Funding of Churches in the Czech Republic with Particular Emphasis on the Greek Catholic Church

Abstract

This article presents a system of financing churches and religious societies in the Czech Republic with emphasis on financing the Greek Catholic Church. The text deals with the history of church funding in the territory of Czechoslovakia since 1918, with emphasis on the liquidation of the Greek-Catholic Church after 1948 under the communist regime. After its fall in the autumn of 1989, within the framework of the restoration of the free operation of the churches, there was a gradual property settlement between the state and the churches, up to the current model of financing of churches and religious societies according to the Act on Property Compensation with Churches and Religious Societies. In terms of Czech Confessional Law, the Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic Church are two independent legal entities. In the framework of the Czech Bishops’ Conference (ČBK), the Greek Catholic Church has a disadvantage because the Czech Bishops’ Conference defends only the financial interests of the Roman Catholic Church. Financially, the Apostolic Exarchate is currently fully dependent on financial compensation from the state and its contributions. In the future, however, it will be necessary to look for own sources of funding, including support from the Roman Catholic dioceses in the Czech Republic.