In the parish church of St. Michael in the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno, on the Third Lent Sunday, March 15th, central Eucharistic celebration of the Lenten action of Croatian Caritas Week of Solidarity and Communion with the Church and People in BiH was celebrated.
The Eucharistic celebration was led by the Bishop of Mostar-Duvno and the Apostolic Warden of Trebinje-Mrkan, Msgr. Ratko Perić.
Due to the current situation of the coronavirus pandemic, as was predicted, the newly elected President of the Croatian Caritas, Bishop of Varaždin, Msgr. Božo Radoš who was supposed to lead the Holy Mass did not come, as well as the director of Croatian Caritas Msgr. Fabian Svalina.
In concelebration with Msgr. Perić were: Director of Caritas BiH Msgr. Tomo Knežević, Director of the Caritas of Mostar-Duvno Diocese and Trebinje-Mrkan rev. Željko Majić, Director of the Caritas of Banja Luka Diocese Msgr. Miljenko Aničić, parish priest of Drinovci OFM Joseph Mioč and other priests.
In addition to the parishioners, the Holy Mass was attended by the staff of all Caritas’ in BiH, as well as representatives of socio-political life.
Welcoming words were initially addressed by Msgr. Perić, noting that people are scared of the dreaded world-threatening coronavirus, which is one of many discovered so far. “The terrible virus that threatens us and our salvation is the virus of sin; we sin against God and our neighbor. But there is also a cure for this sin-virus, which is holy confession and our remorse in confession and beyond”, Bishop Ratko said.
At the end of the Mass, the Head of Caritas of Herzegovina’s Dioceses rev. Željko Majić, and the local parish priest, Mioč, addressed and thanked the congregation.
The Holy Mass celebration was animated with harmonious singing by the mixed parish choir Sveti Mihovil, under the direction of Antonela Rebić and accompanied by Marijan Mile Radoš, and it was transmitted by RTV Herceg-Bosna through Laudato TV, Radio Mir Međugorje and Hrvatski katolički radio (Croatian Catholic Radio).
Let us mention that this Eucharistic celebration is the culmination of the Week of Solidarity which the Church in the Republic of Croatia, through the action entrusted to Croatian Caritas, has been organizing and conducting for the 14th consecutive year in cooperation with Caritas of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The aim of this action is to connect the Croats spiritually and to help the neediest and the most vulnerable through the projects of all Caritas’ in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
During this year’s action, March 9th to 15th, in all parish communities across Croatia, under this year’s motto For love of most not to grow cold (Mt 24:12), it was prayed together and in various ways donated to help the most needy in BiH through Caritas projects in BiH. And the Bishops’ Conference of BiH 2015 decided this Sunday to be The Week of Solidarity with the collection of solidarity for the poor parish communities in the country. And in this way, the concrete charitable communion of the Church with the Croats, both at home and abroad, is shown and realized.
KT
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Drinovci – March 15, 2020
