A bad reform” “

A meeting between the bishops of the Bosnian Episcopal Conference was held at Travnik (Bosnia) in recent days. Discussion focused on the defence of the cultural and religious identity of the Catholic Croat minority in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the light of the threatened reform of the school system, aimed at “reuniting two schools under a single roof”. As a result of this reform, Croatian students will effectively lose their right to study in their own language. At the end of the meeting a communiqué was put out, signed by Bishop Franjo Komarica of Banja Luka and president of the Episcopal Conference, Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar-Duvdno, Cardinal Vinko Puljic, metropolitan archbishop of Sarajevo, and Msgr. Pero Sudar, auxiliary bishop of Sarajevo. Below we give a résumé of the document. An ancient commitment. “Everyone knows – says the document – that the Catholic Church has always been present, for centuries, in the spiritual and cultural soul of the Croatian people and has produced copious fruit in every field. The Catholic Church was the first to establish schools, ranging from kindergartens to universities. It has constantly formed and promoted the Croat language with which it has always taught the Gospel, recited prayers, fostered the spirituality and nourished the religious, moral and cultural identity of the Catholic Croats in Bosnia”. A respectful reform. “We understand – write the bishops – the need for a reform that conforms with European standards, but we do not accept a reform conceived as a means of suppressing the identity of the new generations of Croats. Therefore, while we remain faithful to the Gospel and to the teachings of the Church, and respect genuine democratic principles, we raise our voice, once again, in defence of the fundamental human rights and freedoms of each human being and each nation. We believe this is the one way of guaranteeing rightful compliance with the international conventions, also by respecting the rights of children and their parents…. We have repeatedly affirmed that the present unjust political solution in Bosnia Herzegovina has produced, eight years after the end of the war, only a small number of returnees, while the number of Catholic refugees and displaced people still remains huge. In predicting the negative consequences of frequent political manipulations, we fear that this reform of the system of education in Bosnia may prompt many families to abandon their homeland”. The bishops’ requests. “The Croatian people must have the inalienable right to develop their own cultural, spiritual and religious identity”, say the bishops, and consequently “must be given the chance to use their own language in education, in schooling and in every sector of their own public and private life. We judge the linguistic differences that exist in Bosnia as a source of richness. Their brutal suppression would only be an impoverishment and a repudiation of unity in diversity”. “The Croatian people – continue the bishops – have always exercised the right to be educated in their own language. The current reform produces only confusion and would lead to the elimination of national communities. We ask the Croatian politicians of Bosnia for the right to continue to have school books in our own language”. The document also expressed “the right of the Croatians of Bosnia to have media (TV and radio programmes) in the Croat language to teach and promote their own spiritual and cultural heritage”. The bishops also recall the need for “Catholic students to be taught their own religion at school. The attempt to impose a ‘neutral’ form of religious education is in violation of every right”. The document recalls “the injuries and injustices inflicted on the Croat people by the Dayton Treaty”, which put an end to the Balkan war and which “should be improved”. It also announces that “if these rights are not recognized, a referendum will be called to seek at the international level the protection requested in the name of the law”.