The parish church in Briješće was too small to accept everyone who came together with the resident believers to celebrate the four decades of canonical existence of this, today the smallest parish in the city of Sarajevo. The Holy Mass was concelebrated, together with Archbishop Tomo, by 13 priests, among whom were: the Vicar General of the Vrhbosna Archdiocese, Msgr. Slađan Ćosić, vicar general of the Military Ordinariate in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Msgr. Željko Čuturić, Dean of the Sarajevo Deanery Rev. Miroslav Ćavar and parish priest Rev. Josip Vajdner.

After the announced Holy Mass readings, Archbishop Vukšić, in a suitable sermon, emphasized his sense of gratitude for the grace of the establishment of the parish in Briješće during the past time and indicated his desire to pray for a blessing for the present and future of this parish community.

Through trials on the way to hope

He then made a link between the present, the past and the future, emphasizing the need to recognize the permanent reality of human life, which is Christ the Lord. "He is a divine reality that (...) sees everything as one life, which began on this earth and will continue after the event of death...", said Archbishop Tomo and mentioned that the parish community in Briješće went through three important periods of its existence: the time of establishment in the atmosphere of the communist regime and the restrictions it experienced; then the difficult period of the war when it was on the front line; and, finally, the post-war era marked by reconstruction, but also by new emigration and a drop in the number of parishioners.

"This community, with its leaders, tried to be a witness of God's love even in those rough times; a witness and preacher of the gospel of Jesus and friendship among people", pointed out Msgr. Vukšić said: "It is a past that, although it has passed, we cannot say that it does not continue to live in the form of various scars, but - what is even more important - in the form of memories of the faithfulness of individual believers of this community and priests who served here. So today we thank God for the blessing of faithfulness; we also give thanks for temptations, because if they were not to that extent, there would be no faithfulness. We regret the destruction, we also regret the departures, but we live our present in the form of hope for the future and the refreshment of this community and all similar communities that are forced to live with their scars because of their past as it was."

A common man and folk joy

At the end of the Holy Mass, and before the priest's greetings and words of thanks, a short history of Briješće parish was read by young parishioner Anja Bošnjak.

First, she quoted the words from the decree on the foundation signed on July 6^th, 1984 by the then archbishop of Vrhbosna Msgr. Marko Jozinović, and also mentioned that it is little known that the Poor Clare sisters from Split first bought a house in this Sarajevo suburb in 1981 with the intention of establishing their monastery here. "However, due to the circumstances at the time, this was not realized, and at the suggestion of the parish priest of Stup, Rev. Stipan Mišura, it was decided that this would be the centre of the new parish. These were the formal foundations of the community of believers, which, despite all the challenges and problems, grew over time so that in 1991 it had 950 members... This parish started building its parish church in 1991, almost before the war, and therefore managed to finish only in 2012, to be consecrated on July 13^th, 2014 by the Archbishop of Vrhbosna, Cardinal Vinko Puljić", the parishioner read, mentioning that the local faithful are called to prayer by the bell that was blessed by Pope John Paul II during his visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Koševo stadium on April 13^th, 1997.

She then listed the names of the nine pastors of this parish by name: Rev. Vlado Markić, Rev. Đuro Živković (1988 – 1997), late Rev. Joso Filipović, Rev. Andrija Janjić, Rev. Pavo Šekerija, Rev. Zlatko Ivkić, Rev. Pero Brajko (2002 – 2012), Rev. Miroslav Karatović and Rev. Josip Vajdner (2014 – today). She concluded by saying that today this parish has 185 members, "but being influenced by the intercession of St. Leopold stands proudly on the Briješće hill, and wants to survive and remain as such, contributing to life in the diversity of our homeland Bosnia and Herzegovina".

At the end of the Holy Mass, which was animated with a song by the youth choir of Stup parish, pastor Vajdner, thanking everyone who came, noted that the book Običajnik župa Briješće: 1984-2024 was printed for this occasion, which will be a "permanent testimony of the life and customs of local Croatian Catholics".

After the Holy Mass celebration, in which the theologians of the Archdiocesan Missionary International Seminary Redemptoris Mater from Vogošća and representatives of various levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina participated, and a TV report was made by RTV Herceg-Bosna, the joy of celebrating the 40^th anniversary of the parish in Briješće, which was helped by various benefactors, continued with a joint lunch, a song and a folk carol, under a tent in the parish parking lot.