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Zagreb, (IKA, 11th April
2003) — The Croatian bishops sent a pastoral letter to the faithful
regarding the forthcoming third apostolic visit by Pope John Paul II
to Croatia, from June 5 to 9, that will have the following motto:
“The Family — The Path of the Church and the Nation.” At the
beginning of the letter, the bishops refer to the Pope’s previous
two visits, the first apostolic visit in 1994, when the Holy Father
brought hope and encouragement to the war-torn and partially
occupied homeland, and the second in 1998, when he beatified
Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac and called attention to the importance of
the Croatian Christian heritage. “In the third pastoral visit by the
Holy Father to our country, we perceive his respect and love of our
Church and nation, as well as his desire to help us solve many
problems that hinder our progress toward the future, brimming with
such hope but also many trials and challenges,” wrote the Croatian
bishops. As the motto for the Pope’s forthcoming visit in June of
this year, they have chosen “The Family — The Path of the Church and
the Nation,” thereby calling attention to the importance of the
family but also the problems encountered in modern Croatian society.
“We decided upon such a motto because the family is the value that
threads through the rich and varied content of this visit by the
Pope. We hope that he will provide inspiration to all to help the
family in its difficulties and thus assure that it will be valued
correctly,” stated the bishops in their pastoral letter, noting that
the family transmits both biological life and faith, “although today
this is carried out with great difficulties.” The bishops note the
grave demographic crisis that could endanger the future of the
Croatian nation and its ability to participate as an equal in the
community of the European nations.
They call attention to the profound spiritual crisis that engulfs
the family and makes it increasingly difficult to transmit religious
and moral values to the next generation, “which results in great
existential disorientation and aimlessness among children and young
people ... The consumer mentality and omnipresent individualism
distort the concept of the human being and at the same time ignore
the person as a social being,” wrote the bishops, adding that this
is “evident in the perception of marriage and the family, marital
and sexual morality, and legislation on marriage and the family,”
which does not only threaten “the stability of marriage and the
family but also the public and economic life of the nation ...
Therefore it is obvious that the family needs assistance on all
sides and that this is the only true path to renewal in all areas of
public, national and Church life, as the Holy Father points out in
numerous documents,” wrote the Croatian bishops. They also mention
that during the past year the Croatian Conference of Bishops
published the “Directory for Family Pastoral Activity of the Church
in Croatia,” with particular emphasis upon the significance and
dignity of marriage and the family, and the holiness of marital and
family life according to Church teachings.
In the bishops’ letter to the faithful on the occasion of the
forthcoming third Pontifical visit to Croatia, they asserted that
for the faithful the family is the “domestic Church” or the “Church
in microcosm.” Therefore, the renewal of the Church begins with the
renewal of the family. The faithful are urged to imbue the life of
the Church communities with new freshness and inspiration through
the quality of their married and family life so that they can become
a place of respect and promotion of social values based upon the
family. The bishops point out that the renewal of the family begins
with the personal consecration of each family member, and the
renewed “Croatian Catholic family shall continue to be a hotbed of
holiness, a place of consecration, the practice and transmission of
faith, as well as the cradle of new priestly and religious
vocations.” All the faithful are urged to read and follow the
pastoral guidelines in “Called to Holiness.”
In the third item of the pastoral letter, the bishops wrote about
the Servant of God Sister Marija of Jesus Crucified Petković, whom
the Holy Father will beatify in Dubrovnik during his visit to
Croatia, and the Servant of God Dr. Ivan Merz, who will be the first
Croatian lay Catholic to be beatified. Sister Marija Petković
devoted her life to the care of the most vulnerable, which is the
heritage of the members of her order, Congregation of the Daughters
of Mercy, and the life of Ivan Merz is an exemplary model for all
the Catholic laity, especially intellectuals and educators of young
people, according to the Catholic bishops. By the example of Ivan
Merz, we are all called to build a more just world according to
spiritual evangelical principles and values, and to the Catholic
laity we should “open wide the fields of politics, economics,
culture, health, sciences, arts and sports that should be permeated
with the spirit of the Gospels and plant seeds of the Divine truth
about mankind. This is an urgent necessity that cannot be
postponed,” emphasized the bishops in their pastoral letter.
Commending the third pastoral visit by the Holy Father to our Church
and homeland to the intercession of Mary, the Mother of the Church,
the Croatian bishops urged the faithful to prepare for this visit
appropriately, taking it as an opportunity for the “spiritual and
moral renewal needed for the transmission of the light of faith to
the new generations.” The Pope’s visit will provide new inspiration
and the renewal of thirteen centuries of fidelity and devotion to
the Vicar of Peter and his heirs. “We await the Pope’s third
pastoral visit with prayer and the desire to become stronger in
faith (cf. Lk 22, 32) so that thus strengthened, we shall be able to
cleave even more firmly to Christ and preserve the unity and
community of the Church and nation with even greater durability. His
arrival among us is further impetus for cultivating values that are
especially dear to him — the value of community with all who believe
in Christ and dialolgue with those who are seeking the truth. The
consistent support for such good is manifested in our human and
Christian solidarity with all around us, with people who seek God
and those who find themselves in serious misfortune such as illness,
helplessness, persecution, exile, unemployment etc. Therefore, we
encourage and urge each other with the words of the Apostle Paul:
‘Let us not grow tired of doing good’ (Gal 6,9) because only in this
way can we respond to the love that God has shown us by sending us
his emissary once again in the person of the Holy Father John Paul
II,” emphasized the Croatian bishops in their pastoral letter to the
faithful on Pope John Paul II’s forthcoming visit to Croatia, from
June 5 to 9 of this year.
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