Letter to Mrs. Hillary Clinton Addressing The Discrimination And Persecution Of The Greek-Catholic Community In Romania

Laguna Hills, CA (PRWEB) May 27, 2009 -- In recent years, after Romania joined NATO and the European Union, the situation has deteriorated in Romania, where the country has seen an escalation of injustices toward the Greek-Catholic community, and a continuous violation of human rights and civil liberties. Due to this fact, on May 13th, Fr. Chris Terhes, the President of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Association, sent a letter to Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton describing the situation and claiming that "the Greek-Catholic community is facing a cultural and religious cleansing in Romania".

After an introduction that presents briefly how the Greek-Catholic Church was abolished in 1948 and persecuted in Romania during the communist regime, the letter states that, since the fall of the communism in 1990, the Romanian State has done almost nothing to repair the injustices done toward the Greek-Catholic community during that regime. In 1948, the Communist state confiscated all the properties of the Greek-Catholic Church and forced the Greek-Catholic believers to merge with the Romanian Orthodox Church. After 1990, the Romanian State has done almost nothing to return these properties back to the rightful owners, and, even worse, it is approving their destruction.

The most recent case is happening in Sapanta, Maramures County, where the Greek-Catholic church from the Merry Cemetery is systematically being destroyed with the authorization from the Romanian State, even though there is a cease and desist order that mandates the stoppage of all demolition and work to the church. The Romanian State is doing nothing to apply court decisions while the Greek-Catholic heritage is systematically being destroyed in Romania.

Fr. Terhes thanked Mrs. Clinton for the International Religious Freedom Report and Human Rights Report for Romania, released by the United States Department of State every year, where the discrimination toward the Greek-Catholic community is well documented.

At the end, Fr. Terhes asked Mrs. Clinton to address the issue of the discrimination of the Greek-Catholic community in Romania in any future discussions with the Romanian officials and publicly protest against the violation of the human rights and civil liberties in Romania.

The whole text of the letter can be accessed here: http://www.rogca.org/a2-Letter-to-Mrs-Hillary-Rodham-Clinton-addressing-the-cultural-and-religious-cleansing-of-the-greek-catholic-community-in-Romania.aspx.

Romanian Greek-Catholic Association Inc. is a non-profit organization that supports the Greek-Catholic Church in Romania, assists the needy in Romania, and provides public awareness of the discrimination and persecution of the Greek-Catholic Church and greek-catholic believers in Romania.

Contact: Fr. Chris Terhes

President

Romanian Greek-Catholic Association

+1-949-454-9067

www.rogca.org

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