With personal experience of trying to cope with her son’s addiction to drugs and alcohol, Diana Hoar is impressed by the work of the Community of the Merciful Father in Medjugorje The Community of the Merciful Father was launched on 11 March 1999 by a Franciscan priest, Fr Slavko Barbaric, to provide help to young men with addictions such as drugs, alcohol and gambling. Today, it has 70 members, in Medjugorje and other houses, who come from all parts of former Yugoslavia and beyond. Within the community, everyone has equal status and its programme is based on prayer, work, mutual help and trust.I first met Fr Svetozar Kraljevic, the priest until recently in charge of the Merciful Father Community. He was acting as translator for one of the Medjugorje visionaries, who was giving a t