Axiological positioning of WOMEN and MEN in the pastoral letters of the Polish Episcopate in the 21st century

Abstract

The pastoral letters of the Polish Episcopate are one form of communication between the Catholic Church and society. These are texts intended to be read during worship services. Thus, in this perspective, they determine the institution’s recognized values and their hierarchy. In this paper I will present the results of analyses of the concepts expressed by the lexemes WOMAN, MAN (and their synonyms) in the Letters. I will discuss how WOMEN and MEN are depicted linguistically, what linguistic-axiological positioning is done in these texts, what is the frequency of textual expressions realizing these two concepts, that is — what value the Church assigns to WOMEN and MEN. Fr. Boniecki’s statement from Anna Goc’s interview with Znak Publishing House is the starting point for the consideration: “The image of the church was formed over the centuries. Seminaries, the relationship of the priest to the diocese, the frequent, even Easter confession, the financing and maintenance of the church in general, the attitude to those without sacramental marriage, slavery, the class system of society, the place of women in the family and community, etc. — all this evolved, and this evolution had close ties to the balance of power within the Church itself.” The important question here, then, is how valuation is carried out in this type in institutional discourse and what axiological- emotive strategy builds the image of WOMEN and MEN. Another important issue is how this (reconstructed) institutional vision correlates with the categorization and valuation of these terms in 21^st century Polish.