Posted on 08/21/2007 7:48:47 PM PDT by Bokababe
Prelates Consider It Key for Local Church
SUBOTICA, Serbia, AUG. 20, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The foundation stone has been laid for the first Catholic seminary for Serbia.
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, D.C., presided over the ceremony, calling it a historic moment.
Archbishop Stanislaw Hocevar of Belgrade, the chairman of the bishops' conference of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, which covers Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, told the group Aid to the Church in Need that it is "of great importance that future priests be trained in their own country."
After the war, Serbia was left without a seminary since the six seminaries of the former Republic of Yugoslavia were situated in other republics, Archbishop Hocevar explained.
"As a result, the seminarians were being trained in various other independent states. [L]ong term, this was not an acceptable state of affairs," he added.
The Diocese of Subotica is situated in the region of Vojvodina, and has the highest number of Catholics in Serbia at 320,000.
Orthodox
Given that the Serbian Orthodox Church represents 85% of the Serbian population, Archbishop Hocevar is particularly concerned about good ecumenical relations.
"Although there [are] only half a million Catholics in Serbia," he said, "the expectations with regard to the Catholic Church in the matter of interconfessional dialogue [are] high."
Bishop Janos Penzes of Subotica explained that he believes the new seminary will strengthen the bonds between clergy, which has particular importance given that people of many nationalities and religions live side by side.
He said that due to the training at different seminaries, after ordination many of the priests scarcely know each other and have very different approaches to their ministry depending on the university.
Bishop Penzes concluded, "A unified and shared formation would make it easier to devise a unified pastoral plan for the local church."
http://www.serbia-info.com/facts/population.html
There is a Slovak Lutheran community in Vojvodina as well. I think that their pastoral candidates go to seminary in Bratislava.
That helps make a nice exchange between Slovak Lutherans in Slovakia and in Serbia, and both communities tend to be pro-Serbian.
Good for Serbia and good for the Church.
Great news. Just one question. Is this a Latin or an Eastern rite?
Thanks.
Although if my memory serves me correct, in Croatia there are pockets of Catholics who are Eastern rite as well as the Western.
Uh, not quite:
“The Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Twenty-five ethnic Serbs remained incarcerated after being convicted in nontransparent politicized trials in past years. Lower courts were occasionally subject to political influence, and the judicial system suffered from bureaucratic inefficiency, insufficient funding, and a severe backlog of cases. The Government made efforts to address the problem of witnesses sometimes changing their testimony due to intimidation and an often-hostile local public. The Courts largely discontinued the practice of pursuing mass and in absentia trials. Restitution of occupied property to refugees (mostly ethnic Serbs) returning to the country improved during the year, with most (all but 54) illegally occupied properties vacated; however, while significant progress occurred, property restitution remained a problem. The Government did not interfere in the editorial decisions of the print media; however, electronic media was susceptible to political pressure and attempts were made to influence reporting on the two national television stations. Governmental interference in the formation and operation of associations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) was limited. Restitution of nationalized property from the Second World War era remained a significant unresolved problem for all religious communities. There were some incidents of violence and harassment of religious minorities. Cooperation with the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) improved noticeably, although questions remained regarding the Government’s ability to apprehend and deliver a prominent Croatian indicted for war crimes. Violence and discrimination against women occurred. Occasional violence continued toward ethnic minorities, particularly Serbs and Roma; some faced serious discrimination. Ethnic tensions in the war-affected areas were less pronounced than in previous years, and abuses, including ethnically motivated harassment and assaults, occurred less frequently. Trafficking in women was a problem.”
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41675.htm
http://wap.macedonia.org/myth/serbs.html
And for Serbia? The same year’s report (and that was at random):
“The Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Police at times beat detainees and harassed citizens. Police effectively investigated high-level killings committed during and after the Milosevic era; however, impunity and corruption were problems. Prolonged pretrial detention was a problem. Courts remained backlogged and administratively paralyzed, and lengthy trials persisted. The war crimes court, a department of the Belgrade District Court established in 2003, began hearing war crimes cases during the year. The media was generally independent; however, journalists practiced some self-censorship because of their vulnerability to private libel suits and indirect political manipulation.
There were incidents of arbitrary arrest and detention.”
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41706.htm
Looks like they both have plenty to work on.
Interesting: “There is no state religion in SaM; however, the Serbian Orthodox Church received some preferential treatment, including funding for construction of a large church in Belgrade. The armed forces continued to offer only Serbian Orthodox services; however, members of other faiths may attend religious services outside their posts.”
“The Belgrade Islamic community reported continued difficulties in acquiring land and government approval for an Islamic cemetery in the city.
“The Supreme Court ruled against a tent church used by the Protestant Evangelical Roma Church in its long-running dispute with the southern town of Leskovac, in which the tent church was singled out from among 463 illegal structures in the area for demolition.”
Anti-semitism? : “Representatives of the Union of Jewish Communities of SaM reported an increase in anti-Semitism. There were no reports of physical violence against Jewish persons; however, there was anti-Semitic graffiti and vandalism at a few Jewish cemeteries.”
“According to representatives of the Union of Jewish Communities of SaM, anti Semitic hate speech often appeared in small circulation books. The release of new books (or reprints of translations of anti-Semitic foreign literature) often led to a spike in hate mail and other expressions of anti-Semitism.”
Picking on Catholics: “Among the incidents that targeted religious sites or adherents were: The January 19 desecration of a Hungarian Catholic cemetery in Novi Sad; the January 19 desecration of a Reformist church in Sombor; the January 24 desecration of a Croatian Catholic cemetery in Subotica; the desecration of another Subotica graveyard, where Croats and Bunjevci (both Catholic groups) are buried, on the night of March 26-27; the desecration of 21 gravestones in the Catholic and Orthodox graveyard in Novi Becej between May 1 and 2; and an attack in Novi Sad on two Christian Adventist ministers. In this last incident, police had not arrested the perpetrators or filed a criminal complaint by year’s end, although the identity of the attackers was known. In this incident and in most cases, police tried to minimize their seriousness, attributing them to drunk individuals and youths without performing thorough investigations.”
Rampaging ‘youts’: “During the night of March 17-18, the Belgrade mosque was looted and set on fire by 300 to 500 youths, reportedly mostly from Belgrade’s sports clubs, who went to the mosque after demonstrating in front of the Serbian Government building. Government and political leaders condemned the attack...”
Go ahead and use the same year’s report (or any other year’s report) to list all of the offences of the Croats. It looks to me that the Serbs and Croats are far from perfect.
Hoplite was right... < / sarcasm >
Catholic bump
Sorry, I don't know.
The musselmen aren’t going to like this.
Let me get this straight -- you are holding a desecration of a graveyard that is also Serbian Orthodox, against Serbs? And you are calling it "picking on Catholics"? Your Serbo-phobia really has gotten the better of you, Vlad! Either that, or you just acknowledged "Orthodox" as "Catholics"!
We’re headed (glacially) towards a reconciliation between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, so this is a nice story.
Thanks be to God.
That is something that we agree on, Diocletian, which is why I posted it. Although, Vlad is making me wonder.
You wrote:
“Let me get this straight — you are holding a desecration of a graveyard that is also Serbian Orthodox, against Serbs?”
No, I am not doing that at all. I didn’t write the report. Last time I check I wasn’t the US government.
“And you are calling it “picking on Catholics”?”
Not just that, no.
“Your Serbo-phobia really has gotten the better of you, Vlad!”
Don’t have it so it can’t have gotten the better of me.
“Either that, or you just acknowledged “Orthodox” as “Catholics”!”
LOL!
When the reconciliation between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches is complete, we should try to make a country comprised of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. What’s the worst that could happen? :-D
It’ll be as smooth as silk.
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