The Wendish Research Exchange - Kilank, Rudolf: Bishop Christian Schreiber and the Sorbian Clergy: On the Conflicts of the 1920s

Lětopis Abstract 2008 1: Kilank, Rudolf: Bishop Christian Schreiber and the Sorbian Clergy: On the Conflicts of the 1920s

After the recreation of the Catholic bishopric of Meißen in 1921, with its seat in Bautzen, conflicts developed between Bishop Christian Schreiber (1872–1933) and a number of Sorbian priests. These disagreements were caused by certain decisions made by the new Bishop, which Sorbian Catholics considered to be discriminatory: for example, the proceedings of the first Diocesan Synod of the Meißen bishopric in the St Marienstern convent in 1923, the appointment of a German priest to the Sorbian parish in Bautzen, attacks on the Sorbian and the Czech press, as well as the overall relationship of the Bishop with Sorbian Catholics.

Using previously unknown correspondence between Sorbian priests, which the author received in 1973 from the papers of the teacher and writer Jurij Kubaš-Worklečan (1902–1983), he traces the main strands in the conflicts of this period. The varied reactions of the Sorbian clergy to the leadership of the Meißen bishopric in the 1920s can be seen in this correspondence.