SARAJEVO ARCHDIOCESE FAITHFUL CUT BY MORE THAN HALF SARAJEVO, June 3 (Hina) - According to the latest data, there are 207,281 Catholic believers in the Archdiocese of Sarajevo. Prior to the war this archdiocese (covering central and
north-eastern Bosnia) had about 528,000 members. At a recent session of Catholic priests in the Bosnian capital Auxiliary Bishop Msgr.Pero Sudar has submitted a report on the return of refugees to Sarajevo Archdiocese. He said that last year 10,751 parishioners came back to their pre-war parishes. He, however, did not give precise date how many of them had returned from abroad and how many came back from another parishes inside Bosnia. Sudar voiced hope that more precise data could be obtained in the beginning of 2001. Commenting on a too small number of returnees in the parishes that are now within the Bosnian Serb entity (the Republic of Srpska) the Catholic dignitary stressed that the number of those returnees did not
SARAJEVO, June 3 (Hina) - According to the latest data, there are
207,281 Catholic believers in the Archdiocese of Sarajevo. Prior to
the war this archdiocese (covering central and north-eastern
Bosnia) had about 528,000 members.
At a recent session of Catholic priests in the Bosnian capital
Auxiliary Bishop Msgr.Pero Sudar has submitted a report on the
return of refugees to Sarajevo Archdiocese.
He said that last year 10,751 parishioners came back to their pre-
war parishes. He, however, did not give precise date how many of
them had returned from abroad and how many came back from another
parishes inside Bosnia. Sudar voiced hope that more precise data
could be obtained in the beginning of 2001.
Commenting on a too small number of returnees in the parishes that
are now within the Bosnian Serb entity (the Republic of Srpska) the
Catholic dignitary stressed that the number of those returnees did
not reach 100. Sudar told Hina that the return to that part of Bosnia
"is moral obligation but this is now physically impossible to
perform."
He maintains that the main reason for such situation is the feeling
of insecurity there, returnees have been abused, there is no one
willing to assist reconstruction of their homes, national rights
are not guaranteed and there are slim prospects of finding a job in
the Republic of Srpska.
Sudar added that various relief agencies renovated 3,381 houses,
Caritas - a humanitarian society of this Archdiocese - rebuilt 451
homes, Croatia' Government ensured funds for the reconstruction of
202 houses, other dioceses helped rebuild 21 and returnees alone
reconstructed 674 homes.
Repairs and other works on churches in 89 parishes have been
completed or are under way. In this archdiocese, 692 churches or
religious facilities were destroyed or damaged during the war. In
the whole of Bosnia-Herzegovina 1000 Catholic facilities were
either demolished or damaged in the war.
In the archdiocese with 147 parishes, priests have returned to 55
parishes and 19 parishes have no priest but clergy from nearby towns
or villages are helping them currently.
(hina) ms