_WORLD WATCH______________________________
________________Romania_______________
Catholic complaints rejected
Census, not history, guides restitution of property
Government authorities in Alba, in northwestern Romania, have rejected Catholic complaints about the disposition of properties that were confiscated from Catholic parishes under the Communist regime, the Keston News Service has learned.
Instead of returning all properties to the Byzantine-rite Romanian Catholic Church, the government will divide up the properties, returning some to Catholic hands and giving some to the Romanian Orthodox Church, Keston has reported. The division will be according to the proportion of Catholics and Orthodox living in the area.
Romanian Catholic officials have complained that since the confiscation of parish properties in 1948, and the subsequent brutal persecution of Catholicism, the Orthodox Church continues to enjoy the benefits of government preference. The Communist regime had forced Catholics to worship in Orthodox churches, and handed many Catholic churches over to Orthodox clerics. In the years that followed, many formerly Catholic families became regular members of Orthodox communities. Today, the Catholic leaders argue, the old Catholic parishes should have the opportunity to recover and serve their old parishioners.
Orthodox leaders, on the other hand, point to the current preponderance of Orthodox faithful, and argue that the churches should be devoted to the use of those worshippers. Orthodox Archbishop Andrei of Alba told Keston, “We do not want the Greek Catholic Church to be frustrated, but others shouldn’t suffer an injustice either. There are tens of villages which now are Orthodox. Why should we give back the land to the Greek [i.e. Byzantine] Catholics?”
Government officials in Alba say that in restoring churches into clerical hands, they will pay no attention to the original ownership. Instead, they will apportion the buildings according to the numbers on the local religious census. That solution delights the Orthodox leadership. Archbishop Andrei told Keston, “There is no conflict.”
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