The Conference of Major Superiors of Female Religious Orders and the consulta in the Polish People’s Republic-an outline

Joanna Wiśniewska

Abstract

The formation process of the institutions of the Conference of Major Superiors of Female Religious Orders in Poland started in the period in which there had already been some structures of the cooperation between convents, developed for the common defence of nuns against the negative effects of the religious policy of the communist authorities, the policy which was aimed at the liquidation of the institution subordinate to the Church, including religious orders. The interaction of female religious congregations was the answer to the necessity of the consolidation of forces and construction - under the guidance of Polish Primate S. Wyszyński – common programmes, the aim of which was to help the religious congregations survive and function in the communist reality. The evolution of the cooperation forms: from the spontaneous and regulated by law the Conference of Major Superiors of Female Religious Orders, with the statute approved by the Holy See and canonically erected consulta, overlapped with similar movements of the consecrated life in the world. In the realities of the Polish People’s Republic, the Conference was not as autonomous as was formulated by canon law under normal conditions. The Conference had to be in a close relationship with Primate S. Wyszyński and the Department of Monastic Affairs, created by the Primate, who in practice gained control over the entire existing cooperation between religious orders. Regardless of the factual and legal restrictions on the activities of the Conference and its consulta, which was essentially an advisory body to the Polish Primate, the achievements of that institution for the religious life in Poland were extremely significant, which was reflected primarily in: the prudent implementation of the conciliar reforms in religious congregations, their liturgical renewal, deepening the democratization process, regulating the legal status, changes in the substantial and permanent formation of the members of congregations.