Marija Bistrica, October 6, 1997 (IKA) — “Today we solemnly commemorate that a military ordinate has been established and has begun to function. It is a diocese for Catholic faithful in the Croatian military and police. We thereby assume the task of introducing young people to a correct understanding and experience of faith under specific conditions, in order for them to be defenders of the homeland and heralds of peace. The military service is primarily a service for peace. The Church community in the Croatian army and police, the military ordinariate, shall be a school of courageous peace,” said the newly named military ordinary in the Republic of Croatia, Bishop Juraj Jezerinac, in his sermon at the national shrine of Marija Bistrica on October 5 1997.
The ceremonies for the declaration of the establishment of the military ordinariate and the appointment of the bishop as the military ordinary in the Republic of Croatia were within the framework of the fifth jubilee pilgrimage of Catholic soldiers and policemen to this central Marian shrine. After the reading of the papal decrees on the establishment and appointment, the apostolic nuncio in the Republic of Croatia, Msgr. Giulio Einaudi, symbolically presented the new military ordinary with a bishop#!s staff as a sign of his new pastoral office.
Together with the new military ordinary, the Eucharist was concelebrated by an additional fourteen bishops, among whom were the retired archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Franjo Kuharić, who on the previous day had turned over the administration of the Zagreb Archdiocese to his successor, also a participant in this celebration, Archbishop Josip Bozanić of Zagreb. Besides bishops and archbishops from the Republic of Croatia, the military ordinary of France, Bishop Michael Dubost, participated. At the end, the celebration was joined by the Hungarian military ordinary, Bishop Gaspar Ladocsi. From Yugoslavia participated the bishop of Subotica, Ivan Penzeš, and from Bosnia-Herzegovina participated the bishop of Mostar, Ratko Perić. Approximately 5,000 Catholic faithful from the Croatian military and police with a number of generals and other officers came to participate in the pilgrimage. Representatives of the Croatian Government attended. A group of Catholic soldiers from Bosnia-Herzegovina also participated.
The celebration was enhanced by music provided by the Symphony Wind Orchestra of the Croatian Army, the Cathedral Choir of Zagreb and the Ivan Goran Kovačić Choir. At the conclusion of the celebration, Cardinal Franjo Kuharić briefly summarized the Christian concept of military service. In the world as it always is, a state must have military and police services. However, in war and in peace, these services are bound by moral principles, the same distinction between good and evil. Defense is permitted and necessary but vengeance and hatred — never. The cardinal particularly emphasized that the Croatian army in the recent defensive war was fighting not only for the freedom and rights of the members of the Croatian ethnic community but also for the freedom and rights of all citizens of the Republic of Croatia, regardless of their ethnic and religious affiliations.
This fifth pilgrimage by Catholic soldiers and policemen to the Shrine of Marija Bistrica took place on the Feast of the Holy Rosary, since many Catholic defenders in the recent war wore Our Lady#!s Rosary around their necks, an expression of faith even during war that required humaneness. After a modest military meal, shared under tents by the concelebrants and pilgrims, the traditional devotion of the Way of the Cross was held on the hill behind the Marija Bistrica Basilica.