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TO REPRESENTATIVES OF OTHER RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES
Letter to the Bihać-Petrovac Episcope, Mr Hrizostom
(Prot. no: 397/92 dated 29 April 1992)
HELP US TO END THE GOLGOTHA OF OUR IMPRISONED PRIESTS
Most
Reverend Episcope and my dear brother in Christ!
I sincerely thank you for you kind invitation this evening! Even
more so I thank you far your noble pastoral care about the detained
priests and faithful of both our sister Churches. May Christ, our
good Shepherd, reward you one hundred fold!
Following my many previous attempts, I finally managed to contact
on the phone the Archbishop of Vrhbosna, who is currently in the
basement due to the shelling of Sarajevo which started in the early
evening hours. He informed me of the news which he just received
before he went down to the basement. He was advised that an exchange
is to be carried out tomorrow, Thursday, the 30th of this month,
at 11:00 hours. Father Zvonimir and Father Perković are to exchanged
for the Orthodox rector of Tomislavgrad. In light of this exchange,
the representative of the European Community in Split, Mr Voltman,
went to Knin today. However, the Archbishop has advised that there
has not been any feedback as to whether General Mladić agrees to
the scheduled exchange.
I nevertheless request that, if you have any contact with Knin,
you try and influence General Mladić to approve to the proposed
schedule so that the Golgotha of our priests may finally be brought
to an end. I hope you will succeed in your attempt.
I will try and contact you again tomorrow night to see how things
go with tomorrow's scheduled exchange.
Please accept my sincere respect!
Your brother in Jesus Christ
+
Franjo Komarica, Bishop of Banja Luka
Accompanying
letter from the Bishop to the Banja Luka Episcope Mr Jefrem,
appended to "The Destruction of Catholic Buildings in the Banja
Luka Diocese
(September 1991 - February 1993)"
(Prot no: 569/93 dated 18 February 1993)
"MANY OF OUR CHURCH BUILDINGS HAVE SUFFERED, THE FAITHFUL
ARE UNCERTAIN OF THEIR FUTURE"
Most
Reverend Episcope and my dear brother in Christ!
I take the liberty to share my concern with you for the fate of
that section of Christ's Church entrusted to me in the Banja Luka
Diocese. This unfortunate war has regretfully not bypassed my diocese
even though my priests, faithful and myself have attempted to do
all we can to prevent the evil which has affected our contemporaries
from spreading!
Many of our church buildings have been destroyed as is evident in
the appendix; my faithful are faced with complete uncertainty for
their future!
Thank you for your understanding and brotherly assistance no matter
in which form!
Faithfully yours in Christ
+
Franjo, Bishop of Banja Luka
Letter
of sympathy to the Muslim Community on the occasion of the destruction
of the main mosques of Banja Luka
(Prot. no: 1071 A/93 dated 7 May 1993)
"UNSCRUPULOUS VANDALS AND DESTROYERS HAVE APPEARED IN OUR
TOWN TOO!"
Most
respected Mufti of Banja Luka, Hadji Halilović, dear Muslim faithful!
The saddest news I received today apart from the news of the destruction
of the Catholic shrine in Novakovići - Banja Luka, was the news
of the senseless, atrocious crime of the destruction of the centuries-old
shrines, the Ferhadija and the Arnaudija Mosques, precious jewels
not only for the Islamic Community but for the entire population
of our town and our country.
I am sincerely and deeply shaken, not only due to the horrifying
fact that the oldest possible shrines in our town and this entire
region have been destroyed, but also because unscrupulous vandals
exist amongst us who are capable of deliberately and deceitfully,
without any cause or reason, committing such crimes.
This vandalistic act has obviously been planned for quite some time
despite the curfew and was synchronised. This throws a huge slur
on those officials whose duty it is to prevent similar acts of vandalism
which, nevertheless, occur, often under the cover of darkness.
On behalf of the Catholic Church in the Banja Luka diocese, the
Bishop's Ordinary and on my own personal behalf, I most decisively
condemn this latest atrocity against religious complexes and the
religious communities in our town and municipality!
In honour of justice and the law, culture, the civilisation to which
we belong, and of sound reason on behalf of all our noble citizens
who truly respect each other and take heed of religious laws (whether
they be of their own faith or the faith of others), I demand and
expect the competent political factors, institutions and people
in this town and municipality to find the culprits of these latest
crimes and to prevent them from committing further atrocious acts!
While we allow that this world's justice be implemented through
punishment for crime, we pray for God's mercy to save us so that
we too do not fall victim to such hideous deeds and indeed that
we do not become the targets of such crimes in the future!
I personally wish you and your faithful people of the Islamic Community
the comforting words from the Koran:
"And when the time comes for other threats, we will send them
to leave the sadness and sorrow on your faces and that the Shrine,
like the first time be destroyed and razed to the ground.
And the Lord will be merciful again; if you start again, so will
we. And we have made Hell a dungeon for the non-believers"
Al-Isra' XVII, 7-8.
Sharing my sincere sorrow with you all, I also hold an indestructible
hope and assure you of my solidarity and that of my Catholic faithful.
I offer my friendly regards!
Dr Franjo
Komarica, Bishop of Banja Luka
Letter
to the Patriarch of the SOC, Mr Pavle
(Prot. no: 130/95 dated 20 February 1995)
WE REQUEST A MEETING WITH SOMEONE FROM THE HOLY SYNOD OF THE
SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
Your
Holiness!
I am turning to you at the request of His Eminence, Cardinal Vinko
Puljić, Archbishop and Metropolitan of Vrhbosna and president of
the Bishops' Conference of B-H. He is currently in Rome and on Saturday
25 February 1995, he and the Bishop of Mostar-Duvno, Msgr Ratko
Perić should be arriving to Banja Luka where they would like to
hold the next sitting of our BC. The following emissaries should
also be attending the meeting, Msgr Srećko Badurina, the Bishop
of Šibenik and vice-president of the Croatian Bishops' Conference,
as well as Msgr Želimir Puljić, Bishop of Dubrovnik and a permanent
member of the CBC Council.
Cardinal Puljić has never, despite his many attempts, managed to
come into contact with the Most Eminent Mr Nikolaj, the Dabrobosna
Metropolitan in an effort to discuss a possible meeting between
the episcopes and the bishops for the B-H region which was planned
for last year but never realised. As such he has delegated that
I try to contact the Most Eminent Mr Nikolaj, who is still away
and should be returning on Wednesday as I have been informed.
As Cardinal Puljić advises, he has a "special message for the
Metropolitan or rather the Holy Synod from even higher ranking representatives
of the Church". At the same time he asks that one member of
the Holy Synod comes to meet with Cardinal Puljić and the other
bishops at this next meeting.
After speaking with the Episcope of Banja Luka, Mr Jefrem, I take
the liberty to recommend that our meeting be scheduled for Monday,
27 February 199S, in the afternoon or on Tuesday, 28 February 1995.
Mr Jefrem and I will discuss the exact details.
I hope that the Lord will through his love allow that this desired
and very necessary brotherly gathering of our two sister Churches
be realised - in honour of his holy name and as a sign of our contribution
towards peace in these regions and for the salvation of our eternal
souls!
I thank your Holiness in advance for your peaceful care, which you
spread around you and offer my deepest respect. I sincerely send
my brotherly regards in Christ, our good Shepherd!
Your
brother
+ Franjo Komarica,
Bishop of Banja Luka and vice-president of the BC B-H
c.c.
Secretariat BC B-H - Sarajevo
P.S.
I take the liberty to append a copy of my letter to His Eminence,
Mr Nikolaj.
Letter
to the Patriarch of the SOC, Mr Pavle
(Prot. no: 312/95 dated 9 May 1995)
RAISE YOUR VOICES ONCE MORE AND PROTECT US!
Your
Holiness!
Being born in Banja Luka and being the Catholic Bishop of the Banja
Luka Diocese, I wish to welcome you during your visit to our town
and region as a descendant of Christ's apostles and as a brother
in Christ. As your other patriarchal visits to the local faithful
of the Serbian Orthodox Church, so this one too will serve in God's
truth, love, forgiveness and peace. Truth, love, forgiveness and
peace are necessary in this hour more than ever before, for all
the people in this town and region.
Most recently, hate and revenge have, unfortunately, once again
erupted just like a volcano and have become our every day reality.
In the region of western Slavonia, many innocent Orthodox Serbs
have been caught in the whirlwind of war activities. We are deeply
shaken by the evil to which they have fallen victim! And on this
occasion, we sympathise with those innocent victims and pray for
them and sincerely wish to help them.
A destructive wave of evil has unfortunately been flooding these
regions for a number of years now. While we Catholics of the Banja
Luka Diocese are using all our efforts to truly bring about peace,
forgiveness and love, even towards those who in their spiritual
blindness have committed evil against us, we once again have been
dealt with heavy blows of hate and destruction, in the past few
days especially. These activities have not been provoked by us at
all, except perhaps by our passive resistance and our peaceful indifference,
goodness and forgiveness!
The remaining sisters from two ancient convents in Bosanski Aleksandrovac
and Nova Topola were heartlessly kidnapped and then banished on
May 4th 199S. In 1992, my respected colleague, the Episcope of Banja
Luka, Mr Jefrem personally vowed for their safety. In reaction to
the serious and unjustified crime against innocent nuns, elderly
sisters, who were benefactors for the local Serbian population,
as well as the incomprehensible deception of the public by the Minister
of Religion of the RS government who stated that "the nuns
were transported to Croatia at their own request", I am free
to offer your Holiness an official and decisive denial sent by their
Provincial Head in Zagreb.
My priests and I have to this day not been allowed to approach the
convent building and the parish church next to it, nor have we been
given the opportunity to discuss the matter with anyone in authority!
That same day, in the evening hours, the SRT (Serbian Radio Television),
studio Banja Luka relayed serious slander and insinuations about
the Banja Luka Bishop and his apparent dealings. This was evidently
a prelude to the ghastly events which were to directly follow!
On May 5th 1995, the regional church in Vujnovići (Petrićevac parish)
on the outskirts of Banja Luka was burnt.
The next day, i.e. May 6th 1995, an explosion destroyed the regional
church in the Petrićevac parish in Šargovac.
During the night between May 6 & 7th 1995, the Franciscan priests
and nuns were brutally mistreated in their monastery in Petrićevac.
Friar Alojzije Atlija, an elderly and ill friar, died as a result
of the abuse he received. This is the fourth, entirely innocent
priest in my diocese who has fallen victim during this war! Soon
after, the remaining priests and nuns were banished from the monastery.
It was then burnt down while the new monastery and parish church
of St. Anthony's, a shrine for the entire Banja Luka region, was
bombed and destroyed as was its monumental bell tower.
In this way, one of the largest parishes in the Banja Luka region
was in three days left without a single church and the Catholic
Church in the Banja Luka region was left without another - the fourth
to date - large monastery and cultural centre for the Catholics
in this area.
The very next day, in the night between 7 & 8 May, the only
remaining church in my diocese to the south of Banja Luka, in Majdan
near Mrkonjić Grad, was burnt down.
All these events give the impression that some satanic forces have
decided to continue with the destruction of Catholic Churches in
my diocese, even in its very centre, in my home town of Banja Luka.
Your Holiness is probably aware of the heavy Buffering not only
of Orthodox Christians, but of the Catholics in this region during
the Second World War, when one third of the Banja Luka parishes
were totally destroyed. During this latest war in Bosnia-Herzegovina,
despite the exceptionally peaceful behaviour of my priests, nuns
and the majority of my faithful, we have experienced horrifying
and unbearable abuse. Virtually all our human and civil rights have
been taken away from us. Over 400 Catholics have been killed in
their own homes, over two thirds (53,000) of the Catholics in the
area have been banished, 39 churches totally destroyed, four large
monasteries (with over 100 members!), some 40 churches have been
damaged to various degrees, while countless cemeteries have been
desecrated.
Despite the Golgotha we have been experiencing for the past three
years, we have not tired in our efforts to call upon the faithful
to forgiveness, peace and love (Caritas). We raised our tireless
voice for the protection of basic human rights and liberties for
every man and every religious and national community. Together with
our priests, nuns and faithful we prayed to God and applied in practice
the obliging principle of our joint Christianity. God himself, who
knows every human heart, knows that we wished for and did nothing
but good - not only for ourselves, but for others around us.
Not on any one occasion did we propagate, nor God help us, apply
the law from the Old Testament: "limb for broken limb, eye
for eye, tooth for tooth ... (Lv 24:20)!
As I have done so many times before during this unfortunate war,
once again in response to the recent dramatic events with the Serbian
Orthodox population in western Slavonia, I forwarded appeals and
pleas to political representatives, Church representatives and humanitarian
organisations to protect all people especially those unprotected
innocent civilians. Attached is a reply received from the most competent
representative of the Catholic Church and government authorities
in the Republic of Croatia dated 5 May 1995. In this letter, the
Catholic Church decisively emphasises its stance for "the respect
of human and civil rights for the Serbian population", as well
as the decisiveness of the political and government heads in the
Republic of Croatia who "guarantee the Serbs in western Slavonia
full protection".
In this region of Banja Luka where for decades - as is widely known
- we nurtured exceptional values of ecumenism and friendly relations
between the Catholic and Orthodox Christians, not only among the
official representatives of our sister Churches, but also amongst
the faithful, for the past three years all authority has been in
the hands of Serbian Orthodox politicians. With that, it is even
more incomprehensible that the horrific and tragic banishment and
abuse by our Christian Orthodox brothers is continuing - even though
it has not been provoked in any way - in their attempts to annihilate
any traces of the Catholic Church! Is it truly possible that those
same Serbian politicians who state that they are "decisive
fighters for the salvation of the Orthodox religion", and that
they are in "constant consultation with the Serbian Orthodox
Church", do not hear any appeals regarding the protection of
basic human rights including religious rights and liberties for
the local exceptionally peaceful Catholic population?! Can it be
true that, in the name of the Orthodox Church, they wish to achieve
with the Catholic Church in the region of my diocese that which
many non-Christians and non-believers attempted to do throughout
the centuries, but did not succeed, that is to totally destroy her?!
Surely, this will be a terrible slur on the Orthodox Church amongst
the Serbian people and an even more horrifying sin before God, the
Father and at the same time the Judge of all people?!
I still remember your fatherly words based on Christ's gospel, which
I heard during our brotherly meeting in this town last autumn. I
am pleased and grateful to God that at least then we had the same
thoughts (Ph 2:2). I am convinced that even now Christ's spirit
is with your holiness and that you still nurture feelings of love
for God and mankind, that you have not tired in protecting God's
honour, as well as God's and man's laws - universal for all people
and for every man.
As such I am at liberty to ask your Holiness, that, in the spirit
of Jesus Christ our good shepherd, you raise your voice - in prayer
to God as well as in appeals to the local and current politicians
for the protection of those people stripped of their rights, i.e.
the Catholic population in the Banja Luka Diocese including our
church officials - just as representatives of the Catholic Church
decisively and literally support the protection for all members
of the Serbian Orthodox Church and all other people wherever they
may be oppressed. I am convinced that Your Holiness, who sympathises
with the sufferings of his Serbian Orthodox people, is not without
feelings towards the innocent Catholic population of my diocese
who are no less victims in this situation. We are, after all, children
of the same heavenly Father!
May the love of Jesus Christ - who was tortured for us sinners,
killed and rose from the dead – continue to inspire and unite
us!
Regardless of how our Orthodox brothers i.e. our Serbian neighbours,
will treat us hi the future we will try to continue to love and
do good!
With respects for Your Holiness, asking that you pray for all the
members of my destroyed diocese and for myself, I sincerely forward
my regards and remain your brother in Christ's Salvation.
+ Msgr
Franjo Komarica, Bishop of Banja Luka
c.c.
Papal Nunciature - Sarajevo (Rome)
Secretariat of the BC B-H
Secretariat of the CBC - Zagreb
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