A Vessel Poured Out: The Gymnasium at Dugo Selo

The gymnasium at Dugo Selo High School was packed to capacity last night. The service was powerful—and the cost was real. Everyone left exhausted because so much virtue was poured out.

Faith Rekindled: A Witness to God’s Power in Croatia

The Context: A Nation Returning Home

Croatia, a nation of over 87% Catholic faithful, stands at a pivotal moment. Apostolates like Kristafori are not simply “bringing faith back”—they are calling an entire people to remember who they are and to live that identity with conviction and courage. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, restoring what was dormant and calling the faithful to authentic discipleship aligned with God’s immutable truth.

The Foundation: Unshakeable Faith

The witness of Joanne and Linda embodies what true faith actually is—not feeling, not sentiment, but the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen (Hebrews 11:1). Their faith wasn’t theoretical. It was lived, witnessed, and contagious.

The scriptural anchor points reveal the depth:

Acts 16:31 — “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.” This isn’t individual salvation—it’s familial, communal, generational. When one person believes with unshakeable conviction, grace radiates outward, touching those around them.

A Sacred Trust: The Team’s Call to Instrument and Vessel

This is a profound responsibility for the team—to pray humbly and be instruments of God’s grace.

At each session, the team is appointed two essential roles: an interpreter and a catcher. Together, they form the spiritual infrastructure through which God’s healing power flows.

The Interpreter listens for what the Holy Spirit is speaking and translates it into language and understanding that touches hearts. This requires acute spiritual sensitivity and discernment.

The Catcher is the one who receives and holds sacred space for God’s work. The catcher watches over souls as they encounter Christ’s presence, catches those who are overwhelmed by conviction or healing, and ensures that nothing of God’s grace falls to the ground wasted. The catcher is a spiritual guardian—vigilant, prayerful, and ready to support those being transformed by the Holy Spirit.

Today, the team graduates from intimate gatherings to the stadium—a threshold that changes everything. A stadium is vast and open, requiring deeper consecration, sharper discernment, and unshakeable unity among all intercessors. The magnitude of souls increases. The opposition intensifies. The glory expands.

Kristafori: Young Witnesses Making a Mark for Christ

They call themselves Kristafori, and they are young—a generation awakened to their call as witnesses for Christ in their nation. They are making an undeniable mark.

As guests, we were treated with a level of hospitality that transcends the ordinary. It is an indescribable love—the kind that flows not from social obligation or courtesy, but from genuine communion in Christ. This is what happens when young people grasp the truth: that their faith is not something to hide or minimize, but to live boldly and share generously.

The Kristafori embody what Saint Paul calls believers to be: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12). Their hospitality isn’t calculated. It’s the natural overflow of hearts set on fire by the Holy Spirit.

This generation—young, passionate, willing to sacrifice—represents the future of the Church in Croatia. They are not waiting for someone else to evangelize their nation. They are doing it. They are the answer to countless prayers for revival and renewal.

When you receive such love from them, you are receiving a gift that goes beyond comfort or convenience. You are being welcomed into a spiritual family, united by the blood of Christ and the mission of His Church.

The Musicians: Vessels of Heaven’s Song

The musicians have recorded several CDs, and their voices command reverence—they do not demand attention for themselves, but draw souls into the presence of God. Their singing is not performance; it is intercession made audible.

They are holy. They operate in unity. Each one knows their place in God’s design and surrenders to it completely. Throughout the entire prayer session—sometimes lasting more than two hours—they sing without ceasing. And remarkably, the songs remain as fresh, as alive, as powerful in the final hour as they were in the first.

This is praise and worship at its finest.

What you are witnessing is not talent, though they certainly possess it. What you are witnessing is consecration. These musicians have yielded their gifts so completely to the Holy Spirit that their voices become channels through which heaven breaks through. Saint Paul wrote, “Whether you eat or drink or do whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). The Kristafori musicians live this truth. Every note, every breath, every phrase is an offering laid at Christ’s feet.

The fact that their voices remain fresh for two hours reveals something crucial: they are not drawing from human energy or technique. They are drawing from an infinite well—the Holy Spirit Himself. When the Source is limitless, the vessel never runs dry.

This is why their music commands reverence. People sense that they are in the presence of something sacred, something true. The music becomes a bridge between the temporal and the eternal, between human brokenness and divine healing.

The unity among them is also non-negotiable. Division in worship fractures the anointing. But when musicians stand as one body, one heart, one voice—offering everything to Christ—the atmosphere shifts. Demons flee. Angels draw near. God’s presence becomes palpable.

Leadership, Vision, and Faithful Succession

Danijel Katanovic leads this fast-growing movement—one that originally began under the vision of Josip Loncar. Loncar has since moved to a larger calling within God’s Kingdom, and the work continues to flourish under Katanovic’s faithful stewardship. This is the pattern of the Church: vision passed from one generation to the next, each leader pouring into their successor, the mission never stopping but always advancing.

The Protocol: Teaching, Singing, Praying

The team followed the same proven protocol as the previous nights. Joanne’s teaching on understanding purpose and calling set the spiritual foundation. She helped people grasp a crucial truth: that every baptized Christian has a vocation, a specific calling from God. This is not reserved for priests and religious. Everyone is called. Everyone has a place in God’s plan.

Then came the singing—those fresh, anointed voices drawing souls into reverence and openness to the Holy Spirit.

Then came the praying. And this night, every single person in the crowd came forward for prayer. No one held back. No one remained seated. The entire gymnasium responded to the invitation to encounter Christ.

The Team: Interpreter, Catcher, Counselor

Magdalena served as your interpreter, translating not just language but spiritual meaning—ensuring that nothing was lost between the spoken word and the hearer’s heart. Darko stood as the catcher, vigilant and steady, holding sacred space for God’s work.

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A Culture Rooted in Truth: Food, Language, and the Rhythm of Life

It was midnight before the team was finally urged to leave. Exhausted but spiritually full, you settled for a familiar dinner—McDonald’s—but discovered something remarkable: even the burgers taste better in Croatia.

Why? Because this nation remains free from genetic modification. The food here is real. The watermelon you had for breakfast came with old-fashioned seeds—laborious to remove, but the flavor is incomparably richer and healthier. The grapes are sweet and seeded. This is not accident; it is choice. The Croatians have resisted the technological alteration of creation and chosen to honor God’s design.

Most of the people you’ve met maintain their own vegetable gardens. Your hotel serves only fresh-picked goods. This is not nostalgia or quaintness—it is a living commitment to stewardship, to eating what God created rather than what corporations engineered. There is profound theology in this: a nation that refuses to tamper with creation is a nation that still remembers God’s authority over the natural order.

Language: The Beauty of Difficulty

The Croatians have a particular love for the letters “K,” “J,” and “H”—and they deploy accent marks with zealous precision. The names you’ve encountered—Danijel, Josip, Darko, Magdalena—carry a musical quality that reflects the soul of the language.

The shorter, familiar names you recall—Anna, Mimka, Milka—are easier on the foreign tongue. But the longer names, though challenging to pronounce, possess a beautiful sound that cannot be rushed or simplified. They demand respect, attention, presence.

Economics and Independence

Croatia is not yet part of the European Union. They maintain their own currency, the kuna, which trades at approximately six kuna to one dollar. This independence—economic and otherwise—reflects a people still finding their way, still building their own identity in the post-Cold War era. There is something admirable in this: a nation that has not simply surrendered to larger powers but insists on charting its own course.

All of this—the food free from genetic alteration, the preserved language, the independent currency—speaks to a people who have learned, through suffering and history, to protect what is true. They know the cost of losing cultural and spiritual identity. They refuse to make that mistake again.

Voloder is a city not far Zagreb, about 45 minute drive.

St. Anthony church is rich in character with great  acoustics, the pews are covered with red velvet  cushions and the saints gather together to share the wall space.
The service started with the rosary followed by the all girls choir, so sweet the sound of these young ladies.Our team leader Linda, from Northern California preached before the Mass.

Linda’s message was on the spirit of fear, she sited Eph 6:10-12; 1 Cor 9:26; Luke 10:19. Fear is a spirit that once it gets ahold of your thoughts, it takes control, we have  authority to cast this down. Fear has many attachments and it will rob you of your peace and keep you in bondage

The Mass was packed, with standing room only, again the music set the tone for the service, festive yet soft and traditional. Father Nikola must have given a great homily because all eyes were  fixated  on him.

After Mass, just like the night before we pray for every person there. I was  privileged to pray for Sister Ivanka, a spirit filled nun.We were then treated to the most delicious dinner at the rectory with Father Nikola hosting. The breaking of bread did not disappoint. Father had shot glasses of a strong drink and for some reason unbeknown to me I drank one. The liquor passed through my body, alerting every area it encountered and settled in my belly like a hot ball of wax, a loud unladylike cough followed.

Father Nikola has a cat and just like my husband kiddingly wishes it dead.

It is now 3:00 AM , so good night or good morning.