Romanian Church property issue prompts day of fasting

The post-Soviet era Church continues to recover from the fall-out of that failed state. Orthodox battle with Orthodox over jurisdictional lines, national allegiance, and degrees of autonomy. Orthodox and Greek Catholics are also coming to terms with the result of having Soviet control giving way to issues like return of churches, government acknowledgement, and delineating proselytism from a return to one's church. The Anastasis Dialogue commented today on this process going on in Romania.

This article from CWN is fairly accurate. I would like to add only that the letter from His Grace, Bishop John Michael (which we read last Sunday in church) made a couple of very important points. First, that the basic principle at stake here is the simple commandment, "you shall not steal." Second, that Greek Catholics are not asking for churches in towns where there is no significant Greek Catholic community in need of its church building back. This is not about proselytizing through real estate. Third that this problem should not deter us in any way from our ecumenical responsibilities, no matter what the outcome.

Feb. 10, 2009 (CWNews.com) - The Romanian Catholic Church has set February 11 as a day of strict fasting and prayer, as the Eastern-rite Church confronts a crisis in Romania.

Since the fall of that country's Communist regime, the Romanian Catholic Church has sought the return of parish properties that were confiscated during the Stalin era and turned over to Romanian Orthodox control. The Romanian Catholic Church, which endured fierce persecution under Communism, survived underground and returned to vigorous public life after the repressive regime led by Nicolae Ceausescu finally fell in 1989.

Still most of the confiscated church property remained under Orthodox control, and in many instances Eastern-rite Catholics have been forced to worship in schools and other public buildings, or even outdoors, rather than in the churches built by their forefathers. In a country where Orthodox believers form a clear majority, the Romanian government has been reluctant to press for restoration of Catholic properties. Disputes over the legal ownership of churches have caused considerable conflict between the two Eastern churches.

The situation is complicated by the fact that some church buildings have now been used by Orthodox congregations for decades. Moreover, the Romanian Catholic Church was decimated by the years of brutal Communist persecution. There were about 2.5 million Eastern-rite Catholics in Romania before the Communist takeover; today the number is closer to 250,000. In some towns there are not Catholics remaining to claim ownership of an old church.

In 2007, legislation was introduced in the Romanian parliament that would have severely curtailed the efforts by Catholics to regain church property: including artwork and furnishings as well as the buildings themselves. Although the proposal was defeated, it has been introduced again this year, prompting what leaders of the Romanian Catholic Church see as a crisis for their community.

Major Archbishop Lucian Muresan of Alba Iulia-Fagaras, the leader of the Romanian Catholic Church, has called his people to fast and pray for justice on February 11. In the United States, the Bishop John Michael Botean, who heads the American eparchy of the Romanian Catholic Church, has asked all parishes to join in solidarity with that fast. In addition to fasting, he proposed that the faithful "go to the church you are blessed to have free and unhindered use of in order to pray on that day that God’s will be done in Romania—and injustice is not God’s will."