Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 56 No. 1-2, 1986.
Professional paper
The Catholic Church and the Croatians in Foreign Lands
Vladimir Stanković
Abstract
This lecture under the title THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE CROATIANS IN FOREIGN LANDS was delivered in a little shorter form in the panel “Croatian Migrations During the Twentieth Century”, November 1, 1985 in Washington at III World Congress for Soviet and East European Studies, hosted by the American Association for the Advencement of Slavic Studies. The panel session was sponsored by the Association for Croatian Studies.
This topic coincides with the title of the printed symposium “Katolička Crkva i Hrvati izvan domovine” which was published by the Council of Bishops’ Conference for Croatian Migration in Zagreb in 1980. The Journal of Croatian Studies, vol. XXIII (New York 1982) called it in its review “an exceptionally valuable book, an indispensable reference volume about Croatians abroad”.
This article is divided in five chapters: 1. General documents of the Catholic Church regulating the pastoral care for Catholic migrants; 2. The beginning of an organized Croatian spiritual care abroad; 3. Croatian parishes and missions abroad at present time; 4. The administration of Croatian religious caretaking abroad; 5. Some problems and perspectives.
1. The doctrinal documents of the Church as regards human mobility are numerous and embrace centuries of history. This article limits itself to mentioning only a few of the main documents: The apostolic Constitution EXSUL FAMILIA, the Motu proprio PASTORALI MIGRATORUM CURA, the Instruction DE PASTORALI MIGRATORUM CURA, the Motu proprio APOSTOLICAE CARITATIS, the Letter THE CHURCH AND PEOPLE ON THE MOVE, the Encyclical Letter LABOREM EXERCENS and the NEW CODE OF CANON LAW. Special attention is given to the Instruction De pastorali migratorum cura and the New Code of Canon Law, the documents most relevant for the pastoral care for Catholic migrants today.
2. The beginning of an organized spiritual care among Croatian Catholics abroad goes centuries back. The Church attended to the spiritual needs of the Croatians in neighbouring countries for several centuries till the present time: Austria, Hungary, Czecho-Slovakia, Rumania and South Italy.
During the building of the Suez Canal there were numerous Croatian workers who had a Croatian chaplain.
The first Croatian parish in the United States of America was founded in 1894 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Croatian Franciscan Fathers started with their organized pastoral care in US in 1912 and this is known today as the Holy Family Custody with its center in Chicago. They are affiliated with the Franciscan Province of Hercegovina. In 1912 Archbishop of Zagreb Antun Bauer founded The St. Raphael Society for the protection of Croatian emigrants which was revived by Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac who in 1940 started with a periodical “Hrvat u tuđini” (Croatian Abroad). At the Zagreb Theology School the students formed in 1930 a special Section promoting contacts with Croatians abroad. Between the two World wars some other Croatian religious orders started their pastoral work among Croatians in North and South America. Also our nuns sent numerous members to teach at Croatian parrochial schools abroad. At the same time some secular priests were engaged in Croatian ethnic parishes in America.
3. In neighbouring countries there are still today many Croatian parishes which are under the jurisdiction of local bishops and their priests were born there. In the diocese Eisenstadt in Burgenland, Austria, there are 33 Croatian parishes. The mother of their Bishop Stefan Laszlo was Croatian and he speaks our language
fluently. Croatian settlements are scattered all over Hungary where there are some 40 Croatian parishes. Many Church dignitaries in Hungary are of Croatian origin. Croatian priest and dignitaries from Austria and Hungary have friendly relations with the Church in Croatia. In Rumanian Banat there are still four purely Croatian parishes and two partly Croatian with five pastors who use liturgical books published in Zagreb. There are still Croatian settlements in Czecho-Slovakia but they have no ethnic parishes of their own. In the South Italian province Molise there are three Croatian villages with their pastors and Acquaviva Collecroce has a pastor and two nuns from Croatia. In overseas lands we have many pastoral centers: The United States of America 39 centers with secular and religious priests and sisters of whom some were born in America. In Canada there are 18 parishes and missions with 24 priests and 17 nuns. In South America Croatian pastoral care is more active in Argentina where Franciscan Fathers from Zadar are in charge. There are Croatian priests also in Venezuela and Brazil. But the majority of Croatian Catholics in South America have already been assimilated and absorbed by the local Church. South America has four Catholic Bishops of Croatian descent. In Australia Croatians commenced to build up their own national churches and centers with presbyteries and large halls only a few years ago. In 13 pastoral Centers there we have 17 priests and 12 nuns, all of them born in Yugoslavia. In New Zealand there are four Croatian priests active among our immigrants, two of them were born there. Even in South Africa there is a Croatian Mission with two Franciscans from Zadar for some six thousand Croatians. Croatian pastoral care is especially active in Western Europe. There we have 112 missions with 146 priests, 100 social workers and 123 catechists (nuns). These missions are located as follows: 81 in Western Germany, 8 in Austria, 6 in Switzerland, 4 in France, 3 in Sweden, 2 in Belgium and one in each of these countries: Norway, Denmark, Great Britain, Netherlands, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain. Holy liturgy in Croatian is regularly offered in more than five hundred towns and cities.
4. After the review of post-war pastoral actions of the St. Jerome’s Croatian College in Rome in favour of refugees and activities of Msgr. Krešimir Zorić, the article describes the appointment of the first National Director for Croatian Migration. Dr. Vladimir Vince was nominated by pope Paul VI in 1966 but he was killed in a planewreckage in Latin America already in 1968. His successor was the present National Director Msgr. Vladimir Stanković who is at the same time the secretary of the Council for Croatian Migration at the Bishops’ Conference of Yugoslavia, while the chairman of the Council is Msgr. Tomislav Jablanović, auxiliary bishop of Sarajevo. The Council comprises 15 members, some of them are from abroad some from the homeland. Thus the official Church pastoral care for Croatian Catholics abroad has two institutions: The Directorate of the Pastoral Care for Croatians abroad with its office in Rome and The Council for Croatian Migration at the Episcopal Conference in Zagreb. In its 16 years of activity the Council has sent to Croatian foreign missions 152 priests from Yugoslavia and helped some one hundred social workers and 97 catechists to be settled. At the same time 102 missions and parishes have been established, 86 of these in Western Europe and 16 in overseas countries. The article enumerates many other activities of this Council.
5. The article mentiones some organizational problems, some problems concerning the second generation of our emigrants and some political questions. It is emphasized that Croatian priests abroad must conform their work to the rules of
the local Church, of the universal Church, they must abide by the directives of Croatian Bishops and religious superiors. Their first aim is the preaching of the Gospel, religious and social assistance, and at the same time they have to support the preservation of national heritage. It is strictly forbidden for them to be engaged in political activities. The article concludes with quoting the words of Cardinal Kuharić acknowledging the efforts of Croatian missionaries, sisters and social workers whose “only reward is in the recognition that they have done good to their brethren”.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
34445
URI
Publication date:
22.6.1986.
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