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Apart from considerable public support, the workers’ strike at the Lenin Gdańsk Shipyard in August 1980 received recognition and help from the only organization independent of the communist authorities in the Polish People’s Republic: the Catholic Church. Among its representatives there were some monastery clergymen – monks, of whom there were quite a few in the Gdańsk diocese. Dominican friars of Gdańsk, Conventual Franciscans, Jesuits, Pallottines, Reformists, Oblates and many others joined the activities of NSZZ (Independent Self-Governing Trade Union) “Solidarity” and were involved in one way or another. Their activities concentrated on the trade union and the social movement that was emerging around “Solidarity”. The union and the movement received the support of the monks not only through pastoral care, but also through fundraising, organization, and participation in independent artistic, writing and publishing life, as well as through the help given to the repressed members of “Solidarity” and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers an overview of the engagements of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in North America in the 19th century. It is basically a geographical survey of the continent focusing on the areas where the Oblates were active in various ministries. In eastern Canada the main centers for the Oblate work were Montreal and Bytown (Ottawa). In western Canada the territories reached by the Oblates included the dioceses of St. Boniface and St. Albert, the apostolic vicariates of Saskatchewan and Athabaska-Mackenzie, and the diocese of New Westminster. Finally the Oblates pursued their missionary goals in the United States, mainly on the border with Mexico, in Oregon and Alaska. Geographical description is followed by the chronological overview of the development of the Oblate religious structures.