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CONFISCATION OF ECCLESIASTICAL REGISTERS IN CROATIA DURING THE COMMUNISM REGIME
Miroslav AKMADŽA
Sažetak
After taking the power in 1945, communist leadership created new laws in accordance with communist ideology. Some of these laws regulated relations between state and the Church in way that this infl uenced some of the Church activities that interfered with some
of the state’s affairs. One of these laws regulated issue of registry books that were kept up to this time by the church authorities. According to the Law on State Registry Books (April 1st, 1946) all church registry books had to be handed over to state registry offi cials. However, since these offi cials often had misunderstood (or misused) the law and seized all kinds of church books, such as State of souls registers or old glagolitic books etc. Therefore, church authorities protested vigorously and requested return of such books. Consequently, New Law on changes and amendments of the Law on State Registry Books was issued in January 1949. By this law state authorities prescribed fi nes in money and forced hard labour for all the church offi cials who would make new entries into registry books, since these were closed by the regulations of the fore-mentioned law. Moreover, this new law anticipated that anyone could take such registers from church representatives and hand them over to nearest authorized state registry offi cials. Furthermore, baptism and funerals, before the newborn or deceased was registered in new state registry books, were forbidden. Since state offi cials and church representatives had different opinions regarding the interpretation
and implementation of these laws, they often argued and priests were frequently fi ned. Such policy of state offi cials caused even more protest from the church authorities, and therefore these regulations were cancelled in July 1951 by the Criminal Justice Act. Henceforth baptising or funerals could be preformed even prior to reporting the birth or death to state registry offi cial. However, problem of taken registry books remained and church authorities continued to complain in the following years.
Ključne riječi
Catholic Church; State; Registry books; Registry officials
Hrčak ID:
28058
URI
Datum izdavanja:
20.6.2008.
Posjeta: 6.105 *