EN
The paper presents the document Guidelines for Polish-language Pastoral Care in Germany, which was prepared by the German and Polish Episcopal Conferences. This joint document, signed on 17 September 2001, is analysed in the context of the provisions included in the instruction Erga migrantes caritas Christi issued by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People on 3 May 2004. At the beginning of the paper, the author presents a brief history of Polish-language pastoral care in Germany. The successive parts of the Guidelines are then discussed: the preamble, the task and purpose of Polish-language pastoral care, the function of the delegate, pastors and vicars of Polish-language Catholic missions, lay people in Polish-language Catholic missions. Each of these parts is presented in the light of the Erga migrantes instruction. An analysis of both documents clearly shows their consistency and the fact that the Guidelines implement the objectives of the subsequently published Erga migrantes instruction.