Soborowe inspiracje i ich recepcja w nauczaniu i działalności katechetyczno-pedagogiczniej ks. Józefa Grygotowicza

Abstract

Monsignor Józef Grygotowicz, a priest of the Archdiocese of Białystok from 1974 to 2008, played a significant role in the education and formation of catechists in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council. As a student, catechist, and later as a teacher and educator of catechists, he was shaped by both internal and external ecclesiastical factors before, during, and after the Council. Initially, his family served as a catechetical environment. During his school years, he encountered catechesis that was methodologically structured and rooted in the achievements of pedagogical and psychological sciences. At this time, catechetics was reduced to a methodological framework focused on pedagogical principles within its subject. Consequently, although catechesis in schools gained certain educational merits, it did not fully achieve its broader spiritual and pastoral objectives. The Second Vatican Council introduced a shift from an intellectualistic-anthropocentric approach to pastoral care and catechesis to a personalistic, theocentric, and christocentric perspective. In line with the Council’s vision of the Church as a community engaged in the triple mission of Christ, catechetics was classified as a theological discipline, pursued within the spirit of personalism, and catechesis was redefined as a form of ecclesial catechumenate. While studying at the Catholic University of Lublin under the guidance of the eminent pastoral theologian Fr. F. Blachnicki, Monsignor Grygotowicz embraced the ideas of the Second Vatican Council regarding catechesis and gained pastoral experience within the „Light-Life Movement” (Ruch Światło-Życie), founded by Blachnicki. He also became acquainted with the formational pedagogy of the New Man, grounded in the theological principles of the Council. Following his studies, he was entrusted with the formation of catechists – priests, religious, and laity – in his home diocese. In his teaching and educational endeavors, he embodied the ideals of the Council, promoting catechetics as a theological discipline, with a focus on its kerygmatic dimension. The theoretical foundations of his educational approach were drawn from ecclesiology, portraying the Church as a community and the catechist as a herald of the Word of God. He educated catechists – priests, religious, and laity – systematically in the ecclesial spirit, often employing methods and forms developed within the „Light-Life Movement,” emphasizing the value of an ecclesial community built upon the light of the Word of God, the experience of God’s presence in liturgy, and fraternal love expressed through service.