The meeting began with the Eucharist in the seminary church of St. Cyril and Methodius, which was led by the Archbishop of Vrhbosna, Metropolitan Msgr. Tomo Vukšić together with the archbishop of Vrhbosna in peace cardinal Vinko Puljić and with the concelebration of the priests present, among whom was the vicar general of the VN Msgr. Slađan Ćosić.

Introducing in to the Holy Mass, Archbishop Vukšić, after greetings, emphasized the need to pray to God "to sustain us in our mission, to guide us on the path of conversion, to forgive our weaknesses and to constantly support us in everything that is noble and good and that we have on the path of serving the people of God, goes smoothly".

Words of wisdom

At the beginning of the appropriate homily, he explained how such meetings are a beautiful tradition, but he also explained that they are very necessary and useful.

In the following, he spoke about the Holy Mass readings, that is, exhortations from the Book of Wise Sayings, the author of which is known only as Agur, from father Jacob from the town of Masa. Citing and comparing parts of Proverbs (Proverbs 30:5-6) and Psalms (Ps 12:7), he asserted that the Holy Scriptures in those two examples "say that a faithful and consistent messenger of God Almighty accepts his word, relies on it and it does not add anything to God's words".

Focusing on the second prayer, indicated by the expression and the prophet's desire to have "sufficient bread", Msgr. Vukšić explained that in contrast to this healthy solution, the holy writer signals the danger of two extremes: one is overabundance, and the other is scarcity.

"Therefore, the wise prophet of God asks God to always have only what he needs for a dignified life and for the service of a humble servant, which is another very contemporary message and admonition that is valid always and for every herald of the Word of God", he underlined in the following, as a concrete application of this biblical wisdom, he also recalled what the Second Vatican Council interprets about it in the Decree Presbiterorum ordinis on the service and life of a presbyters (No. 17).

"He teaches that presbyters and bishops should appreciate the created goods as God's gifts and use them with inner freedom in relation to these goods", said Archbishop Tomo and pointed out that the same decree paraphrases the well-known teaching of the Church calling: "Let them always use these goods for those purposes for which the Church is allowed to possess temporal goods: for the arrangement of divine services, for ensuring the decent support of the clergy, for works of the holy apostolate or charity, especially for the benefit of the poor. (…) And all what is left may they give to the benefit of the Church or for the acts of love."

"Therefore, we ask the blessing of the Almighty God for blessing and help so that we can conduct our life, speech and actions in the service of the Word of God and our attitude towards the goods of this world in accordance with wise teaching", said Msgr. Vukšić.

The liturgical celebration was animated by the rector of the Vrhbosna Theological Seminary (VBS), Rev. Ivan Rako.

Lecture on pastoral care and digital media

After the Holy Mass, there was a working part that took place in the Priest's House. The central lecture entitled Pastoral challenges in the age of digital media was given by the general secretary of the Croatian Bishops' Conference, rev. Krunoslav Novak, priest of the Diocese of Varaždin.

Rev. Novak emphasized communication as an essential component, not only of human life, but also of the Christian faith. He spoke about the importance of a culture of communication and how important it is to bear witness to this with your life, especially the life of a priest.

Among other things, he pointed out several pastoral guidelines that were presented from the perspective of church documents and suggested concrete examples that can be useful to priests for pastoral work as well as for personal coexistence with the reality of digital media.

Three reports were presented

Then the chancellor of the VN, rev. Mladen Kalfić had a report on the statistical data, while Msgr. Ćosić presented the Rules of the Fund to the present. The final report about the Intermediate aid and Priest’s Home was presented by rev. Vlado Vrebac, director of that institution. After the lecture and the read reports, the attendees had the opportunity to give their suggestions and ask questions.

After the work part, there was a fraternal gathering with lunch in the VBS premises.

Finally, let's add the information that as of September 25^th, the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna has 215 diocesan priests, 124 of whom work in its territory, and 38 outside it, while 58 are retired.