The historical and social implications of pastoral and catechetical work of the Church in Poland and the Church in the diocese of Tarnów in the years following World War II

After World War II was over, the political map of Europe changed radically, which affected Poland as well. The differences were not limited merely to the changes of the borders, but they also meant the changes of political and social systems: a new system was enforced upon Poland by the USSR. The Polish Catholic Church had to learn to function in the midst of those rapid changes, stripped of her possessions, persecuted and restrained in her actions. This article shows the pastoral and catechetical work of the Church in Poland and the Church in the diocese of Tarnów in the years following World War II, with an emphasis on the historical and social circumstances of those times.PAT Kraków199-20