STAROKATOLIČKI POKRET U HABJANOVCIMA IZMEĐU DVAJU SVJETSKIH RATOVA
THE OLD CATHOLIC MOVEMENT IN HABJANOVCI BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS

Summary/Abstract: The Old Catholic movement in Habjanovci, in the area of the parish of Brođanci, appeared as the result of the emergence and strengthening of the influence of the Croatian Old Catholic Church, established and legalized in 1923, while the Church itself was a result of the development of the reform movement of a part of the lower Catholic clergy in the territory of Croatia known as the “Yellow Movement”. In the territory of Habjanovci intense Old Catholic agitations occurred during the 1920s, and their endeavours at religious conversion, the implementation, occupancy and restructuring of Catholic properties such as the succursal church and the cemetery, encountered fierce resistance from Antun Milfajt, the priest of Brođanci. The Old Catholic activism in Habjanovci in its entirety reduced to anti-Catholic propaganda of indigenous and non-indigenous agitators with the objective of gaining a greater degree of confidence of the population that would make it easier to achieve strategic objectives and to gain positions of power at the local level. Local authorities of the central government tacitly supported them or assisted to some extent by causing delays or making legal illogical or unsubstantiated decisions; ultimately it turned out that in most of the issues the priest Milfajt was on solid ground and the Old Catholic agitations gradually decreased, partly due to his persistent legal struggle. The dynamics of the relations between the Catholics and Old Catholics in the territory of Habjanovci decreased as early as the 1930s and just before World War II it continued to cease, particularly after the priest Milfajt left Brođance in 1936. During this entire period of activism, the Old Catholic parish of Habjanovci was part of the hierarchy of the Croatian Old Catholic Church, and its representatives took part in the work of Church bodies and the Parliament.

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