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Croatians and the Global Catholic Network: The Case of Alojzije Stepinac in the Australian Context

This paper will argue that the Catholic Church was one of the key institutions facilitating Croatian associational life and Croatian identity formation in Australia after 1945. The post-war influx of European immigrants changed the face of Australian Catholicism. The Church welcomed new arrivals and acknowledged the identity of those who came from the ‘captive’ nations. The Church’s interest in Croatians was pastoral, but also political. Its primary role was to minister to Catholic immigrants and, where possible, to provide them with the opportunity to worship in their own language. Involvement in the life of the local Church provided Croats with refuge and an immediate sense of belonging: it gave them status and legitimacy as Croats rather than ‘Yugoslavs’. However, at the time of the Cold War, when European Catholics faced discrimination and persecution at the hands of various communist regimes, the Church was also at the forefront of the anti-communist movement. Membership of the global Church validated Croatian anti-communism and, by default, Croatian anti-Yugoslavism. We will illustrate our argument by focusing on Australian coverage of the plight of the Archbishop of Zagreb, Alojzije Stepinac (1898- 1960), at the time of his trial in 1946, his imprisonment and subsequent house arrest. Our case study is the state of South Australia where reporting in the Catholic paper, The Southern Cross, on Stepinac and Catholics in Yugoslavia was extensive. South Australia is also particularly interesting because the Archbishop of Adelaide, Matthew Beovich, the son of a Croatian immigrant, had a strong interest in the integration of newly arrived Catholics.

Catholic Church, Australia, Stepinac, Croats, multiculturalism, cold war

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