It is difficult to imagine a people that have a closer spiritual, historical and cultural bond with the Catholic Church than Croats.  One need only to look around at the churches of Tisno and reflect on just how many generations over the centuries have come together within the church walls to share the important events of their lives with their neighbors for us to realize how our lives are tied to the Catholic Church.   The Church has been loyal to the Croats for centuries, but Croats have also historically defended the Church when it was facing threatening and ominous forces determined to destroy it.  There are those who have forgotten the significance of this relationship, some who choose to ignore it, and others who, perhaps, were never taught.  We could go back to the Ottoman Empire for examples, but many of us have recent memories that serve as proof of the deep historical bond between the Croats and the Church and how thankful we should be that the church bells in Tisno and throughout Croatia continue to ring as they have through the centuries.

Both the Church and Croats suffered during and following WWII.  Mass graves of men, women and children who were killed following WWII are still being discovered throughout Croatia.  Hundreds of Croatian priests were killed - some being killed in the most horrendous ways imaginable.  Bodies of priests murdered from 1941-1952, have just recently been exhumed in Herzegovina.

Even Croatia’s Prelate, Blessed Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac was slandered, humiliated, ridiculed and finally imprisoned in Lepoglava in 1946, as both a symbol of Croatia and as a martyr for the Church.  Pope John Paul II recognized the sacrifice of Cardinal Stepinac, when he was officially declared a martyr and beatified in 1998.  In September of this year twenty thousand people attended the Beatification of Miroslav Bulešić in Pula.  As most of us know, Don Bulešić, was murdered in 1947, in retaliation for performing his duties as a Croatian Catholic priest and died a martyr for his faith.

When I first arrived in Croatia from America in 1991 to help in the war, I, like many others, believed that Croats and the Church would once again experience genocide on a massive scale if we failed to realize our dream of independence and were, instead, forced to surrender to JNA, or Chetnick forces.

There was a JNA policy in those years to systematically kill, or force Croats from their homes in an attempt to eliminate evidence that the Croatian people ever existed in those areas occupied by the JNA.  This policy became known throughout the world as “ethnic cleansing”.  Because Croats, as individuals and Croatia as a nation, have been historically intertwined with the Catholic Church, Croatia’s enemies also believed it was necessary to wipe out all evidence that the Church ever existed in those occupied territories of Croatia. This was the only way to make the lie more believable to future generations of non-Catholics who would find themselves living on land stolen from Croats.  They could never make the false claim that the towns and villages were theirs as long as even one Catholic church remained standing on Croatian land.

While travelling through most of Croatia and much of Bosnia-Hercegovina from 1991-1995, I was struck by the strength of the bond that existed between Croats and the Church during the Homeland War.  We who have memories of the war cannot deny the biblical symbolism of David and Goliath when Croatia first declared independence from the former-Yugoslavia.  We still have vivid memories of Croatian soldiers wearing tennis shoes and carrying hunting rifles when defending their homes against the JNA – the fourth largest army in Europe.  Who can forget the young Croatian soldiers going to the front proudly and defiantly displaying Rosaries around their necks like holy shields against the Communist red stars emblazoned on JNA uniforms?  Croats prayed the rosary before statues of the Blessed Mother.  JNA soldiers, in contrast, would symbolically gouge the eyes out of statues of The Blessed Mother and behead statues when they entered a church as symbolic gestures attesting to their hatred of the Holy Family.

Following the desecration of the church, the JNA forces then would blow up the church buildings and bulldoze over everything – including cemeteries.

The Catholic Church was there to offer the Sacraments and comfort to the people whose survival was uncertain.  In unoccupied territories, Holy Mass was celebrated in churches packed with people, where Croats prayed to God and the Blessed Mother for protection.  I remember with fondness the impromptu signs displayed on many city streets with the words, “Blessed Mother Watch Over Us”.  I am absolutely certain that were it not for God’s help, Croatia (like David) could never have overcome the larger and better-equipped JNA aggressors.

We also remember the role that priests played in those dangerous years.  They stood with their flocks by offering them spiritual comfort when the wolves were lurking about.   The priests are too humble to admit the heroism they displayed during the Homeland War, but they were very aware of what was done to priests and nuns during and after WWII.  They also knew that history would have been repeated if Croatia lost the Homeland War; and they could have been killed like those hundreds of priests martyred in previous years by an enemy filled with hatred against God, our Church and our people.

When we who live in the Diaspora hear the church bells ringing in our respective countries, we only hear the bells announcing the beginning and end of Mass.  But, in Croatia the church bells proclaim something else.  With each clang, I hear that The Republic of Croatia is a reality and those bent on Croatia’s destruction have failed.  The bells confirm that Croats (from Slavonia to the Adriatic) still inhabit their cities, towns and villages as they have for centuries.  I hear the churches that were destroyed proudly announcing, “Thank God, We have all been rebuilt now.”   The bells say that the priests are continuing to celebrate Holy Mass and administer the Sacraments to the people.  The church bells remind us of the timeless bond between the Catholic Church and Croats and that the Word of God, like the bells of Sveti Duh, will not be silenced.

Michael Palaich