CONTEXTS OF THE CHURCH AND THE CHURCH LIFE IN THE CULTURAL SYSTEM OF MINORITIES

The paper focuses on the colonization process of the Lowland by the Slovak ethnic group, with an emphasis on the role of the Church/priest in forming cultural patterns in newly populated areas. The priest often led the colonists into their new homeland. He was their key to solving problems that arose in a geographically and ethno-culturally diverse setting. The paper also contains a chapter on the complexity of the correlations between religion and ethnicity that emerged from mutual relations between immigrants and indigenous people. The cultural development of Catholic colonists was different from Lutherans who arrived into the Catholic or Orthodox environment. Such contrasts and differences have often contributed to the preservation of faith and ethnicity for many generations. To these days, they significantly influence the process of assimilation and the preservation of ethnic/confessional identity.