By Drago Perko · Published 10 September 2026

"You know what, I firmly believe. Jesus gave us Mary as our Mother of God. If you trust, as the Lord teaches us, and if you have faith like a mustard seed, then the impossible becomes possible. From my own life I can tell you that Mary has saved me many times, including from sciatica," Tina from Ponikve did not hide her deep faith and gratitude as she prayed at Kurešček. She did not come to the Queen of Peace alone; with her were her sister and a further 10,000-strong crowd, who made a pilgrimage to Kurešček from Friday to Sunday, where a three-day spiritual seminar was held under the motto "My grace is sufficient for you." The Catholic Charismatic Renewal society in Slovenia and the parish of Ig brought the renowned Father James Manjackal to the pilgrimage site.

It didn't take much for everything to end already on the first day. Dark clouds gathered over the hill, and the wind blew so hard that it scattered the small tents around the large event area, and it is thanks only to the presence of mind of the organizers and volunteers that the main tent remained standing.

"All who trust in him receive new strength," Father James told those gathered the day after the severe storm — an Indian charismatic priest and missionary known for spiritual seminars in which he emphasizes conversion, personal faith, the power of prayer and the Eucharist, and inner and physical healing. Each time, he encourages the faithful anew to renew their relationship with God, to hand over their troubles to Jesus, and to live their faith more actively. At Kurešček, Father James invited the faithful to forgiveness.

He saved himself

Fr. Dr. Peter Nastran also listened to him attentively once again. "We too need spiritual renewal, to renew our covenant with God, to revive our faith," Dr. Nastran, a priest in the parish of Koroška Bela, explained to Slovenske novice as his reason for coming. He was ordained a priest in 2009, and served his first curacy in Črnuče, in Ljubljana. He frequently leads Masses and prayers for inner healing and deliverance. He has been connected to Kurešček since his youth. "I was at Kurešček for the first time in 2001. At that time, Father France Špelič, the visionary of Mary at Kurešček, was still alive. In the small outdoor chapel, up on top of the hill, behind the church, he celebrated the Holy Mass, and there I experienced an extraordinary divine comfort, a certain joy, peace, love, and connection with Mary, the Mother of God," he explained why he likes to return to Kurešček, where 23 years ago he discovered the meaning of life. At that time he was not yet a priest; after his confirmation he had drifted away from God. He came to realize he would follow this path on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje, where an acquaintance told him he would become a priest.

"Between the ages of 15 and 35 I was depressed. It was precisely with the help of prayers at Kurešček that I experienced a great relief — I kept feeling better and better, until complete healing," he reveals to us. And he recalls his constant problems with his spine. The pain is now a thing of the past; Dr. Nastran attributes the credit precisely to the charismatic Father James. The story goes back to 2004. "I first listened to Father James in 2004, and I also experienced personal healing of my spine, where I had frequently felt pain. Apparently I was sitting incorrectly. Then, here, during Father James's prayer too, I heard my own name: he was listing names — he said it like this, I still remember it today: 'Peter is also being healed.' At that moment I felt as if pins and needles were running through my body — from my head down my neck, down my back along my spine. The pain disappeared." Foreigners also come to Kurešček with requests or with thanks.

Firefighters lent a hand too

Dr. Janez Crkovnik, president of the Renewal in the Spirit society, said that despite the difficult weather, the seminar was a success. About 40 volunteers took part in organizing it, along with firefighters from Ig and Škrilje, and the parish of Ig. Around 20 priests took care of the spiritual side and confession. The Renewal in the Spirit society has been active for almost 30 years and prepares spiritual programs within the Catholic Church.

Moving to Kurešček

"Seventeen years ago I came to Kurešček for the first time. My mother brought me. At that time I was still a non-believer, but I was just then preparing for the bar exam. I was in a difficult life situation, when things were very hard for me spiritually and mentally. My mom and dad are from Bosnia — my dad is Muslim, my mom is Orthodox — and they did not raise me religiously. When she brought me to Kurešček, I did not yet know Jesus Christ. I sat in the Church of the Queen of Peace and, for the first time in my life, felt a peace that this world cannot give — infinite peace and love," our interviewee Emina Mulalić recalled, looking back to 2009.

"Four months after my first visit to Kurešček I found out about the spiritual seminar with Father James Manjackal. I was determined to attend it. There I saw several thousand people, among whom, for the first time in my life, I saw love and connectedness. This spoke to me very much; it felt very genuine and convincing to me. I was moved. I saw that something here was different. Even then, Father James spoke very clearly about the Holy Eucharist, about Communion — that Jesus Christ is truly present under the appearance of bread and wine. At that seminar I received the gift of a living faith that Jesus Christ is our God and our only Redeemer, and that he is truly present in the Eucharist," Emina recalls. Soon after the spiritual seminar she committed herself to Christianity; she also had herself baptized, and afterward received the sacraments of Holy Communion and Confirmation. Even today she remains closely connected to Kurešček, as she lives in Mary's House beside the shrine at Kurešček, where she moved two years ago at the invitation of the then-parish priest of Ig, Janez Avsenik, and — alongside her regular job as a lawyer at the Ministry of Culture — takes care of the church, the pilgrims, and events at the shrine. Emina was also the one who proposed inviting Father James back to Slovenia again in 2025, and she was glad to see him again this time too.

"My great longing is that what Mary, Queen of Peace, communicated to us through the visionary Father France Špelič would be fulfilled at Kurešček. Mary said that Kurešček is a place of grace, a place of healing for the diseases and wounds of the soul. She said that whoever takes refuge in this place, in faith, in her Heart and the Heart of her Son, will be healed and will share in the peace that only heaven can give. Among other things, she also said that on this spot, where the tent stands today, where the spiritual seminar with Father James is taking place, a new, large Church of the Holy Trinity should be built," concludes Emina Mulalić, a member of the Secular Franciscan Order and secretary of its national council in Slovenia.