Zagreb, April 11, 2003 (IKA) — 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 the Crucified Jesus 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, the Daughters of Charity, 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.