Migration Processes and Transformations of Multi-Religious Cracow

Venez assister à cette conférence en ligne, donnée par Professeur Konrad Pędziwiatr

Résumé de la conférence (en anglais):

« As a result of the dynamic processes of immigration Poland has ceased to be a country of emigration in the last half a decade and started to emerge for the first time in the modern history as a country of immigration. The presence of growing immigrant communities is particularly visible in big cities including Cracow. The influx of migrants from many part of the world reshapes not only the city’s streets with new immigrant shops and restaurants opening in many parts of the city but also Cracow’s religious landscape. The emergence of new temples and prayer halls, as well as services in foreign languages are only some of the manifestations of the influx of new foreign believers and parishioners. Sometimes the appearance of new believers necessitates also organizational changes, increasing the frequency of religious service, or adding additional languages to communication with newcomers. Immigration therefore has a significant impact on the religious life in the city, creating some new areas and modifying others. The aim of the presentation will be to outline some of the key findings of the study analysing the transformations of religious communities in Cracow as a result of the increasing number of foreigners coming to the city and their co-creation of a multi-religious Krakow. The presentation will discuss selected elements of the research conducted since May 2020 (which included, among others, 41 in-depth interviews with immigrants and non-immigrants belonging to various religious communities), that inter alia assessed the dynamics of the presence of migrants in the largest religious communities in the city, channels through which they reach immigrants, reception of foreigners by the current members of communities and clergy, and the influence of migrants on the functioning of selected religious communities. Due to the fact that the study was conducted during the Covid 19 pandemic, the main effects of various sanitary restrictions on the religious life of foreigners in the city will be also briefly discussed ».