Bozena Varrone-Sikiric was born Dec. 22, 1980, in Zadar, Croatia. She grew up in a Catholic family but was not baptized as an infant because the Communist leaders at that time warned Catholic school teachers not to baptize their children.

She was 26 years old in 2006 when she went to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on a fiancé visa to marry an American. She filed for divorce in 2012 because he refused to be open to having children, and she learned that he had a previous marriage that he had hidden from her.

Bozena returned to Croatia in 2013, to the city where she grew up, and soon met Tomislav Sikiric. They had been friends in the past, never more than that. But after Bozena returned to Croatia, their friendship turned into a romantic love story very fast. She became pregnant three months after returning to Croatia.

Soon enough, they were parents of two sons, Romano and Sime, and wanted very much to be married in the Catholic Church. Tomislav was a Catholic who had never married, but her marriage and divorce was an obstacle to getting married in the Catholic Church. They married in civil law because they decided it was best for their family, even if they could not get married in the Catholic Church. Their children are baptized Catholics and are being raised as Catholics.

After years of trying to be married in the Catholic Church in Croatia, Bozena found my website: www.marriagepreparation.com and my offer to assist anyone who wanted to marry in the Catholic Church.

She wrote this e-mail from Croatia on Sept. 13, 2018:

Father Rob Ruhnke, my name is Bozena Varrone. I used to live in Fort Lauderdale, where I civilly married
a member of Baptist church. I was not and I still am not baptized a Roman Catholic. I filed for divorce because my husband refused to be open to having children and lied about never being married previously. Now, I am a non-baptized person who wishes to be a baptized Roman Catholic and to marry a Roman Catholic. l live in Croatia and my previous spouse is in the United States. How do I prove my first marriage nonvalid? I pray for your answer. Thank you and God bless.

I reached out to Father Roger Keeler, a canon lawyer who teaches at Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, for assistance. After years of trying — without success — to communicate with Bozena’s diocese in Croatia, Father Keeler was successful in getting the Archdiocese of Miami to accept Bozena’s case because she was legally married in that archdiocese. She was declared free to marry on Nov. 20, 2025 … seven years after Bozena wrote her email to me in 2018.

If you know someone who wants to be married in the Church, Bozena and Tomislaw and their sons are a wonderful story of the value of persistent faith. We can help. Father Rob Ruhnke can be contacted through our Contact Us form.

Father Robert A. Ruhnke, CSsR

Father Robert A. Ruhnke, CSsR is a Catholic priest who has spent his professional life helping couples prepare for marriage.