Activism and ‘lived religion’: challenging the anti-refugee attitudes in Poland

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the role played by religion in humanitarian aid for refugees and migrants of various faiths in predominantly Catholic Poland. Although the country has accepted small numbers of refugees for years, the discussion about their presence as well as the state of the asylum system has captured the attention of the general public in 2015. The European ‘refugee crisis’ sparked a fierce debate, further aggravated by the parliamentary and presidential elections that took place that year. The Roman Catholic Church was quite vocal in the debate, with representatives’ attitudes ranging from supportive to ambiguous and outright hostile. In this article, we focus on the grassroots initiatives at the margins of the Church that challenged the negative narratives and helped refugees and migrants. Based on empirical research we analyze the proclamations and activities of these actors. We show how the ‘refugee crisis’ became a “moment of ethics” (Zigon 2008) that encouraged people to help others in need. We explore how the diverse support for the refugees established a space to conceive of religion and moral values as they are lived (McGuire 2008) and translated into activism.

KEYWORDS:

• Religion
• values
• lived religion
• activism
• refugee support

Introduction

Religion is inextricably connected with forced migration. Religious persecution is one of the five grounds allowing asylum seekers to apply for refugee status. Religious and spiritual beliefs and practices sustain many refugees through displacement, migration, and settlement. Religion and spirituality can be sources of emotional and cognitive support, a form of social and political mobilization, and a vehicle for community building (Goździak and Shandy 2002; Mavelli and Wilson 2017), although not everybody finds solace in religion in times of extreme suffering. Religious beliefs and practices have also led to conflicts and forced migration, for instance, in the recent case of the Rohingya in Myanmar.

In the recent ‘refugee crisis’ in Europe, religion has played an ambiguous role (Mavelli and Wilson 2017).¹ While religious beliefs have prompted people to support refugees, the fear of predominantly Muslim asylum seekers, spurred by the media and populist politicians, resulted in calls to defend so-called Christian Europe (Bender 2020, 68; Goździak and Márton 2018, 125; Vermeersch 2019, 121). In 2015, unlike several other EU (European Union) Member States (for detailed numbers, see Goździak and Main 2020a, 1), Poland has not been directly affected by large numbers of asylum seekers, nor has it increased the number of refugees it awarded international protection. Despite this, the ‘refugee crisis’ became a subject of fierce debate, further aggravated by the parliamentary and presidential elections that took place that year. The Roman Catholic Church was quite vocal in the debate, with representatives’ attitudes ranging from supportive and ambiguous to insular and outright hostile. Here, we focus on the Catholic grassroots initiatives that chose to advocate for the refugees, arguing that, for them, the crisis became a “moment of ethics” (Zigon 2008, 165)—a creative space that forced reflection upon the question how to remain in a “moral mode of being” (ibid). In these circumstances, many believers and activists decided to pray, participate in discussions, learn, and directly support refugees and migrants. For them, activism is a way of life and an element of ‘lived religion’ (McGuire 2008). We analyze how these people live and understand their religion, especially in its performative aspect. We focus on the practices they choose to express their beliefs. The context of these practices needs some elaboration.

As a signatory of the Refugee Convention of 1951, Poland has granted some form of international protection to asylum seekers since 1991. However, out of the small number of applicants, most chose to leave Poland before the procedure was completed. Between 2010 and 2015, international protection was granted to fewer than 700 people per year, the majority of whom were Chechens (Klaus et al. 2018, 481). Nevertheless, throughout 2015, the notion of a ‘refugee crisis’ became a political tool in both presidential and parliamentary campaigns and refugees (especially Muslims) became a ‘symbolic threat’. In September 2015, Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of the Law and Justice party, spoke in Parliament, framing the country’s participation in refugee relocation schemes as a decision which “will have a high impact on the everyday life, public space, freedom, and safety” of Poles. He referred to the ostensibly unresolvable differences between the ‘Polish Christian culture’ and the Muslim refugees’ presumed plans to “impose, aggressively and forcefully, their own requirements affecting various areas of public life” (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość 2015). Right-wing parties touted their xenophobic and racist views and anti-refugee rhetoric. In public discussions, they positioned themselves as warriors against the Islamization of Poland and Europe, treating religion as a central part of national identity and indicated refugees as dangerous Others.

After the elections, the newly established government led by the Law and Justice party withdrew from the relocation plans and curbed the possibilities to apply for asylum at the country’s Eastern border. The debates have noticeably changed people’s attitudes. In May 2015, 14% of Poles were in favor of welcoming refugees without any conditions, while 58% were eager to allow them to stay in Poland until they could return to their home country. Exactly a year later, unconditionally and conditionally welcoming were 4% and 35%, respectively, and, in June 2018, 5% and 29%, respectively, of the population (CBOS 2018).

With religion at the center of the debate, it might seem as if there was a dichotomy between the hostile conservative religious voices, represented by populist politicians and the Roman Catholic Church in Poland (hereinafter referred to as the Church) and secular liberals. However, our research shows that religious beliefs have inspired activists both to support asylum seekers and to challenge the dominant narrative and inaction of the State and the Church. This pro-refugee religion-motivated activism remained largely invisible in research, which focused on public discourses (Pasamonik 2017; Pietrusińska 2018) and discourses regarding religious figures (Narkowicz 2018; Pędziwiatr 2018; Krotofil and Motak 2018) and other actors (Goździak and Main 2020b; Narkowicz 2018).

In this article, we first introduce our methodological and ethical considerations. Next, we discuss the relations between activism and lived religion, seeking to understand how the religious worlds of believers are constructed and negotiated. We discuss the historical and social context of Catholicism in Poland, highlighting the Church’s involvement in the debates and actions around the ‘refugee crisis’. Using ethnographic fieldwork, we analyze the performative aspects (practices) as well as the negotiations of religion and moral values. Our focus is assisting and advocating for refugees, seen as a ‘moment of ethics’ and a point that inspires grassroots activism. Finally, we discuss the interaction between religion and moral values, with emphasis on a universal church as a way of being in the world. This article argues that, in a critical moment, religious persons extend a negotiated, flexible, and performative understanding of religion as part of the European solidarity related to refugees.

Methods and ethical considerations

This study was part of a much larger project carried out by scientists and practitioners with backgrounds in anthropology, sociology, political science, and philosophy, who were based at eight different research centers across the EU. The project focused on the norms and values present and negotiated at different levels in the context of the European ‘refugee crisis’. The anthropological fieldwork conducted in several locations in Poland inquired into the activities of various organizations and initiatives advocating for and supporting refugees there. The purpose of exploring their motivations and declared and transmitted core values was achieved by the team carrying out 35 interviews and taking notes of participant observation during various meetings. The study was conducted between 2017 and 2019, although we had collaborated with some of our interlocutors before and gathered information during informal conversations.

While we draw upon all collected materials, in this article, we specifically focus on 15 in-depth ethnographic interviews with members of 7 religious groups assisting refugees and migrants in Poland and/or abroad.² All interviewees self-identified as Catholics that to some extent choose or feel forced to decenter institutional authority of the Catholic Church in Poland. They search for their own ways to embrace Christianity through an activist mode of being: they participate in and co-create activities in small groups they consider their communities. They are based in major Polish cities. Their ages range from 30 to 50 years, with some being younger or older. Most of them are well-educated and very active both within the community and in their work environments. Nine of them identified as women, six as men.³ These communities, however, also consist of people who were at first recipients of some support and later joined to offer help themselves. The interviewed activists view their faith as an important element of their identity and mode of being and put emphasis on context and experience as important factors in morality.

All the interviews were carried out in Polish and transcribed. While the recordings were deleted, the transcripts, fieldnotes, and other materials are stored in a password-protected computer in the Center for Migration Studies at Adam Mickiewicz University for the period of five years and will be deleted after that. This is or will be done in accordance with the Project Data Management Plan and the application for clearance to the Ethics Committee of Adam Mickiewicz University. The three researchers (including the two authors) involved in the project entitled “Norms and Values in the European Migration and Refugee Crisis” have access to these data, as stated in the Project Data Management Plan. We analyzed the resulting texts to elicit themes related to religious motivations and interreligious activism and dialogue. As many Polish activists have significant presence in the media and social media (e.g. some write blogs about their activities while others maintain Facebook profiles), we chose to include in the analysis interviews as well as blog posts and videos produced by them. Interview extracts in this article were translated by the authors. We used narrative analysis to identify themes related to the activists’ religious and moral stances. Narrative analysis in qualitative research is grounded in the assumption that meaning is experienced and that we can only understand others’ experiences from the expression they give them (Schutz 1972). In other words, experience gives rise and form to narratives, but it is organized and given meaning in the telling. Thus, analytically, we were able to explore how activists themselves view their involvement and understand religion and its core values. Finally, due to the ethical considerations for research with human subjects, we decided to keep the names of the studied groups anonymous. This is also important because of the polarization of society concerning the attitudes toward refugees and people supporting them in Poland.

Activism and ‘lived religion’

Grassroots initiatives for and on behalf of refugees and migrants are a kind of civic engagement that has been widely studied, particularly in the context of broader discussions about borders, citizenship, and politics in Europe (Feischmidt, Pries, and Cantat 2019). Similar research has been conducted in Poland (Goździak and Main 2020b; Main 2020; Narkowicz 2018). A range of studies address the intersection of religion and activism in various geographical and social contexts (Braunstein, Fuist, and Williams 2017). However, such studies rarely frame religion as anything other than motivation and espouse a static understanding of religion and religious identity (Winter 2017, 53). In most cases, religious engagement is viewed as an extension of the religious institutions supporting the needy. Here, we focus on the grassroots initiatives at the margins of the Church, particularly as they promote values which contradict the views promulgated by the Church, consist of low numbers of members, and struggle to exercise influence within the country’s Catholic institutions. While we acknowledge the infrastructural and motivational potential of religious institutions, we focus on the role and agency of individuals.

We approach religion and religious values not as a fixed set of ideas defined by religious institutions and adopted by their followers, but rather as dynamic, changing constantly through negotiation. We argue that religion is not only shaped by formal institutions and the clergy, but also by churchgoers who do not simply follow institutional ordinance, but themselves actively shape, negotiate, and change beliefs and practices (Nyhagen 2017). We see activism as part of life and study it as an element of ‘lived religion’. To borrow the concept from Meredith McGuire, it “depicts a subjectively grounded and potentially creative place for religious experience and expression” (McGuire 2008, 12). We focus on religion lived and understood by individuals, exploring what people view as the most important element of their faith. Taking into consideration the performative aspect of religion, we look into the practices chosen to express belief.

At the same time, in order to understand the meaning people ascribe to their religious beliefs, we analyze their statements. McGuire stresses that “individual religion is nevertheless fundamentally social” and views it as a construction whose “building blocks are shared meanings and experiences, learned practices, borrowed imagery, and imparted insights” (McGuire 2008, 13). Consequently, we not only focus on individuals’ experiences and views, but also see them as part of broader social structures. We further follow Helena Kupari’s view on the use of religious idioms, where religious worlds are “enmeshed in intricate power relations, with various actors staking different claims. An understanding of this broader social web is necessary for capturing religion as lived, especially in a modern, pluralistic society.” (Kupari 2020, 215)

The religious worlds of Catholics are negotiated between their personal reflections on their place in the world and the positions of the local parish clergy, bishops, the episcopate, and the Pope, expressed in letters, statements, and public prayers. Furthermore, the motivations of believers are challenged by the secular world and inspired by it.

The Church in Poland at the crossroads

Throughout Poland’s history, Catholicism has played an important role. The Church sustained the country’s national identity during the time of the partitions in the nineteenth century and, later, during the Communist regime, it supported political dissidents and the struggle for democracy. The Church’s high status achieved after the fall of Communism (backed by the Concordat of 1993) resulted in its direct influence on various dimensions of social and cultural life as well as its indirect influence on the legal frameworks. Furthermore, the pontificate of John Paul II (1978–2005) had a significant influence not only on the religious but also on the social and political ideas of Poles, while criticism of his centralized and authoritarian way of ruling the Church was almost absent (Obirek 2020). Currently, the Church’s representatives are present in various media outlets; they are frequently invited to attend national and local celebrations and asked to consecrate public spaces (schools and streets) and name them after saints, especially after John Paul II. The Church tends to position itself as a representative of the Polish citizens and an institution that determines the moral matters of the nation (Topidi 2019).

The position and voice of the Church are reinforced through its access to the media. Some of the Catholic outlets, such as the nationally broadcast Radio Maryja, reach large audiences, forming interest groups with a strong religious identity. Supporters of Radio Maryja have organized religious, social, and political actions voicing nationalist, xenophobic, and Euro-skeptical views (Krotofil and Motak 2018, 94). At the same time, not only has the Church undergone many changes, it has never been a uniform organization. There have always been more conservative groups among the clergy and congregations as well as more progressive groups advocating for a more open Church. A well-studied case of the tensions and conflicts within the Church was the ‘War of Crosses’, when, despite a court ruling to remove a cross which had been erected to commemorate the visit of Pope John Paul II, new crosses were placed in the very area of the former Nazi camp in Auschwitz in the late 1990s by Kazimierz Świtoń and the “Defenders of the Cross”, a small group of local activists who believed that they represented a ‘truer’ Church (cf. Zubrzycki 2006, 191). The conservatives center around the episcopate, while the progressives are connected to specific journals, including Tygodnik Powszechny (The Catholic Weekly), Więź (Bond), and Kontakt (Contact) as well as groups such as the Catholic Intelligentsia Clubs (a lay Catholic association established after 1956) and Catholic student groups (Kafkadesk 2018; Main 2011, 118; Porter-Szücs 2011, 256). Hence, the Church encompasses a broad spectrum of positions on migrants and refugees.

Even before the ‘refugee crisis’, Pope Francis asked the faithful to welcome refugees. His first apostolic visit shortly after his election in March 2013 was to the island of Lampedusa (the southernmost point and island of Italy), one of the main centers receiving asylum seekers who reach Europe by boat. During his visit, the Pope condemned the ‘globalization of indifference’ and criticized the lack of empathy for, and solidarity with, refugees and migrants. In his encyclicals and homilies, he repeatedly stressed how important it is to welcome, protect, uplift, and integrate refugees and migrants. He denounced acts of hostility and encouraged people to remain open toward foreigners of different faiths. Amid the crisis, he called for every parish, every religious community, and every monastery in Europe to welcome one refugee family (McElwee 2015). Moreover, the Holy See in Rome welcomed 12 Syrian families in 2016 and, in December 2019, brought 33 additional refugees from the Greek island of Lesbos, a main destination for refugees hoping to enter the European Union through Turkey (Giuffrida 2019). In Poland, the Pope’s request to welcome refugees was met with skepticism and diplomatic reluctance. In an official response, the episcopate failed to indicate whether the Pope’s call to action would be implemented. Instead, it pushed the responsibility on to the Polish government. The bishops’ communiqué, issued on 8 September 2015, stated:

When it comes to specific assistance to refugees in Poland, there is no doubt that the major initiative rests on the shoulders of secular powers. The inviting party should guarantee control, security, and basic allowances for refugees. The Church does not conceive of any activity taken without the cooperation of state authorities. (Konferencja Episkopatu Polski 2015)⁴

Some clergy opposed refugee admissions more directly. Archbishop Henryk Hoser, for example, stressed that Muslim refugees would face overwhelming challenges in understanding and accepting Christian values and therefore would be unable to integrate into Polish society. Hoser represents a conservative stance, believing that it is better to isolate religions than ensure the peaceful co-existence of Islam and Catholicism. Deacon Jacek Jan Pawłowicz went even further. The hostile and vulgar sentiments posted on his Facebook page insulted both Islam and Arab refugees. He claimed that Syrians would turn aggressive as soon as they were granted refugee status. (Pawłowicz 2015) While some Polish media criticized Pawłowicz, the episcopate failed to investigate his hate speech (Wiśniewska 2015). At the same time, other bishops followed the Pope, advocating welcoming refugees. Bishop Krzysztof Zadarko, for instance, proposed the introduction of humanitarian corridors for safe passage, emphasized that meeting with refugees was a test of humanity and maturity, and stressed that “today, Jesus has the face of a refugee” (Zadarko 2016). When addressing the ‘refugee crisis’, Archbishop Wojciech Polak said that the Church should strive for openness and show solidarity with people who needed help (Polak and Strzelczyk 2016). Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek strongly criticized the lack of action, comparing it to a sin of neglect. He argued that supporting refugees was a moral principle, which should be a priority for the Church (Gądek 2017).

Clearly, the attitudes of the clergy toward refugees were polarized (Krotofil and Motak 2018, 92). The episcopate and individual priests preferred to support refugees in the countries of conflict and in transit countries and encouraged believers to provide financial and spiritual support (Zięba 2016), at the same time putting great emphasis on the fact that the support should prioritize persecuted Christians. It is the lack of meaningful action that spurred the Catholic activists discussed in this article to support refugees.

Assisting and advocating for refugees

The ‘refugee crisis’ as a ‘moment of ethics’

The topic of the ‘refugee crisis’ was omnipresent in public debates in Poland throughout 2015 and 2016. All our informants were aware of the discussions in the media and the hostile attitudes expressed by public figures and much of Polish society. Some interviewees had engaged in various civic activities prior to the crisis, others had not. Regardless of this, many described the crisis as a turning point, forcing them to reflect on their own moral values. Jarrett Zigon conceptualizes morality as something to be considered in at least three different dimensions: institutional arenas, public discourse, embodied dispositions. He argues that “it is the rare occasion in everyday life when one actually has to stop and consider how to act or be morally appropriate” and calls these occasions “moments of ethics” (Zigon 2008, 165). They are caused by a moral breakdown, in which a person actively thinks about what needs to be done to remain in a “moral mode of being” (ibid). As a result, one acts (alone or with others) to “make oneself a more morally appropriate and acceptable social person not only in the eyes of others but also for oneself” (ibid).

Many interviewees strongly disagreed with the way European institutions and national governments were managing the situation. Our interlocutors indicated that the inhumane treatment of refugees and the unethical rhetoric on migration led them to reconsider their own views and pursue a more active involvement with, and on behalf of, refugees. One of the volunteers recalled how shocking it had been for her to realize that a large group of refugees were children. She was appalled by their harsh living conditions, with limited access to basic amenities, and overwhelmed by how difficult it must be to start an entirely new life in a completely new place. She admitted to feeling extremely frustrated because few Poles seemed to understand or care about it. Another interviewee stated:

We can see in the media what the situation is like… It is far from ideal. We wish there was far more openness, hospitality. And it hurts that this is not the case. I also have a sense of my own personal defeat. (Personal interview, 8 May 2019)

Failure to help was taken personally, but when it was shared by groups, it also forged a connection. For the interviewed activists, religion became the core incentive for reaction and reflection. Faith led them to think about human rights, respect, and dignity that were due to everyone, regardless of nationality or country of origin.

A prevalent sense of disappointment ultimately turned out to be mobilizing. The activists used their faith to reject the mainstream views regarding the ‘refugee crisis’; faith was also a strong motivator for changing the objectionable reality. One interviewee said: “We do not wallow in pessimism. We, as a Christian community, look at the future with hope. However, nothing will happen on its own, you have to help.” (Personal interview, 8 May 2019) At the same time, the interviewees seemed to agree that there was no space for necessary action within the structures of the Church—a belief they expressed quite directly. When we interviewed a volunteer (a retired doctor) who supported refugees both on her own and in cooperation with various organizations, she said that she drew her strength and motivation from religion, but acted outside religious structures. She explained:

I think that we all attend church, but when we leave the sanctuary, we shout with indignation if someone steps on our toes. That is why I have abandoned parochial religiosity. (Personal interview, 7 May 2019)

For her, parochial religiosity stands for the superficial practice of religious rituals without a deeper understanding of the underlying religious values, such as love of one’s neighbor and support for those in need.

Activism that was born in the ‘moment of ethics’ was a way to honor most important views and moral values. By getting involved in, or initiating actions to support refugees, participants expressed what Emily Winter (2017) calls ‘activist religiosity’: how their religious identity combines and integrates with their political views.

Everyday grassroots activism benefiting the refugees

We conducted one of the interviews in a center which had initially been created as a meeting and event space for African migrants and refugees. Having recognized that newcomers did not have a suitable place to meet, local activists, including a nun and a monk (from an order directly accountable to the Holy See), spearheaded the search for an appropriate space. Gradually, the initiative evolved into a formal center offering Polish language courses, providing space to celebrate holidays and host events, and organizing day trips and summer camps for children. The center assists migrants in finding housing, helps with scheduling medical appointments, and mitigates prejudice. While it is a physical safe space where refugees can rest or participate in activities, the center is also a place where spontaneous interreligious dialogue happens every day. The leaders as well as volunteers offer daily support which is organized around reported needs which are then collectively addressed.

Other organizations also reported that emphasis must be placed on meeting the most pressing needs, which implies the necessity to be open enough to understand them. One woman said that the observation of what was happening on the ground was at the core of the activities undertaken by her group: “We are a Catholic community. So, it started with praying and with a more conscious look at our own city. ‘Who are the people in need in my city?’” (Personal interview, 9 May 2019)

Group members started by collecting money among themselves, their friends, and families. As the ‘refugee crisis’ unfolded, they received information about a Syrian couple who lived in very difficult conditions close to their city and felt very alienated. The group helped them relocate, paid their rent, and provided social support. The group also advocated for the creation of humanitarian corridors. Members of this group recalled that

at some point, we realized that the corridors would not be opened but we thought: there are many Ukrainians around us. Of course, not all of them are refugees, the vast majority are migrants. But perhaps they also need our hospitality, they need to feel that they are welcome. And, in fact, some of these people started coming to our meetings with the poor. (Personal interview, 9 May 2019)

As they repeatedly faced disappointment, they nevertheless continued to search for solutions. They reconsidered plans and focused on their own neighborhoods. As they kept advocating for refugees, the group focused on another marginalized group: the Ukrainians. Their initiatives included an Orthodox Christmas dinner for those who could not go back to Ukraine and would have had to spend the holiday alone.

While some groups focused on providing support for refugees and migrants, others directed their efforts more toward advocacy. One such project aimed to counteract Islamophobic narratives in Poland. A Kraków-based group organized a series of workshops and meetings with the topic “Rethinking Refugees: Knowledge and Action”. In a press interview, the organizers described this initiative as follows:

We invited refugees from several countries: Chechnya, Syria, and Afghanistan. They delivered lectures, we ate breakfast together, you could talk to them, not necessarily about trauma, but about everyday life. The pretexts for these meetings vary: sometimes we screen a movie, sometimes we help the homeless together, and sometimes we hold a joint service. (Facebook, 26 October 2018)

It has been one of the most innovative approaches to interfaith dialogue and cross-cultural education in Poland. The active presence in cyberspace attracts young people who want to learn about the world and religious pluralism, as the Polish educational system focuses exclusively on Catholicism. The organizers of this initiative advocate for inclusivity and, by accommodating other voices, demonstrate how it can be done. The activists educate about religion, encouraging people to reconsider their attitudes toward and engagement with the most vulnerable and marginalized.

The groups we studied operated in various spaces: they organized meetings in their own venues as well as participated in meetings, lectures, and demonstrations in many different locations. Through everyday activities, activists encouraged people to rethink attitudes toward migration and the policies that regulate it. Grassroots activism is seen here as an attempt to negotiate the dominant understanding of citizenship (Steen Bygballe Jensen and Kirchner 2020).

While many programs targeted problems in their vicinities or neighborhoods, they nevertheless developed strong ties with religious and secular initiatives both in Poland and abroad. Activists drew inspiration from many places and people. One of them expressed how important these contacts were: “We meet with refugees who were received by communities in the West, we see how much good it brings to these people, but also to the local communities.” (Personal interview, 9 May 2019) This was also an opportunity to witness how other communities interpret and live by their religion.

Contesting religion, negotiating moral values

Toward a universal Church

Robert Orsi argues that religion-as-lived is taking shape in an individual’s ongoing processes of engagement with the realities of everyday existence, “moving back and forth between structure and agency, tradition and act, [and] imagination and reality” (Orsi 2010, xli, as quoted in Kupari 2020, 215). Our findings certainly support such dynamics. Many of our interviewees felt disillusioned by the stance of the Church and the majority of its representatives. Their activism represents the search for a space where people share similar values and a similar understanding of religion. In this article, we explore their views on what for them is ‘proper’ religion.

One of the activists explained that her group considered itself to be a community of religious people who “feel the need to express, and do, good” (personal interview, 9 May 2019). In order to do this, they focus on the Gospel that they constantly read, discuss, and reflect upon. They wanted to create a space for dialogue that was lacking in the parish. The image of religion implied here is about reflection and dialogue among the members of a congregation, rather than being proselytized by some priest expecting to be heard without doubts or questions. The dialogue happens not only among the members of the community, but also between them and anyone who wishes to meet with them:

If we want to be faithful to the Gospel, we should be open, there is no discussion about it. This also means to be open to followers of other religions. […] This is about the world we want to create. The openness we draw from the Gospel implies openness to everyone. There is a great need for tolerance, respect. We need to start noticing things that unite us instead of discussing ones that divide us. This is the only ground on which common things, common good can be built. (Personal interview, 9 May 2019)

One of the activists juxtaposed this call for openness with the direction currently taken by the institutional Church: “When you are part of the Church, which is by definition a universal Church, you cannot close yourself off. It is a self-contradiction—this is a national, nationalist, exclusive vision.” (Personal interview, 8 May 2019) There has been a lot of emphasis on self-education among the activists as well as practicing sensitivity to injustice and human suffering and the need to be proactive. Religion here is seen not as a system of theoretical dispositions, but as a way of being in the world: actively shaping it and responding to challenges one is faced with.

Changing inaction and narratives of hostility

Zigon proposes that the ‘moment of ethics’ is a space of reflection for individuals that also entails the possibility of “shifts, alterations, and changes in the spheres of institutional morality and the public discourse of morality” (Zigon 2008, 165). Some of the activists decided to act, because they thought that “the Catholic Church should provide a space for an honest discussion [about refugees], a debate to reject hysterical reactions, and absurd commentaries” (personal interview, 12 April 2019). They established an educational program for parishes, congregations, and faith groups that provides a forum to discuss the plight of refugees and helps to ameliorate the fears of the Polish society. Within this initiative, they organized an open debate on migration during a prestigious religious congress in Gniezno, the ecclesiastical capital in central-western Poland. Such events are organized annually to discuss important issues, attended by both clergy and laity as well as representatives of Christian churches as part of the ecumenical movement. One of the panels centered on migration (as one of the participants told us) in an attempt to find allies in a very divided and complex environment.

The group also organized workshops in parishes across Poland and in five Catholic seminaries. However, the initiative did not meet with a warm reception. As one of the activists recalled, recruiting priests and parishes to participate in the workshops proved quite difficult:

The majority was not interested in the topic or in changing anything. A small minority was very negative about refugees and an equally small group was open to the idea. It came as a disappointment that the latter did not want to support the organization of the workshops. Maybe they did not want to be associated with the issue even more. […] Everything was difficult: to spread information about it, to recruit parishes, to get permission to enter seminaries, to find and invite refugees to participate in the workshops. (Personal interview, 12 April 2019)

The project produced a leaflet that was distributed in many parishes. It included information on the situation of refugees in Europe and in Poland, their rights, projects offering support within the Church, in Poland, in countries of transit as well as in countries of origin. The leaflet offered several options for parishes to get involved.

Another way of rallying Catholics to support refugees was organized prayer. Parishes can get involved in events such as the “World Migrant and Refugee Day” which is celebrated in mid-January. In 2018, the organizers of this event encouraged people to hold Mass for migrants and refugees, learn about the activities undertaken to support them, donate money, and offer sympathy to those staying in the centers for asylum seekers. One of the groups we studied held a prayer service for the refugees who had died on their way to Europe in 2015, with the names of the deceased read out during the ceremony. The group stressed that this part was crucial to them, because it made the public recognize the human tragedy before them: “This is not an anonymous crowd; they are people who have run away from war, poverty, who are experiencing tragedy and who unfortunately often die.” (Personal interview, 9 May 2019) In 2015, the prayer service was held in three cities; after a few years it became an annual event that takes place in 20 locations with the support of the episcopate and the involvement of some bishops. The activists explained: “It is a proposal for the Church also to change the mentality, to show these are human tragedies. So, this is what we can do, change our mindset a little bit, look at these people.” (Personal interview, 9 May 2019)

Conclusions

During the World Youth Days in Kraków in 2016, Pope Francis asked for charity following the Evangelical call, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me”, and continued to say that

we are called to serve Jesus crucified in every marginalized person, to touch his blessed body in the excluded, the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the imprisoned, the sick, the unemployed, the persecuted, the refugee, the immigrant. There we will find our God; there we can touch the Lord. (Stanowicz 2016)

Nevertheless, the Church has struggled not only to speak with a unified voice, but also to follow this message. In many instances, it went as far as explicitly sympathizing with extremely right-wing views and actors.

The initiatives we studied attempted to change the views present within the Church, with varying degrees of success. The institution of the Catholic Church in Poland is still highly respected by most Poles (although the level of trust is slowly decreasing): in 2015, 55% of adult Poles assessed the activity of the Church positively and 33% negatively; in 2017; 52% were positive and 35% negative (Mariański 2017, 82). More recently, the views of the Church have been criticized by some priests. For instance, Father Ludwik Wiśniewski published an article titled “Oskarżam” (‘I Accuse’) in Tygodnik Powszechny on 15 January 2018, where he says that

Despite the fact that the Church still constitutes a significant power in the country (with a strong group of supporters, an even larger group of people who declare as members, a power that still holds immense political influence and enjoys a strong financial position), Christianity in Poland is slowly dying. And it is dying for different reasons than in the constantly secularizing states of Western Europe. Here, its demise will be dictated not by the people who remain on the outside, but instead, by the death of the Christian spirit in the believers who belong to the Catholic Church with all their ardency. (Beniuszys and Liberte 2018)

The condition of the Catholic Church in Poland has been extensively discussed by Catholic intellectuals, especially those connected with the weekly Tygodnik Powszechny and the Catholic Intelligentsia Clubs. Andrzej Wielowieyski—politician, thinker, and witness to decades of political-religious relations in Poland—pointed out that Catholics have a very low level of social cooperation, their clergy are intellectually unimpressive, and the majority of priests and bishops remain conspicuously quiet on social issues. He stated that “most priests who come to parishes simply remain silent. And even if one of them has something to say, they have colleagues in the parish that prefer to say nothing.” (Czyż 2020) The pedophilia scandals that have gradually come to light since 2018 as well as protests regarding women’s and LGBTQ rights have led to the escalation of social and family conflicts, in which the Church hierarchy protected its own interests and exercised symbolic violence toward the weakest members (Tomaszewski 2020).

In this article, we have examined the actions pursued by religious grassroots initiatives. In the face of the indifference of the representatives of both State and Church, the activists created spaces to offer support and addressed the needs they saw in their closest surroundings. Moreover, they made an effort to change the hostile approaches and attitudes toward migrants and refugees. Their communities not only offered tangible help, but also reconceived the understanding of religiosity and moral values through their actions. Their engagement offered an alternative vision of religion: one with dialogue, openness, and solidarity at its core. The analysis offered here puts forward a more nuanced understanding of religion and the relationship between religion, civic engagement, and politics. Our research indicates the need to go beyond the institutional dimensions of faiths and beliefs and to pay more attention to the ways religion is understood, negotiated, and transformed—that is lived—by its followers. Approaching religion, especially at its intersection with activism, in a less static way allows us to notice the agency of involved individuals and communities. Exploring lived religion not only in the everyday practices but also in moments and projects of tensions and conflicts enables us to understand better dilemmas faced by involved communities and individuals and thus fathom the roots and course of negotiations and transformations that would otherwise go unnoticed.

Acknowledgments

This article was possible due to the cooperation with Professor Elżbieta M. Goździak. We are grateful for the insightful discussions during the course of the entire project and the invaluable comments on this particular text. We would also like to express our gratitude to the organizers and participants of the conference of the Visegrad Anthropologists’ Network (V4 NET) 2020. We appreciate the opportunity to present the early version of this article at this meeting. Finally, many thanks to the respondents who shared their views and experiences with us.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work on which this article is based was supported by the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program of the European Union (Grant 770330), entitled “Norms and Values in the European Migration and Refugee Crisis”.

Notes on contributors

Izabella Main

Izabella Main is associate professor in the Department of Anthropology and Ethnology and Director of the Center for Migration Studies at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. Her research interests include the anthropology of migration, medical anthropology, and studies on memory. She is the co-editor (with Elżbieta M. Goździak and Brigitte Suter) of Europe and the Refugee Response: A Crisis of Values? (2020).

Izabela Kujawa

Izabela Kujawa is an anthropologist and a post-doctoral researcher in the Center for Migration Studies at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. She is the Principal Investigator of the project “Managing Emotions in the Context of Migration”, funded by the Polish National Science Center. Her research interests include the anthropology of migration and work and the anthropology of emotions.

Notes

1 We use inverted commas to signal the problematic and now contested nature of the nevertheless still widely used term ‘refugee crisis’. By this, we want to oppose interpretations suggesting that refugees are the cause of the crisis and instead indicate that, when we speak about a crisis, we should instead stress the inefficiency of the European reception system. Furthermore, we subscribe to voices emphasizing that the need to protect large numbers of refugees already existed in the past and is still a reality of many places outside Europe. By this we hope to contribute to debunking the idea that the situation is unique, which is often used to justify inaction and policy failures.

2 Since the number of refugees in Poland is small and the national government hinders the efforts to change this, many activists engage in activities that support refugees abroad by organizing fundraising events or travel abroad (e.g. to Greece, Turkey or Lebanon) to provide help there.

3 In order not to risk compromising interviees’ anonymity, we do not always indicate in the interview extracts whether the person is male or female.

4 Extracts from Polish publications were translated by the authors.