CATHOLIC CHURCH THE PARISH OF ST. GEORGE (1929)

The pastors of the Parish of Bor had traditionally run the Zaječar Parish as well, which was founded in 1934 after the separation from Niš. The church was built in 1929, while the shrine, sacristy and vestibule were built in the following years, and unfortunately destroyed in the meantime. Before World War II, catholic army priests were permanently located here (Rikard Zajc, Ivan Maračić) who took care of the services and the running of the parish. After their departure, the care of the faithful became the task of Bor pastors.

The protector of the parish of Zaječar is St.George, celebrated on April 23rd.

The “golden age” of the parish was before the war, when Zaječar had many catholic people from Letnica, mostly single men, and it was not unusual to see hundreds of them in the church. The part of the pastor’s apartment was forcefully inhabited by various, non-religious persons, which was a hard stroke for the parish and the pastor.

School nuns of St. Francis from Slovenia, based in Maribor, came to Serbia in 1932 and spread their mission outside of Belgrade as well. They run nursery and kindergarten in Paraćin (1937–1945) as well as a boarding school for gymnasium girls in Zaječar. In 1941 they came to the hospitals of the mines in Senj, and after that moved to Bor where they worked at different hospital departments: the surgery, the department for infectious diseases, children's ward, and the laboratory. Unfortunately, after the last nun retired, the sisterhood moved to Niš due to their low numbers, and soon after returned to Slovenia.

Beside Assumptionists, the parish has been run by Salesians, Diocesans, and at the moment by the followers of the Neocatechumenal Way.

SOURCE:

Official Parish Web-page http://kc.org.rs/sv-juraj-zajecar/