'There can be no vacation from God': Children's retreats, leisure and social change in Poland

Contends that Roman Catholic contention over the issue of leisure is a result of current market & consumption conditions, which foster a new discourse on morality rooted in the past. In this light, Polish state & church perceptions of leisure are examined, along with related changes & co...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Religion, state & society state & society, 2006-09, Vol.34 (3), p.271-286
Main Author: Peperkamp, Esther
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Children
Christianity
Church and state
Leisure
Morality
Pedagogy
Poland
Post-communist societies
Religion and politics
Religious education
Religious life
Roman Catholics
Social Change
Socialist states
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Summary:Contends that Roman Catholic contention over the issue of leisure is a result of current market & consumption conditions, which foster a new discourse on morality rooted in the past. In this light, Polish state & church perceptions of leisure are examined, along with related changes & continuities between the communist & postcommunist period. After demonstrating the shared interest between church & communist state regarding the control of children's leisure time, attention is given to the parish-based Oasis movement's ideological clash with the state over the former's retreats, which were positioned in contrast to the state-backed kolonie or camps or villages for school-aged children. Following some qualifying observations to help the division of Polish history into pre- & post-1989, the relevance of the postcommunist social reality for the ongoing dichotomy between the Oasis retreats & kolonie is discussed. In addition, the post-1989 discourse on "freedom" in Poland sheds some light on the ambivalence about leisure time, distinguishing between moral & immoral freedom & addressing the treatment of the concept's ambiguous nature by Polish Catholic intellectuals. References. D. Edelman
ISSN:0963-7494
1465-3974
DOI:10.1080/09637490600819382