Działalność dobroczynna na terenie diecezji częstochowskiej w okresie dwudziestolecia międzywojennego

Abstract

This article is dedicated to various ways of charitable activity performed by the Catholic Church in the diocese of Częstochowa in the interwar period. It covers the period from the setting-up the diocese of Częstochowa till the beginning of the II World War (1925-1939). During the first years of the diocese’s existence Church’s charitable activity was performed as part of associations, institutions and charity foundations, male and female orders, parish care work, as well as the ad hoc charitable actions. In order to better coordination of charitable activity in the area of the diocese, its first ordinary bishop Teodor Kubina established the Union of Care Institutions and Charity Associations „Caritas” on 10th January 1931. Its basic forms of activity were: running kitchens offering free meals, heading up orphanages and nurseries, organizing summer camps for children from the poorest families, sobriety actions, helping numerous families, street collections, Mercy Weeks, running shelters and old people’s homes.