Banja Luka, July 3, 1999 (IKA) – The second meeting between the members of the Croatian Conference of Bishops and the Bosnian-Herzegovian Conference of Bishops was held on June 30 at the Diocesan Ordinariate in Banja Luka. The meeting was attended by twenty-one bishops from both conferences. A public statement about the meeting was issued on July 2. The statement noted that the bishops spoke about the Croatian Catholics in other countries, the topic of mission consciousness and mission work in their dioceses, and the work of the Mixed Commission of Bishops and Heads of Religious Orders from the territories of their conferences. They concluded that the Croatian Catholic missions in European and trans-Atlantic countries have played a very important role in preserving the religious and national identity, but are now confronting new challenges not only concerning integration in the local Churches but assimilation in the countries where they are located. The bishops agreed that a joint position should be taken by both bishops#! conferences before the Holy See and before the foreign local bishops#! conferences regarding the subject of Croatian Catholics in other countries. Prof. Pero Aračićić was chosen as the new head of the Croatian Catholic Missions in Foreign Countries, replacing Msgr. Vladimir Stanković who had served in this position for many years. The bishops also listened to reports from the bishop of Hvar-Brač-Vis and the national director of pontifical mission work for the Republics of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slobodan Štambuk, who urged the bishops to increase their efforts in their dioceses to promote mission consciousness and responsibility. The president of the Mixed Commission of Bishops and Heads of Religious Orders, Archbishop Cardinal Vinko Puljić of Sarajevo, reported on the work of his commission. The bishops concluded that the religious orders demonstrate an openness for greater cooperation but that such cooperation must be improved.