Controversy about Rev. Franciszek Hodur, the Founder of the Polish National Catholic Church

Abstract

The article is an attempt at a possibly objective presentation - on the basis of sources available today - of that period of the life of Franciszek Hodur (the founder and for many years leader of the Polish National Catholic Church), in which he was still a true member of the Roman-Catholic Church. The example of this period shows best how his person became in historiography an object of articles debauched by ideological aims - of attack or defense. Roman- -Catholic authors presented Hodur as a negative hero, whereas his coreligionists - just the opposite - in a very positive tone. It was done both by „adding” certain events unconfirmed by any sources and by concealing other ones, which could impair the ideological aim assumed beforehand. This debauching of Hodur’s biography has been successively shown with respect to his stay in the secondary school and in the Cracow seminary, then to his removal from the seminary and to his work as a Roman-Catholic priest in the USA. In every case the real course of events has been presented objectively as far as possible. In the conclusion a postulate has been put forward to describe the later stages of Franciszek Hodur’s life in the same way, which would constitute a considerable contribution to the ecumenical dialogue between the Roman-Catholic Church and the Polish National Catholic Church.