Catholic intelligentsia club
Club of Catholic Intelligence (KIK - Mz. Kluby Inteligencji Katolickiej ) is a network of associations that are the meeting places of devout Catholic lay people in Poland .
The first clubs were formed in 1956 during the political thaw after the upheaval of October 21, 1956, when the party secretary Władysław Gomułka sought an understanding with the moderate opposition. 1957-1976 the representatives of the clubs formed a legal Catholic opposition in the Polish Parliament ( Sejm ).
When the party secretary Edward Gierek sought a vassal policy towards the USSR in the mid-1970s, conflicts arose. Many KIK members began to support the Committee for the Defense of the Workers . After the strikes in the summer of 1980 , KIK members acted as advisors to the striking workers and the Solidarność union. They also took an active part in the 1989 Round Table . The first Prime Minister of democratic Poland, Tadeusz Mazowiecki , also came from the ranks of the KIK members.
Activity and structure
The first club was established in Warsaw in autumn 1956, and others followed in Krakow, Poznan, Thorn and Wroclaw in spring 1957. Then the authorities refused further approvals - until 1980. In the clubs, Catholicism is seen as a cosmopolitan religion. Ecumenical movements are supported and anti-Semitism is fought vigorously. This sometimes leads to conflict with some conservative bishops.
All KIKs are independent associations that function according to their own statutes. The board members are elected by the members and have their own pastors or church assistants. There is no central administration. However, in 1989 the clubs called for an “agreement between the clubs”. An exception is the club in Lublin founded by Ryszard Bender in 1976, which was supported by the authorities at the time and to this day maintains a conservative Catholic worldview and does not belong to the understanding of the clubs.
The Warsaw Club has been a member of the Pax Romana ICMICA since 1971 . In 2004 the ICMICA World Congress took place in Warsaw. At that time, the chairman of the Warsaw clubs, historian Piotr Cywiński , was elected chairman for Europe for the period 2004–2008.
Members of the Warsaw Club included a. Tadeusz Mazowiecki and Stanisław Stomma .
The clubs support Action Reconciliation for Peace Services in Poland.