Zagreb, (IKA) – At the beginning of the final day of the 53rd Theological-Pastoral Week in Zagreb, January 24, at which bishops, priests and religious from the entire Church among the Croats were assembled, a public statement was issued, which we present in its entirety:
The participants in the 53rd Theological-Pastoral Week of the Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, in the spirit of the statement issued by the Croatian Conference of Bishops from the Special Plenary Session of January 21, 2013, and together with the bishops, call for dialogue with the political authorities on important issues of common interest, especially those concerning health education, the cessation of communication violence directed against the Church and its pastors, full respect for considering the person as a human being, and full respect for the values of sexuality, marriage and the family.
The participants in Theological-Pastoral Week unanimously urge the relevant public institutions responsible for the development and introduction of health education in the schools to finally demonstrate a readiness for dialogue and, in the spirit of a healthy democracy, to review their previous decisions on the development and introduction of health education in the schools self-critically; to demonstrate, in terms of both the meaning and letter of the constitutionally guaranteed right and freedom of parents to make independent decisions on the upbringing of children, a willingness for dialogue and cooperation with parents on questions of health education, especially sexual education and, thereby, demonstrate that they respect the constitutional provisions. In the spirit and letter of the constitutionally guaranteed duties of parents to insure the right of the child to the complete and full development of his personality, they urge parents to cooperate with the relevant institutions and, thereby, provide them with room for mutually responsible decision making in performing their parental duties, and in the spirit of sincere cooperation with all interested parties, to make possible a more complete realization of the common good of all the citizens of the Republic of Croatia.
Therefore, the participants in Theological-Pastoral Week unanimously declare that in the process of the introduction of health education into Croatian schools, a gross violation of democratic procedure has occurred that was not inspired by authentic human values but succumbed to the temptations of the unilateral political order; that in this process there was violation of the constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms of parents and children; and that unilateralism in the approach to health education has created an intolerable atmosphere of exclusivity and intolerance in the Croatian society, which harms everyone, especially the normal functioning of the educational system as a whole.
The participants in Theological-Pastoral Week believe that in such an atmosphere, the conflict between the Church and state is maliciously and tendentiously intensified and, in fact, concerns the unacceptable diminishing of the common good and justice of the state through a limited policy that simply identifies itself with the state, which is absolutely unacceptable.
The participants in Theological-Pastoral Week hope that political reason will prevail as soon as possible to create the conditions for establishing and undertaking the desired dialogue, cooperation and openness for defining a new health education curriculum, which should pass though all the necessary democratic and transparent phases of development and implementation, while respecting the constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms of parents and their children.