Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlić Radman 9 February 2020 attended a commemoration of the 50 years of the Croatian Catholic Mission Koblenz.
The commemoration began with a holy mass and continued with a celebration, at which Grlić Radman thanked the Catholic Church in Germany as well as the Croatian faithful and their pastors for decades of fruitful cooperation.
The minister went on to quote a 1942 sermon by Archbishop Aloysius Stepinac: “Every nation and every race has the right to a decent living and to be treated as humans. No matter which race they belong to, Gypsy race or any other, whether they are African-Americans or sophisticated Europeans, detested Jews or arrogant Aryans, they have the right to pray without any difference: ‘Our Father, Who art in heaven!’ And if God gave everyone that right, how can a human authority deny it?”
Grlić Radman said it was an impressive testimony to faith during the darkest days of the 20th century and that one should be thankful for people like Stepinac.
The mass was held by the Bishop of Trier, Stephan Ackermann. In attendance were also Msgr. Milan Stipić, National Director of Pastoral Care for Croats Abroad Tomislav Markić, delegate for the Croatian Catholics in Germany Ivica Komadina, pastor of the St. Francis parish Michael Frevel, Bundestag member Josip Juratović, Claudia Stahl, as well as number of other guests and dignitaries from the social, clerical and political circles of Croatia and Germany.
On Saturday evening, the bust of Aloysius Stepinac was unveiled and blessed in the square in front of the St. Francis church in Koblenz, where Croats have been congregating for the past 50 years. Grlić Radman laid flowers and lit a candle at the monument.