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Factionalism in Church-State Interaction: The Croatian Catholic Church in the 1980s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Pedro Ramet
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Extract

Among the approaches one might adopt in studying church-state interaction is one that endeavors to treat both church and state as active subjects and which tries to be sensitive to factional divisions within both. This approach makes it clear that just as a regime may have a religious policy, the churches may also have policies toward the regime, and that the resulting relationship reflects the interplay of both policies. If there are factions in both state and church, the policies of both will be the subject and the product of continuing debate and struggle among the factions.

Sensitivity to factionalism is not a black-and-white issue but a matter of degree. Nevertheless, Western writings on church-state relations under communism may be grouped into four general categories. In the first category are works treating both church and state as unified (nonfactionalized) entities—either explicitly (by denying factionalism) or implicitly (by ignoring it as analytically unimportant).

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , Summer 1985 , pp. 298 - 315
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1985

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References

1. A recent work sensitive to this complexity is Luchterhandt, Otto, Die Gegenwartslage der Evangelischen Kirche in der DDR (Tübingen, W. Germany: J. C. B. Mohr, 1982)Google Scholar.

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3. Alexander, Stella, Church and State in Yugoslavia since 1945 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979)Google Scholar; Andras, Emmerich, “Offene Konflikte in Ungarns Kirche,” in Herder Korrespondenz, 36, no. 4 (April 1982)Google Scholar; Bowers, Stephen R., “Private Institutions in Service to the State:The German Democratic Republic's Church in Socialism,” in East European Quarterly, 16, no. 1(March 1982): 83 Google Scholar; Cushing, George, “Protestantism in Hungary,” in Religion in Communist Lands, 10, no. 2 (Autumn 1982)Google Scholar; John C. Cort, “The Catholic Church and Socialism,” in Dissent (Spring 1982); Grose, Peter, “God and Communism,” in Salisbury, Harrison E., ed., The Soviet Union: The Fifty Years (New York: New York Times Co., 1967)Google Scholar; Meerson, Michael Aksenov, “The Russian Orthodox Church 1965–1980,” in Religion in Communist Lands, 10, no. 1 (Spring 1982)Google Scholar; Nechlubyl, Jozef, “Wird die Kirche in den Untergrund gezwungen?” in Herder Korrespondenz, 35, no. 7(July 1981)Google Scholar; Alexander Tomsky, “Modus Moriendi of the Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia,” inReligion in Communist Lands, 10, no. 1 (Spring 1982); and Treffert, Diethild, “Ungarn: Einigkeit—das Schliisselproblem der Kirche,” in Herder Korrespondenz, 35, no. 3 (March 1981)Google Scholar.

4. See, for example, Peter Wensierski, “Theses on the Role of the Church in the GDR, “OPREE, 3, no. 4 (May 1983): 26.Google Scholar

5. Bociurkiw, Bohdan R., “The Shaping of Soviet Religious Policy,” in Problems of Communism, 22, no. 3 (May-June 1973): 41, 50Google Scholar; C. D. Kernig, “Religionsfreiheit in kommunistischer Theorie und Praxis,” in Kirche in Not, 20 (1971): 23–24; and Jure Kristo, “Relations between the State and the Roman Catholic Church in Croatia, Yugoslavia in the 1970s and 1980s,” OPREE, 2, no. 3 (June 1982).

6. See Ramet, Pedro, “Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslavia,” in Ramet, , ed., Religion and Nationalism in Soviet and East European Politics (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1984)Google Scholar; and Ramet, “From Strossmayer to Stepinac: Croatian National Ideology and Catholicism,” in Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism (in press).

7. Glaube in der2. Welt (March 1982), p. 84; AKSA (March 31,1978); and The Tablet (July 26,1980), p. 735. The figure of 6.8 million Catholics is also given in Štokalo, Gabrijel, Adresar Katoličke crkve u SFRJ (Zagreb: Krščanska sadašnjost, 1981)Google Scholar, as cited in Cviic, Christopher, “Die Katholische Kirche in Jugoslawien,” in Lendvai, Paul, ed., Religionsfreiheit und Menschenrechte (Graz: Verlag Styria, 1983), p. 215 Google Scholar.

8. Grulich, Rudolf, “Probleme der Religionsfreiheit in Jugoslawien,” in Kirche in Not, 25 (1977):82 Google Scholar; Kirche im Osten, 24 (1981): 143–44; and Grulich, “Unierte Gläubige in kommunistisch regierten Ländern,” in Digest des Ostens (1980), no. 11, p. 5. See also Opĉi šematizam katolčke crkve u Jugoslaviji 1974 (Zagreb: Biskupska konferencija Jugoslavije, 1975), pp. 33–638.

9. Srdjan Vrcan, “Vezanost ljudi za religiju i crkvu u nas,” in Naše teme, 19, nos. 7–8 (July-August 1975): 1218–39.

10. AKSA (March 5, June 25, and July 9AM$)i Ny

11. Cviic, “Die Katholische Kirche in Jugoslawien,” p.224.

12. AKSA (April 23, 1982); and N. Gerald Shenk, “Some Social Expectations of Christians in Yugoslavia with Primary Emphasis on the Protestant Churches,” OPREE, 1, no. 4 (August 1981):5–6.

13. Quoted in Tomislav Ivančič, “Vjera krščanina u ateističkom ambijentu,” in Crkva u svijetu, 16, no. 4(1981): 317.

14. Ibrahim Bakič\ “Odnos Saveza komunista Jugoslavije prema religiji,” in Opredjeljenja, 6,nos. 10–11 (October-November 1978): 74–75, 77.

15. Radio Belgrade (June 24, 1975), translated in Foreign Broadcast Information Service(FBIS), Daily Report (Eastern Europe), June 25, 1975; and Tanjug (March 5, 1981), translated in FBIS, Daily Report (Eastern Europe), March 10, 1981.

16. Quoted in AKSA (July 3, 1981).

17. Digest des Ostens (1977), nos. 11–12, pp. 25–26; Grulich, “Probleme der Religionsfreiheit, “pp. 91–92; and “Informationsdienst,” in Glaube in der 2. Welt (August 1979), p. 8.

18. Politika (February 11, 1981), reported in AKSA (February 13, 1981); Slobodna Dalmacija(February 19, 1981), summarized and excerpted in Tanjug (February 19, 1981), translated in FBIS,Daily Report (Eastern Europe), February 20, 1981; and Politika (April 13, 1981).

19. Grycz, Wolfgang, “Katholische Kirche in Jugoslawien,” in Kirche in Not, 20 (1971): 88–89 Google Scholar;and Grulich, , “Die Katholische Kirche in Kroatien und Slowenien,” in Kirche in Not, 23 (1975): 95 Google Scholar.

20. Danas (January 11, 1983), summarized in Nova Hrvatska (London, January 30,1983), p. 7;and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (February 23, 1983), translated into Croatian in Nova Hrvatska(March 13, 1983), p. 16.

21. Süddeutsche Zeitung (October 29, 1981); and Nova Hrvatska (March 13, 1983), p. 5.

22. Vjesnik (November 28, 1981), quoted in Zdenko Antic, “Calls for Moderation in Relations with Churches in Yugoslavia,” Radio Free Europe Research (December 3, 1981).

23. Interview, Belgrade, July 1982.

24. AKSA (July 16, 1982).

25. Danas (July 13, 1982), pp. 9–10.

26. Ibid. (July 20, 1982), pp. 13–14, 42.

27. AKSA (March 26, 1982).

28. Responding to these currents, Glas koncila welcomed what it chose to view as evidence of a desire among some Yugoslav party officials to understand and accept the church and lent its support to the idea of depoliticization of the religious sphere, adding that Christian religion has no political program to advance and hence need not be in conflict with a socialist system. See Glas koncila(July 18, 1982), p. 2.

29. Paul Mojzes, Christian-Marxist Dialogue in Eastern Europe (Minneapolis, Minn.: Augsburg Publishing House, 1981), p. 144.

30. Ivica Račan, “Politika saveza komunista prema crkvi i religiji,” in NaSe teme, 20, no. 6(June 1976): 967.

31. Ivan Cvitkoviĉ, Marksistička misao i religija (Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1980), p. 136.

32. Mojzes, Christian-Marxist Dialogue, p. 129; and interviews, Belgrade, July 1982.

33. AKSA (December 4, 1981).

34. Cviic, “Die Katholische Kirche in Jugoslawien,” p. 231.

35. AKSA (December 11, 1982).

36. Vjesnik (May 28, 1970), p. 9.

37. In response, some 43 “loyalist” priests wrote an open letter condemning the 16 “rebels. “See Ekonomska politika (October 18, 1971), p. 20, translated in JPRS/EE (November 22, 1971).

38. See Fine, John V. A., Jr., The Bosnian Church: A New Interpretation (Boulder, Colo.: East European Quarterly, 1975), p. 185 Google Scholar; Fra Dr Gavranoviĉ, Berislav, Uspostava redovite katoličke hijerarhije u Bosni i Hercegovini 1881 godine (Belgrade: Filosofski fakultet, 1935), pp. 7–8 Google Scholar; and Glas koncila (July 18, 1982), p. 2.

39. Vjesnik u srijedu (May 6, 1970), pp. 10–11; and The Tablet (August 18, 1976), p. 795.

40. Kristo, “Relations between the State,” p. 29; and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung(October 17, 1979), p. 10, translated in JPRS/EE (November 26, 1979).

41. Komunist (September 23, 1983), translated in JPRS/EE (October 27, 1983).

42. Keston News Service, no. 198 (May 3,1984), pp. 8–9; see also Danas (September 20,1983),as cited in AKSA (September 23, 1983).

43. Stella Alexander, “The Catholic Church in Yugoslavia since John Paul II,” Paper presented at Notre Dame University, April 1980, p. 8.

44. Interview, Zagreb, July 1982.

45. Interview, Ljubljana, July 1982.

46. For more details on the dispute regarding these committees, see Ramet, “Catholicism and Politics in Socialist Yugoslavia,” p. 266.

47. Nova Hrvatska (February 13, 1983), p. 5.

48. Vjesnik (March 25, 1980), p. 5.

49. Nova Hrvatska (March 13, 1983), p. 4.

50. Glas koncila (January 9, 1983), p. 4.

51. Frane Franiĉ, Putovi dijaloga (Split: Crkva u svijetu, 1973), p. 179.

52. Other clergy have also sought to encourage dialogue-minded elements in the establishment.Among them are Friar Marko Oršoliĉ’ of Sarajevo and the Dominican Tomo Vereš’ of Zagreb.

53. Interview, Zagreb, July 1982.

54. Glas koncila (January 9, 1983), p. 1 (my emphasis).

55. AKSA (February 8, 1980).

56. Interview, Zagreb, July 1982.

57. Zdenko Antic, “New Conflict within the Catholic Church in Yugoslavia,” Radio Free Europe Research (June 8, 1978), p. 1; Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (July 23, 1983), p. 5.

58. Crkva u svijetu (1982), no. 3, pp. 278–79; and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (February 8,1983), p. 10.

59. Vjesnik: Sedam dana (July 31, 1982), pp. 14–15.

60. Ibid. (August 7, 1982), pp. 2, 20.

61. Nova Hrvatska (October 24, 1982), p. 12.

62. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (July 5, 1983), p. 8.

63. Reinhard Lauer, “Genese und Funktion des illyrischen Ideologems in den südslawischen Literaturen (16. bis Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts),” in Klaus-Detlev Grothusen, ed., Ethnogenese und Staatsbildung in Südosteuropa (Göttingen, W. Germany: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1974),pp. 135–36; and Charles Joseph Slovak, III, “Josip Juraj Strossmayer, A Balkan Bishop: The EarlyYears, 1815–1854” (Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois, 1974), p. 72.

64. Quoted in Nova Hrvatska (January 30, 1983), p. 12.

65. Keston News Service, no. 191 (January 26, 1984), p. 5.

66. The declaration is translated into German in Kroatische Berichte, 6, no. 6 (November-December 1981): 13.

67. Nova Hrvatska (December 19, 1982), p. 5, and (July 17, 1983), p. 10.

68. Glas koncila (January 9, 1983), p. 6.

69. That's Yugoslavia (1982), no. 4, p. 11.Construction of the church was completed September 1984.

70. Danas (July 5, 1983), as reported in Sandra Oestreich, “Yugoslav Papers Report on the Case of Marija Car,” in Keston News Service, no. 184 (October 6, 1983), p. 14.

71. See Cviic, “Die Katholische Kirche in Jugoslawien,” pp. 230–31; Komunist (September 23,1983), translated in JPRS/EE (October 27, 1983); and Glas koncila (May 29, 1983), as reported inNova Hrvatska (June 19, 1983), p.