BISHOP SRAKIC VISITS DAMAGED, RUINED CHURCHES IN SIRMIUM DIOCESE

DIOCESE $ VUKOVAR, Sept 6 (Hina) - Roman Catholic Bishop of Djakovo-Sirmium, Msgr. Marin Srakic and Slakovci's perish priest in exile, Petar Petrovic, on Saturday toured 14 ruined or badly damaged churches in Vukovar-Sirmium County. According Bishop Srakic, the goal of the tour was to assess the damage caused to churches and rectories during the Serb aggression. The church of St. Michael in Lovas is razed to the ground, and most of other churches were damaged by setting mines or fire to them and only a part of them were damaged in the shelling. The church of St. Matthew in Tovarnik is also badly damaged and the parish priest Ivo Burik, who had been in this eastern Croatian town for 30 years, was killed in the Tovarnik rectory in 1991. The 200-year-old church of the Assumption in Stari Jankovci is so devastated that it will be impossible to renovate it. A displaced woman from Okucani is living in the rectory near the church and is keeping poultry in the parish priest's office. She told Bishop Srakic that she would clean everything before she left the place. Rev. Petrovic said that religious facilities in Stari Jankovci and Slakovci could be reconstructed when the displaced people return to those villages in eastern Croatia. For five years the rectory in Slakovci has housed the Manojlovic family from Pakrac (western Slavonia), and the Manojlovics said that the house had been looted and damaged before they moved in. The church of St. Ann in Slakovci is now the grass-covered rubble. The church of St. John the Baptist in Berk was a discotheque until recently and its vestry was used as a toilet. The shrine of Our Lady in Ilaca is also badly damaged, and damage has been caused to the church of St, Jacob in Ilaca as well. After his tour of 14 villages, Bishop Srakic said he was very sad to see desolation in those villages that used to be beautiful places. He said he believed that everything would change when people in exile returned to their villages and added that everybody had to have the strength to reconstruct the ruins inside themselves. He described Saturday's visit to 14 villages as a visit to 14 stations of the Way of the Cross. He added that this event aroused hope in him that a 15th station - the station of Resurrection - would be created as well. (hina) mš 061737 MET sep 97