25 lat myśli społecznej Kościoła w Bydgoszczy

Abstract

The article offers a historical study of Bydgoszcz Social Days, an event held for 25 years. It begins with a section commemorating the first organisers, who include the late Bishop Jan Nowak and Father Tadeusz Makowski, PhD, from Gniezno. Next, the author conducts an analysis of source material, which demonstrates that Bydgoszcz Social Days can be divided into three different stages with regard to organisation and course. The first stage lasted from 1987 to 1996 and was characterised by some systematic approach and Bishop Jan Nowak’s active involvement. The second stage (1997–2003) witnessed a period of regression marked by Bishop Jan Nowak’s transfer to Siedlce. The beginning of the third stage coincided with the establishment of the Diocese of Bydgoszcz. This period demonstrates a gradual revival of Bydgoszcz Social Days. The article also contains a summary of the social symposiums held in Bydgoszcz since 1987, which reveals interesting statistical data. The Bydgoszcz Social Days staged so far have seen a total of 94 people give 124 lectures. A single event includes from 4 to 9 lectures. The scope of the social symposiums covers five areas. These include topics which focus on the content and topicality of the message in the Church’s social documents and commemorate the anniversaries of their publication; topics that cover current social issues discussed in the Church’s latest documents; topics which popularize John Paul II’s message; topics that discuss social topicalities; and topics that present the historic dimension of the Church’s social doctrine. The output of Bydgoszcz Social Days is a vast body of printed documents that include homilies from Holy Masses at inauguration ceremonies, lectures, talks, reports and press releases. Worth mentioning is the fact that the symposium was the subject matter of an MA dissertation written in the Theological Department of the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznań.