The Poznań Foundation of Humanitarian Relief “Redemptoris Missio” originated twenty-five years ago. Its mission is to provide professional medical assistance to missionaries and mission centers. It ...is the first foundation which involved lay people in the missionary activity of the Catholic Church. It was also founded mostly by lay people and is still managed by them. Many lay volunteers are also engaged in its work. In this study the author describes the genesis of the Foundation and its goals in the context of the pastoral paradigm. The analytical-critical method of its functioning was analyzed, as well as analysis of the source documents of the foundation. On the basis of the foundation's activities an institutional model of secular involvement in the Church’s missionary activity is presented, which can be replicated in other pastoral centers.
Media communicating via the Internet have become tools of evangelizing infl uence since the early 1990s. They became the subject of research for the author, in terms of how well they are known to ...the Internet users depending on the degree of religiosity they declared (believers and regular users, believers and occasional practitioners, non-believers), which allowed to formulate pastoral postulates and conclusions. The survey included persons from a representative, nationwide sample (N = 1000) who completed standardized CAWI (Computer-Assisted Web Interview) questionnaire interviews and VIDI (Virtual Individual In-Depth Interviews – individual indepth interviews). This is the fi rst such extensive research on Poland. According to the research, the knowledge and use of Christian media that communicate through the Internet, including the missionary ones, changes depending on the respondents’ declared degree of religiosity.
The turn of the 20 th and 21 st centuries is connected with the significant development of the technology of social media. This is the period when the so-called new media that have a significant ...impact on building religious awareness of modern societies. This article is a record of research on the meanings of the concept of mission in new media, as well as the extent to which these meanings have changed over time, from ancient periods to the present day. The author presents changes in the scope of the meaning of the term missions and shows his contemporary meanings that are present in new media: entertainment, political, business, cosmic, vocational, diplomatic, automotive, health or sports. The concept of missions in the Christian field occurs in around 13%. The author makes a statement of this fact, to what extent it is the result of the secularization of society, and how much of a positive process of implementing the concept of missions into a broader linguistic range of meaning, or both.
The Polish missionary media of social communication has been appearing since 1882. In the analyzed period, they performed their role very well in the period of the covid-19 pandemic. They quickly ...reacted to a crisis situation, informing about it fairly and widely, and in some titles it translated into inviting readers to spiritual and material commitment to specific needs. A special tool in this is the media communicating via the Internet, especially social media, which allow for immediate information and reactions to a short- or long-term crisis situation. The study shows that the publishing functions performed by this press include: informational and journalistic, promoting the mission and the missionary idea, catechetical and formation, new evangelization and evangelization, fundraising for the mission, awakening missionary vocations, organizing mission groups, opinion-forming and attitude-forming. It seems that in the main assumptions, the implementation of these functions at the level of ideas has not changed, and the differences result primarily from changes in the communication technique and the diversity of target groups. Before starting the research, the following hypotheses and research theses were formulated, which we then tried to verify (hypotheses) or confirm (theses) in the course of the research. Thesis 1: during the covid-19 pandemic, leading mission journals performed the press functions for which they were created – has been confirmed. Hypothesis 1: the press functions performed by the press media and the media communicating via the Internet differed – it was verified negatively. However, it is noticeable that individual media are used based on their technical capabilities (quick information and immediate help was possible through the media communicating via the Internet) and target groups (Internet users are younger and the content was usually prepared with them in mind). Hypothesis 2: the main functions performed were: information, organization and fundraising – in the field of assistance to the publisher’s legal entity – has been positively verified.
The article analyzes the contents of the review „Misyjne Drogi”, published by the Polish MIssionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, with special focus on the theme of Oblate Brothers and their ...participation in missionary works of the Congregation. The changing image of the ministry of brothers is described according to three periods: 1983-1994, 1995-2011, 2012-2015. The articles published during the first period spoke mostly about brothers performing auxiliary tasks of farmer, construction worker, nurse etc. As the years passed, the authors have focused more on the direct participation of Oblate brothers in the ministry of evangelisation, on equal terms with Oblate priests.
The Missionary Procuration of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (1969-2022) is a national institution supporting Oblate, but not only, missionary activity ad gentes. Its structure also ...includes: Public Association of the Faithful “Friends of the Oblate Missions” (since 1969), Association Oblacka Pomoc Misjom “Lumen Caritatis” (since 2009), the Missionary Roads magazine and website (since 2014), and the Mazenodianum Institute Foundation (since 2021). These institutions, apart from the association of “Friends of the Oblate Missions”, previously operated separately. From the very beginning, the Missionary Procuration has been associated with the basic areas of its activity: providing spiritual and material assistance to missionaries and the works they carry out; supporting the awakening of missionary vocations; propagating the missionary idea both among the clergy and lay people, also through: the activities of the Friends of the Mission, the activities of the “Lumen Caritatis” association, the publishing of the “Missionary Roads” magazine, the www.misacyjne.pl website, books and ephemeral publications, presence in other social media, parish animations and mission retreats, conducting social campaigns, other evangelistic, cultural and scientific events related to the promotion of Oblate missions. The conducted research shows, among others, that: this activity in many of its aspects may be paradigmatic for other national mission institutions (eg WYD or the missionary secretariat of the Divine Word Missionaries work in a similar way). The realities of missionary activity and research have also shown that the centralization of missionary activities in one institutional entity within the religious or diocesan jurisdiction is a better solution than their atomization. The purpose of missionary institutions is not only spiritual and material help for the mission, but also a much wider multifaceted activity; in the activities of ecclesial missionary institutions, both proven and modern missionary tools should be used, and in-depth mission formation, as well as the creation of communities, groups of people engaged in mission is a condition of permanent missionary assistance.
The article deals with the transformation of the editorial strategies of the Polish missionary press. The contents of a missionary magazine, frequency of its publication, the quality of articles etc. ...depend on the policies of editorial boards and publishers. The goal of the contemporary missionary press is to provide information (missionary news), to influence public opinion, to create correct attitudes towards missions, to inspire different forms of involvement, to educate, to obtain economic support for missions etc. Those who analyze the milieu of the Catholic mass-media underline also its purpose to evangelize. All those aspects are taken into consideration in the article, which analyzes the developments of the Polish missionary press following three periods of recent history: before the Second World War, between 1945 and 2000 and in the 21st century.
This research has confirmed the need for missionary periodicals on the Polish press market, which have specific tasks and functions to perform. Declining circulation should lead to some consolidation ...of press titles and to cooperation and raising the standard of individual titles. The period of the pandemic proved that the leading Polish missionary periodicals react quickly to the crisis situation, provide reliable and wide-ranging information about it, and in some titles this translates into an invitation to readers to commit themselves spiritually and materially to specific needs. From the course of the analyses carried out, we can verify the hypotheses or confirm the theses posed before the research began.
Thesis 1. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the leading missionary journals carried out the press functions for which they were established - confirmed, although mainly in terms of information-publicity, fundraising and organising functions.
Thesis 2. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the leading missionary magazines reported on the pandemic situation in mission areas and publicised the social campaigns that were being conducted - confirmed, although some titles more than others.
Hypothesis 1. There is a deepening crisis of missionary journalism, in favour of missionary media communicating via the internet. It seems necessary to adapt different content to the two distinct target groups (audiences) - verified positively.
Hypothesis 2. There is a need for change and centralisation on the market of missionary journalism - verified positively.
Media communicating via the Internet have become tools of evangelizing influence since the early 1990s. They became the subject of research for the author, in terms of how well they are known to the ...Internet users depending on the degree of religiosity they declared (believers and regular users, believers and occasional practitioners, non-believers), which allowed to formulate pastoral postulates and conclusions. The survey included persons from a representative, nationwide sample (N = 1000) who completed standardized CAWI (Computer-Assisted Web Interview) questionnaire interviews and VIDI (Virtual Individual In-Depth Interviews – individual indepth interviews). This is the first such extensive research on Poland. According to the research, the knowledge and use of Christian media that communicate through the Internet, including the missionary ones, changes depending on the respondents' declared degree of religiosity.
The turn of the 20 th and 21 st centuries is connected with the significant development of the technology of social media. This is the period when the so-called new media that have a significant ...impact on building religious awareness of modern societies. This article is a record of research on the meanings of the concept of mission in new media, as well as the extent to which these meanings have changed over time, from ancient periods to the present day. The author presents changes in the scope of the meaning of the term missions and shows his contemporary meanings that are present in new media: entertainment, political, business, cosmic, vocational, diplomatic, automotive, health or sports. The concept of missions in the Christian field occurs in around 13%. The author makes a statement of this fact, to what extent it is the result of the secularization of society, and how much of a positive process of implementing the concept of missions into a broader linguistic range of meaning, or both.
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