29.08.2016
in ACN International, Adapted by Amanda Bridget Griffin, Bosnia Herzegovina, By Rolf Bauerdick, Feature Story, FORMATION, Religious formation, Sisters
Bosnia
“We are here for the children that need us.”
When Katarina leafs through the photo albums from the last two decades with Sisters Admirata and Manda, her joy is tinged by melancholy. The photographs keep memories of Katarina’s happy childhood days alive.
However, the realization that the sheltered days of her youth will soon be over is ever present. Katarina is the oldest child at the “Egipat House” orphanage belonging to the Sisters Servants of the Child Jesus.
Her parents were refugees during the Bosnian war. Uprooted, psychologically ill and no longer able to manage day-to-day life. They did not take care of Katarina and her older brother Stipo and left them with their grandmother. “The old lady was completely overwhelmed by the task of raising them,” Sister Admirata recalls, “and so we took the siblings in here.” Katarina was two years old when she came to live with the nuns. Now she is nineteen and getting ready to leave her familiar home. “I am a little nervous about how life will be outside of the home,” she says. Sister Admirata reassures her charge. She knows “Katarina is well-equipped for the grown-up world.”
A painting of Msgr. Josip Stadler (1843 -1918), Considered by many in his country as ” Father of the poor.”
Admirata Lučić is the provincial superior of the religious order, which runs an orphanage and a kindergarten at its convent in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo. In the hall, hangs a life-sized painting commemorating Archbishop Josip Stadler (1843 – 1918), to whom the convent owes its existence and its spiritual foundation. Josip Stadler not only founded the religious order in 1890, but also made himself the advocate of neglected children in need by founding exemplary orphanages. At the time, the Sisters chose to give their convent the name “Egypt” to recall the flight of the Infant Jesus from the tyrant, Herod.
Today, the Sisters can look back on a history that was both rich in blessings, but also tempestuous, and one which, completely in contradiction to the benign spirit of Josip Stadler, was also quite often shaped by destruction and hatred. The order was expropriated in 1949 under the dictatorship of the Communist party in the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia. The convent building was confiscated, the children taken away from the nuns and placed in state-run facilities. “Faith no longer played a role in their upbringing,” Sister Admirata says. “You were no longer allowed to speak to the children of and about God.”In 1992, at the beginning of the Bosnian War, the Serbian military bombed the building into the ground. But, it rose again from out of the ruins.
Finding solutions together
Admirata and her twelve sister nuns, who are assisted in their everyday lives by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), are happy to have founded the first post-war orphanage in Bosnia in 1999 where today, 55 boys and girls attend kindergarten, while 19 children live full-time at the orphanage. Children who have lost their parents, or whose father and mother are unable to exercise their parental responsibility, have found in this place a home. Sister Admirata says, “However, we do put great stock in the fact that our kindergarten children not only come from difficult social environments, but also from intact backgrounds. We also have children of diplomats as well as from of middle-class families here.”
Katarina’s brother Stipo has already left the orphanage. He trained to become an auto mechanic and is now working for a church agricultural project in the Čardak region. After nine years of schooling, Katarina has also completed training to become a sales assistant and window dresser. “I hope to find a good job.” Her chances of finding work are good. The nuns are currently helping the young woman find an affordable place to live in Sarajevo, which is no easy task. However, Admirata exudes confidence, “we will find a solution together.”
Seven-year-old Melissa, and her eight-year-old brother Omer are Muslims. The Sisters welcome anyone who needs help, setting no limits on religious confession or background: exactly as did their founder.
Two Muslim children are new arrivals at the orphanage: seven-year-old Melissa and her brother Omer, who is one year older. Their mother moved away, leaving the two alone. Their father took another wife. Their siblings remained behind with their grandfather. Overwhelmed by the task of raising them, the old man went to the Servants of the Infant Jesus for help. His request was not in vain for today Omer and Melissa are attending first grade at the Catholic primary school and are flourishing in terms of their development. By accepting Muslim as well as Orthodox children at “Egipat House”, the Sisters are acting in full accordance with the philosophy upon which their order was founded. Josip Stadler was esteemed as the “Father of the Poor” by people of all religions and denominations. The Servants of the Infant Jesus also do not divide up the children by religious affiliation. “We are here for the children that need us,” Sister Admirata says.
Epilogue
Two days after speaking with them, the children and the Sisters are all in attendance at the ordination celebration to the priesthood of eight young men at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Sarajevo. None can hide their joy, for they already knew some of these young men as seminarians.
June 2016: children are learning through play and through the gift of love. This can only happen because the Sisters receive a formation based on the Gospel. And thanks to you!
Aid to the Church in Need supports the Sisters of the Servants of the Infant Jesus in the training of their novices. Last year, help was also given for the renovations of two convents that had suffered severe damage during flooding in Bosnia.
By Rolf Bauerdick, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN)
Adaptation by Amanda Bridget Griffin
Although only 37% of the population is Catholic – an extremely low percentage for Latin America – the Catholic Church is one of the few signs of hope in this violence-plagued land, in which many people can see no future for themselves. But at the same time the Church herself faces massive problems, including the fact that within the last 50 years the population has grown from 2.5 to 9 million souls. Hence there is a great need for pastoral care and evangelization, but far too few priests to minister to all the people. Lay catechists play a vital role here, but there is also a great shortage of these well-instructed laity.
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It was only 30 years ago that the religious Institute the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matarà was founded in Argentina. Yet since then it has spread throughout the world, with 160 convents in 35 different countries on all five continents around the globe – such is the measure of its success to date. 
The Institute continues to attract many new vocations, particularly in Brazil. Here, the birthplace of the samba, there are 50 young women currently in formation. They need our support so that they can receive a sound and solid training for the religious life and apostolate they will be engaged in. We have promised to help this year with a contribution of $17,145.
