Poland: Bible an important part of family life

The most widely-read Catholic weekly in Poland, 'Niedzela,' which is based in Czestochowa, has recently published a study on the importance of the presence and reading of the Bible in Catholic homes in Poland. The study was performed by the Institute for Statistics of the Catholic Church, led by Fr Witold Zdaniewicz, on behalf of the magazine.

According to the results of the study, Catholics in Poland find the Bible is of great importance in moral and spiritual life. 98.9% said that they have a Bible in their home. 25.3% of Catholics in Poland said that they read the Bible every day, 33.2% at least once a week, 15.4% at least once a month, and 6% at least once a year.

56.3% of those asked saw the need for conferences and catechetical instructions for better understanding the Bible. Catholics in Poland also stressed the importance of the homily in explaining Sacred Scripture. 66.8% of those asked said that the homily 'sometimes' explains the readings from Sacred Scripture, 19.4% said that it 'rarely' explains them, and 13.4% said that it 'always' explains the liturgy's readings.

According to 51.6% of those asked, the Catholic journal Niedziela also plays an important role in promoting the Bible among families. Since 2007, the magazine has promoted the initiative 'The Bible in the Family.' Every month, the magazine publishes one of the books of the New Testament as an addition to their issue. Thus, along with the magazine, nearly 1,500,000 copies of books from the New Testament are published.