Posted on 01/23/2016 6:59:24 PM PST by ebb tide
The Stepinac Case "We are afraid that there are too many open questions and wounds which Cardinal Stepinac symbolizes. His canonization, to our great regret, would return the relations between Serbs and Croats, as well as between Catholics and Orthodox faithful, back to their tragic history... We ask you to remove the question of the canonization of Cardinal Stepinac from the agenda, and to leave it to the infallible judgment of God."--Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Irinej, in a 2015 letter to Pope Francis
"Both Catholic and Orthodox priests were persecuted under communism, and therefore the Catholic Church can consider Stepinac to be a martyr, but before he is declared a saint we should see why he was silent when so many crimes were committed in the Second World War."--Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić, in a meeting with Pope Francis in Rome in September 2015
"I agree with the remonstrance that Stepinac did not do everything. Who can say that he has done everything in his life? This can only be said by the One, who on the cross uttered 'It is finished.' Every other person is limited and sinful."--Croatian Catholic Archbishop Marin Barišić of Split-Makarska, in an interview yesterday on the proposed canonization of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac; the canonization has been opposed by Serbian Orthodox
"The cardinal is a saint, the Pope (Francis) is keeping his canonization in pectore ["in his breast," i.e., in secret] and intends to declare it to everyone loudly and clearly when certain problems, controversial for some, are resolved."--Archbishop Barišić, in the same interview
Can Catholics and Orthodox Agree on the Life and Work of Cardinal Stepinac?
An important story on Catholic-Orthodox relations is playing out on the margins of the public discourse of most of the West, as it is being followed primarily by those with a special interest in the history of the former Yugoslavia (in this case, of Croatia and Serbia).
It is the question of the canonization of Blessed Cardinal Aloysius Viktor Stepinac (1898-1960), the Croatian Catholic Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 until his death in 1960. These years included the rule of the Croatian Ustaše over the State of Croatia from 1941 to 1945, during World War II.
The story is important because Pope Francis, at the request of the Serbian Orthodox, has created a commission to study the life and work of Stepinac, in order to come to a better mutual understanding of Stepinac's words and actions.
If this commission can produce good fruits, it will be a remarkable witness to the possibility of better Catholic-Orthodox relations.
(Photo of Blessed Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac, died 1960)
Stepinac's Life Story
After serving as an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army on the Italian Front during World War I, Stepinac was ordained in 1930, and in 1931 became liturgical master of ceremonies to the Archbishop of Zagreb.
He established the archdiocesan branch of the charity Caritas later that year, and was appointed coadjutor bishop to the see of Zagreb in 1934.
When Archbishop Antun Bauer died on December 7, 1937, Stepinac succeeded him as the Archbishop of Zagreb.
During World War II, on 6 April 1941, the Germans invaded Yugoslavia and established the Ustaše-led government.
As archbishop of the puppet state's capital, Stepinac had close associations with the Ustaše leaders during the German occupation.
However, despite initially welcoming the Independent State of Croatia, Stepinac subsequently condemned the Germany-aligned state's atrocities against Jews and Serbs.
He objected to the persecution of Jews, helped Jews and others to escape, and criticized Ustaše atrocities in front of Zagreb Cathedral in 1943.
Despite this, Stepinac never broke publicly with the Ustaše regime.
After the war, he publicly condemned the new Yugoslav government and its actions during World War II, especially the murders of priests by Communist militants.
Yugoslav authorities indicted the archbishop on multiple counts of war crimes and collaboration with the enemy during wartime.
The trial was depicted in the West as a typical communist "show trial."
The Yugoslav authorities found him guilty on the charge of high treason (for collaboration with the fascist Ustaše regime), as well as complicity in the forced conversions of Orthodox Serbs to Catholicism.
He was sentenced to 16 years in prison, but was released to house arrest after five, with his movements confined to his home parish of Krašić.
In 1952, he was appointed cardinal by Pope Pius XII, but he was unable to participate in the 1958 conclave.
Stepinac died of polycythemia in 1960 while still under confinement in his parish.
On October 3, 1998, Pope John Paul II declared him a martyr and beatified him before 500,000 Croatians in Marija Bistrica near Zagreb.
We have Copts in our parish already. Reunion with them is, for all intents and purposes, a fait accompli. As for a reunion with the Latins, we won't see it. They are fine; don't need us and heaven knows we don't need them!
The Catholic Church also took decades — if not centuries — to canonize saints in the past. They probably had a standing policy of waiting until long after a person passed away — simply to view them objectively without having people who knew them personally involved in the process.
There isn’t much that NewChurch does that resembles the pre-Vatican II Church.
Copts are divided between an Orthodox-type Church and a Coptic Catholic Church (one of our Eastern Rites); we’ve re-unified with those that would.
Still holding on to that myth that the Orthodox treat divorce any different than the Roman Catholics do with the "annulments," eh?
The only real difference is that you don't have to be as wealthy as a Kennedy to "buy" an annulment, just the consent of the Church hierarchy (done by having your priest write a letter to the appropriate Bishop).
But I know, I know. You've been told it's different somehow.
No, you don't know. Two wrongs don't make a right, whether the wrongs are Orthodox or Frankenchurch.
“Still holding on to that myth that the Orthodox treat divorce any different than the Roman Catholics do with the “annulments,” eh?”
Actually, we do. We can only have a max of 2 ecclesiastical divorces. The Latins can have, at least theoretically, unlimited annulments. I know a man who has had 3 and is getting ready to have his 4th marriage in the Latin Church.
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