After the gathering, 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 in the company of the archbishop of Vrhbosna in peace, cardinal Vinko Puljić and with the concelebration of the priests present.

Those present were first greeted by the rector of the Vrhbosna Theological Seminary, rev. Zdenko Spajić, who explaining that they are in a church where a new sound system has been installed, thanked everyone who participated with their contributions and wished that the gathering of diocesan priests “spiritually and humanly enriches the participants”.

Then Msgr. Vukšić prayed for the Lord's intercession so that “today's priests would testify like St. Matthew and the first apostles, just as Jesus wants”.

To preserve unity

In the appropriate homily, which he gave the title Live worthy of the call to which you are called, Archbishop Vukšić reflected on the Holy Mass readings, primarily a passage from the Epistle to the Ephesians, which is part of the great theme of the Apostle Paul about the new life of Christians. “From the difficult situation in which he found himself in prison, Paul writes moral exhortations to the first Christian communities. He encourages them to, with patience, live worthy of the vocation to which they were called”, he said and underlined that “Christians must strive to preserve the unity of the Spirit of God, which is given to them in advance, as an irreversible loan”.

“Christians form one body or one community, but none of that is the result of collective or some kind of voluntary gathering and agreement, but that body and its Head are something that precedes each of its members”, added Msgr. Vukšić and reminded that “the unity of Christ's body precedes and surpasses the will of the called individuals”. Confirming that their voluntary consent is not the beginning of that unity, but is in the service of building the body of Christ, he emphasized that “each of us has been given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ”.

“Therefore, all church officials who have been given the grace of Christ's gift are valid to the extent that they have already fulfilled their mission or have yet to fulfill it. At the same time, they are not the masters of Christ's gift, but his servants”, said the archbishop and reminded that “while we humbly thank the Lord for his call to the service of pastors and teachers, we ask Him for a blessing so that we can be distinguished by: humility, gentleness and patience”.

He further explained the passage from the Gospel about Jesus' invitation to the tax collector Matthew to follow him and about his ready answer. Noticing that at that time customs officers were considered sinners, he underlined that the emphasis is not on sin, but on “God's choice according to the words of Jesus: 'Follow me!'”

“The sinful state and bad environment, from which people need to be saved, is the reason why Jesus regularly associated with sinners and tax collectors. Such behavior of Jesus is not praising sin or promoting sinners”, said Archbishop Vukšić and said that Jesus is the first and only shepherd and the teacher of his Church. “Therefore, in our caring attitude towards all those to whom we are sent, and especially towards those who have strayed from the right path, let us be distinguished by humility, gentleness and patience, because these marks alone make every shepherd and teacher, whom Jesus gave, worthy of the call by which is called”, said the archbishop at the end of the sermon.

The liturgical celebration was animated by the professor of music at the KBF, Dr. rev. Ivan Rako.

Lecture on 30 years of religious education in schools

After the Holy Mass, the working part of the meeting followed, which took place in the Priest's Home, and was moderated by the chancellor, rev. Mladen Kalfić. The central lecture entitled 30 years of Catholic religious education in the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna was held by the head of the Catechetical Office of the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna (KUVN), Dr. rev. Tomislav Mlakić.

In an extensive and abundant presentation of statistical data, Dr. Mlakić presented to those present the numerical situation recorded by KUVN since 2015 and made comparisons by counties that territorially belong to the Vrhbosna Archdiocese. He emphasized that 114 religious teachers teach in 79 elementary schools, which do not include district schools and 51 high schools, where they work with 8 317 primary and 4 044 high school students. Having spoken about the legal framework and universal law that talks about religious instruction in schools, he explained individual articles of the Basic Agreement between Holy See and Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2007 and the Law on Freedom of Religion.

He further presented on the number of religious students in the 2022/2023 school year in the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna and the lessons and messages they bring. “In the last five years, the number of students decreased by 2 717. If we divide this number by 15, and classes with more than 15 students are rare, 182 classes left the diocese. We found data from 2012, when we had 194 religious teachers and 28 428 religious students, 21 546 in primary and 6 882 students in secondary schools”, said Dr. Mlakić and noted that “it seems unreal that in ten years we have lost 16 067 religious students and 80 religious teachers”.

He then presented about the regular activities of KUVN, such as: organizing the Catechetic School; Catechetical day, spiritual renewal for teachers, Religious Olympics and communication with ministries and schools... Among the challenges they face is the lack of religious teachers, counsellors for religious education in county institutes, non-compliance with legal norms and the decrease in the number of religious students, but also the lack of solidarity and common activities at the level of BK BiH.

In the end, he spoke about the signs of hope, among which are children and parents who want religious education in schools where they are the only ones who attend it, religious teachers who, so that the children do not remain without religious education, work in a dozen schools...

Various reports were presented

Then reports were read and a description of the work of the institutions operating in the Vrhbosna Archdiocese was read. About the Vrhbosna Theological Seminary, rev. Spajić spoke; about the Priest's Home and the Mutual Assistance Fund, spoke Rev. Fabijan Stanušić; about the Archdiocesan Mission Seminary Redemptoris Mater, spoke rev. Michele Capasso; about the Petar Barbarić seminary in Travnik, the rector rev. Željko Marić spoke; about Caritas of the VN Dr. rev. Mirko Šimić spoke; about NCM Ivan Pavao II, rev. Ivan Matijević; about Katolički tjednik, rev. Josip Vajdner spoke; about Catholic Faculty of Theology, rev. Oliver Jurišić spoke, and on the work of the Economy of the VN, rev. Vladimir Pranjić spoke.

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.

Finally, let's add the information that as of September 20^th, the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna has 218 diocesan priests, 48 of whom are retired. Since the last such meeting, which took place in September 2020, 15 presbyters have died.