Bishop Bogovic Praised Mirko Norac During Mass

During a sermon, bishop Bogovic sent words of praise to Otok, which gave Gospic the brave Mirko Norac at the start of the war.

For the feast day of Saint Luke, the patron saint of the Otok region, the holy mass was held by Mile Bogovic, the bishop of the Gospic-Sinj County. Besides the believers, local members of local government were there as well.

During his sermon, bishop Bogovic praised Otok, for giving Gospic the brave Mirko Norac at the start of the Croatian War of Independence, and who spent the whole war in that region of Croatia. He also thanked them that their priest is fra Mato Matic, who was until recently the priest at Lovinac, Sveti Rok, Ricica and Gracac. He praised Otok for giving a large number of Franciscans and nuns.

Bishop Bogovic presented the latest novel of the modern Canadian writer D. O’Brien called “Island of the World” that is dedicated to a Croatian family in Bosnia Herzegovina during the war. Bogovic claimed that Europe has devalued Christian values. This is why Pope John Paul II wanted Croatia to enter the European Union as soon as possible and fulfil its Christian mission.

The bishop spoke his opinion of the Church of Croatian Martyrs that is being built in Udbina, which is on the path to respecting the victims in the way that Pope John Paul II advocated. The foundation stone from the Krbavska Cathedral, that was blessed by Pope John Paul II in Rijeka, during 2003, was built into the foundation of the new church. At the end of the mass, Bishop Bogovic blessed a stone taken from a house where innocent residents of Otok were killed and burned on March 1944. That stone will be built into the Church of Croatian Martyrs, and will symbolize all of the victims from Otok.

After the mass, representatives of the local government came across the initiative to initiate closer cooperation between Otok and Gospic.