The Church’s campaign to raise awareness of the social impact of the press. A study of “Sermons on the Catholic press” by fr. Jozef Mazurek (1915)

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to present and characterise selected initiatives of the Catholic Church to spread public awareness of the role of the press undertaken on the threshold of Poland's independence. The issue was discussed using the example of the activities of the Krakow Society for the Support of the Catholic Press (1913), and primarily on the basis of a collection of sermons (Sermons on the Catholic Press) published through the efforts of this Society (1915). The article is based on the historical method, critical analysis of documents and elements of rhetorical analysis of the text. The results of the analyses support the thesis of a consistent and very clear imagery and a recurring repertoire of arguments used by the Catholic Church in its campaign of persuasion to raise awareness of the role of the press in social and political life. The analysis in the article highlights an important aspect of looking at the impact of the media on society from a historical point of view.