A Mass in remembrance of the victims of the Srebrenica massacre was held at St Chad's Cathedral on Sunday 4 July.

In his homily, Mgr Tim Menezes, Cathedral Dean said: 

"It is of particular interest to me this weekend to acknowledge that role that each one of us might have at various times: when we feel we cannot effect great change by our words or actions, it is our very presence, our witness, our thirst for justice in all its forms that can make all the difference.

"The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has asked us this weekend to find ways of commemorating an event in our recent history in our continent of Europe. It is the systematic massacre of men and boys in a place called Srebrenica, in Bosnia Herzegovina. We are talking about July 1995 – 26 years ago."

Read full homily

The charitable organisation Remembering Srebrenica has asked for support for this year’s Srebrenica Memorial Week, which runs from Sunday 4 July to Sunday 11 July.

Communities across the UK are commemorating the 26th anniversary of the genocide, where over 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were murdered, simply because of their faith.

The theme for 2021 is ‘Rebuilding Lives’. In albeit very different ways the Covid-19 pandemic has brought loss and difficulties to millions, shattering individuals and communities, who are now looking to rebuild their lives. As we move forwards to rebuilding our communities in the wake of the many health and economic challenges which people with divisive agendas are all too keen to exploit, we will remember the spirit of survivors who, despite the horrendous hatred and destruction they were subjugated to themselves, have been rebuilding their lives with dignity, humanity and without calling for retribution or promoting division or hatred.

Remembering Srebrenica has produced a number of resources which can be used in support of the Memorial Week.

Resources and more