Małżeństwa mieszane katolicko-ewangelickie oraz konwersje na Śląsku Opolskim i Śląsku Górnym w latach 1921-1940. Zarys statystyczny

Abstract

According to thesis of the Protestant Churches the marriage is not a sacrament, but it does not mean that the Churches are not attaching great significance to the permanence of the marriage. Even M. Luther was a determined opponent of divorces and sexual immorality calling it the most offence and the sin towards God. The Protestant Churches also allowed containing mixed marriages, however warning worshippers about fatal effects of such connections, particularly in religious education of children. On area of Opole and Upper Silesia the problem of mixed marriages appeared in result of development of industry and increasing of the evangelical community. At first the Prussian government tried to solve this problem on administrative way, however in practice decisions about the place of the marriage ceremony and baptism of children were left to individual Churches and mixed marriages. In concerned period of 1921-1940 years in Opole Silesia the majority of catholic-protestant pairs contained the marriages and baptized their children at the Roman Catholic Church. But thanks of the positive balance of conversions It is possible to say that protestant Church kept generally the stability and status quo in relation with catholic Church. On Polish Upper Silesia, where protestants were living in deep Diaspora, proportion of marriage ceremonies and baptisms were advantageous for the protestant side. Adding the positive outcome of the conversion, it is possible to conclude that the protestant Church didn't lose on connections with catholic Church, but even attracted new believers from the catholic side. It was probably caused, on one side, by the fact that the large homogeneous communities of protestants lived in big municipal centers, and, on the second side, that on countryside areas mainly multigenerational protestant families were existed what strengthened religious relations and identity. Also ethnic factor played an essential role. Protestants, being in the straight majority of the German nationality, defending one’s faith in mixed marriages also defended a national separate identity, and the same way, resisting the process of the repolonization effectively.