Collection for Church in Central, Eastern Europe makes life-changing impact

Friday, Feb. 11, 2022

Bishop of Steubenville and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee on the Aid to Church in Central and Eastern Europe 

 

Thank you for your generous gifts to the Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe. Your kindness supports youth ministry, seminaries, social services, pastoral centers, communications and Church construction and renovation in 28 countries. These countries have faced a century of hardship, oppressed by radical communism, horrific crimes against humanity, and revolutionary, civil and world wars. Most dioceses in the United States will take up the collection in their parishes on Ash Wednesday, March 2.

As chairman of the U.S. bishops’ subcommittee that manages the annual Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe and the vital grants made from it, from encounters I have made with our brothers and sisters overseas, I hear the stories of the need and the impact the grants make. I know for many parishioners, it is hard to visualize the far-away people who benefit from what they put in the collection basket.

My words cannot do justice to the power of your generosity. So, I invite you to hear from a remarkable young woman in Croatia who reached out to our program staff because she wanted to thank American Catholics for their help: Maja Latincic, who lives in Petrinja, Croatia, with her mother, father and two brothers.

This, in her own words, is Maja:

Few streets in Petrinja, Croatia, were ever paved. My wheelchair jolted over them so harshly that, as my mother walked beside me on Dec. 29, 2020, I almost didn’t realize that the ground itself was shaking.

Hurrying home, we saw the brutality of that 6.4 magnitude earthquake, witnessing collapsed houses and terrified neighbors. We prayed for my father and brothers and were overwhelmed with gratitude to find that our home was one of few with minor damage.

That was a great blessing. Another is what you, Catholics in the United States, have done to help me. If you gave to the annual Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, you helped 2,000 other Croatians who suffered psychological trauma after the earthquake, and me.

God sends light into the darkness of despair. He used you to send me that light.

I was born 20 years ago with cerebral palsy. The only part of my body I can control is one finger, which I use to type. When I read a book, someone else must turn the pages. If I spoke to you – in Croatian or English or my favorite language, Spanish, you might have trouble understanding as I painstakingly force my mouth to form words that flow so easily inside my head.

I love words – in several languages. My dream is to study Spanish at Zagreb University so I can translate Spanish books into Croatian. I write poetry and stories, always with the theme of love.

My family first showed me what love is. My dad, Josip, is an engineer who works hard to support us while my mom, Ankica, stays home to help me. My able-bodied twin brother, Ivan, is my best friend – and edits my English. Petar, 17, is the youngest.

Our faith in God helps us in every possible way. My mother, who sacrificed her own dreams to care for me, sets the example. Her faith helps her to accept her destiny and mine.

She insists that I do as much as I can for myself. When I was about 12 and discovered Mexican soap operas, she made me turn off the subtitles and learn the language. That is how Spanish became the language of my heart. Only in Spanish can I express my deepest feelings. This language of love runs far deeper than the plots of the novellas, conveying the love to which Christ calls us. Only love can make this world a better place, and I try to do my part.

The challenge is that, even before COVID, I lived in isolation. I used to go to an activity center for children with disabilities, but the others had intellectual disabilities. It was hard to make friends.

Still, I could contribute. When I was 15, there was a 6-year-old in a so-called “vegetative state.” But no one is a vegetable. I liked him. I wished with all my heart that I could help him, so I began to pray for him. I prayed for his healing in a way that I have never prayed for my own. I recognize that I have a good life, surrounded by people who love me and do everything possible to empower me.

But even knowing this, before the earthquake, I had become depressed and anxious about whether I could achieve my dreams. The quake made everything harder. Petrinja is like a ghost town, with most houses uninhabitable. The empty streets are impassable in my wheelchair. Some people remain too terrified to leave their children.

Petrinja had already suffered from the war in the 1990s, then flooding in 2014. It seemed as if happiness would always be destroyed. I became afraid to dream.

One Sunday after Mass, we heard a presentation by a psychologist, Dr. Maja Jaksic. She explained that the Diocese of Sisak and the Croatian Society of Marital and Family Counselors – founded by Father Josip Bošnjakovic, a priest-psychologist with a vocation to help people overcome trauma – was opening a counseling service for earthquake survivors.

This ministry is supported by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe. Through it, you, my American friends, changed my life. Whatever you put in that collection basket worked miracles for people like me in 28 lands that bear the scars of communism.

Dr. Maja has become my guardian angel. She is an expert in trauma recovery and a theologian who understands the needs of the soul.

She helped me see that the greatest barriers I faced were in my head, that my situation is not as bad as I thought. She has taught me to love myself for who God made me. I am growing stronger. I am not yet as strong as I want to be, but I see the path forward and know that I can move along it.

I am so grateful to God for the good people he has sent into my life, for the ability to dream and pursue those goals. And so, I thank all the Catholics in the United States who provided help to me and to thousands of Croatians in greater need than I am.

I pray that God will bless you, that he will fill your heart with dreams and grant you the grace, love, and strength that you need to follow them.

Your prayers for and generosity to the Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe made a lasting impact on Maja’s life, and it continues to make a difference in the lives of thousands of others each year. I invite you to join Catholics throughout the country who are helping to rebuild the Church in Central and Eastern Europe by giving to the collection on Ash Wednesday at Mass or through your parish e-giving platform. #iGiveCatholicTogether also accepts funds for the collection.

May God bless you this Lent as we journey together toward the celebration of Christ’s resurrection.