Ron writes: > I have come to realize that over > the centuries, the Roman Catholic Church obtained great quantities of land ..... Hi Ron and List ! Im not sure about " Estates" as Ron describes them, he has a useful question for sure, but i can tell you that currently, today, the Catholic Church is still trying to get alot of their lands they owned returned to them from the Czech govt, as part of their Restitution. And there were thousands of hectacres ( metric) ! I dont know the latest info, but I know the Govt has generally been not too excited to talk about it, and in some cases the land has changed hands a few times, making it that more difficult. I think its still something the Church wants, but the Czech Govt ignores them pretty much. Maybe a Lister in Czechia, can enlighten us some more?? But, if someone is looking for a Birth, Death or Marriage records, I think you would still find it in the Church records, for that village, in their respective Statni Oblastni Archiv, that holds that villages' records. No need maybe to go to any specific " Estate " records, if they can be had. BUT, it could be interesting. Regards, mike in AZ SWARTZ~SVARC / CERNY / HAJEK / HOSEK / HRABAC / KREISSINGER / CERMAK