Studia Pastoralne
Rocznik Wydziału Teologicznego UŚ

Family: the Greatest value of our Times
Summary
Love is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon. It constitutes the basic need of the human heart, therefore every human wants to love and be loved. Marriage satisfies the need for unity which is rooted deeply in every human. The family which is built on the foundation of marriage, a deep and complementary relationship of a man and woman, is the basic unit of the social life.
In the modern society, the family has undergone fundamental transformation. The change in the hierarchy of values as well as even greater focus on self-realisation of an individual and fulfilling individual needs has occurred. Many families become introverted thinking only about the improvement of living conditions and concentration of efforts on exclusive possession of goods.
However, the family as a basic and irreplaceable educational community constitutes the environment which creates the best conditions for conveying sustainable values which help people shape their identities. The family built on love brings with itself the future of the society.

Catholic pedagogics – meaning and topicality in the context of the chaos of values (Polish perspective)
Summary
Education cannot be reduced to information and should guarantee to the students and their parents the freedom of making axiological decisions and solutions. The above mentioned right is confirmed by the right of parents to raise their children according to their own conceptions. In the contemporary chaos of values and principles of education the Catholic education remains a topical, interesting and important proposal for school.

HOMO SUPERMERCATUS – A MAJOR MORAL CHALLENGE FOR PREACHING.
Summary
Human is „moral being” regardless of conditions and the times in which he lives. It results from the fact, that human is a person, it means that he is spiritual-corporeal being, someone who is rational and independen. Despite the fact that the man is exposed to McDonaldization, subjected to numerous crises, it should be noted that he is still religious being and occurred processes did not deprive him of religious sense. Human is still sensitive to religious questions, even though he looks very often for answer outside Christianity, which is old – fashioned in media. It is essential challenge not only for preaching but also for whole Christian formation.
A long time ago, Maurice Blondel said, that: „the times are the same like people are”. As it is known people are either moral good or moral bad. Tertium non datur. This also applies to human morality, which today is sometimes labeled as homo supermercatus. An important challenge is consumerist life style of many people, who live most of the time without awareness of development of appropriate hierarchy of values and necessary spiritual needs. These people usually satisfy their material needs without thinking of human dignity and their Christian vocation.
Homo consumens – is a person, who is suspended between gift and commodity. Detailed sociological and psychological analysis give us a lot of arguments about the behavior of present – day human. This man seems to have many features, which indicate that, „he desires to have more”, instead of „to be a human more and more”. Today, principle is known: I consume, therefore I am.
Strong influence of ethical utilitarianism on daily culture of life was noticed long ago. For example – in the book The New Economic Gospel of Consumption, written by E. Cowdrick in 1927, we can find interesting opinion, that we live in times, when people are forced to regular consume of goods and services. It also impinges on assessment of current homiletic thinking.
Author emphasizes, using criteria from ethic of J. Woroniecki, that the human always was and is just jealous, mistrustful, suspicious and first and foremost selfish and very greedy. It causes, that he is a person of many crises, which can be solved effectively by homiletic teaching.
Analyzing behavior, attitudes and basic sources of numerous crisis (identity crisis, family crisis, political crisis, educational crisis etc.) of consumerist human, author develop thought of Marciano Vidal, that this person is a man of „lost ethical home”.
Under the pulpit and before the alter – we do not have today – saying colloquially – „empty people” and „neuter people”. We have deeply hurt people in their humanity. Moreover we have people with many difficulties in faith. There are difficulties arising from human life experience and civilization’s difficulties. It turns out that only Christianity, with its integrity of salvation, is able to help such people effectively.

CULTURAL ACTIVITY IN THE CONTEXT OF FAMILY LIFE
One of the most significant goals of community life and social development is creating and passing on cultural achievements to future generations (Christifideles laici, 44) which in turn makes human life better, both in terms the of individual and the community (Gaudium et spes, 53). The paper presents the results of surveys carried out in order to find the relations between cultural activity and family life, as well as local and parish community life. The project was conducted by the Silesian University and it was supported by the Regional Local Authorities of the Silesian Region. A group of 1030 women was chosen for the survey. Two extreme groups were selected: the first group featured low cultural activity whereas the second group had considerable cultural involvement. The results were compared regarding various aspects of family and community life. The results revealed that, in terms of the priesthood, there is a favorable correlation between cultural activity, family and community life. High cultural activity also improves family life satisfaction and the feeling of security among family members. However, the survey has also revealed that there can be a negative correlation between cultural activity and moral principles concerning marriage and love in the family. The survey results showed the negative influence of liberal ideology. Some liberal principles, such as tolerance, led to accepting uncritically any kinds of divergence including homosexual relations, abortion and divorce. It seems that culture in the broad meaning of the word, with all its aspects and the people involved in particular, lost its basic dimension and depth. This is contrary to John Paul II's preaching that moral principles are fundamental in any kind of cultural activity. The obtained results require further detailed research so that positive aspects and trends in contemporary culture can be examined and highlighted. A new approach to find ways of implementing and respecting moral principles regarding marriage and family should be looked for, since that is the only natural and indispensable environment for the development of any individual.

AKSIOLOGISCHE PRÄFERENZEN DER STUDENTEN - EIN AUFRUF AN DIE AKADEMISCHEN LEHRER, ZEUGEN DES GLAUBENS IN IHREM AKADEMISCHEN UMFELD ZU SEIN

Educational value of music in the teaching of religion (a contribution to the discussion)
Summary
Music occupies an important place in the teaching of religion. It is a the source of content, a carrier of universal values and an effective means of teaching that multilaterally activates children and youth. Apart from the functions of teaching, music performs educational and therapeutic functions. It therefore seems equitable use of music in religious education and to motivate students to direct contact with musical works. This involves supporting the catechized in the experience and understanding of the values that are carried by music. They van be served by various forms of activation of students, such as eg. listening and analyzing pieces of music, making reflection and prayer on the canvas of music, painting a song, singing, creating text and melody, gestures and dance steps to music. Thanks to them there is revealed the educational value of music in the teaching of religion.
With this in mind, it is worth to shape musical culture of religion teachers and their competence in the field of music education. This requires appropriate forms of education during the studies and training in the permanent formation. To achieve pedagogical innovations in the use of music in religion classes it may be helpful to gather the opinions of students and teachers of religion. It seems worth therefore taking empirical research on this topic. This will provide new and interesting ways, activating students multilaterally, to use music in teaching religion.