Antoni Lewek (14 January 1940 – 18 July 2010) was a Polish Catholic priest, theologian, and academic. He was the founder and first director of the Institute for Media Education and Journalism at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw.
Early Life and Education
Lewek was born in Kobyla Góra to Antoni and Teresa Lewek; his father died in a concentration camp in 1943. He was educated in his home village until age 13, then attended a minor seminary in Gostyń from 1953 to 1957. After obtaining his matura, he studied theology and philosophy at the archdiocesan seminary in Poznań. He was ordained a priest on 26 May 1963 by Antoni Baraniak.
Academic Career
Between 1963 and 1967, Lewek performed pastoral and preaching work in Buk and Leszno. In 1967, he began specialist studies in homiletics at the Academy of Catholic Theology in Warsaw, earning a magister degree in 1970. He attended the University of Vienna on scholarship and completed specialized studies at the Institut für Katechetik und Homiletik in Munich. He obtained a doctorate in June 1973 after defending his dissertation Odnowa kaznodziejstwa w ujęciu Viktora Schurra na tle współczesnego ruchu homiletycznego. He received his habilitation in 1982, becoming the only person in Poland at the time to hold a postdoctoral degree in homiletics, and was granted the title of professor in 1995.
From 1982 to 1987, Lewek served three terms as chairman of the homiletics section of the Polish Episcopal Conference's Committee on the Doctrine of the Faith. He served as head of the Department of Theology at the Academy of Catholic Theology from 1983 to 1999, where he created specialized studies on the theology of social communication. In 2002, he founded the Institute for Media Education and Journalism at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, serving as its director until his death.
Other Activities
Lewek was an anticommunist activist and protested following the death of the slain priest Jerzy Popiełuszko.
Death
He died on 18 July 2010 in Warsaw at the age of 70.
