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Lidovky.cz

Czech gov’t resurrects church restitution issue

  8:23

In lieu of financial compensation for confiscated properties, ministers propose awarding the Church huge tracts of land

Církve by mohly získat 70 až 100 procent ze 181 tisíc hektarů lesů, 72 tisíc hektarů zemědělské půdy a z víc než osmi tisíc hektarů dalších nemovitostí. foto: © archivČeská pozice

A new proposal to resolve the long-standing problem of restituting church property — nine-tenths of which belongs to the Roman Catholic Church — has been put forward by Culture Minister Jiří Besser (TOP 09), whose ministry deals with the church restitution issue, and Agriculture Minister Ivan Fuksa (ODS).

They have come up with the idea of a awarding a minimum of financial compensation — or none whatsoever — and instead offering the church land and property. The church could acquire from 70 to 100 percent of 181,000 hectares of forest, 72,000 hectares of farm land and more than 8,000 hectares of other property. But the idea has its opponents, including members of the junior coalition Public Affairs (VV) party.

The Government Commission for Atonement of Property Injustices met for the second time on May 5 to examine the issue. The basic problem dates back to Act 218/1949 on State Economic Support for Churches and Religious Societies, which was passed in 1949. Its idyllic name belies the fact that it plundered the church and established the totalitarian regime’s control of the church.

The 1949 law deprived the church of its property by placing it under state administration. At the same time, it provided personal perks to the clergy “with state approval,” awarded and removed, of course, by the communist elite. After 1989 the act was indeed amended, and the Federal Congress of Czechoslovakia returned certain buildings to the Roman Catholic Church so religious orders and congregations had somewhere to renew their activities. Land, however, was not returned.

The legislation was to function as a general restitution act; however, the 1992 Federal Congress did not approve it. The Slovak part of the Chamber of Nations blocked it, using the ban on the majority outvoting the minority. This “no” sank the act.

Klaus’ government did indeed return some of the property in the Czech Republic to the church. Josef Lux, the then-deputy prime minister and head of the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL), however, had reason to repeat that “what was stolen must be returned.” A “definitive restitution” was not in sight although in the mid ’90s the Stráský Commission did come up with a certain concept and later even the government of Miloš Zeman (Social Democrats, ČSSD) worked, for a while, on another proposal. So far, though, no agreement has been reached.

Envy and a lack of will

The lion’s share of the property concerned belongs to the Roman Catholic Church; for that matter, its property was first sequestered in the First Republic and the church couldn’t use it as it pleased. This was to “redress White Mountain” and the church connected with the Habsburgs. After the Battle of White Mountain (Bílá hora) in 1620 was won by Habsburg forces, much Czech land — and political power — was concentrated in the hands of the Roman Catholic Church. And since the nation of “Hussites” had heard so much about the “greedy Catholic Church,” it was natural that any claims by the Catholic Church on its property invoked ill will in the population and envy in the other religions.

For the KDU-ČSL, supporting  the church’s restitution claim was a kind of duty although it did not curry favor with the voters. The conservative Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA) also sympathized with restitution, since its leaders were often practicing Catholics. However, only some Civic Democrats (ODS) were sympathetic; the party’s then-leader, current Czech President Václav Klaus, was by no means a sympathizer. It wasn’t until Topolanek’s coalition gov’t came to power that settlement between the state and the church was taken seriously.

Apart from a few exceptions, such as one-time Interior Minister František Bublan and then-Culture Minister Vítězslav Jandák, the ČSSD was not interested in restitution for the church; the Communists (KSČM) were fundamentally against it. If church restitution were not linked in some way with the State Agreement with the Vatican (which the Czech Republic has yet to sign) and, above all, if blocking former church property (as the Federal Parliament decided 20 years ago), did not complicate the development of towns and villages, it would still be “water under the bridge” as far as restitution is concerned.

It wasn’t until then-Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek’s (ODS) coalition government of the ODS, KDU-ČSL and the Greens came to power that settlement between the state and the church was taken seriously. “Bottom up” pressure came from municipalities, whose construction and investment activities were strangled due to blocked church land.

“Top down” pressure came in the form of the tenacity shown by the then-Minister of Culture Václav Jehlička (KDU-ČSL). At the turn of 2007–08 there was a minor miracle. In the Commission for Property Settlement, some 17 state-financed churches decided among themselves and with the state representative for a “definitive restitution.”

The state was to return a third of the property to the ecclesiastical orders and the remaining two-thirds was to be in the form of financial compensation of Kč 83 billion paid over 60 years. At an annual interest rate of 4.85 percent that would be Kč 267 billion. The KDU-ČSL leadership called on its parliamentary deputies and senators to vote for Klaus in the upcoming presidential elections. ODS representatives Vlastimil Tlustý, Jan Schwippel and Juraj Raninec, in a pitiless war with the party leader Mirek Topolánek, went over to the left, thus making it impossible to pass the “definitive restitution.”

Another try

That was spring 2008. The next attempt, three years on, is just sprouting; nevertheless, the current government commission has taken Jehlička’s itemization of church property and other data. Given the economic recession and the half-empty state coffers, it is ludicrous to expect the state to compensate the church tens of billion of crowns — let alone hundreds of billions.

This state of affairs laid the groundwork for the current proposal by Ministers Besser (TOP 09) and Fuksa (ODS). The Public Affairs (VV) party, however, is insisting on restitution in kind, which is unlikely. Their representative in the government commission went behind the Besser’s back to meet with Dominik Duka, the archbishop of Prague. Who knows, maybe it was really just a social meeting.

It would be quite interesting if the VV members — who published a pre-election calendar of “their blondes” (female MPs posing in lingerie) — were to stand in for the KDU-ČSL during the state’s settlement with the church. The KDU-ČSL have the Christian credentials, but are a bit out of the game at the moment since they are no longer represented in the lower house of Parliament.

FOR KIDS by měl být zážitkem pro celou rodinu, říká Monika
FOR KIDS by měl být zážitkem pro celou rodinu, říká Monika

Monika Pavlíčková (35 let) je maminkou dvou dcer, sedmileté Terezy a čtyřleté Laury, a zároveň také manažerkou obchodního týmu společnosti ABF,...