After the gathering, the meeting began with the Eucharist in the seminary church of St. Cyril and Methodius, led by the Archbishop of Vrhbosna, cardinal Vinko Puljić, with the concelebration of the priests present. At the beginning, the rector of the Vrhbosna Theological Seminary, venerable Zdenko Spajić greeted everyone present.

The importance of togetherness

The cardinal then emphasized in his address before the Holy Mass that “togetherness among the priests of a local Church is extremely important.” “Everything is transient, only our communion in the Eucharist is eternal”, said the Archbishop of Vrhbosna, noting that “the Holy Mass is presented for all the priests of the local Church, both those present and those who are prevented from participating.”

In his sermon, he stressed that his “ministry and life are going to their natural end” and stressed that he would “preach from the heart”. He said he “carries pain in his heart due to the fact that he failed to awaken in all priests a sincere love for the local Church.”

He explained that his successor will have problems fighting challenges today if there is no unity. “We call the Church a mother, and the mother is cared for, the mother is loved. This local Church needs the love of its children. Those who love it are ready to sacrifice, they are ready to burn for it and sacrifice themselves”, the cardinal said, speaking of certain negativities which he noticed during his episcopal activity. He especially emphasized that “it is human to have weaknesses, to make mistakes, but it is also necessary to forgive”.

Speaking again about togetherness, he pointed out that the Church cannot “survive” if its members don’t get along with each other. Wondering how to realize this ideal, he explained vividly: “not behaving like children” and “driving a car in the same direction” and thanked everyone who understood this in time.

He further encouraged priests to be credible and live what they preach. Speaking about making friends, he said he understood that there must be “close circles of friends”, but asked those present not to “gossip and talk negatively about others and poison the atmosphere”.

He then encouraged priests to be materially sensitive to the institutions of the Vrhbosna Archdiocese, such as the Seminary, and to have a sense of mission. Analysing his 30 years of bishop’s work in the material construction segment, he said he was a “beggar” emphasizing that everything the Vrhbosna Archdiocese did it had to beg for it. Towards the end of the sermon, he asked those present to “forgive him if he did anything wrong, emphasizing that there was no intention, revenge or malice.”

“I truly love the Catholic Church and our Vrhbosna Archdiocese, so I invite you that our today's meeting calls on love of togetherness and harmony for the spiritual and material building of our local Church”, the cardinal said at the end of the sermon.

Working part of the meeting

The Holy Mass was followed by the working part of the meeting, which took place in the Priestly Home of the Vrhbosna Archdiocese. The moderator was the Vicar General of the Vrhbosna Archdiocese, Msgr. Slađan Ćosić, and the meeting recorder, chancellor venerable Mladen Kalfić.

At the beginning, Msgr. Ćosić emphasized that “the jubilee meeting is an excellent opportunity to deepen communion both through the Eucharist and during the working meeting”, whose program he then presented. He said that the coronavirus was the reason why some priests were justifiably absent and pointed out that two important events had taken place since the last meeting of diocesan priests: Pope Francis accepted resignation from the office of Auxiliary Bishop of Vrhbosna, Msgr. Pero Sudar and appointed Archbishop Coadjutor of Vrhbosna, Msgr. Tomo Vukšić, Apostolic Manager of the Military Ordinariate in BiH.

Central lecture

After the introduction, a lecture entitled The Word of God in the Life of a Priest was given by Dr. Dubravko Turalija, Associate Professor at the Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Sarajevo.

After the lecture, those present had the opportunity to ask questions.

Afterwards, the reports were read and the work of the Vrhbosna Archdiocese institutions were presented: on the Priests' Home of the Vrhbosna Archdiocese and the Međupomoć Fund; Vrhbosna Theological Seminary; Archdiocesan Seminary Petar Barbarić; Archdiocese’s  Centre for Youth Pastoral Ivan Pavao II.; Caritas of the Vrhbosna Archdiocese and the Synod.

After the reports were read, the official website of the Vrhbosna Archdiocese was launched.

In the end, the cardinal said words of thanks to all the priests in the local church and announced the message for the Year of the Word of God and encouraged “the Word of God to live more in our parishes”. He mentioned that the Bibles were printed for children that are in up to the 4^th grade of primary school and said that priests could pick them up, adding that it was approved for printing them for other grades as well.

He encouraged priests to participate in planned pilgrimage trips, especially to Bobovac and invited them for solidarity, not just in material but first of all on spiritual plan.