The Status of Churches under Public Law in the Czech Republic and their Transition to Financial Self-Sustainability

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60076658%3A12260%2F24%3A43911303" target="_blank" >RIV/60076658:12260/24:43911303 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.sgmk.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Cop_Journal_of_Law_No_1-art.-6-Pribyl.pdf" target="_blank" >https://www.sgmk.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Cop_Journal_of_Law_No_1-art.-6-Pribyl.pdf</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

The Status of Churches under Public Law in the Czech Republic and their Transition to Financial Self-Sustainability

Original language description

Determining whether churches and religious societies in the Czech Republic are subjects of public or private law is a challenging question in confessional law. The privileged status under public law by no means implies a uniform legal regime for the various public corporations. In the Czech Republic, churches enter the arena of public law; the state, for example, guarantees the right to teach religion in public schools, co-finances the operation of church schools, recognizes the civil validity of marriage, respects the seal of the confessional, pays the salaries of hospital chaplains, and allows and pays for the activities of military and prison chaplains. However, especially the Catholic Church was long burdened with the struggle for the restitution of church property seized by the communist regime. The issue was settled with the adoption of the Act on Property Settlement with Churches and Religious Societies. Since 2013, the law has no longer funded the operation of church headquarters as well as all clerical salaries. The churches also recovered their lost properties and obtained financial compensation for those properties that could no longer be reclaimed. In addition, churches are still subsidised by decreasing amounts each year to allow for a smooth transition to financial self-sustainability. This, however, has led to a situation in which churches are partially losing their public law character. The article also identifies the challenges the Catholic Church in particular has to overcome in order to stabilise its new system of financing.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_ost - Miscellaneous article in a specialist periodical

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

60303 - Theology

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Copernican Journal of Law

ISSN

3071-8473

e-ISSN

3071-8481

Volume of the periodical

1

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

PL - POLAND

Number of pages

14

Pages from-to

77-90

UT code for WoS article

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EID of the result in the Scopus database

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