In the second decade of the 21st century, more than a dozen books have been published on the scandalous and criminal entanglements of the Catholic Church in Poland. These texts are noncathartic (Sianne Ngai’s term). Action is blocked or suspended as the disclosure of victims’ testimonies brings a sense of emotional entanglements that cannot be worked through. Tracing these ambivalent affects, the author explores their regulation – the existing and potential social bonds. She is interested in the role of religion and the Church in the lives of the protagonists of the reportage, the attitude of the collective (society) to the victims and to the institution of the Church, the role of the state and the question of the legal system, and the basis of another, potential social contract.

Keywords: reportage, contemporary Polish literature, affects, law and literature, law in literature, social contract, Catholic Church, Sianne Ngai

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