Izvorni znanstveni članak
Archdiocese of Vrhbosna: developing spiritual care for soldiers, police officers and prisoners
Tomo Knežević
Sažetak
The experience of the Eastern European countries in regard to the fall and disappearance of atheistic communism was repeated in this region. Many of the obstacles to pastoral care disappeared, between Churches and religious communities on the one hand and between religious organizations and sensitive state structures such as the military, the police and the prisons. In this way the “threat” and the “bad” influence of the Catholic Church to Catholics who were members of the armed forces or the police in the ex-Yugoslavia region can be said to have disappeared. This was the pattern in
Bosnia and Herzegovina. In general, people today are happy that a difficult era is behind them and that they can now live and speak freely. It is possible for members of the armed forces, police
officers, detainees and prisoners to speak freely today. But that part of the faithful, in this post-communist and post-war period, requires special institutional care from the Catholic Church, in the same way that this has been regulated in many democratic countries, in Europe and elsewhere in the world. During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the Republic of Croatia institutional pastoral care for these groups simply did not exist. Soldiers and police officers received pastoral care from certain pastors and assistant priests who were ministering in places where those soldiers and
police officers were stationed. When they were at home, pastoral care was taken over by the priest in the parish. Over the years the concept of pastoral care by the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina for members of the military has evolved in a variety of ways. The manner of care has been influenced by different historical circumstances and situations in which the Catholic Church and its members have lived. The Church has followed its own path in order to accomplish its mission in a concrete time and a concrete area. In developing methods of pastoral care for members of the military and the police and for detainees and prisoners in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the past ten years it has been necessary to respond to the needs of the time and the needs of believers. Those involved in providing pastoral care for the armed forces have made a major effort to clarify to the public that this care is not connected to the religious wing of any political party. They have stressed that the role of providing pastoral care to Catholic members of the armed forces and the police and to Catholic detainees and prisoners first and foremost falls to the Catholic Church. They have also stressed that this kind of care can be found in every democratic society, regardless of religious denomination. The question of how best to organize pastoral care for members of the armed forces and the police and for detainees and prisoners has also been raised. What model to take; what model is best suited to the region and its people? Pastoral care has had to be organized in such a way that in the future it can meet the religious needs of Croat Catholics and also of others who live in Bosnia and Herzegovina but who belong to different churches and religious communities. Some models from abroad have
been helpful: some foreign representatives have sought to introduce their own models, sometimes with support from people in the church hierarchy. For the information we have received we have been grateful. We have taken the best from abroad and we have created our own Bosnian-Herzegovinian model, which we believe will be satisfactoryand which will meet the needs of pastoral care in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Ključne riječi
pastoral care; organization; Archdiocese of Vrhbosna; armed forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina; defense
Hrčak ID:
272274
URI
Datum izdavanja:
22.2.2011.
Posjeta: 396 *