Pregledni rad
Identity in Diaspora – Croatian Catholics Between the Old Home and New Residence
Nediljko Ante Ančić
orcid.org/0000-0001-5546-832X
; Splitsko-makarska nadbiskupija
Sažetak
The article deals with the issue of tasks and prospects of Croatian Catholic Missions in Germany, especially in view of their work on the preservation of religious, cultural and national identity of Croatian immigrants in today’s altered circumstances. First, the problem of emigration from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in recent times is treated. Then, the article explains the causes of deep and still unbeaten economic crisis as well as the causes of totalitarian heritage, which are the main cause of emigration; it also points to the demographic experts’ recommendations and suggestions on what should be done to stop the negative population trends.
The second part provides a brief overview of the mass exodus of Croatian workers to Germany in early 60’s of the last century, establishment of the Croatian Catholic Missions, their diverse and specific activities that are not limited only to church celebrations and religious education in a narrower sense but also to the cultivation and preservation of national and cultural identity. This model of keeping track of and support to Croatian emigrants has proved to be effective and very successful as for the preservation of their identity so too for a functional integration of Croats into German society as evidenced by the fact that 60% of Croatian migrants in Germany have Croatian passports.
The themes of the third part are the great changes and significant challenges that the Croatian Catholic Missions have been facing up to recently. German dioceses have introduced austerity measures and due to the lack of priests have implemented pastoral reorganization by merging several parishes in pastoral units. The reorganization of parish communities also affects the Catholic missions in mother tongue. Their number has been decreasing, and those that remain need to be organizationally and spatially more connected with German parishes. In addition, the second and third generation of Croatian immigrants have increasingly been exposed to assimilation, so that their needs and expectations are different from those of previous generations.
In the final part the author presents a number of important proposals and suggestions on what would be desirable and necessary to do to enable the Croatian Catholic Missions to continue carrying out their mission among the Croatian immigrants as on a pastoral level so too in fostering national and cultural identity.
Ključne riječi
Croatian Catholic Mission; emigration; integration; assimilation; pastoral care of Croatian migrants
Hrčak ID:
178970
URI
Datum izdavanja:
30.3.2017.
Posjeta: 2.484 *