128 PIOTR H. KOSICKI
fiftieth anniversary of Gaudium et spes, Apostolicam actuositatem,
Dignitatis humanae, and the Council’s other revolutionary teach-
ings carries any meaning in the homeland of Pope John Paul II.
The reason for this state of affairs is an astonishingly low
awareness of both Poland’s role at Vatican II and the Council’s
importance for Poland. In fact, historians have barely touched
the topic. As of the Council’s fiftieth anniversary, only one mono-
graph has appeared—in any world language—on any aspect of
the subject.5 Several journals and memoirs of signature Council
participants—Dominican theologian Yves Congar, Jesuit theolo-
gian Henri de Lubac6—have been translated into Polish; a hand-
ful of Polish bishops have published brief commentaries on the
Council.7 Poland’s reformist laity has been writing about Vatican
II since its convocation, but its writings fall mostly within the
realms of philosophy and theology, not history.8 Although the
2014), http://archidiecezja.lodz.pl/new/?news_id=73d36718fd6f4ad368f76e32de053
36f; accessed June 14, 2014.
- That lone monograph chronicles some of the bishops’ activities in Rome:
Piotr Rutkowski, Polscy biskupi jako ojcowie Soboru Watykańskiego II (Warsaw:
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego, 2014). The best
available overview of the broader subject is Piotr Mazurkiewicz, “Recepcja Soboru,”
in Kościół i religijność Polaków 1945–1999: Praca Zbiorowa, ed. Witold Zdaniewicz and
Tadeusz Zembrzuski (Warsaw-Poznań: Instytut Statystyki Kościoła Katolickiego
SAC/Pallottinum, 2000), 19–44. - Yves Congar, Rozmowy Jesienne, trans. Maria Deskur (Warsaw: Wydawnic-
two Księży Marianów, 2001); Henri de Lubac, Medytacje o Kościele, trans. Izabela
Białkowska-Cichoń (Kraków: WAM, 1997). - Bohdan Bejze, Kronika Soboru Watykańskiego II (Częstochowa: Niedzie-
la, 2000); Jerzy Stroba, Zadania wyznaczone przez Sobór Watykański II (Poznań:
Księgarnia św. Wojciecha, 1988). - While the weekly journal Tygodnik Powszechny featured continuous cov-
erage of the conciliar sessions while they were in progress, the monthlies Więź
(Bond) and Znak (Sign) regularly presented discussion forums and thought-pieces
reflecting on both the Council’s broader significance and its specific consequences
for Poland. Więź, for example, published the following “themed” issues during the
Council years: “The Council” (April 1962); “The Council and Us” (February 1963); “The
Spiritual Testament of John XXIII” (June 1963); “Tradition and Reform in Polish
Catholicism” (July–August and September 1963); “Problems of Ecumenism” (Janu-