Klub Inteligencji Katolickiej (KIK; en, Club of Catholic Intelligentsia) is a Polish organization grouping

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

intellectuals. KIK is organized into a series of local chapters (clubs). KIK was founded after

Gomułka's Thaw Polish October (), also known as October 1956, Polish thaw, or Gomułka's thaw, marked a change in the politics of Poland in the second half of 1956. Some social scientists term it the Polish October Revolution, which was less dramatic than the ...

in communist Poland in 1956, evolving into a mild Catholic-center opposition group in communist Poland. Its purpose was to stimulate independent thought and bring Catholics within Poland information about Catholic philosophy from countries outside the

Socialist Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

. Initially, only four clubs were authorized by the government:

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

, Poznan,

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

, and

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, r ...

. They distributed information to Catholics throughout Poland via publications in ''

Tygodnik Powszechny ''Tygodnik Powszechny'' (, ''The Common Weekly'') is a Polish Roman Catholic weekly magazine, published in Kraków, which focuses on social, cultural and political issues. It was established in 1945 under the auspices of Cardinal Adam Stefan Sa ...

'' (The Universal Weekly) and the monthly '' Znak'' (The Sign). In the early 1980s, the Krakow branch began working with the

Solidarity movement Solidarity ( pl, „Solidarność”, ), full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" (, abbreviated ''NSZZ „Solidarność”'' ), is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland. Subseq ...

and created a network smaller clubs throughout the country. Between 1981 and 1983, when martial law in Poland was imposed, the KIK participated in underground activities to support Solidarity activists. Their overriding goals in the 1980s were to try to improve church-state relationships, end government censorship and promote economic reforms. They urged the government to adopt a stance of being

neutral Neutral or neutrality may refer to: Mathematics and natural science Biology * Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity Chemistry and physics * Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...

toward Catholics instead of

anti-religious Antireligion is opposition to religion. It involves opposition to organized religion, religious practices or religious institutions. The term ''antireligion'' has also been used to describe opposition to specific forms of supernatural worship ...

. To that end, by the mid-1980s, leaders in the KIK began meeting with government officials. In 1989, the KIK founded a Civic Committee (Komitet Obywatelski) which worked to select the leadership of independent Poland. The branches of the club continue to hold lectures and meetings on philosophical, religious, and social matters and disseminate information on

Vatican II The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

and the teachings of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

References

{{Authority control Catholic lay organisations Organizations established in 1956 Polish People's Republic History of Poland (1989–present) Christianity in Poland Religious organisations based in Poland