date: 22.01.2010.
On Thursday, January 21, 2009 at 6.p.m. Holy Mass was celebrated in Međugorje parish church for late Međugorje parish priest and for all departed priests who used to serve in Međugorje parish. Concelebrated Holy Mass was led by Fr. Miljenko Šteko who, as he quoted verses of 56th Psalm, amongst other things said the following: “All is written in the Book of God. Even according to that Book, we ourselves are counting this period since we are no longer in the presence of our late priest brothers, and exactly today we celebrate eight years since our late Međugorje parish priest Dr. Fr. Leonard Orec died. He was born in Posuški Gradac in 1928, and met with his “Sister Death” in 2002 in Zagreb. His days were counted down in his 74th year of life, 55th year of ordination and 51st year of priesthood, little after his celebration of Golden Jubilee – 50 years of priesthood! His earthly remains are waiting for the resurrection of the death in Franciscan grave in Posušje. After numerous responsible services in the Community, Fr. Leonard was in Međugorje as parish priest from 1988 to 1991, leaving behind indelible imprint of his priesthood. Eager and tireless, experienced and endowed with wisdom, he was able to use his Franciscan mission and his devotion to Our Lady and to pass it upon many who were coming to Međugorje. That is why many projects, that he used to dream about, but did not live long enough to accomplish them in his lifetime, were realised after he moved to house of Father. Along with many activities that he was performing, especially providential was his response to the extremely difficult situation that arose due to the war and many refugees within our people in the beginning of 90’s. Fr. Leonard was performing services of chaplain, parish priest, professor, secretary and vicar in the Province. He wrote and associated for catholic newspapers such as Kršni zavičaj, Naša ognjišta, Dobri Pastir and others, both theological and ordinary newspapers. In 1992 he founded humanitarian organisation “Međugorje – Mir” that is active up to this day.
