A Global project

Dear Friends, Here we are, together again in this second issue of the Međugorje Tribune, albeit after a longer time than we had planned. I hope that you did not think we were going to betray you! The time between these two issues has been extremely difficult for us, yet exciting and useful.

We had printed the first issue in a remarkably voluminous edition, and we wanted it to reach as many people as possible worldwide. We have partly achieved this goal by establishing our web-site, but the magazine in your hands is something completely different. The complete content you see here is not available on the web-site, although such a possibility will soon be offered at an annual subscription.

As we are only in the process of building a smooth distribution network, it took us some time to spread the first edition worldwide. The greatest number of copies went to Ireland , followed by the USA , Canada , Great Britain and many other countries through the Office of Fra. Jozo Zovko in Široki Brijeg, and through the retail sales in both the Parish Office and the Catholic Book Shop in Međugorje.

I have received many e-mails from readers, and as promised I responded to every single one of these. Some of your letters are published in this edition, and I invite you to continue to communicate with us.

Besides dealing with distribution, we were also making efforts on expanding our network of correspondents. So now we have Anna in Poland , a journalist who will report for us from one of the most Catholic countries in Europe . In Lebanon we have Hassan, another journalist who is very familiar with what is going on with the Catholics in his country and who, although a Muslim, has visited Međugorje. In a series of reports he will explain the situation in this suffering country and, among other things, reveal for us how Catholics are secretly emigrating from the country.

For the time being, however, we also have Stjepan writing for us from South America , whose wife Slavica is the Bosnia and Herzegovina Ambassador in Buenos Aires . In North America we have the well-known Wayne Weible, a former newspaper publisher and one-time member of the Protestant faith who often visits Međugorje. Also writing for us from the USA is Fra. Jozo Grbeš, the Parson of a Croatian Parish in Chicago, with especially intriguing subjects aiming for the core of the problem.

And from our next edition, Heather Parsons will also be writing for the Medjugorje Tribune, a journalist and author well known to Irish, British and many US readers, who has written three best-selling books about the events of Medjugorje.

We are hoping that journalists from all of the Continents will soon establish contact with us, so that through this Magazine we can bring to you features, experiences and reports from throughout the world. In the meantime, we ask for your kind patience. We are at the beginning of a very large project, and we do not wish to compromise on either quality or accuracy. We are very close to assembling the puzzle, and making this project “breathe with full lungs”. We ask your forbearance as we seek to find the best ways of completing our communications network.

Yours truly, Robert Bubalo, Editor (editor@medugorjetribune.com)