REBAPTISING SERB CHILDREN OUT OF THE QUESTION, BISHOP CULEJ SAYS

ZAGREB, Jan 4 (Hina/IKA) - Bishop Marko Culej today denied allegations that Serb Orthodox believers in Croatia were being forcibly rebaptised into the Catholic faith, the Catholic news agency IKA said today. In a letter to UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Yugoslav Foreign Minister Vladislav Jovanovic blamed Croatia for severe violations of the civil and political rights of Orthodox Serbs and their priests, the Belgrade-based Tanjug news agency said Monday. Jovanovic accused Croatian authorities of following in the footsteps of the Fascist Pavelic regime, forcibly rebaptising Serbs into the Catholic faith or expelling them from Croatia. Bishop Culej, who is also the chairman of the Croatian Bishops' Conference media committee, expressed "surprise" at Jovanovic's allegations. "Even a cursory glance at the Croatian Catholic press in the past few months shows that Catholic Church officials have approached the issue of Serb children attending Catholic catechism classes in a very serious frame of mind," the Bishop said in a statement, carried by IKA. "It has been ascertained that the number of such children is quite small, but catechists have been instructed to dwell on the values common to both denominations and to urge Catholic pupils to respect their Orthodox colleagues. If Serb parents expressly wish that their child attend the Catholic catechism, a Catholic priest is under no circumstances allowed to rebaptise the child, if it already possesses an Orthodox baptism certificate." "The truth is that many Orthodox, Catholic and Moslem places of worship have been damaged and destroyed in the war, sharing the fate of many other monuments and buildings. But if Orthodox priests returned to their parishes, they could use other facilities, as Catholic priests do in war-torn areas. As for Orthodox catechism classes, Croatian schools are willing to introduce them without any restrictions," the Bishop concluded. (hina) as vm 041219 MET jan 95