Niepokalane Poczęcie Najświętszej Maryi Panny w pastoralnej działalności Kościoła

Abstract

The aim of the article is to show how members of the Catholic Church in Poland understand themeaning of the marian dogma of Immaculate Conception. In the first part the author analyzes the following fragment of the constitution Ineffabilis Deus of 8th December 1854, in which the Pope Pius IX pronounced and defined that the Blessed Virgin Mary was preserved by God from the original sin: “in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin” In the second part the autor presents the results of the statistical survey. The respondents were asked in the questionnaire if they know when the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated, what is the definition of the Immaculate Conception, what it means that Mary was preserved from the original sin, what were the consequences of the Immaculate Conception in Mary’s life and what are the sources of respondents’ knowledge of Immaculate Conception. It occurred that three groups of respondents were the least knowledgeable about the marian dogma: those, who do not belong to any of the catholic movements, people at the age o f25-34 and the teenagers. That is why, in the third part, the author presents some solutions that can be introduced to the ministry in the parishes - for instance - pilgrimages, sermons about the Immaculate Conception etc.