R 280835Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 9146
INFO EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY PARIS

UNCLAS BUCHAREST 000055 
 
 
EUR/CE FOR SCHEIBE, AMEMBASSY PARIS PASS TO UNESCO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL RO
SUBJECT: GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH STRUGGLES TO REGAIN 
RESTITUTED PROPERTIES 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- NOT FOR INTERNET DISSEMINATION 
 
Summary 
-------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) A Parliamentary committee will soon discuss a draft 
law which, if passed, will fundamentally alter the process of 
church restitution in Romania. Since the end of communism, 
the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, which represents less 
than ten percent of the population, has struggled with little 
success to regain the 2600 church properties confiscated 
during the communist era. Most of these were given to the 
Romanian Orthodox Church, to which 87 percent of Romanians 
claim membership. The proposed law stipulates that disputed 
properties -- most of which are Greek Catholic will be 
awarded to the majority denomination in the particular 
locality. This report elaborates upon the law under 
consideration and illustrates the ways in which the Romanian 
Orthodox church has resisted returning churches to their 
former owners. Of particular interest is the town of Ungheni, 
where the Orthodox Church is constructing a new building 
around an already-existing Greek Catholic church -- symbolic 
of the gloomy state of affairs for Greek Catholics.  End 
Summary. 
 
Bitter End to Long-Term Struggle? 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Twenty years after the 1989 Revolution, the Romanian 
Greek Catholic Church struggles to regain properties 
confiscated by the communist government. The much larger 
Romanian Orthodox Church, which received hundreds of Greek 
Catholic properties from the communists in exchange for tacit 
support of the regime, has destroyed many former Greek 
Catholic churches in order to avoid their restitution. Other 
properties remain standing but in Orthodox hands, even in 
cases where Romanian courts have ordered the churches 
returned to their former owners. Overall, the Greek Catholic 
Church has received fewer than 200 of the approximately 2600 
properties that were confiscated since 1948, when the 
communists banned the Church. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Following a tip, we learned that the Legal Committee 
of the Chamber of Deputies is scheduled to discuss this week 
a controversial draft law which, if implemented, would 
permanently leave most confiscated Greek Catholic properties 
in Orthodox hands. The proposed law states that in rural 
localities where both the Romanian Orthodox and Greek 
Catholic denominations have parishes, the sacred assets 
(i.e., church, priest's house and cemetery) will be the 
property of the majority denomination. As for other types of 
land reclaimed under Romania's property restitution laws, 
assets will be divided up in direct ratio to the number of 
believers for each denomination, according to the most recent 
census. Given that 87 percent of Romanians are Orthodox and 
less than ten percent Greek Catholic -- and that many of the 
confiscated properties are in rural areas where the numbers 
of Greek Orthodox believers have declined -- this law would 
essentially legalize the communist-era confiscation of Greek 
Catholic property and deprive the Greek Catholics of seeking 
restitution in Romanian courts. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The draft law has a controversial past. It 
originally was submitted to Parliament in 2007. The Senate 
rejected it, and the Legal and Human Rights Committees of the 
Chamber of Deputies issued a report urging rejection as well. 
Nevertheless, in February 2008 the plenum of the Chamber 
decided unanimously to send the draft law to the two 
committees for reconsideration. It sat there until after the 
November elections, when one of the original drafters, Daniel 
Buda, became President of the Legal Committee. According to a 
Greek Catholic priest who closely follows the issue, Buda is 
keen on pushing the law through Parliament. 
 
One Church Swallows Another 
--------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) To see how the issue has played out, Poloff and FSN 
recently visited the windswept, muddy Transylvanian village 
of Ungheni, where a 19th century Greek Catholic Church 
breathes its last gasp as the thick walls of a new Orthodox 
church surround it. The small Greek church, which was 
reportedly removed from the list of national historical 
monuments, is no longer visible to passers-by. Instead the 
traveler passing on the main road sees a enormous 
construction in progress, dominating the low-slung village. 
The huge building is the new Orthodox church which completely 
envelops the partially-intact Greek Catholic church inside -- 
which the Orthodox congregation is using until the new 
building is finished. The land immediately surrounding the 
site is empty. 
 
¶6. (SBU) This dispute began during communism, when the 
Orthodox Church allegedly forged a document to register the 
former Greek Catholic church as its own. In 1998, 
construction began on the new building, initially without a 
permit. Despite the opposition of the Greek Catholic Church, 
the Orthodox Church, with the support of the mayor, managed 
to obtain all the required permits. Construction continued 
until May 2008, when the old church steeple was demolished. 
Wide protest and a court ruling stopped the demolition at 
that point, but failed to stop the construction of the 
Orthodox Church. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The conflict has generated tensions in Ungheni, 
historically Greek Catholic but now home to only 120 
believers. The Greek Catholic priest has established a 
newly-constructed church about a mile from the disputed site. 
The Orthodox priest and mayor refused to attend its 
consecration, in September 2008. Moreover, several Greek 
Catholic churchgoers told us they won't send their children 
to the Greek Catholic priest,s private religion classes 
because the Orthodox priest, who teaches religion at the 
town's public school, intimidates Greek Catholic students by 
drawing crosses on their foreheads, embarrassing them in 
front of their classmates, and bad-mouthing their faith. 
Moreover, the Orthodox priest has barred the access of his 
Greek Catholic counterpart to the town cemetery, preventing 
the latter from burying the members of his congregation 
despite legal provisions which permit it. 
 
A Pattern Of Obstinacy 
---------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Contacts say that this situation is not unique; it 
is part of a pattern which, to varying degrees, has repeated 
itself in many localities where the Greek Catholic Church was 
reestablished after the fall of communism. The Orthodox 
Church's imaginative ways of avoiding restitution  have 
included the destruction of former Greek Catholic churches 
under a broad range of pretexts, i.e., they were too old, on 
the verge of collapsing, or too small for the congregation. 
A common method has been to erect walls of a new church 
around the old church and to demolish the core when reaching 
the steeple level.  Thus, since 1989, the Orthodox Church has 
destroyed the former Greek Catholic churches in Valea Izei, 
Bagau, Smig, Urca, Triteni, Valea Larga, Baisoara, Craiova, 
Ghirolt, Bont, Calarasi, Solona, Badon, and Homorod, many of 
them centuries-old historical monuments. 
 
¶9. (SBU) With the Orthodox Church consistently refusing to 
return the churches willingly, the Greek Catholic Church has 
been forced to claim them in court, an endeavor that has had 
limited success due to lengthy delays and, in some cases, the 
courts, refusal to issue rulings. Even when the Greek 
Catholics have won lawsuits, the Orthodox Church has at times 
opposed the enforcement of the court rulings, even using 
force. In some places, such as Urgheni, the Greek Catholics 
have secured land and funding for new buildings; in others, 
such as Susteni, Greek Catholic congregations reportedly 
worship outside, exposed to the elements. 
 
Comment: A Gloomy Forecast? 
-------------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Few Romanians are aware that what the Orthodox 
Church is doing to its sister church is unprecedented; even 
Ceausescu,s demolitions did not touch the former Greek 
Catholic churches. All post-communist governments have lacked 
the political will to fully restore the disputed properties. 
This is largely due to the influence of the Orthodox Church, 
to which 87 percent of Romanians claim allegiance. Greek 
Catholic sources sadly declared "they (i.e. Orthodox clergy) 
want to erase the very last traces of our existence in 
Transylvania." DCM and Polcouns raised our concerns with the 
draft restitution law with Romanian Senate President (and PSD 
head) Mircea Geoana, who took our objections on board and 
promised to discuss the issue with his counterpart in the 
Chamber of Deputies.  We have also quietly brought the issue 
to the attention of the international media here in Romania. 
For digital photos of the Ungheni site mentioned in this 
report, contact rukensi@state.gov. 
 
 
GUTHRIE-CORN