You wrote:
“Right, we should take the word of Roman Catholic apologetics website on the “virtues” of Cardinal Stepinac vs. taking the Jewish/Israeli account? Right!”
Yes, since it is fully documented and irrefutable, you should. Also, plenty of Jews came forward in the 40s and 50s and 60s to defend Stepinac. Read them as well. See, I read all of this stuff. You however, are choosing to be unaware. That’s a mistake.
“And you are “not Roman Catholic”, but rather are a completely “objective third party observer”.”
Compared to you and others here, yes. I am not a Serb, I am not a Croat, I am not a Jew, nor am I a Communist. I am much more likely to be objective than many others.
“Wow! I must then be the Queen of England!”
My objectivity is not contingent upon your new found blue blood.
“Chill, Vlad. The vast majority of Croats are not goose-stepping Nazis, but Tudjman — the father of modern Croatia — WAS a goose-stepping Nazi.”
No, he was not a Nazi. Be serious. If you want to call him a fascist that’s one thing, but the Nazis were a specific group. He was never a member of that group, nor does he hold their beliefs, wear their uniform, etc. Let’s say he was. What has that got to do with anything we have discussed? Nothing. Were the founders of modern day Serbia really any less of fascists or communists or simple thugs (who also encouraged war crimes)? No.
“Now young Croatians are saddled with the legacy of a Neo-Nazi as “the father of their country & independence”, and just what are they supposed to do with that other than pretend he and his creepy swastika-loving compatriots (many of whom were their fathers) were “heroes”?”
No, they are not saddled with that legacy at all. They clearly do not consider it a burden, and I see no reason they should consider it a burden because there’s no truth to it. He’s not a Nazi. And many Croats look at a handful of people like Gotovina as heroes because they won the war and then defied the world. And all that you just said could easily be said, by the same token, about Serbia. A less than savory modern founder (convicted of war crimes), with lots of heroes (war criminals) who are idolized by some young people.
“We did them a terrible disservice by supporting Tudjman.”
No, Croatia seems to be doing well for itself. And our support wouldn’t necessarily have changed anything.
“And the Roman Catholic Church did them a terrible disservice by “sanctifying” a skin-crawling psychopath named Stepinac.”
No, the Church did a great thing by stepping forward in the Stepinac canonization process and he certainly deserved it and all contemporary records show him to be anything but “a skin-crawling psychopath.”
“And we wonder why the Balkans are so screwd up?”
It’s because of the people who live there. Not because of the Church. Not because of American support. Not because of Nazism. It’s the people who LIVE THERE.
These terrible Church papers, 1941 to 1945, should destroy forever our faith in those diplomatic prelates, often good and kindly men, who believe that at all costs the ecclesiastical fabric, its schools and rules, its ancient privileges and powers, should be preserved. The clerical editors published the Aryan laws, the accounts of the forced conversions, without protest, the endless photographs of Pavelitch’s visits to seminaries and convents, and the ecstatic speeches of welcome with which he was greeted. Turn, for example, to Katolicki Tjednik (The Catholic Weekly), Christmas 1941, and read the twenty-six verse ‘Ode to Pavelitch’, in which Archbishop Sharitch praises him for his measures against Serbs and Jews. Examine the Protestant papers and you will find the same story. Is it not clear that in times like those the Church doors should be shut, the Church newspapers closed down, and Christians, who believe that we should love our neighbours as ourselves, should go underground and try to build up a new faith in the catacombs?[ESCAPE FROM THE ANTHILL, p. 285]