Zagreb, (IKA) – Mirko Juraj Mataušić, OFM, Ph.D., died today in Zagreb following a stroke.
Mirko Juraj Mataušić was born in 1944 in Samobor and ordained to the priesthood on June 27, 1971. He was a member of the Croatian Franciscan Province of Cyril and Methodius. In 1984, he earned a doctorate in Salzburg on the history of the Croatian Catholic press. As a priest, he spiritually ministered to Croatian workers living in Germany and Austria as well as the local Catholics. Upon returning to Croatia, he was the editor of periodicals published by Kršćanska sadašnjost and served as the Provincial of the Croatian Franciscan Province of Cyril and Methodius. Dr. Mataušić was the initiator, co-founder and for many years the President of the Croatian Association of Catholic Journalists, and the founder of the ecumenical Christian Information Service (Kršćanska informativna služba). By order of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, he established Croatian Catholic Radio (Hrvatski katolički radio), serving as its first director and editor-in-chief. For his journalistic and editorial work, Dr. Mataušić received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Croatian Association of Catholic Journalists.
He was the author of many professional and scholarly articles about the media and communication, and led or collaborated on scientific research projects. He also taught at the Center for Croatian Studies of the University of Zagreb and the Catholic Faculty of Theology. From 2003 to 2008, he was the Chairman of the Department of Journalism and Department of Communicology at the Center for Croatian Studies in Zagreb. At the Catholic Faculty of Theology, he taught an elective course on the mass media and pastoral activity from 2000 to 2013. He was a member of the Committee of the Croatian Conference of Bishops for the Media as well as various journalistic associations and bodies, the author of several books and the editor of the program We Seek the Truth on Croatian Catholic Radio. Fra Mirko also conducted many seminars and workshops on media and psychological/pastoral subjects.