Catechetical Day, a regular annual seminar for Catholic religious teachers in primary and secondary schools from the area of the Vrhbosna Archdiocese, gathered about 90 participants who were greeted at the beginning by the director of the Catechetical Office of the Bishops' Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the head of the Catechetical Office of the Vrhbosna Archdiocese, rev. Tomislav Mlakić. In a special way, rev. Mlakić thanked the Vicar General of the Vrhbosna Archdiocese, Msgr. Slađan Ćosić for getting involved in the planning of this school and religious education year, especially in discussions with the priests who will also take over the service of religious teachers in schools. He also reported that a new curriculum is being developed and that regular two-day spiritual-professional meetings will be held at the John Paul II Archdiocese Centre for Youth until Christmas, after which more will be known about this topic.

A new way of realizing the Church

After the welcoming remarks, a lecture on the role of the catechist in the process of perfecting Christian life and activity was held by the professor of Holy Scripture at the Sarajevo Catholic Faculty of Theology, Dr. Rev. Dubravko Turalija, who, among other things, emphasized that in the current society, in this climate, a triptych of social principles is being sown. "The first is the classic Croatian one, which - regardless of the social system - exclusively relied on family values. The second is the one that is strongly influenced by a certain social system, but which has been most secretly sabotaged. Finally, the third is the Anthropogenic one, which also shapes the global system, but which, unlike the second one, is not sabotaged, but preferred", said the lecturer. In addition, Dr. Turalija warned that it is no longer a question of time, but of the last moments, so that little by little a new path for the realization of the Church is paved, not only in society, but also in our families.

After the lecture, Archbishop Metropolitan Msgr. Tomo Vukšić distributed the canonical messages to religious teachers and afterwards noted that it is good for priests to teach religious education in schools, but at the same time warned that pastoral care in parishes, especially the larger ones, could suffer as a result.

Honour, mission and task

The highlight of the 27^th catechetical day was the Holy Mass in the church of the Queen of the Holy rosary on Banjski Brijeg, which was presented by Archbishop Vukšić, along with the concelebration of eight priests. After the biblical readings and the proclaimed gospel, Archbishop Tomo gave a suitable sermon in which he reminded that the Christian faith is proclaimed in two ways: by teaching, which we usually call preaching, and by witnessing.

"Those two things, that double mission, Jesus reminded and taught his disciples many times during his earthly life. And therefore all those who in the future until today, including us gathered here today, will be proud of the name of Jesus and consider themselves disciples of Jesus", reminded Msgr. Vukšić also emphasized that the second thing that Jesus very often asked of his disciples during his teaching, and of course he did not exclude anyone who is proud of his name, was the need for harmony between teaching and witnessing.

At the end of the Holy Mass celebration, the archbishop of Vrhbosna mentioned that the profession of religious teacher is in the service of the will of Jesus and that it is realized in the Church, and that it is an honour, a mission and a task to witness and teach.