Zagreb, December 5, 2000 (IKA) — On December 3, Msgr. Marijan Valković, a retired full professor at the Catholic College of Theology of Zagreb died in Zagreb.
Prof. Marijan Valković was born on November 26, 1927 in Vrbnik on the island of Krk. He attended elementary school in Vrbnik and attended secondary school in Krk, Rijeka, Vidma/Udine and Pazin, where in 1948 he completed his graduation examination at the Diocesan Seminary Secondary School in Pazin. He completed theological studies at the Catholic College of Theology of Zagreb. On June 29, 1954, he was ordained a priest. After four and a half years as head of the parish of Police on the island of Krk, in 1960 he went to Rome for postgraduate studies, where he enrolled in the Pontifical Gregorian University. In 1964, he earned a doctorate in theology with a dissertation on theological anthropology and the theological position toward women and marriage of the 19th century German theologian Matthias Josef Scheeben. While preparing his dissertation, he enrolled in a two-year postgraduate course of studies on moral and pastoral theology at the Academia Alphonsiana of the Lateran University in Rome, from which in 1965, after receiving his doctorate, he earned an “expertus in theologia morali” diploma which was recognized at the Catholic College of Theology of Zagreb as a “doctorate in theological studies specializing in moral theology.”
He then taught dogmatics, the history of philosophy, moral theology and catechetics at the School of Theology in Zadar. When the Theological Seminary and Theological College in Rijeka were reopened in 1966, he was appointed a professor of moral theology and social studies of the Church and the rector of the seminary. In 1974, he accepted the invitation of the Council of the Catholic College of Theology to take over lectures in the department of moral theology in Zagreb. He was quickly named an assistant professor and the following year the head of the department of moral theology. By a decree from the chancellor, dated November 16, 1992, was confirmed as a full professor at the Catholic College of Theology of Zagreb. For many years, he also taught moral theology at the Institute for the Theological Culture of the Laity in Zagreb.
On September 30, 1997, he retired. However, following retirement he continued to teach as an part-time lecturer during the pastoral year and at the postgraduate level at the Catholic College of Theology. Msgr. Marijan Valković was a member of several councils of the Croatian Conference of Bishops and the theological association Kršćanska sadašnjost. He was also a member of the interconfessional association Societas Ethica and the European Theological Society. He participated in the work of the Catholic theological moralists and social ethicists in the German linguistic region and was a member of the community of the Austrian social ethicists. He conducted numerous lectures for priests in Croatia and foreign countries, theologians, physicians and other intellectuals, university students, married couples and Religious. He participated in numerous professional meetings in Croatia and other countries, and in the continuing education of young priests and theologians of the Zagreb Archdiocese and Rijeka Metropolis.
He served as a visiting professor at colleges of theology in Vienna, Graz and Mainz.
He participated in the regular pastoral work of the parish of St. Blaise in Zagreb and was a canon of the Krk Diocese. In 1994, Pope John Paul II awarded him the honorary Church title of “Monsignor” and in 1998 he received the Order of the Morning Star for Science from the Republic of Croatia in recognition of his work.
He edited, rewrote, supplemented and partially translated the work “Christ’s Law” by B. Häring, “Social Documents of the Church: One Hundred Years of Catholic Social Studies” and “For the Future in Solidarity and Justice.” He was the author of numerous articles on theology published in domestic and foreign journals.