Members of the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BK BiH) held their 85th regular session on November 4th and 5th in the premises of the Archbishop’s residence in Sarajevo.
The session was presided over by the Metropolitan Archbishop of Vrhbosna and Apostolic Administrator of the Military Ordinariate in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Msgr. Tomo Vukšić, president of BK BiH, and all its members participated. Also participated: the delegate of the International Episcopal Conference of St. Cyril and Methodius, the newly appointed Belgrade Archbishop and Metropolitan and Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Zrenjanin, Msgr. Ladislav Nemet and the delegate of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference, Msgr. Milan Zgrablić, archbishop coadjutor of Zadar.
The bishops were joined at the beginning of the session by the charge d’affaires of the Apostolic Nunciature in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Msgr. Amaury Medina Blanco, who conveyed the greetings of the new apostolic nuncio in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Archbishop Francis Assisi Chullikatto.
Cooperation with religious communities
After listening to the reports of their delegates from the meetings and sessions of the bishop’s conferences of various European countries during September and October, the bishops, in the spirit of the joint document of the Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes and the Congregation for Bishops, issued on May 14th, 1978 , under the title Criteria on relations between bishops and monks (Mutuae Relationes), thought about cooperation with monks and nuns and their institutions. They are grateful to all the religious men and women who give their precious contribution to the diocesan communities in BiH with their life, prayer and work, and especially their engagement in pastoral activities. They concluded that joint annual meetings are a blessed opportunity to build even better cooperation. The bishops are aware of the difficulties religious communities face, as well as other church institutions due to the not returning of properties confiscated after World War II, and encouraged the leaders of all church institutions to collect the necessary documentation on existing and confiscated property, if they have not done so yet. They were also encouraged to cooperate permanently with the diocesan bishops in terms of pastoral action, working to build living and true church communities and fellowship between priests, religious and lay people. They pointed out, in the spirit of the synodal process, that synodality begins on a personal level, and then spreads to services, and that the main mission of the Synod on the Church’s synodality is to awaken a sense of community.
To constantly discover the beauty of worship
The bishops also considered the apostolic letter of Pope Francis Desiderio desideravi on the liturgical formation of the people of God, dated June 29th 2022, in which the Holy Father addresses not only bishops, priests and religious, but also lay people. They encouraged all priests to always celebrate the Eucharist, aware that it is a true worship of Christ in his complete submission to the Father’s will, and that all participants should be aware that they are Christ’s invitees, as well as that Christ’s sacrifice in worship is realized in communion with all to people. They joined the call of the Holy Father to rediscover and revive the power of Christian worship and called on priests to reveal the beauty of worship every day through devout celebration, and by participating in liturgical acts spread the spirit of God, resisting, as Pope Francis says, the dangerous attack of “spiritual worldliness”.
In the end, the dates of future sessions and celebrations were agreed upon: session of the BK BiH 2023 – March 21st and 22nd in Mostar, July 13th and 14th in Banja Luka and November 6th and 7th in Sarajevo; VI. family day in BiH – July 30th in Kupres; III. meeting of BK BiH members with professors of the Catholic Faculty of Theology and educators of the Vrhbosna Theological Seminary – July 5th in Sarajevo; Solidarity Week 2023 – central celebration on the Third Sunday of Lent in the parish of All Saints in Aladinići.
KT
Sarajevo – November 5, 2022
