Feb. 10, 2009 (CWNews.com) - The Romanian Catholic Church has set February 11 as a day of strict fasting and prayer, as the Eastern-rite Church confronts a crisis in Romania.

Since the fall of that country's Communist regime, the Romanian Catholic Church has sought the return of parish properties that were confiscated during the Stalin era and turned over to Romanian Orthodox control. The Romanian Catholic Church, which endured fierce persecution under Communism, survived underground and returned to vigorous public life after the repressive regime led by Nicolae Ceausescu finally fell in 1989.

Still most of the confiscated church property remained under Orthodox control, and in many instances Eastern-rite Catholics have been forced to worship in schools and other public buildings, or even outdoors, rather than in the churches built by their forefathers. In a country where Orthodox believers form a clear majority, the Romanian government has been reluctant to press for restoration of Catholic properties. Disputes over the legal ownership of churches have caused considerable conflict between the two Eastern churches.

The situation is complicated by the fact that some church buildings have now been used by Orthodox congregations for decades. Moreover, the Romanian Catholic Church was decimated by the years of brutal Communist persecution. There were about 2.5 million Eastern-rite Catholics in Romania before the Communist takeover; today the number is closer to 250,000. In some towns there are not Catholics remaining to claim ownership of an old church.

In 2007, legislation was introduced in the Romanian parliament that would have severely curtailed the efforts by Catholics to regain church property: including artwork and furnishings as well as the buildings themselves. Although the proposal was defeated, it has been introduced again this year, prompting what leaders of the Romanian Catholic Church see as a crisis for their community.