STATE TAKES OVER REGISTERS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 127, 14 March 1950, Page 3

STATE TAKES OVER REGISTERS

LATEST CZECH MOVE PRAGUE. Church registers of births, marriages and deaths throughout Czechoslovakia have now been closed and new registers opened, which are kept by the local civil authorities. The change-over took place in accordance with the new church laws introduced last November, which give the state complete control over the affairs of all churches of all denominations in the country. Under the new law the church registers became the property of the state, but the Czechoslovak government conceded that the books should remain in the keeping of the parish administrators, once the registers are formally closed'. This was regarded as a concession to the Catholic clergy, who had asked not to be parted from the registers which have been kept by the Church since 1784, when the keeping of records was made compulsory 'by the Emperor Joseph the Second. Registers in many cases date back long before the eighteenth century, and the oldest known church register still in existence goes back to 1583. With the closing of the registers no additions may be made, and any alterations must be authorised by the local national committee—the civil authority which in the majority of towns and villages is Communist-led. —(Reuter).