American Photography 28 Winners

Faith: Polish Catholicism

A girl carries figures of Mother Mary and Jesus Christ after the Corpus Christi procession in Lipiny, Silesia, Poland, part of the personal project Faith: Polish Catholicism, June 2011. For many Poles, being Catholic is part of the national identity, a defining characteristic that separates them from Lutheran Germany to the west, and the Orthodox countries to the east. However, there has been a marked shift. The loyalty to and support for the Catholic Church has dropped as more and more people are developing a secular outlook characteristic of the more secular western European nations.

Faith: Polish Catholicism

Young people surrounded by hundreds of pilgrims carry the figure of the Dormition of Mary through the river in Paclawska, part of the personal project Faith: Polish Catholicism, June 2011. For many Poles, being Catholic is part of the national identity, a defining characteristic that separates them from Lutheran Germany to the west, and the Orthodox countries to the east. However, there has been a marked shift. The loyalty to and support for the Catholic Church has dropped as more and more people are developing a secular outlook characteristic of the more secular western European nations.