Catholic Bishops Petition Against Czech Church Laws

Wanganui Chronicle, 7 November 1949, Page 5

Catholic Bishops Petition Against Czech Church Laws

PRAGUE, Nov 5 (Recd 6 pm).— Czechoslovakia’s Catholic bishops today issued the text of a petition they have addressed to the Government calling for a revision of the new church laws. The petition condemned the laws for “unconstitutionally” taking away of freedom to manage church affairs. It was signed by the Archbishop of Olomouc, Doctor Josef Matocha, and others of the hierarchy but not by the Archbishop of Prague, Doctor Josef Beran, nor his auxiliaries. The bishops said the old system of church Government included feudal practices which should have been abolished. They claimed the new laws reintroduced “feudal practices in the form of State patronage.” The new laws, in the bishops’ view, failed to respect the church’s autonomy in the conduct and direction of religious matters, and the new State office for Church Affairs was given the right “to unlimited interference.” The petition said: “The Roman Catholic Church in this country has defacto been placed outside any legal standing. The state claims a right to fill vacancies in spiritual offices and to refuse consent to nominations of clergymen for reasons of political ideology. This conflicts with a basic clause of the Constitution on freedom of worship. The law does not respect the autonomy of the church in the direction and control of matters of belief, morals, Divine service, church discipline, religious instruction and membership of the church, so that freedom of worship is not guaranteed. The performance of religion is exposed to the danger of being frustrated by political factors. There is great danger that in the execution of internal church matters, the church will be defamed and her spiritual activity valued from purely political viewpoints. “The Government should assure the Catholic church a firm legal standing, and independence of activity in church affairs by issuing a collective religious law.” —Reuter.