by these perpetrators (0.8 %, 95 % CI, 0.5–1.2 %), compared to women (0.1 %, 95 % CI, 0–0.3 %). This type of sexual abuse was overwhelmingly perpetrated by men (0.4 %, 95 % CI, 0.3–0.6 %), compared to women (0 %, 95 % CI, 0–0.1 %), and was substantially more often experienced in Catholic organizations (71.9 %) than other Christian denominations or other religions. Prevalence of child sexual abuse in religious organizations has declined over time (2.2 % of men 65 years and older, compared with 0.2 % of 16–24-year-old men). ConclusionsChild sexual abuse has been widespread in religious organizations in Australia. A decline over time indicates progress has been made in preventing sexual abuse of children. Religious organizations must take all reasonable measures to prevent child sexual abuse, with a particular need for interventions targeting male leaders, and organizational cultures.

In 2014, the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission), in cooperation with the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE/ODIHR), issued the Joint Guidelines on the Legal Personality of Religious or Belief Communities (hereafter, the 2014 Guidelines). This document contains nonbinding rules (soft law) for state parties in the field of the legal personality of religious and belief communities. Rules proposed by the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR in the 2014 Guidelines are organised into six categories (i.e. general rules and five groups of rules concerning particular issues: general availability of legal personality to religious or belief communities, prerequisites for acquiring legal personality, processes for the acquisition and withdrawal of a legal personality, functioning of legal entities, and loss of legal personality). An analysis of Polish law on the registration of religious community led to the general conclusion that Polish regulations are mostly compliant with the 2014 Guidelines. However doubts about the conformity of the Polish law and the 2014 Guidelines can be raised about the lack of condition of the repetitiveness of violations of laws and/or bylaws to deregister the religious/belief community, wide margin of appreciation of the term ‘gross violation’ used in prerequisites to deregister the religious/belief community, impossibility of challenging decisions dealing with the registration of religious/belief community by a community itself, and the lack of possibility of acquiring the status of ‘church or other religious organisation’ (which involves a variety of rights and privileges) by non-religious belief communities.

Przedmiotem recenzji jest publikacja Anety Marii Abramowicz dotycząca niezwykle ważnej w polskim systemie prawa wyznaniowego po 1989 r. konstytucyjnej zasady równouprawnienia kościołów i innych związków wyznaniowych. Autorka zaprezentowała w monografii szeroką analizę przepisów prawnych odnoszących się zarówno do regulacji położenia prawnego, jak i działalności kościołów i innych związków wyznaniowych pod kątem ich zgodności ze wspomnianą zasadą. Książka została opatrzona obszernym wstępem ukazującym historyczny rozwój zasady równości oraz omówieniem jej w kontekście wolności religijnej w aspekcie indywidualnym i instytucjonalnym. Recenzowana praca jest pierwszą, która w tak szerokim zakresie poświęca w całości uwagę zasadzie równouprawnienia kościołów i innych związków wyznaniowych w Polsce, i stanowi cenne uzupełnienie dotychczasowego dorobku nauki polskiego prawa wyznaniowego.

The organizational structure of the religious organizations of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine is investigated in the article. The essence, directions, forms of activity of Catholic religious organizations in modern conditions of the Russian military aggression against Ukraine are analyzed. The peculiarities of the functioning of Ukrainian Catholic religious organizations on the occupied part of Donbas are characterized. The role of religious organizations of the Catholic faith in carrying out socially useful activities in Ukraine in the context of national security is highlighted.

Models of relations between the state and religious organizations and the basic principles of their implementation are analyzed with the aim to determine which model of relations is being realized in the Republic of Latvia as well as to establish whether a model of relations, secured by a normative act, corresponds to the one implemented in practice. Within this work, the method of analysis has been used when considering the models of relations between the state and religious organizations, as well as the comparative method in the comparison of application of the basic principles of these models in the Republic of Latvia. The relations between the State and religious organizations are examined from the administratively legal and constitutionally legal aspect. The normative acts of the Republic of Latvia are discussed, as well as their mutual interaction and the collisions having sprung up between them. Laws and regulations of the Republic of Latvia are evaluated in connection with the norms of other European Union Member States, which regulate the relations between the state and religious organizations, and their experience. Evaluating the practice of other countries and the implemented models of relations between the state and religious organizations monographs and scientific papers by the scientists of the respective countries have been used. The content of international legal norms regulating freedom of religion have been analyzed as well as the requirements of the normative acts of the Republic of Latvia and their interaction. As grounds for conclusions, rulings by the court are chosen in cases where the application of legal norms is adjudicated concerning the realization of the right to the freedom of religion. Three fundamental principles are pointed out in the research basing on which the relations between the state and religious organizations are formed: association between the state and religious organizations, cooperation between the state and religious organizations and segregation between the state and religious organizations. Basing on the abovementioned principles, all models of relations between the state and religious organizations are formed. The model being implemented in a state can be determined by the regulation of the activity of religious organizations ensured with normative acts, by the range of rights of religious organizations, by peculiar features of preconditions, by the range of privileges, and by the burden of responsibilities imposed on religious organizations. To a large extent, the model of relations between the state and religious organizations depends on state traditions, historical development, distribution and impact of the definite religion within the state territory. The principle of unity between the state and religious organizations indicate the unity between them, institutions of religious organizations are identified as state institutions. Implementation of the abovementioned principle can manifest as an absolute unity between the state and church when state laws are based on definite religious norms and, in case of collisions, the principles of religious doctrine are applied. Or, within the abovementioned principle, two models of relations can be distinguished: a model of religious state and a model of state religion (church). The principle of cooperation between the state and religious organizations provides for separation of the state and religious organizations, they are functioning as autonomous subjects, religious organizations form their own structure and define their inner administration, the state on its part does not interfere in the inner affairs of religious organizations. Nevertheless, the state and religious organizations cooperate in order to achieve definite aims. Such a model of cooperation can be called the model of cooperation. In countries where the principle of separation of the state and religious organizations is in force and the model of segregation is functioning, the autonomy of religious organizations and the state are strictly separated. Each of these subjects is functioning in its own sphere, in parallel to one another. Religious organizations are not vested the rights to perform the functions of the state, and they do not receive financial support. Registration of a religious organization is the starting point where the activities of the state and of religious organizations come into contact. Registration of a religious organization is a basis for the model of relations between the state and religious organizations to be implemented in the given country. In the Republic of Latvia, the process of registration of religious organizations is regulated by the Law on Religious Organizations which provides for the order of registration of religious organizations as well as the legal status of the religious organizations to be registered; registration has a multi-stage structure. Initially, a congregation is registered as reregistrable, but later it acquires a regular status and after uniting the congregations can form a religious union (church). Religious unions (churches) have the right to establish dioceses and institutions. The next step in the mentioned chain includes religious organizations whose relations with the Republic of Latvia can be regulated by special laws. The State has established special relations with Evangelical Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Old Believer, Methodist, Baptist, Seventh-day Adventist and Moses faith (Judaist) denominations. These denominations have a peculiar status in the Republic of Latvia, the range of their rights differs from the rights of other congregations. Relations between the religious unions (churches) of these denominations and the State are regulated by special laws that define their rights and status. The Latvian Constitution (Satversme) contains a reference to the model of relations between the Republic of Latvia and religious organizations providing that the State is separated from the church. Evaluation of the features of a model of separation and its application to the relations between the Republic of Latvia and religious organizations allows to determine whether the implemented model is a model of separation or whether the relations between the State and religious organizations realized in practice belong to quite another model. The requirement for autonomy of religious organizations and the State can be regarded as satisfied, since the demand for non-interference by the State in the inner activities of religious organizations (except for the cases of violating laws) is included in the Law on Religious Organizations. Separation of religious organizations from the public rights sector presently is not being implemented. In state schools there are religious instruction lessons, religious organizations carry out religious activity in medical institutions and prisons, a service of chaplains has been established whose activity is funded from the state budget. Equality of the forms of activity of religious organizations is not guaranteed, since there exists a multi-stage registration system. A state function of performing marriage ceremonies is delegated to religious organizations. Thus, state functions are delegated to religious organizations. Besides the religious organizations are offered direct and indirect financial support which manifests in allotting tax relief as well as allocating direct grants from the state budget. The model having been established in the Republic of Latvia is a model of cooperation between the State and religious organizations. In the Constitution no state religion is provided but also no segregation of the State and religious organizations is realized. The State acknowledges the autonomy of religious organizations, however, the religious organizations receive financial support, definite functions are delegated to them, and religious organizations are operating in the public sector. Satversme lacks provisions that would truly provide that no state church exists in Latvia, but at the same time definite procedures and operations are being delegated to the church as stated by the law. The idea of amending the Satversme of the Republic of Latvia ought to be considered that would contain the provision about the model of cooperation between the State and religious organizations being realized in practice.

Reviewed by: Faith and Power: Latino Religious Politics Since 1945 ed. by Felipe Hinojosa, Maggie Elmore, and Sergio M. González David A. Badillo Faith and Power: Latino Religious Politics Since 1945. Edited by Felipe Hinojosa, Maggie Elmore, and Sergio M. González. New York: New York University Press, 2022. 352 pp. $35.00. This lively collection of twelve lively essays, edited by historians Felipe Hinojosa, Maggie Elmore, and Sergio González is a well-designed and interesting, addition to the modern Latino religious studies literature. The authors' contributions are original, interesting, and valuable. Their aim is to reinterpret Latino religious studies by updating interdisciplinary and comparative scholarship with focused research studies adopting urban, social movement, and immigration perspectives. Topics include institutional Catholicism, popular devotionalism, ecclesiastical structures and church movements, male and female religious order clergy, and episodes in the historic transition from the old to the new U.S. immigrant church. These themes have been covered thoroughly in earlier works including, for example, the Notre Dame History of Hispanic Catholics in the U.S. trilogy edited by Jay Dolan, as well as case studies by Thomas Tweed, Robert Orsi, and Stephen Warner, among many others, and in recent works analyzing the histories of Latino evangelicals. Faith and Power seeks to re-envision earlier generations of scholarship by focusing on "Latino religious politics" from the vantage points of Catholicism, mainline and Pentecostal Protestantism, and Mormonism. The essays are organized into three sections with four chapters each: "place and politics," "freedom movements," and [End Page 87] "immigrant transformations" covering diverse Latino constituencies and religious leadership styles. The first essay by Maggie Gilmore explores how increasing religious pluralism during and right after World War II allowed Catholic agencies to provide needed services to Latinos and how, since the 1950s, church-state collaboration between Catholic organizations, especially involving important bishops and governmental agencies, demonstrated the merging of faith with political power. The next essay, by Lilia Fernández, offers an intricate examination of challenges surfacing in serving a multiethnic Latino population in the Archdiocese of Chicago during the mid-to-late twentieth century. Delia Fernández-Jones examines housing and other Latino adjustment patterns in Grand Rapids, Michigan from 1956 to 2000 and an essay by Sujey Vega examines how Latinos in the historic Mormon Corridor (running from Utah to northern Mexico) responded to changing congregational structures and language usage. The second section on social movements includes Lloyd Barba's essay on Pentecostal farmworkers in the 1950s; Jorge Juan Rodríguez's study of the Young Lords' takeover in 1969 and 1970 of The People's Church in East Harlem; Felipe Hinojosa's chapter on progressive religious movements—beginning with the California Migrant Ministry in the San Joaquín Valley and extending to faith-based organizations in New York City, which illuminates the rise of Latino activism in the civil rights era; and Lara Medina, who assesses innovative mujerista conferences and liturgies of the Catholic feminist organization Las Hermanas, which formed during the early 1970s, relating its work to subsequent movements. The third section begins with Sergio González's chapter on immigrant and refugee sanctuary movements from the 1980s to the present, which focuses on the Midwest. Then the chapter by Eladio Bobadilla turns to the role of the Catholic Church in debates leading to the passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and Latino immigrant advocacy in its aftermath. Anne Martinez's essay revisits the expression of popular religion in the Vía Crucis in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. Finally, Yuridia Ramírez examines indigenous identity among Latinos in Durham, North Carolina. I have some reservations, however, about using the term "Latino religious politics" as a central organizing theme for the volume. Evidence presented in the chapters does not seem to warrant its predominance over an interpretation based simply on the interaction between religion, place, social movements, and immigration. In the essay on Mormonism, for instance, Vega develops a fascinating congregational analysis of Mexican American identity and participation within the Mormon Church which has little to do with immigration policy, the law, or politics. Few other chapters had any actual content [End Page 88] dealing with governance, democracy...

This chapter examines the origins of the PAX Association, a pro-communist secular Catholic organization created in 1947 in the People's Republic of Poland. It explains that PAX was used by the communists when setting up religious splinter organizations in Poland and discusses Poland's collaboration with the Bolsheviks during the German occupation. It also considers the loss of Polish sovereign thought and the stories of Polish political leaders Boleslaw Piasecki and Józef S'wiatlo.

This chapter investigates the role played by religious organizations (i.e., Catholic organizations) within the Italian welfare system, focusing on social services. In a long-term perspective, the role played by Catholic organizations has been crucial as far as the specific trajectory of development taken by the Italian system of social services is concerned. Moreover, over the past decades, this relevance seems to have increased due to specific institutional reforms, which have strongly supported a process of “subsidiarization” of social policies, as well as the impact of the current economic recession with the related increase in terms of demand for social services. However, given the fact that this relevance has arisen in a context of welfare state retrenchment and inertia of decision makers, a potential risk for Catholic organizations today is that of playing a more substitutive role (rather than a complementary one) in the delivery of social services, thus exacerbating the overall degree of territorial fragmentation and inequalities existing within Italian society.