Catholic Faith Making Strong Rec

ARLINGTON � Jozef Miklosko is a living testament to human endurance. He not only survived 40 years of harsh Communist rule in his native Slovakia, but he kept alive his Catholic faith as well.

"If God is not included in all these projects, then it will all go away," said Miklosko, referring to the many human rights efforts he is championing in his homeland and around the world.

"Without God, no society can live," he said. "If the family is destroyed, there is no education or allegiance. Everything is lost."

Miklosko, who was a scientist for 27 years under the Communist regime, is a member of the Christian Democratic Party. He is now a writer and vice rector of Trnava University, the only explicitly Christian-oriented university in Slovakia.

Trnava University has a Jesuit faculty and there are no Communists in the administration.

Miklosko was in the Washington area recently conducting a series of private meetings on human rights with Church and government officials. He also attended a human rights conference hosted by the Schiller Institute, an organization founded by Lyndon LaRouche. He was accompanied by his wife and the youngest of his four children.

Miklosko said his brother, Francek � who later became president of parliament of Czechoslovakia � was an active dissident prior to collapse of Communism in 1989. On March 25, 1988, the feast of the Annunciation, a group of Catholics, led by Miklosko�s brother, prayed the rosary in a public square. Miklosko believes that was the start of the "revolution."

After the Communist government lost power, and Vaclav Havel became president, Miklosko was appointed vice premier. He was responsible for human rights, church restoration, education, sports and youth. He also served as a member of the parliament in Prague.

Miklosko now serves as secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission for Slovakia. One project he initiated helped resettle 14,000 Bosnian orphans. The effort is called "Spolupatricnost" ("We Belong Together").

Three thousand people have signed up to help support orphans and handicapped children in Bosnia and India by giving an average of $30 per month. That is a remarkable amount considering the average wage in Slovakia is between $200 and $600 per month.

Another surprising condition in Slovakia is the large number of Catholic seminarians since the "Velvet Revolution." Slovakia, a predominantly Catholic country, has 800 seminarians studying in seven seminaries. That is more than all of Western Europe combined.

Three thousand young girls have entered religious communities as well.

Miklosko said the Catholic faith survived and remained strong during 40 years of Communist rule thanks to an active underground Church.

From 1950-90, it was forbidden to be a member of a religious community. More than 900 cloisters or convents were closed. Church property was confiscated. Fifteen thousand religious brothers and sisters were put in jail or concentration camps.

Members of the Communist party who were seen attending Catholic Mass suffered by receiving low-paying or menial jobs that made it difficult to support a family.

After 40 years of neglect and abuse, many of the old Catholic churches and monasteries were in deplorable condition.

The Catholic faith survived through various means, Miklosko said. Religious books were smuggled into the country and the radio program "Voice of America" provided inspiring news throughout Eastern Europe during the darkest days.

Miklosko now publishes his own books. "It�s cheaper," he said.

He wrote one book in conjunction with the Slovakian bishops� conference which sold 14,000 copies in one month.

Miklosko said the greatest need in his country is an investment in people. The lack of a trained and educated media is a problem.

Miklosko�s interest in human rights has led to his involvement in the death penalty throughout the world. The recent case of Joseph O�Dell, who was executed in Virginia a few months ago, attracted attention all over Europe, including last-minute appeals from Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II. Miklosko said he was going to write about the case in a Catholic newspaper when he returned to Slovakia.

He said Mother Teresa was an inspiration to him during his human rights work. Mother Teresa gave copies of her 1994 National Prayer Breakfast speech to the Schiller Institute. It was distributed to 5,000 delegates to the U.N. Population Conference in Cairo.

In that speech, made before President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, Mother Teresa called abortion the greatest threat to world peace.

Orphanages are another major concern in Slovakia, Miklosko said. Many Slovakians gave their children away during Communist rule because they were unable to support them.

Many countries in Eastern Europe also are confronted by staggering national debts. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank have provided billions of dollars in loans to these countries since World War II � always with conditionalities. Hungary, for example, has a national debt of $35 billion.

"It is a big problem for these countries," Miklosko said. "The Holy Father�s call for a debt moratorium" by the year 2000 is a "passionate" topic in Eastern Europe and throughout the Third World, he added.

Miklosko said it would be appropriate and just if Bosnia was the first country forgiven its debt since the IMF has demanded that Bosnia pay a huge percentage of the old Communist debt. "The 2000 year jubilee is the time. It is a very positive forecast from the pope.

"The social encyclicals of the Catholic Church should be good background for new governments to learn economic ways," he said.

Miklosko said most Eastern European countries had the "shock therapy" method of converting from a Communist economy to a capitalistic economy imposed on them from the international banks. In all cases it hasn�t been a successful transition, he said.

"It�s true," he said. "After eight years we�ve made many mistakes. We need to find a third way between the left and the right."

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Catholic Faith Making Strong Recovery in Slovakia

Michael F. Flach HERALD Editor

Copyright �1997 Arlington Catholic Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

Michael F. Flach
^{HERALD Editor}