Zagreb, February 10, 1998 (IKA) The Standing Council of the Croatian
Conference of Bishops met yesterday afternoon, February 9, for the first
time this year, with Archbishop Josip Bozanic, president of the Croatian
Conference of Bishops, presiding. All the members of the Standing Council
participated, as well as the general secretary of the Croatian Conference
of Bishops, Bishop Antun Skorcevic of Pozega. The Council members
discussed various current topics concerning Church life, especially those
to be discussed at the next plenary session of the Croatian Conference of
Bishops, to be held in Lovran from March 12 to 14 of this year, according
to the Press Office of the Croatian Conference of Bishops. Lovran has
been selected as the location for the plenary session of the Croatian
Conference of Bishops because the new bishop of Krk, Valter Zupan, will be
ordained in Krk on March 15. According to a decision by the Standing
Council, one of the main topics of the plenary session in Lovran will be
the sacrament of Confirmation during the Year of the Holy Spirit. The
Croatian Conference of Bishops wants the Church to devote particular
attention this year to the needs, world and difficulties of young people
in Croatia, and accordingly to a strategy for pastoral activity among the
young. As a type of introduction to the topic of the young, last year the
bishops insisted on the recently completed traditional
Theological-Pastoral Course for Priests held on Salata in Zagreb. At the
next plenary session of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, one of the
topics will be the pastoral care of the young by the Church. This subject
will also be discussed at the June session of the Croatian Conference of
Bishops. According to the Press Office, the Standing Council included two
topics on the implementation of the contracts ratified last year between
the Republic of Croatia and Holy See in the schedule of the next plenary
session of the Croatian Conference of Bishops: 1) the review of the
Bylaws of the Military Ordinariate and the Rules for the Organization and
Activity of the Military Ordinariate in the Republic of Croatia and 2) the
review of a draft of the Planned Contract on Catechism Instruction in
Schools.