Zagreb, (IKA) — On Saturday, September 28 and Sunday, September 29, Catholic journalists, participants in the Summer University of the International Catholic Union of the Press — UCIP of Geneva, visited Cernik, Vukovar, Sarengrad and Ilok. In Cernik, approximately twenty journalists from all over the world visited the Franciscan monastery, where Fra Tomislav Vuk, a professor from Jerusalem, showed them the Biblical Museum, which is being established in the monastery on the occasion of the International Biblical Year. After Cernik, the president of the Croatian Association of Catholic Journalists, Suzana Vrhovski, conducted the journalists on a tour of Vukovar, where they became acquainted with the suffering endured by that city and its inhabitants during the war. They visited the Franciscan monastery and Church of SS. Philip and James, where they were acquainted with the situation in the parish and city by the parish priest, Fr. Zlatko Spehar. The journalists also visited the new cemetery in Vukovar at Ovcara. In Sarengrad, the Catholic journalists visited the local Franciscan monastery and became acquainted with the work of the Cenacolo community in the treatment of addiction. On Sunday, September 29, the international group of journalists visited Ilok, where they were the guests of the local parish and the Franciscan lay order. Fra Marko Malovic and Fra Mihael Nekic led a Mass in Croatian and English, at which the participants of the Summer University of the International Catholic Union of the Press participated. Fra Marko, who during the occupation of Ilok was for a time the only Catholic priest remaining in occupied Croatian territory, presented the history of Ilok and the local Franciscan monastery, St. John Capistrano, the patron saint of the parish, and spoke about the suffering endured in Croatia during the recent war.
Catholic journalists from the USA, Canada, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Tanzania, Sudan, Hungary, India, Pakistan, Germany, Latvia and Albania made a pilgrimage on September 26 to the Marian shrine at Marija Bistrica, where their host was the guardian of the shrine, Msgr. Lovro Cindori. The journalists also visited the Catholic radio station at Marija Bistrica and became acquainted with its program and staff. In the afternoon hours, the journalists went on an excursion in Zagorje, and visited the ethno-village of Kumrovec. When they returned to Zagreb, they met with the representatives of several nongovernment organizations involved the magazine Gradanski krug, primarily intended for the members of various nongovernment organizations. This meeting was organized by Josko Loncaric.
On Friday, September 27, the group of Catholic journalists visited the Marian shrine at Trsat, the School of Theology in Rijeka, and the city of Opatia.

The visit to Ilok concluded the program of the Summer University of the International Catholic Union of the Press (UCIP) in Croatia. The Croatian organizer was the Croatian Association of Catholic Journalists, and the program lasted from September 22 to 29. Financial sponsorship of the Summer University in Croatia was provided by the Croatian Province of Franciscan Conventuals of St. Jerome, the Croatian Franciscan Province of SS. Cyril and Methodius, the Croatian Franciscan Province of St. Jerome of Zadar, the Conference of Religious Superiors and the Union of Religious Women Superiors, the Croatian Catholic Missions of Sindelfingen and Salzburg, the shrine of Marija Bistrica, the publisher Krscanska sadasnjost, the Catholic weekly newspaper Glas Koncila, Croatian Catholic Radio, the magazine for young people Pogled, Croatian Caritas, IKA-Zagreb and the Maksimus association for the maintenance of residential objects in Zagreb.