REPORT ON CARDINAL KUHARIC'S VISIT TO U.S.A

PITTSBURGH, Aug 15 (Hina) - The central ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the first Croatian Roman Catholic Parish and Church of St. Nicholas in the U.S.A finished last night in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The ceremonial mass on this occasion was said by the Bishop of Pittsburgh, Donald W. Euerl, together with the Zagreb Archbishop, Cardinal Franjo Kuharic. Cardinal Kuharic stressed that the first Croatian Catholic parish and church outside the homeland had been instigated and led by the same faith and fervour in these one hundred years as the Zagreb Archdiocese through its nine-hundred-old history. Now there are over 190 Croatian Catholic parishes outside the homeland all over the world, Cardinal stressed. He recalled that Dobroslav Bozic, sent by Archbishop Strossmayer from Croatia, said the first mass in Croatian language one hundred ago in Pittsburgh in the church, now declared to be part of the cultural heritage of Pennsylvania. After the solemn mass at a banquet given on this occasion the mayor of Pittsburgh, Tom Murphy addressed the guests emphasizing a significant role of the Roman Catholic Church in maintaining the Croatian ethnic community with even 150,000 members at the time of forming their first parish. Cardinal Kuharic will celebrate the Assumption with Croat believers in Chicago. As a guest of U.S. Ambassador Morton Abromowitz Croatian Cardinal is to hold a speech in Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on August 18. At the same day he will meet Ambassador Charles Redman, the U.S. special envoy for former Yugoslavia, as well as Robert Frasure, the under-secretary at the U.S. State Department's European Affairs. (hina) mm 151203 MET aug 94