The training of candidates for the priesthood was the central theme at the 29th plenary assembly of the Croatian Episcopal Conference. Chaired by the archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanic, and in the presence of the archbishop of Sarajevo Vinko Puljic and Bishop Ivan Penzes of Subotica, the assembly was held in the Croatian capital from 10 to 14 October. The “all-round education human, intellectual, spiritual and pastoral of future priests” is “the only way of responding to the ever more complex demands of the times in which they live and in which they will have to put into practice their vocation to the priesthood”, said the bishops. From a report of the episcopal Commission for relations with the government it emerged that “relations between Church and government are stable and the accords with the Holy See are being respected”. Other issues on the agenda: the erection of a parish church in Stara Gradika and the examination of plans aimed at establishing a Catholic university with its central seat in Zabreb, to be founded by Archbishop Bozanic, under the aegis of the Episcopal Conference. “A project of extraordinary importance for the Catholic Church, underlined the bishops, who, to this end, have set up a committee chaired by Prof. Ivan ako. As for religious education in nursery schools, whose provision, according to the bishops, is at the discretion of the authorities of the schools themselves, “it is essential they stressed that parents claim, also in nursery schools, the exercise of the right of their own children to this type of education”.
