INTRODUCTION
The history
of the Croatian Catholic people in the United States has not been
formally documented. The primary sources of this information are
the individual histories of the several Croatian Catholic parishes
in the Eastern, Midwestern and Western states, along with the
historical accounts provided by various Croatian organizations,
principally the local lodges of the Croatian Catholic Union, a
fraternal benevolent insurance society, founded in 1921. The following
documentation provides a brief summary or overview of the Croatian
Catholic communities in America.
CROATIAN IMMIGRATION TO AMERICA
It is very
difficult to establish when the first Croatian Catholic came to
the American continent. Some written documents indicate that individuals
or small groups of Croatian Catholics (notably seafarers from
the Dalmatian coastal regions) landed on this continent two or
three hundred years ago. But in the late 1890s and early 1900s,
many Croatians, the majority of them Roman Catholics, began emigrating
to the United States. Many were economic immigrants, while others
considered themselves political refugees. Like other immigrants
of that period, they looked for employment wherever jobs could
be found. Many of them, mostly single young men but, often, married
men with or without their families, settled in small towns as
coal miners or in larger cities as steelworkers. Within a comparatively
short period of time, Croatians could be found all over the United
States from New York to California, from New Orleans to Minneapolis-St.
Paul.
A new wave
of Croatian Catholic immigrants began to arrive after World War
II. These were mostly political refugees, including orphans whose
parents had been killed during the war, individuals and families
fleeing Yugoslavia's Communist regime. Most of these Croatians
settled in established Croatian colonies, often among relatives
and friends.
Croatian priests
and other professionals working among the Croatian immigrants
assumed that this would be the end of Croatian immigration. But,
beginning in 1965, America saw a new influx of Croatians, some
of them political refugees, most of them younger families seeking
economic security and a prosperity impossible to find in Yugoslavia.
Those arriving in the 1960s and the decades that followed settled
mostly in larger cities. These immigrants were better educated
and more liberal than their forebears in America, but they were
also influenced by the new European standard of life and opposed
to the Communist ideology forcefully imposed upon them in the
totalitarian state of Yugoslavia. They sought "the good life"-a
decent job, a balanced education for their children, good housing
and utilities, the ability to be vocal in their political views
in democratic America, and the freedom to live out their deeply
rooted religious convictions. Gradually this new wave of immigrants
joined Croatian Catholic parishes and organizations, and soon
became the contemporary bearers of Croatian Catholic culture and
tradition in the United States. Currently, only a small number
of Croatian Catholics continue to emigrate, mostly those who have
relatives already well established in America.
CROATIAN PRIESTS AND PARISHES
Croatian priests,
mostly diocesan clergy, came in precious few numbers with the
earliest immigrants towards the end of the nineteenth century.
They were true missionaries. They traveled from place to place
wherever their people settled, preaching parish missions and organizing
religious, cultural, and benevolent societies. Often the priest
was the only educated member of the Croatian colony, and thus
they had to assume leadership roles; moreover, they were among
the first to learn English well and often served as translators
and interpreters. Their primary responsibility, however, was the
organization of Croatian Catholic parishes in the urban centers
with substantial Croatian populations. Thus, at the beginning
of this century there were Croatian churches in Pittsburgh and
Steelton Pennsylvania, New York, Chicago, and other cities. The
oldest parish is St. Nicholas Church in Pittsburgh, founded in
1894; several others were erected in the early 1900s.
During the
period 1910-40, more Croatian priests came to the United States
to work among their people, mostly younger men and mostly religious
older priests, beginning in 1912 through 1940. Many of these were
Franciscans from various Croatian provinces, mostly friars from
the Herzegovina province of Mostar.
A good number
of Croatian priests, religious and diocesan, came to the United
States following World War II. As the Croatian immigrant community
grew and spread, new parishes needed to be organized. Thus the
life of the immigrant priest, like the lives of his people, became
more parish centered, more stable.
After the
1960s, a new wave of younger Croatian priests, influenced by Vatican
Council II and the continental pastoral theology that followed
in its wake, arrived in the United States. They organized new
and visionary programs, including Croatian-language radio programs,
and often bridged the gap between Croatians and other Catholics
in their dioceses through various religious and ethnic activities.
Much has been
accomplished for the Croatian immigrants in the United States
during the past hundred years, as evidenced by the number of Croatian
Catholic parishes and social, cultural, athletic and religious
organizations that have been established coast to coast. One of
the largest organizations founded, the Croatian Catholic Union
of U.S.A. and Canada, with headquarters in Hobart (Gary), Indiana
(a fraternal benefit society), was spearheaded by immigrant Croatian
priests; today CCU has lodges in many states and throughout Canada
as well. Based on the religious principles and fraternal system,
the Croatian Catholic Union through its benevolent, charitable,
educational, religious, sports and patriotic programs and activities,
serves multiple needs of its members and the Croatian people in
the United States and Canada.
PRESENT STATUS OF CROATIAN CATHOLIC IN
THE UNITED STATES
While precise
figures are unavailable, Croatian Catholics in the United States,
both those born in Croatia and those born in the United States
of Croatian-born parents and/or grandparents, who have direct
contact with the Church, number approximately 250,000 to 300,000.
According to the United States Census Bureau of Statistics (1990)
there were over 544,270 Croatian Americans who identify themselves
as being of Croatian decent or being born in Croatia. In addition
to that, many Croatian Americans identify themselves as Yugoslavs,
Slavs, Dalmatians, Bosnians, Austrians, or Austro-Hungarians.
Based on other historical sources there are approximately three
million Croatian Americans in the United States.
It is equally
difficult to present in the context an in depth study of the pastoral
work that has been and continues to be accomplished among the
Croatian Catholics in America. The following is a brief summation
with a few general remarks.
Currently
in the United States, the following religious communities work
among Croatian Catholics, with the majority of these religious
themselves being Croatian-born. The Croatian Franciscan Custody
of the Holy Family, with headquarters in Chicago, was established
by the Order of Friars Minor (O.F.M.) in 1926, and currently numbers
thirty-seven friars. In the early 1940s the friars established
a printery at their Chicago friary, Croatian Franciscan Press,
and began publishing and editing the Croatian Danica [The morning
Star], a weekly newspaper, and the monthly Glasnik or Croatian
Catholic Messenger. The annual Kalendar or Almanac edited by the
friars provided American Croatians with well-written articles
by Croatian priests and lay intellectuals in the United States
and elsewhere, as well as other useful information.
Even before
being officially established in 1926, the Croatian Franciscan
friars traveled throughout the United States, establishing and
assisting in Croatian parishes and keeping alive the religious
and national sentiments of their people. Today the Croatian Custody
is ministering at parishes in Milwaukee and West Allis, Wisconsin,
St. Louis, New York City, Detroit, Chicago (two congregations),
and in Bethlehem and Sharon, Pennsylvania, as well as in seven
Canadian parishes serving the thousands of Croatian immigrants
in Canada. This community has done much for the spiritual and
material welfare of many Croatian immigrants during the past seventy-five
years.
Other Croatian
religious communities of men ministering among the Croatian immigrants
in America include the Dominicans, who staff two Chicago parishes;
the Conventional Franciscans serving congregations in Gary, Indiana,
and Lackawanna, New York; the TOR Franciscan friars service parishes
in the Pittsburgh area as well as Washington, D.C. In addition,
Franciscans (O.F.M.) from the Dalmatia province of Split, Croatia,
serve parishes in California and Canada.
Many secular
priests from various dioceses in Croatia are serving the spiritual
and cultural needs of American Croatians and have founded several
parishes. Currently, they serve in New York, New Jersey, Cleveland,
and elsewhere in Ohio, Florida, and Los Angeles, and San Pedro
in California. Several men of Croatian decent have been ordained
for dioceses throughout the United States.
Along with
the male religious, various Croatian religious sisters from the
early years of this century to the present day have ministered
among Croatian immigrants, most visibly in several parish schools
(many now closed) established by the Croatians. These religious
orders include the Adorers of the Precious Blood of Jesus, based
for the most of this century in Columbia, Pennsylvania; the Daughters
of Divine Charity in Akron, Ohio; the School Sisters of St. Francis
of Christ the King based in Lemont, Illinois; the Dominican Sisters
in Chicago and the Franciscan sisters in San Jose, California.
Many Croatian-born sisters, as well as those born in the United
States of Croatian ancestry, have served as principals and teachers
at parochial schools, and in more recent years, they have worked
with young parishioners, instructing them in religious education
classes and Croatian language and culture classes. As with other
ethnic groups in the United States, the role of the teaching sister
among the Croatians cannot be overestimated.
CONCLUSION
Croatian Roman
Catholics in America form a vital part of the American Catholic
Church. This is due in large measure to the pioneering and ongoing
efforts of their priests and sisters, whose witness has enabled
the Croatian immigrant community and their children and grandchildren
born in the United States to remain faithful to their Catholicism
and their Croatian roots. With the liberation of Croatia in 1990
and its establishment once again as a sovereign and democratic
nation, it is expected that Croatian emigration to the United
States will continue to decline.
Fr. Paul Maslac (O.F.M.)
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