Image et réalité : la mythologisation française de la Démocratie chrétienne de l’après-guerre

The Christian Democracy was accused in France of wanting to restore the Holy Empire or to act so that all Europe is controlled by the papacy. It is to underestimate the importance of the personnalisme in the Christian Democrat thought, to minimize the differences between the parties of inspiration Christian Democrat of France, Italy and Germany, to overestimate the role of the « Nouvelles Equipes Internationales ». The main leaders took their distances with Vatican and especially reacted according to the necessary after-war reconstruction and to the fight against the communism

Between Catechism and Revolution: Poland, France, and the Story of Catholicism and Socialism in Europe, 1878-1958

This work examines European Catholicism¿s response to socialism between 1878 and 1958 through the specific experience of Polish and French thinkers and activists. Central to the interaction between Catholicism and socialism in fin-de-siècle and 20th-century Europe was the goal of social justice declared by both Catholics and socialists. These two forces thus competed to address what had become popularly known by the second half of the 19th century as the ¿social question¿: what to do about the growing masses of working poor emerging throughout Europe as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution. The key figures who emerged within the Catholic universe as capable of making or breaking the Catholic response to the social question were individuals operating at the crossroads of intellectual and sociopolitical activism, from Rev. Wladyslaw Kornilowicz, to Jacques Maritain, to Emmanuel Mounier, to Tadeusz Mazowiecki. What Marxists termed to be the ¿intellectual vanguard¿ preparing the groundwork for a dictatorship of the proletariat had its counterpart in a range of Catholic activists who operated in a space defined by both catechism and revolution. Within this space, the activists pursued a range of projects with the declared intent of saving the souls of Europe¿s working poor by either converting or ¿Christianizing¿ the continent's socialist enterprises. As the 20th century advanced, the laity increasingly assumed control over the Catholic vanguard, forming its own horizontal linkages across national boundaries independently of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. In so doing, the Catholic vanguard rewrote the ground-rules of how Catholicism functioned, intellectually, institutionally, and socially. These initiatives ¿ encompassing face-to-face dialogue as well as guerrilla warfare, academic philosophy as well as high-circulation press, mainstream politics as well as radical peace activism ¿ trained one eye on the official line dictated by the Holy See while experimenting with new forms of Catholic apostolate. Therein lay the bedrock of Catholicism¿s place in the modern world, forged as a response to the social question that integrated, to varying degrees, both tradition and revolution: a new catechism that could speak to an industrialized world

Image et réalité : la mythologisation française de la Démocratie chrétienne de l’après-guerre

La Démocratie chrétienne a été accusée en France de vouloir restaurer le Saint-Empire ou d’agir pour que toute l’Europe soit contrôlée par la papauté. C’est méconnaître l’importance du personnalisme dans la pensée démocrate-chrétienne, minimiser les différences entre les partis d’inspiration démocrate-chrétienne de France, d’Italie et d’Allemagne, surestimer le rôle des Nouvelles Equipes Internationales. Les principaux dirigeants ont pris leurs distances avec le Vatican et ont surtout réagi en fonction de la reconstruction nécessaire après la guerre et de la lutte contre le communisme.The Christian Democracy was accused in France of wanting to restore the Holy Empire or to act so that all Europe is controlled by the papacy. It is to underestimate the importance of the personnalisme in the Christian Democrat thought, to minimize the differences between the parties of inspiration Christian Democrat of France, Italy and Germany, to overestimate the role of the « Nouvelles Equipes Internationales ». The main leaders took their distances with Vatican and especially reacted according to the necessary after-war reconstruction and to the fight against the communism

Dépasser le Polak-Katolik

L’historiographie polonaise, décrite par Piotr Kosicki, est dominée par l’identification entre Pologne et catholicisme, ceci dès le Moyen Âge, puis le romantisme. La situation n’a guère changé sous la période communiste. La principale évolution vient des médiévistes, qui ont été nombreux à se battre pour la liberté politique tout en s’ouvrant à l’historiographie internationale. Aujourd’hui, l’historiographie polonaise est encore très nationale et catholique, mais elle connaît une diversité plus grande qu’autrefois

House sparrows benefit from the conservation of white storks

As with many farmland bird species, the house sparrow Passer domesticus is declining in Europe, mainly due to intensification of agriculture reducing nest sites and food supplies. During 2002–2005, we studied the population size and nest site characteristics of house sparrows breeding within white stork Ciconia ciconia nests in a large area of agricultural landscape within western Poland. To explain sparrow density within stork nests, we examined characteristics of white stork nests (position, age, productivity) and the farm type around the nest. House sparrow density was greatest in the longest established (and hence larger) white stork nests located on traditionally managed farms. Two recent changes appear to have adverse effects on house sparrows. The first is the intensification of farming and the second is active management of white stork nests on electric poles to reduce nest size and thus avoid both disruption to the electrical supply and electrocution of white storks. Because the white stork has such a high profile in Poland, there are numerous schemes to conserve and enhance this species. In conclusion, we clearly show that protecting one species can have valuable, although unplanned, benefits to another species of conservation interest, the house sparrow

Long-term changes and breeding success in relation to nesting structures used by the white stork, Ciconia ciconia

Anthropogenic changes have strongly influenced landscape in Europe. In the last 50 years electric power-line networks have become a conspicuous part of that landscape. From the outset it was known that these lines and their support structures would cause fatalities in the white stork Ciconia ciconia. From a long-term (1983–2006) study in Poland, we analysed breeding performance in stork nests on four types of structure (chimneys, roofs, trees and electricity poles). Whilst the numbers of nests on both electricity poles and chimneys increased, there was no significant difference among the four structures in breeding success. Since 1998 a number of electricity poles have been modified to include a platform designed to contain the stork nest. A comparison between the annual means of nests on electricity poles with and without platforms did not reveal any significant differences in breeding success. However, closer examination of nests transferred to platforms suggested a slight drop in chick productivity in the year following platform addition but this was subsequently significantly higher in the following year. Thus the transfer of nests to platforms appears to have only a short-term adverse effect and may be beneficial in the longer term