Management of the way of transmitting the gospel truths to the faithful in the light of empirical research
Authors:   WSB Merito University Gdansk, Dworak Janusz , Kretek Henryk A. ,   Department of Applied Social Sciences, Faculty of Organisation and Management, Silesian University of Technology
Published: February 2025

Aim: The primary aim of this paper is to present the results of research concerning the issues
of faith faced by the contemporary generation of Catholics. In doing so, the authors sought to
meet the social need for discourse on how to shape the personality of individuals doubting the
Gospel message of the Roman Catholic Church, strengthen the faith of its members based on
rational premises, and prevent numerous doubts caused by the lack of correlation between
religion and science. The secondary aim is to attempt to answer the question of what the faithful
expect from their pastors when they struggle with a problem, and which sources of information
should be considered reliable.
The article concerns the management of contemporary science, hence the text contains
a statement regarding management in the Roman Catholic Church as an institution.
The multiplicity of research goals means that issues related to management have not been fully
exposed.
The authors set themselves many goals, and the most important include an attempt to find
answers to questions about:
 the ideological function of theology in the world of science,
 contemporary styles of pastoral work,
 collective thinking about the truths of faith.
In principle, the articulated goals concern in their entirety the way theological knowledge is
managed in theory and its implementation in practice. First, questions are asked about its role
in science, then ways of implementing it in pastoral work are sought, and then it is verified
through research. Therefore, not only the updating of theological knowledge regarding the
mental state of contemporary Catholics is the subject of these considerations, but also ways of
deriving new solutions to the contemporary science of the Roman Catholic Church resulting
from the conducted research.
Methodology/approach: The research method applied in this paper is based on a modified
grounded theory, which "treats theory building as a process and is not the verification of pre-
constructed hypotheses on the basis of subsequently collected data" (Konecki, 2005).
The outcome of such modifications is a "thought process in which vague, inexact notions
(concepts) are clarified and strictly defined" (Świątkiewicz, 2024). Grounded theory is
considered "one of the best-developed strategies for qualitative research" (Konecki, 2000).
Conducting research according to its methodological principles gives the researcher significant
freedom to choose the time, place, and situation for data collection, and makes it possible to
solve problems that go beyond "what is objective and measurable, enabling the exploration of
issues related to assessments, values, experiences, that is, the individual" (Plich, Bauman, 2001,
p. 277). This unconventional approach to research is justified when identifying "a specific cause
as an explanation of a phenomenon, which simply means its subsumption under a certain
universal law or set of such laws" (Blaug, 1955). Grounded theory is not detached from the core
issue, it does not rely solely on statistics, but generates new solutions during the research
process, as "the methodology of grounded theory is an attempt to oppose traditional, academic
methods (from behind a desk) of theory building" (Konecki, 2000). Due to its universal nature,
it has been adapted to address issues in pastoral theology (Dworak, 2013). In this case, data
analysis using previously made assumptions was abandoned, as this could result in self-
confirmation of known concepts.
This paper uses the Human Performance Improvement method for the formulation of questions.
This method, employed by the American Society for Training and Development, was developed
in collaboration with individuals such as Wiliam E. Deming, Peter Drucker, Abraham Maslow,
and particularly Donald Kirkpatrick and Jack Philips. It introduced a systemic approach to
identifying barriers that hinder employees from performing their work effectively and
satisfactorily, and proposed solutions to eliminate these barriers (Gilbert, 2013).
In terms of methodology, the article is based on grounded theory, which is why the method was
appropriately selected to address the research problem, and the authors argue why they decided
to base themselves on this particular method. The choice of grounded theory as a research tool
was dictated by the fact that it is a methodology based mainly on empirical research directly
related to a given problem. "This approach is therefore rooted in research on organizations and
work processes". The research results are treated by her as derivatives of empirical analyses,
and the concepts built on their basis are constantly modified and verified". The grounded theory
methodology is an attempt to oppose traditional, academic methods (from behind a desk) of
building theory.
Limitations: A significant limitation for the authors was: developing a research approach that
took into account the personalities of the respondents; obtaining honest and reliable answers
from those willing to share their thoughts with the authors of this text; presenting conclusions
that also considered the context of the research and the conditions under which it was
conducted, and consequently articulating conclusions derived from the free discussions that
emerged after completing the questionnaire.
The authors base their research on their own research, but also on research conducted by other
researchers. Therefore, it was assumed that for 75% of the respondents the most important event
was the figure of Jesus Christ, who made his teachings credible by his death on the cross.
This footnote was used to emphasize the importance of the question, what fascinates you in the
Gospel? However - if it is obvious from the point of view of a believer, then this footnote can
be removed.
Implications: The results of the research will, on one hand, provide useful information to those
managing the process of shaping the personalities of the younger generation, and, on the other
hand, may represent an important step in the development of pastoral theology, which aims to
develop guidelines for the practical activities of the Church in the contemporary world.
In addition, other research methods, apart from focus groups, were used. Because according to
the principles of grounded theory, focus studies are an essential next step between collecting
data and preparing preliminary versions of scientific papers. They are the main method of
grounded theory, because they encourage data analysis at an early stage of the research process.
Following these recommendations, focus groups were conducted in the form of interviews:
simple standardized (questionnaire with scaled answers); simple non-standardized (the person conducting the research has a lot of freedom to ask questions and explain their meaning);
in-depth standardized (indirect questions resulting from the context of the research conducted
play a large role); in-depth non-standardized (a casual conversation on a given topic).
It is obvious that there will always be methodological doubts. Therefore, it must be added that
the functioning of any type of organization requires the construction of new concepts that keep
up with the progress of civilization. The paradox of some situations is that the social processes
taking place in their environment undergo radical changes, while decision-makers do not notice
them and persist in presenting their principles - considering them unchangeable. This process
should be interrupted by formulating hypotheses and their constant verification and
modification of theses as knowledge on a given topic is obtained. Grounded theory can be
a good tool that will allow the creation of new concepts, hypotheses and theories, not based on
previously accepted axioms and assumptions, but on empiricism referring to the observed
reality. Generating theses during research involves:
 referring to the researcher's ideas and intuition,
 understanding, and not just searching for cause-effect relationships,
 carefully selecting places, conditions, people and situations for research,
 complete freedom, openness, communicativeness and naturalness.
Elements of grounded theory have been used, among others, in research on: organizational
culture, production control system, causes of disasters, restructuring and recruitment processes
in human resources consulting agencies. Due to these features, it was purposeful for us to take
the effort to adapt its principles to create new research concepts, appropriate to the time and
place of their conduct. The following premises supported this:
 it is related to a long-term research process,
 it is subject to rapid modification and verification,
 it is characterized by high flexibility and aims to comprehensively capture the subject
of the research,
 it is not detached from the essence of the issue,
 it does not use only statistical data and generates new concepts already during the
research.
Grounded theory is not a process of formulating hypotheses on the basis of previously
collected information, but is an innovative approach to their construction and verification.
Value: The scientific value lies in the innovative way of conducting research based on the
grounded theory method and the application of the Human Performance Improvement [HPI]
method in acquiring knowledge about the implementation of pastoral tasks in the contemporary
world (Filipowicz, 2008).
Keywords: Roman Catholic Church, management of science, methodology, conceptualisation
and operationalisation of research results, grounded theory method.