Aid to the Church in Need: "Write something good about Serbia for once"

"Write something good about Serbia for once"

Posted by ACN News on 28/8/2008, 9:56 am
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ACN News, Thursday 28th August 2008 – Serbia

"Write something good about Serbia for once"
By Eva Maria Kolmann

Father Jakob Pfeifer of Odžaci will hear no more of it. Again and again, in the media, Serbia is reduced to an issue of seemingly insoluble ethnic conflicts. And yet his own experience is quite different. In his parish, which lies in the Vojvodina-Backa region of northern Serbia, Serbs, Croats, Hungarians, Germans, Romanians and other ethnic groups live side by side. Most of them are Orthodox, many are Catholics; others belong to various Protestant groups. All of them live peaceably together and help each other out. "Why don't you write about that for a change?", he says.

The story that follows is typical of many others. A few years ago a woman in Odžaci died and left her house to the Catholic parish. Father Pfeifer happened to hear from the Orthodox caretaker in the Catholic parish that the Orthodox priest in the town was having to move out of his apartment and had nowhere to stay. There was no hesitation in his decision, and the family soon moved into the house that had been left to the Catholic parish. As for the Slovakian Protestant community, the Catholics even share a church with them.

Every year in January, the Catholics, who are only a minority among an overwhelmingly Serbian Orthodox population, organise a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in many of their parishes. The concluding Mass in Subotica is regularly attended by Orthodox Bishop Irinej of Novi Sad, who gives a sermon. "This is an established tradition by now", says Father Pfeifer. The final blessing is given jointly by Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant clerics.

Father Pfeifer is especially pleased that since 2002 the Serbian government has formally allowed the seven state-recognized churches and religions to provide religious instruction in the schools. "This would have been unthinkable before. It was an outstanding step and at the same time a signal, for if the state accepts us, then society must also take us seriously", he emphasises. From that time onwards, a close collaboration began between the various different Christian denominations and other religious communities, because the school books provided for religious instruction are not permitted to contain anything that might offend another religious community. As a result, everything is agreed among them, and the books are revised jointly. "In doing so we have got to know one another better. It has all been a very positive experience", Father Pfeifer rejoices. There are similarly close contacts in their media work.

Of German stock but born in the Vojvodina region, Father Pfeifer is indignant that many of the media reports focus only on negative aspects and portray a one-sided picture of Serbia. "Unfortunately, it is a tendency of our human nature to prefer to see the bad things", he adds sadly. This is confirmed by the Eastern-rite Catholic bishop of Serbia and Montenegro, Djura Džudžar. And yet, when it comes to shared Christian values, it is often not even necessary to organise any formal collaboration. "We are at one with the Orthodox in this regard. There are no "Catholic" or "Orthodox" values but only Christian values. Often our bishops agree among themselves that the Orthodox bishop will speak on a particular subject, on behalf of the Catholic bishop too, or vice versa. "It is not always necessary for both to say it, because the Christian standpoint is clear", the bishop observes. And in any case, many of the problems affect them all alike. For example, neither the majority Orthodox Church in Serbia nor the Catholic Church has so far secured the return of their properties that were confiscated under the communists. Many former Church properties and buildings have already changed hands several times since the Second World War, and so now the claims have to be painstakingly documented -- but still nothing is happening.

Mons. Djura Dzudzar (Apostolic Exarch of Serbia and Montenegro -Byzantine) and Father Jakob Pfeifer (priest in Odzaci (Serbia) during their visit at ACN.

In the light of recent events surrounding the capture and handing over of the suspected war criminal Radovan Karadzic, Bishop Džudžar observes, "Without justice there cannot be a better life. Yet one cannot say that only one ethnic group was to blame for everything. The wounds that all sides suffered can be healed only by one means, and that is forgiveness."

As for the Catholic Church in Serbia, the bishop wants only to be able to minister pastorally and "with heart and soul" to his faithful. This is not easy, however, for Serbia is a poor country with many economic problems, and as a result the Catholic Church is herself dependent on outside help. "Please thank all our benefactors for helping us to work for the Kingdom of God!", Bishop Džudžar implores us.

ACN is helping the Catholic Church in Serbia above all with construction and renovation projects and with aid for pastoral transport. Last year, in Subotica, the foundation stone was laid for the first ever Catholic seminary on the soil of the Republic of Serbia. All in all there are around half a million Catholics in Serbia, with most of the Catholic parishes situated in the region of Vojvodina. Currently, out of close on 7.4 million people living in the Republic of Serbia today, over 6.3 million belong to the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 145 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 45 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information please contact the Sydney office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

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