Religious integration of Poles in France

Abstract

The article is part of the doctor's thesis La communauté polonaise en France de 1919 à 1975 Problèmes de l'intégration des trois générations written in 1977 at the Sorbonne. It is based on sociological research carried on at intervals in the years 1969-1975, to which 600 persons were subjected. They came from three generations (emigrants, their children and grandchildren) representing various social-professional groups in the biggest Polish agglomerations in France. The integration processes of Poles and persons of Polish descent with the French society are presented in the economic, psycho-social, cultural political and religious fields. The present article only discusses the religious integration.

The introduction to the article gives the definition of the religious integration. Then polish ministration establishments and centers of religious life in France, taking into consideration their legal situation during the period since the end of World War II to recent years, are presented. At present there are over 80 Polish ministration establishments subordinated to the Polish Catholic Mission in Paris. Next the article discusses those Polish Catholic organizations, which are closely connected with the ministration establishments. In recent years some organizations, both religious and social-cultural, have been undergoing a serious crisis.

A considerable amount of space is devoted to the religiousness of the three generations of the Polish community in France. The Polish emigrants in France are homogeneous with respect to religion. There are no significant differences in the frequency of religious practices in the inter-generation section. About one-third of all the subjects are regularly practicing Catholics; similarly, one-third perform the religious practices not regularly, and over 20% have declared that they are not practicing Catholics at all. More than 60% participate in Polish services and religious celebrations. According to the data from the Polish Catholic Mission's inquiry, in the 60-ies Polish priests had permanent or frequent contacts with 250 000 Poles and persons of Polish descent. The older emigrants usually participate in Polish services. However, their children and grandchildren have adopted many French religious customs, among others, more frequent going to communion.

Polish immigrants have brought a lot of spiritual values to the French society and by their affiliation to Polish ministration establishment they have enriched the French local Church in the religious respect, and at the same time they have adopted a lot of religious contents from the French Church, and hence a considerable process of integration, understood as a mutual exchange of values, has taken place.