The regular session of the Family Council of the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BK BiH) was held on February 27th in Sarajevo BK premises.
Auxiliary Bishop of Banja Luka Msgr. Marko Semren, President of the Council presided, and welcomed the councillors and read the report on Family Day of Bosnia and Herzegovina held on July 29th, 2018 in Kupres and the Third National Meeting of Croatian Catholic Families, held on September 15th and 16th, 2018 in Split and Solin, reports KTA.
Bishop Semren also introduced a discussion on the main topic of the session on the pastoral of the elderly, titled: The Role of Senior Persons in Families, the Church and Society. Emphasis has been placed on the aging process and on the fact that the said word is intended, not so much to those who are old already, but to those who are on the way to becoming it.
“Good old age is not improvised, but deserved and prepared through a lifetime … Knowing how to grow old is one of the most difficult life skills”, bishop Semren said. He divided his lecture into three units: Positive views of “third and fourth ages”, Negative views of “third and fourth ages” and Educational Orientation.
“Old age should not be considered as the age of descent and decay, but it should be viewed as the age of completeness – perfection… Through own faith this time can be experienced as the time of Arrival: the most beautiful age of all life, because here starts eternal youth”, bishop Semren said and concluded that the past belongs to God’s mercy, the present belongs to man and the answer is life as a sacrifice to God standing next to us, and the future is the hope of the dead and the risen Christ. The councillors also had a fruitful discussion of how the family pastoral work is carried out, as well as the linking and further development of the existing positive movements, activities and contents at the level of each diocese and at the level of the Bishops’ Conference of BiH.
The councillors were also acquainted with the information that on April 26th to 28th , in Šibenik, the National Study Days for workers in Pastoral for Marriage and Families will take place under the moto Elderly people and Intergenerational Solidarity – the Mission of Grandparents, which will be attended by the representatives from Bosnia and Herzegovina as well.
KT
Sarajevo, 1. ožujka 2019.
