Notes on Religion, the Church and Ethnic Identity (with the Example of Croats in Hungary)

Postoji li i kakva je povezanost između religije (crkve, »hrvatske župe») i etničkog identiteta, odnosno točnije – jesu li i kako su kod Hrvata u Mađarskoj religijskoparticipacijski i religijskokulturni motivi pripadanja vjerskoj zajednici povezani s njihovom etničnošću? U okviru teme naznačuje se opći smisleni okvir u koji se smješta rasprava. Na osnovi teorijskog i empirijskog uvida uvodno se razmatraju neki aspekti religijskoga i etničkog koji upućuju na njihovu povezanost (kod Hrvata u Mađarskoj). Religija (točnije crkva) ima stanovitu ulogu etničke riznice u slučaju kada se pojavljuje kao svojevrsna manifestacija nacionalnog duha (»hrvatska župa«), to jest kada na sebe preuzima prizvuk etničnosti (u kontekstu porijekla i povijesne sudbine).Is there a connection between religion (the Church, “Croatian parish”) and ethnic identity, or more precisely – are the religious-participational and religious-cultural motives of belonging to a religious community among Croats in Hungary connected with their ethnicity, and – if so – how are they connected? Within this framework the author indicates the general conceptual range in which he locates his discussion. On the basis of theoretical and empiric insight, he first of all examines some aspects of the religious and ethnic spheres which imply their connection (among Croats in Hungary). Religion (more precisely – the Church) has a certain role as an ethnic “treasury” in the case that it appears as a particular manifestation of the national spirit (“the Croatian parish”), i.e. when it takes on connotations of ethnicity (in the context of descent and historical destiny)