Troska o dziedzictwo kulturowe Kościoła Rzymskokatolickiego we współpracy ze światem : struktury kościelne w roli beneficjentów funduszy europejskich

Maintaining the cultural heritage of theRoman Catholic Church in cooperation with the world. The Church as a beneficiary of European Union funding The paper examines the efforts undertaken by the Roman Catholic Church in Poland in the area of the protection of cultural heritage supported by funding from the Eu-ropean Union. The work focuses on projects whose beneficiaries include dioceses, parishes, and religious orders. Availability of data made it possible to analyze pro-jects co-financed as part of European Regional Policy also known as Cohesion Policy directed towards support for the social and economic development of EU regions in order to minimize differences therein. The study covers all projects associated with cultural heritage including culture and tourism funded by the European Union since Poland’s entry into the organization in 2004 and ending in 2017. Analysis thereof indicates that the Roman Catholic Church has effectively taken advantage of oppor-tunities associated with Poland’s EU membership. Differences in financing activity 225Troska o dziedzictwo kulturowe Kościoła Rzymskokatolickiego... identified in the study are less strongly associated with specific parishes, monasteries, and dioceses as with the material heritage resources available therein. Noteworthy is also the substantial effort made by the Roman Catholic Church to acquire EU funds for the purpose of renovation or modernization of religious sites situated in peripheral areas. Such sites remain significant elements of both the identity and religious life of a number of parish communities in Poland