Polish Religious Life in Australia

Abstract

Till 1948 only a few thousand Poles had settled in Australia. It is hard to talk about the Polish presence in the Australian Catholic Church before that year. There was, however, a Polish parish set up at Sevenhill in South Australia, which was accepted by the Catholic Church of that time. The faithful became members of the Australian Catholic Church in a natural way − through the process of time. Their transition from one Catholic tradition to another was gentle without any great psychological trauma. Thus they became good and faithful Australian Catholics. Out of this small Polish flock came an Australian priest who later became a bishop.

Today, as a consequence of mass Polish migration to Australia after the Second World War, there are about 100,000 Australian Catholics of Polish origin out of about 4 milion Catholics in this country. This is quite a substantial number. However, there are few Australian priests of Polish origin and the chances of one of them becoming a bishop are rather slim.

In the past forty years the Australian Catholic Church has absorbed the second generation of Polish Catholics; but the method of absorbtion has killed their identities. It is hard to call such Catholics good Catholics.