Abstract
The reduction of foreign contacts of churches, and state supervision over them were also a part of the state ecclesiastical policy after 1948. Yet even the Roman-Catholic Church, which refused to be loyal to the Communist regime and was therefore one of the most persecuted churches, managed to maintain a number of informal contacts.
After 1989 the support of Western European Churches has played a key role in the renewal of the spiritual and material aspects of the ecclesiastical structures in our country. The example of the South-Bohemian town of Pisek can help us illustrate the specific contribution of significant foreign aid which came mostly from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and which was often based on personal connections and on the personal engagement of individual clerics.