Parish Office of St. Anthony of Padua in Bihać made a statement on the occasion of writing offensive graffiti on the bell tower of the old parish church of St. Anthony of Padua in Bihać and around the tomb of Croatian noblemen on the plateau of the church.
The press release published on the website of the Franciscan Province of Bosna Srebrena is published in its entirety.
With grief and disbelief, we received in the Parish Office of St. Anthony in Bihać, the news of the writing for Christians and Catholics in this city blasphemous, and for all civilized people offensive and inappropriate graffiti that appeared on the historical monument, the bell tower of the church of St. Anthony of Padua in Bihać.
Christianophobia as an ominous contemporary trend that, unfortunately, we are already seeing in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, but also in the West, has knocked, so it seems, on the doors of our city on the Una river. We wonder today in Bihać, which can be proud of the long tradition of pluralism, tolerance, dialogue, who is bothered by Christian shrines? What kind of people treat their sick frustrations on cultural monuments, the remains of the Catholic Church, mocking the most holy people of Christianity? What would happen if the most excellent names of the Islamic or any third religion were subjected to such public ridicule instead of the Christian ones? Would it end up condemning the act of vandalism as might be the case here?
Those among us who have a need to insult us Christians with the holy names of the Savior Jesus Christ and his Mother the Most Holy Mother of God Mary, show with this act that they are not friends of peace and good and that they do not respect our differences that are for centuries in the foundations of coexistence of different religions, nations and cultures in Bihać.
Knowing how Islam respects Jesus and Mary, it is hard to believe that this could have been done by a Muslim believer. While as Christians we forgive them for this act of mocking our holy places and persons, we still pray for their conversion and for the peace of their hearts in which they will hopefully be able to accept everyone’s religious beliefs as well as religious symbols and saints who now obviously means nothing to them.
However, we call on those responsible in the city to conduct a swift and decisive investigation and find the perpetrators of this barbaric act, thus preventing them from repeating such acts in the future that deeply offend the religious feelings of Catholics in Bihać.
Peace and good!
Parish priest OFM Bono Tomić
KT
www.nedjelja.ba
Bihać – August 20, 2020
