The municipality of Drvar refuses, without any legal grounds, to give the parish of Drvar the urban consent for the renovation of the multipurpose facility for charitable activities.
The long-term policy of spreading religious intolerance towards the Catholic Church by the local authorities in Drvar, the municipality of Hercegbosna County of Federation BiH, has taken on a new dimension in the past few days. After the parish of St. Joseph in Drvar at the end of last year sent an official request to the competent municipal bodies – submitting all required documentation and paying all necessary fees for new church approval, Drvar municipality issued a ruling at the beginning of April 2019. (two months beyond the legal deadline), refusing this request and not stating the legal basis why it did that.
The Catholic Church in Drvar has been facing problems with local authorities and with finding a location for church building for more than 20 years now, and since 1995. all religious ceremonies for Catholics have been in the building of the former Sokolski dom. This “temporary” issue has been going on for 24 years, and this improvised church building – which is a municipal property – has so much deteriorated that it has become dangerous to the health and life of the believers who gather there, especially for the children.
For Banja Luka Diocese and parish of Drvar, it is clear that such illegal and humiliating decision by Drvar municipality services is the result of political pressure from higher places, but the parish will not give up claiming its rights.
Many are also surprised that the municipal authorities prefer to look at an almost ruined place in the wider centre of an otherwise neglected and messy city than to give permission for this space to be renovated so that the outer image of the city may be, at least to some extent, repaired and nicer.
KT/TABB
www.nedjelja.ba
Drvar, 10. April 2019.
