Medjugorje – Day One

The Joe Walsh Tours flight from Gatwick to Split in Croatia (formerly part of Yugoslavia) was via Norwegian Airlines and was crammed with families and young men with five o’clock shadows and flip-flops – a bucket and spade charter. We eagerly scanned the passengers, looking for fellow pilgrims and eventually identified – correctly – the only three; two middle aged Irish folk and a younger man.

The plane, a Boeing 737-800 was interesting in that the tail fin had a picture of an eminent Norwegian. What famous Norwegians do you know? I was stuck until I looked at the flight magazine which named 74 whose images appear on the airline’s planes, including Victor Borge, Greta Garbo, Edvard Grieg, Henrik Ibsen, Soren Kierkegaard, Jenny Lind, Edvard Munch…etc. 

It was raining in Split when we arrived and a passenger service agent with an umbrella shepherded us onto buses – which then travelled all of 100 yards to disgorge us in front of the main (only) terminal. Processing was efficient and courteous and we were soon in a minibus on the two-and-a-half hour journey to Medjugorje.

Ninety per cent of the journey was via a newly-constructed and excellent motorway. We whizzed along at 60 miles an hour, under leaden skies and dark scudding clouds, up into the mountains. It reminded me of the Scottish Highlands - very steep and rocky – as we climbed past occasional jagged peaks rising to over 3,000 feet and then swooped down into narrow valleys before ascending once more.

 

What was different was the trees, every hillside was almost completely covered by trees and bushes. There were small villages and individual houses in the most inhospitable locations that were visible only by a small patch of white wall and red-tiled roofs sticking out above the sea of green vegetation, and occasionally you would see a church tower or a lonely cross on a mountain peak. Isolated they may have been, but the lines of electricity pylons and mobile phone masts suggested they were plugged in to society.

The Croatian and then the Bosnia-Herzegovina border guards decided they did not need to see our passports - they may have heard us loudly reciting the Joyful Mysteries and decided, correctly, that we were harmless.   

As we left the motorway and trundled into Medjugorje along a dusty single track, the dark clouds began to lift, the sun made an appearance – and a rainbow suddenly appeared ahead of us. Two of my fellow-pilgrims were both Medjugorje veterans - one with 30+ visits since 1988 - and immediately assumed that this was a sign; the Queen of Peace is known to herald her presence by a rainbow. I’m afraid I just assumed it was a welcome but natural meteorological phenomenon.  

 

Our hotel was the Pansion Dubrovnik, situated right in the centre of the village, about three hundred yards from St James’ Church, the epicentre of organised spiritual life.

 

Our room was pleasant, two regular beds plus a sofa bed, ensuite, neat, clean – but the advertised wifi did not always work and was not capable of uploading images - so this report on Medjugorje will be posted on our return to the UK.

After a late supper of soup followed by pan-fried chicken and fruit, we went to check out the surroundings. The main street through Medjugorje was crowded on either side with religious souvenir stalls, the usual kitsch that will be familiar to Lourdes visitors. We popped into several shops to compare stocks and prices with Lourdes. Much of the range of small items was familiar (and cheaper) and there was the expected differences in modelling of the Blessed Virgin (stance, colour of dress, surroundings) and rather more in the way of pilgrim aids; sticks, stools, chairs, hats, clothing etc. There were several small bookshops selling Catholic books and CDs, obviously specialising in the apparitions. The increased number of bookshops was a definite improvement on Lourdes. I had quite forgotten that the index in locally-produced books is at the end of the book, not at the beginning! Based on a sample of one transaction, Medj shopkeepers are very pleasant with excellent English.

St James' Church

 A Croatian language Mass was in process at St James Church – not in the church but just behind it where there was an open-air altar and in front of it, on what looked like several hundred park benches, were seated several thousand people – all perfectly quiet and attentive. In fact, apart from the priest’s loudspeaker words, the only sound was the frantic chirping of birds in the surrounding trees. It was a strange contrast, the solemn ritual of Holy Mass and the energetic participation of nature … it brought to mind thoughts of St Francis.

Beside the church were two buildings with confession rooms, and , including those in the church, there were about 60 small confession rooms. On the entrance door to each was a sign giving the language employed and the priest’s name. There was also a red or green light signifying whether the confessional was empty or in use. There were about a dozen people waiting for confession in Croatian as we passed at 8pm. In the paved area in front of the church some visitors knelt and prayed in front of the statue of the Blessed Virgin while others took in the sights – rubbernecking as American say – or posed for carefully arranged selfies in front of the landmark church.

Medjugorje seemed quite busy, a constant stream of pilgrims/tourists flowed past the restaurants and souvenir shops, the Italians seemingly in abundance, noisy and unselfconsciously flamboyant as ever – God bless them! The taxis, contrary to expectations, do occasionally stop for people crossing the roads using the zebra crossings  - but it helps if you carry crutches that you can wave at them!.   

We were back in the hotel by 9pm. Next stop breakfast at 8.45-10.00am then Mass in English at St James Church followed by a briefing from the Joe Walsh tour guides, an afternoon of doing something or other (unknown at this stage) followed by an early dinner at 4.45-6.00pm then Rosary and a pause for the ‘apparition’ at St James Church, followed by International Mass said in Croatian, followed by blessings and prayers for healings. The loudspeaker rendering of hymns, rosaries and so on from the church continued until 11pm or so, it was never intrusive but pleasantly reassuring  - prayer and praise is what the place is about.