PARISH PRIEST OF ILOK RECEIVES HIGHEST PAPAL DECORATION

ILOK, April 18 (Hina) - Father Marko Malevic, the guardian of the St. Ivan Kapistran Monastery and the parish priest of Ilok, on Saturday received a decoration, conferred on him by Pope John Paul II. This highest papal decoration, called "For the Church and Pope (Pro Eccelesia Et Pontifice)" was given to Rev. Marko since he had been the only Roman Catholic priest in the Croatian Danube River Area for seven years after it was overrun by Serb insurgents and the then Yugoslav Army (JNA) in 1991. At a solemn mass held in Ilok yesterday, Bishop of Djakovo-Sirmium, Marin Srakic presented Rev. Marko with the decoration. Bishop Srakic spoke of the plight both of those who had been forced to leave Ilok and those who managed to remain in this eastern Croatian town along with Father Marko. The bishop said that 250,000 people had been expelled from Djakovo- Sirmium Diocese and 40 priests from 38 occupied parishes in 1991. He thanked the Holy Father who "has been with us all the time and recognised us." Mayor of Ilok, Stipan Kraljevic, said that during the seven years (of the Serb occupation) Father Marko had been the guardian of the church, monastery and the town of Ilok, and a person who helped 1,200 Croats who had stayed in Ilok in those times. After the Mass, Friar Marko Malevic said he was proud of his parishioners who had come to the Mass every day although it had not been not easy for them to go to the church and return to home. In 1991, Ilok had 6,800 residents and 4,200 of them were Croats. During the occupation 1,200 Croats remained in the town, and since the reintegration of eastern Slavonia and Baranja into Croatia, most of the expelled have come back. (hina) ms