Easter in Banja Luka

Banja Luka, 9. 4. 1996. (IKA) – After almost a year of compulsory silence, bells from the bell-tower of Banja Luka Cathedral of St. Bonaventura, started to toll again on The Holiday of the Lord Resurrection. During the all ceremonies of Easter Week Cathedral was overcrowded. Bishop Franjo Komarica lead the Eucharist celebration on Easter Day. Representatives of the international institutions, a group of English soldiers, part of IFOR, participated the Easter Mass. Bishop emphasized, in his preach, the importance of the gift, the Resurrected Jesus gave to his disciples: the reconciliation and the peace, and that gift has to be the obligation of every Christian. At the end of the Mass celebration, bishop welcomed all who had returned to their homes in Banja Luka, after many months of exile, and named them the “first swallows” that announce the return of others to their homes. The Easter joy, bishop Komarica said, is darkened by the imprisonment of parish priest Tomislav Matanoviæ and his parents. After seven and half months of parish priests imprisonment, Serbian authorities are resistant to numerous appeals they have been getting from bishop Komarica and his priests.