Vukovar, (IKA) — On October 26, 2002, the 150th anniversary of the Croatian-Slavonian Metropolis was celebrated in the city of Vukovar with a Mass and commemorative pilgrimage. In the churchyard of the parish church of SS. Philip and James, the Holy Eucharist was celebrated by approximately seven thousand of the faithful, together with numerous priests and religious, led by Msgr. Josip Bozanić, archbishop of Zagreb and metropolitan archbishop.

Noting that the choice of Vukovar as the venue for the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Zagreb Metropolitan Archdiocese had symbolic significance for the Đakovo and Srijem Diocese, Msgr. Bozanić said that Vukovar shall remain inscribed in Croatian history. “This is a city of Croatian freedom,” said the archbishop of Zagreb, explaining the significant principles according to which Christians bear witness to Jesus Christ. “Every person, whether aware or not, whether he or she wants to or not, has an absolute need for Christ and cannot live without Christ. Therefore, we are all called upon to make Christ visible,” said Msgr. Bozanić, urging those present to think of Vukovar as “a silent Jesus,” because such silence is a prayer of submission to God’s will, in which Jesus even prays to the Father to forgive his tormentors. “Today in our country, one often hears about forgiveness and reconciliation. Some say these words very easily, in reference to others. Vukovar is a city where these words are taken seriously. As we gaze upon Jesus crucified on the cross, who remains silent, we shall think about forgiveness and a change of heart. About whose forgiveness? What kind of absolution can a mere person grant? Can we the living — we who are still alive — erase what has happened, as if it never existed? No person can erase what has occurred. No one can repair the past. In general, human forgiveness can achieve at most a truce. It consists of our behaving as if that which has been committed no longer exists, as if nothing exists anymore. It consists, in general, of a type of forgetting. However, forgetting can also mean underestimating because it can leave the one who has sinned against God and against people with the burden of his guilt in solitude, and leave the one who remembers an evil with the pain caused by that which has not been corrected. To forget is the most that a person can do but in forgetting the perpetrator, the victim is also forgotten, especially if the victim is no longer alive. Even when a victim forgives his or her murderer before dying, when the victim has cleansed his or her heart of all hatred, the perpetrator’s conscience is not freed from the evil perpetrated. A person cannot forgive the sin of another person by himself,” said the Zagreb metropolitan archbishop, because forgiveness is within the power of God and not mankind.
“Only God forgives, because only God saves. God’s forgiveness does not negate our unhappy history. It redeems. God has given us redemption through his forgiveness. He allows us to receive it with a contrite heart. History is no longer a place of condemnation but of redemption, it is no longer a place of abandonment but of salvation,” concluded Archbishop Bozanić in his sermon, explaining how all suffering and death are part of Jesus’ suffering and death and “collected in God’s chalice as the tears of his children.”

At the beginning of the celebration of the Mass, those present were greeted by the diocesan bishop of Đakovo and Srijem, Marin Srakić. His remarks included the following: “Every jubilee is an opportunity to give thanks for the past and pray for the future. May it be thus with our jubilee. By entering the Metropolitan Archdiocese, the Đakovo and Srijem Diocese gained worthy, honorable and distinguished metropolitan archbishops. Who among us does not remember the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac, Cardinal Franjo Šeper and the recently deceased Cardinal Franjo Kuharić? The Đakovo or Bosnian Diocese has had a difficult, often bloody history, which includes the martyrdom of its priests, religious and many of the faithful, especially during the period of occupation. Today our diocese confronts numerous challenges and demands that cannot be ignored and must be read as signs of the times. At this moment, it is imbued with the spirit of the synod and is on the path toward general renewal. Many will ask, why this celebration of the Metropolitan Archdiocese is being held in Vukovar. We could have held it in Đakovo. However, at this moment we wanted our diocese to mark its jubilee as it is, i.e. as a diocese of unhealed wounds,” said the bishop. “We came to Vukovar, which remains a blot on the conscience of Europe and mankind. We came to Vukovar, with the promise that we will not live as slaves to the past at any price, but will look toward the future,” emphasized Bishop Srakić of Đakovo.

After the Mass, the pilgrims formed a large devotional procession and proceeded along a specially prepared Way of the Cross to the memorial grave of the victims of the Homeland War (several kilometers outside the city). The concluding prayers were led by Bishop Srakić. This year’s diocesan commemorative pilgrimage to Vukovar had the following motto: “Recognize and proclaim the face of Christ.”