Peace priest

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In Czechoslovakia, priests of peace were called priests who worked with the state and tried to work in the church in the interests of the state.

1951-1968

The term first appeared in 1951. The state tried to destroy the ecclesiastical unity between Czechoslovak Catholics and the Roman Catholic world church by promoting an organization of "peace priests" loyal to the regime. The state succeeded in bringing the members of this association into leading positions. As a result of the Prague Spring, the peace priest movement was dissolved. In their place came “the work for post-conciliar renewal”.

1971-1989

In 1971 the "Association of Catholic Clergymen Pacem in Terris " was founded. He worked with the atheist regime. The state thus pursued a ghettoization of the Roman Catholic Church as well as the crippling and erasure of religiosity.

The basis of these organizations was formed by priests who called themselves “patriots” and later, based on the encyclical Pacem in Terris, “ priests of peace”; the church-compliant name should cover up the collaboration activity.

The motto “Ex oriente lux” expressed their orientation towards Soviet communism: “Ex oriente lux, ex oriente pax; which ... should mean: The light of Christ came from the East, and peace comes from the East under the auspices of the USSR. "The members were convinced that" none of the previous state institutions ... gave us such opportunities to present the Gospel of Christ. like our people's democratic social order ”.

Some members believed that the good news of the gospel was compatible with communist ideology and practice, while others took advantage of membership. The Catholic newspaper became the mouthpiece of the peace priests.

criticism

In 1975 the underground church protested against Pacem in Terris' openly stated objective that "the educational process [of the church] must culminate in the Marxist-Leninist world concept". “The Katholische Zeitung […] serves the believers without comment in a lecture in which it is stated blatantly: We will eliminate them as religion and as a church. We eliminate belief in God and God himself. You can participate! […] You organizers of Pacem in Terris - what else do you want? You have become the platform through which the atheists publicly proclaim that they are eliminating God. And you kept quiet: No, you clapped! [...] You use up your salaries and pensions, travel around the world, distribute the money for committed articles - you have delivered the believers [...] You quietly sold our children to atheists in numerous cities for thirty pieces of silver - they do not go to religious education more. The officials are afraid to go to church. The students are harassed for their beliefs. The dying cannot be reconciled with God […] The believers are sick and crying, but Pacem in Terris pretends not to see it. […] It condemns emigrants, it condemns the cardinals who tell the truth about us abroad - that they are robbing us of God, in the heart of Christian Europe, in front of the whole world. "

This reaction of the underground church (catacomb church) with the ironic headline “They eliminate us, please clap!” Was only allowed to appear in samizdat .

The cooperation of the clergy could only be curbed slightly by suspensions and later by the ecclesiastical ban on all associations of Catholic clergy who pursue political goals by Quidam episcopi . In 1973, 37% of all priests in Czechoslovakia were members of the Pacem in Terris Association ; in 1986 it was still 29.2%. The authors Balík and Hanuš refer to the priests of peace as the fifth column or the “collaborating church” in view of the dichotomy between the ecclesiology of the church and the goals set by the communist regime .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b January Stříbný: Article Czechoslovakia ; in: LThK 3 10, Col. 281.
  2. ↑ Jan Stříbný: Article Czechoslovakia ; in: LThK 3 10, Col. 281 f.
  3. ↑ Hanuš Balík: Katolická církve v Československu 1945–1989 ; CDK publishing house, Brno 2007, p. 129
  4. ↑ Hanuš Balík: Katolická církve v Československu 1945–1989 ; CDK publishing house, Brno 2007, p. 130
  5. ↑ Ján Šimulčík: Združenie katolíckych duchovných PACEM IN TERRIS. Výber zo samizdatových dokumentov 1969–1989 ; Michala Vaška Publishing House, Prešov 2002; Pp. 33-34.
  6. ↑ Hanuš Balík: Katolická církve v Československu 1945–1989 ; CDK publishing house, Brno 2007, p. 127