ZAGREB ARCHBISHOP BOZANIC OFFERS CONDOLENCES ON DEUTSCH' DEATH

ZAGREB, July 18 (Hina) - The President of Croatia's Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference, Archbishop of Zagreb, Msgr. Josip Bozanic, on Sunday forwarded a letter of condolences to the Evangelic Church in Croatia on the death of Bishop Vlado Ladislav Deutsch, the Catholic news agency IKA said today. Expressing his sorrow at the sudden death of the respectable Bishop of the Evangelic Church,, Archbishop Bozanic offered sincere condolences to the Evangelic Church in Croatia and to the family and friends of the late Deutsch. Bishop Deutsch marked a period of ecumenism in Croatia. By his unselfish endeavours in this field, he set an example for further work in ecumenism, read Bozanic's letter. Bishop Deutsch, died in Zagreb on July 15. He was born in 1929 in Legrad. He graduated from Vienna's Faculty of Theology. He earned his PhD degree at the Faculty of Theology in Bratislava. He first served as a priest in Slovenia and in 1960 became a parish priest with the Evangelical Church in Zagreb. Deutsch was one of the founders of Zagreb's "Matija Vlacic Ilirik" Faculty of Theology, where he worked as a dean and professor of dogmatics and church history. He was a guest-lecturer at many universities, including Sorbonne, Upsalla, Mannheim, and Ljubljana. Deutsch was one of the initiators of ecumenism in Croatia, and a renown humanitarian worker. (hina) ms