The Church in Croatia and Church Law: Situation and Perspectives

Autor u ovom radu analizira mjesto i ulogu crkvenog prava (kanonsko pravo, liturgijsko pravo, javno crkveno pravo) u životu Crkve u Hrvatskoj, ne zanemarujući pritom ni Crkvu u Bosni i Hercegovini ukoliko se radi o istom hrvatskom jezičnom području. Stoga u prvom dijelu razlaže dostupnost hrvatskih prijevoda Zakonika kanonskog prava, prijašnjeg iz 1917. godine i sada važećeg iz 1983. godine, ali i ostalih normativnih akata važnih za život opće Crkve i partikularnih Crkava. U drugom dijelu iznosi znanstveno i stručno djelovanje i publicistiku hrvatskih crkvenih pravnika: njihovu nastavnu aktivnost na crkvenim fakultetima te objavljivanje priručnika, udžbenika, komentara pojedinih knjiga Zakonika i znanstveno-stručnih radova koji se odnose na važne teme crkvenog prava. Zajedničko djelovanje crkvenih pravnika hrvatskog govornog područja posebno se ogleda u organiziranju i provedbi znanstvenih kanonsko-pravnih simpozija i objavljivanju zbornika radova s tih simpozija, o čemu autor govori u trećem dijelu ovoga rada. Predstavljaju se također i tri značajna projekta kao neposredna obveza koja stoji pred hrvatskim crkvenim pravnicima: izrada i objavljivanje Rječnika kanonskog prava i cjelovitog komentara Zakonika kanonskog prava na hrvatskom jeziku te osnivanje Hrvatskog kanonističkog društva.In the present paper the author analyses the place and role of the Church Law (Canon, Liturgical and Public Church Law) in the life of the Church in Croatia as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina in so far as it is a part of the same Croatian linguistic space. Therefore, the first part the article analyses the availability of a Croatian translation of the Code of Canon Law: of the former Code from 1917 as well as the current one from 1983, but also of the other normative acts relevant for the life of the Universal Church and of particular Churches all over the world. In the second part of the article, the author outlines the scientific and professional activity as well as publications of Croatian ecclesiastical legal experts: their academic work in ecclesiastical faculties, as well as the publication of manuals, textbooks, commentaries on each of the seven individual books of the current Code and scientific publications on important topics of Church Law. The common activity of Croatian ecclesiastical legal experts is particularly reflected in the organization and realization of scientific canon-law conferences and the publication of conference papers, which is dealt with in the third part of this article. Croatian ecclesiastical legal experts intend to present three important projects in the near future: preparation and publication of the Dictionary of Canon Law and a comprehensive commentary of the Code of Canon Law in Croatian, as well as the foundation of the Croatian Canon Law Society