It makes a difference because if these things happened in the past, what is to prevent them from happening in the future? Already we have seen things flare up in 1992, when neighbors who were previously friends, all of a sudden became hostile enemies.
What keeps them from happening in the future is not to hold on to them. What has kept them going on is holding on to them.
It’s a lot harder to hate a co-religious than it is one who regards you as a schismatic (which is true going both ways). People generally don’t shoot somebody whose weddings and baptisms they’ve participated in. If people fear each other, they latch onto whatever divides them. It’s a lot easier to argue that there’s a real difference because somebody is a member of another Faith, although I’d wager that a fairly significant number of the people we’re discussing weren’t practicing members of any Faith, the former Yugoslavia having been only recently Communist, and their religion just a means of achieving an identifiable tribal status.
If we want such assurances that these things don’t happen again, ending the schism would go leagues in that direction. If we want to assure that such things can happen again, continuing to maintain that all old wounds are still open, and all the old arguments are still fresh, goes a long way towards keeping that possible.
I was in Eastern Europe and there was an Eastern Catholic Church which was taken over by the Orthodox shortly after WWII. I have heard Catholic priests say that this was wrong and they wanted their church building back. So contrary to what you say, there are Catholics who care about these things.
There’s been a lot of adjustment of all types since Communism fell in the East. Restoring church buildings to their original owners of all kinds has occurred, and new churches have been built. If locally somebody pushes a point, that doesn’t mean that it’s the entire Church in an argument with the Orthodox.
Indeed, I’ve read that in the UK more Catholics attend Mass every weekend than members of the Church of England. Lots of churches were built by Catholics, but nobody is demanding them back. At some point I suspect some might end up being bought back, which is different, but that’s mere speculation on my part. Anyhow, that’s more likely a better example as its more typical.
Indeed, in my area there’s a church which up until recently had two names. . . because it served a Catholic and a Lutheran congregation that shared it. A better example yet.
