Croatian Franciscans in Chicago Mark a Century of Service

For a full century, Croatian Franciscans have accompanied Croatian emigrants across North America, establishing parishes and churches, preaching the Gospel, celebrating the sacraments, preserving the Croatian language, faith and cultural heritage, and fostering a sense of community that connects generations. They marked 100 years as part of the Custody with a major celebration in Chicago.

“Serving with Love” was the motto under which Croatian Franciscans in the Custody of the Holy Family in the United States and Canada began their organised mission alongside Croatian emigrants, supporting them through good times and bad, in their spiritual and other needs, while also standing with them in their continued support for their homeland.

“Franciscans have followed people wherever they have gone around the world. Whether they left because of poverty, economic hardship, political circumstances, war or its aftermath... And then, in the 1920s, they established a community. Because it is very important for every person, wherever they are, to have an institution,” said Friar Jozo Grbeš, Provincial of the Franciscan Province of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Mostar.

As part of the Custody, Croatian Franciscans initially worked alongside Slovenian and Slovak Franciscans from 1912 to 1926. After years of efforts, they succeeded in separating from Slovenian administration and establishing an independent structure. They had come to North America to serve their people, as had other Croatian priests.

Their shared journey with the Croatian community, documented through extensive archival material preserved by the Croatian Ethnic Institute in Chicago and the Franciscan Monastery in Mostar, has been compiled and described in a monograph presented ahead of the anniversary celebration.

“The publication and publishing activities were very, very extensive. Alongside pastoral work in the parishes, this publishing activity was one of the main tools, as I would call them, in the struggle to support the Catholic Church and Croatian emigrants, and to preserve Croatian national consciousness among Croats in the United States and Canada,” said Friar Robert Jolić, author of the monograph *One Hundred Years of the Croatian Franciscan Custody of the Holy Family for the USA and Canada*.

In its early years, the Custody included Franciscans from all Croatian provinces. At the end of 1931, jurisdiction was transferred to the Franciscan Province of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Mostar.

“Our Croatian parishes here are, in a way, our homeland. I am completely convinced that we have achieved something of a miracle. Had it not been for Croatian priests over all these decades and more than a century, we would probably not even know about Croats here today,” Friar Jolić said.

The Croatian Ethnic Institute’s project in Chicago was not chosen by chance as a project of strategic importance to the Croatian government, said State Secretary Zvonko Milas.

“We still have to stand together, support one another, preserve all the values that are important to the Croatian people and build our community, while also making sure that young people connect with the Croatian state in new and better ways, find an authentic way of belonging to the Croatian people and their homeland, and build professional ties.”

Milas said that unity had sustained Croats, helped them establish their own state and remains essential for moving forward. That sense of community remains strong among Croats in Chicago.

Croatia’s Consul General in Chicago, Sanja Laković, also highlighted the importance of the community.

“This is an exceptionally strong and relatively large Croatian community in Chicago. We are always working to preserve their national identity, culture, customs and traditions here. The Franciscans have played an indispensable role in that.”

But new times bring new challenges. The Custody currently has 11 missions and parishes, compared with many more in the past.

“We are not facing so much a shortage of vocations as we are the needs of our community, which is unique. Our Franciscan Province of Herzegovina is responsible not only for the Province itself, but also for the Custody, for Međugorje and for our brothers and their needs in Switzerland,” said Friar Nikola Pašalić, Custos of the Croatian Franciscan Custody of the Holy Family and delegate of the Croatian Catholic Mission Abroad for the United States.

“We hope and believe that the Province will, as it has in the past, find ways to send more brothers, so that this mission can be fully staffed with friars who will serve Croats in this part of the world.”

The Franciscans say their shared journey continues — for future generations, wherever Croats may be: in the United States and Canada, from New York, Chicago and St. Louis to Milwaukee, Windsor, Kitchener and Norval, and wherever else they may be around the world.