The policy of the communist authorities towards the Church charity activities — The common fate of Caritas in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary
The policy of the communist authorities towards the Church charity activities — The common fate of Caritas in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary

Summary/Abstract: The article provides a comparative analysis of the political context in which Church charitable activities operated in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary after the Second World War. Special efforts are made to provide the most concise and effective synthesis of the most significant similarities and differences between the Countries mentioned above. The communists regarded traditional, socially rooted Christian churches as a major obstacle to the propagation of the Marxism-Leninism ideology. Their goal was to completely eliminate religion from public life and to deprive the churches of their influence on society. In relation to the experiences of Church charitable activities in the countries surveyed, one may n speak of a specific community of fate. This is particularly evident in the example of the Catholic charity organisation Caritas. As the research shows, the communist authorities initially accepted, opportunistically, the assistance offered by Church organisations to those in need. As a result of the war, numerous needs arose that the state alone could not meet. Quite rapidly, however, the communist authorities decided to nationalise all charitable activities, which formed part of a broader programme aimed at curbing the influence of the Church. They established new organisations totally dependent on state authorities and run by people—usually the clergy—loyal to those in power. As a result of this policy, church charitable activities in Czechoslovakia had completely ceased by the early 1960s. In Hungary they continued to exist on a smaller scale thanks to Roman Catholic Charity organisation controlled by the authorities. On the other hand, in Poland, until the end of the 1970s, charity activities independent of the state were possible only within parishes and on a limited scale. Beneficial changes in conditions shaping these activities began to emerge gradually in Poland and Hungary during the first half of the 1980s, whereas in Czechoslovakia only as a result of the systemic transformation.

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