Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 89 No. 1, 2019.
Review article
The Catholic Church in Croatia and the Culture of Remembrance of the Battle of Vukovar in Glas Koncila’s Reporting (2000 – 2016)
Mateo Žanić
orcid.org/0000-0001-7990-558X
; Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar, Vukovar, Vukovar, Croatia
Abstract
The culture of remembrance, understood as an interpretation of the meaning and significance of certain past events and periods for the life of various social groups, gained great importance in the contemporary world and provoked a significant scientific interest. This article poses the following questions: In which way did the representatives of the Catholic Church in Croatia approach and form the culture of remembrance of the Battle of Vukovar? How did they treat victims of the war and how did they express their views on society, state, and inter‑ethnic relations? The research has been carried out by using the method of qualitative analysis of contents, while the views of the representatives of the Catholic Church on the meaning of the aforementioned battle, as these were transmitted in the printed version of the newspaper Glas Koncila, were analysed. On the basis of the research that was carried out, three conclusions were reached. First, the representatives of the Church consider the remembrance of the battle to be extremely important, especially the remembrance of victims. Second, they insist on one truth that ought to be remembered and should not be relativized. Three, despite everything bad that happened in Vukovar, a message of good should be drawn from this horrible historical event and by holding on to this message, efforts should not be spared in maintaining solidarity between important social communities, which are the homeland and family.
Keywords
culture of remembrance; Battle of Vukovar; Catholic Church; The Day of Remembrance of Vukovar´s Sacrifice in 1991.
Hrčak ID:
219450
URI
Publication date:
19.4.2019.
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