Leaders Magazine No 2/2009

A talk with Karel Paar the Grand Prior of the Grand Priory of Bohemia of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta Karel Eduard Paar was born in 1934 His father Alfons carried the title of Prince and his mother Žofi e was a countess Karel Paar was brought up in Bechyně together with his brother and sister all siblings were growing up in the Czech speaking environment A year after the War the family moved to Switzerland where they were during the February 1948 communist coup After fi nishing his studies in Switzerland he moved to Austria in 1954 The impulse to get involved with the Knights of Malta came from his father member of the Order himself He fi nished the novitiate in 1978 and four years later made vows of poverty chastity and obedience aspiring to perfection according to the Gospel In 1989 he was named member of the Sovereign Council in Rome He was elected Grand Prior of Bohemia in March 2004 116 Leaders Magazine II 2009 Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum Has there ever been a moment in your life when you did not forgive It is an interesting question I must say Not to forgive I must say it has never happened to me I have always forgiven One can forgive everything One cannot forget certain things but that is something different None of us is a judge of the others everyone has to bear in mind that they could get judged too I can say that my life brought me many moments that could have led me to a position of not forgiving The complicated life when I was forced to leave this country as a young boy in order to return after forty years as a mature man taught me the lesson that one has always to forgive Your Order is an old institution with an ancient history Today how is it anchored to the modern world that has changed so radically since the days when the concept character and philosophy of the Order were formed The Order as such was founded as a brotherhood in the Holy Land and tried to help pilgrims in the Holy Land From this brotherhood the Order evolved and was recognized by the Pope in 1113 The Order had to participate in the Crusades however predominantly it always concentrated on helping people in need They built a hospital in Jerusalem but they fought at the same time The concept that stays until these days has been the defence of the faith at that time meaning the Holy Sepulture and the service to those in need injured and all people no matter of what religion or race Those were the virtues of the man of the Middle Ages Later the Order moved to Cyprus and Rhodes Everywhere they went so not only in Jerusalem but all over the Old Europe where the knights got they built hospices Thus helping people was still the aim And this remains to the present days Certainly the ways and techniques differ but the motto stays the same protecting faith and taking care of those in need Today the Order has got over 12 000 members all over the world Hospitals hospices emergency wards are established Volunteers help and take care of people The concept has remained the same for more than 900 years When did the Knights come to the Czech Kingdom Johnites when were not in Malta yet were invited to the Czech Kingdom by King Ladislav II This was already in 1160 when they built a covenant in the

Leaders Magazine II 2009 117 You said that when the Order came to the Czech lands they were still Knights of St John Where does the name Knights of Malta come from today oximately which we tionships We have e United the fact assadors n case of ters the ct access So if we an do so ely than And what is the position of the Grand Priory of Bohemia within the context of the Order tative of Master is Order has ny counthere are Priories Bohemia ld Today Priories h used to arization Italy one England later renational ed for six s elected ice even e second How would you characterize the relationship with the Czech Republic he Czech is accreough still epresents of another tese Help der is the ate knows its work what the ts What ub der is not who are es of civil can guaans work How is your Order financed Where does the money for your activities come from We have s cannot o do The he Lesser r income ntain the historical properties that we are obliged to take care of and preserve We have to do that without owing any other property that could produce means for that In the past this was possible since there were possessions and assets bringing income that secured a lot of the activities of the Order For instance during the WWI the Order paid the equipment of ambulance carriages heading to the front Similar actions are impossible today without any possessions The assets and properties of the Orders were never meant to bring profit They are supposed to provide support for humanitarian and charity projects If we had our confiscated possessions back we would be able to support the Maltese Help much more At present we support them with chickenfeed The restitution of the ecclesial possessions is a rather sensitive issue and at present it does not look pro mising for us If your properties were restituted and you possessed them again do you think that the Order would be able to manage and take care of such properties Do you have a plan or a conception prepared what to do with it I am aware of the comments that the churches and orders would not manage to take care of it if they get it all back I am positive that today we would manage the process The possession would get transferred to the Order and all the institutions residing in them would remain where they are Certainly we would need people recruiting from our members to be in charge of the trusteeship and sure we would find them We have among us many people with sufficient competence and skills Nowadays looking after properties does not require every day presence though it is certainly better In the age of information technologies you do not need to have your people everywhere for instance as in the case of managing forests Also I have to say that the villages and towns where we have our claims are amazing in their effort to help us We have to collect all possible records proving that the properties belonged to us We can claim only properties that are still in the possession of the state What has been passed onto someone else has been excluded from our claims Towns and villages also object to the present state and the fact that no one can dispose with the property in the present situation because often the land would be profitable as development sites and they cannot use it for their further development It has been four years since you took the Grand Priory In politics this time means one term In what way has Karel Paar in this position contributed to the Grand Priory of Bohemia When I started we had certain financial difficulties Today also thanks to all the people around me we have a consolidated economic situation I think I can boast a bit that the Grand Priory of Bohemia today after many years is flourishing Not that we could afford to do big things but it is consolidated By Filip Hubáček českou verzi naleznete na www leadersmagazine cz Photos Paul Pacey place of the present seat at the Lesser Quarter Since then the Order has retained its position in the Czech Lands until now After the conquest of Rhodes by the Muslims the knights wandered through Sicily before they were given the island of Malta by the emperor Charles V as a feudatory or benefice with full autonomy and sovereignty in 1530 The Order was active there they worked in a parallel with the local administration and they did not interfere in it Soon after they had arrived they defended the island against a Muslim invasion and they remained there until the arrival of Napoleon in 1798 The French did not stay there long and it was the English who conquered Malta in 1806 and stayed there until 1968 This was probably the toughest time in the history of the Order What is interesting is that at that time the help came from Russia when the Tzar invited the Order to Russia and was even elected Grand Master against all rules of the Order After the return from Russia the Order did not possess any center Only as late as in 1834 the Italian kingdom allowed the Order to come to Rome where the Pontiff still possessed state power What is the formal legal status of the Order It is an interesting phenomenon It is a church order but at the same time also a sovereign state which does not possess its own territory in the traditional sense It has got a tiny bit of land in the place of its palace on the Aventine Hill in Rome where extraterritoriality applies Italian police cannot step on that piece of land without our permission We are officially recognized by appro a hundred states w have diplomatic relat established with W been observers to th Nations Thanks to that we have our amba in many countries in some natural disas Order has got a direc to the governments are able to help we c much more effective others po B The top represent the Order the Grand M in Rome Then the O got its bodies in ma tries of which in some the so called Grand The Grand Priory of is the oldest in the worl there are six Grand compared to 25 which exist before the secula of which three are in I in Austria and one in which was abolished under Henry VIII and stored The other bodie s are the so called associations I am as the Grand Prior elect years not for the life Only the Grand Master i for life The Grand Prior can be elected twi three times In case he is re elected for the time he needs two thirds of the votes rela We have diplomatic relationships with th government We have the ambassador that dited by the President of the Republic Tho this does not mean much The ambassador re the Grand Master in front of the government o country For instance the organization Malt is an independent legal entity whose found Grand Priory of Bohemia Even though the sta it is here and it recognizes the efficiency of many people still do not really understand Order actually is What is an order of knight are those people Is it some sort of elitist clu Indeed to become a member of the Ord commonplace Members must be people active in the Church culture or other sphere society It has to be such a personality that rantee the mission of the Order which mea in humanitarian and charity activities d The Order is a non profit organization certain income from member fees but thi in any way finance all the activities we wish t Grand Priory still owns only the premises in th Quarter which are the only source of other These are to a large extent used to main

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