Clerical program of the Roman Catholic Church in Croatia for the 20th century

Abstract

The first Croatian Catholic congress was held in Zagreb between September 3-5. 1900. The congress aimed to adjust the strategy of the Roman Catholic Church in the forthcoming century to meet the altered political, economic and cultural circumstances, in order to preserve the dominant position of the Roman Catholic Church in respect to the state. The congress adopted eight resolutions specifying the clerical program of the Roman Catholic Church in Croatia for the new century. The eight resolutions were based on the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church. Though the resolutions were suited to the spirit of the new times, their goal was to carry out Roman Catholic canon law in all segments of social life. State laws had to be subject to ecclesiastical laws. The culture of society had to remain within the sphere of interest of the Roman Catholic Church. The ideology and political aims of the state in all fields of activity had to be in harmony with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. The clerical program underscored the Roman Catholic Church as the most important national institution in Croatian society. To the participants of the congress, the Catholic movement (network of farm cooperatives, trade unions, congregations, societies, associations political parties and so on) had been ordered to consolidate in society the clerical program adopted in congress, as the only framework within which the national consciousness of the Croatian people was to be developed.

Prvi hrvatski katolički kongres održan je od 3. do 5. septembra 1900. godine u Zagrebu. Kongres je usvojio osam rezolucija preko kojih je iskazan klerikalni program Rimokatoličke crkve u Hrvatskoj za naredni vek. Klerikalni program se zasnivao na ideji da Rimokatolička crkva preko episkopata postane nosilac arbitražne vlasti na svim područjima društvenog života. Episkopat bi na taj način postao najznačajniji činilac u hrvatskom društvu, koji bi odlučivao o svim društvenim događajima, a posebno onim događajima koji imaju politički značaj i odnose se na nacionalni pokret.