God placed on the path of my life many wonderful people, for whom I lived, prayed, and strove to reveal the face of God, His boundless mercy. In that mercy alone I too place my trust. God gave me a wonderful family. I have not failed. My life has had a deep meaning.

Mons. Ivan Mustać

The family is the most fundamental, most burning and most challenging question facing the Croatian people and the Church. It is the first and most important path of the human journey, for man comes from the family and owes it the very fact of his existence. If a man lacks a family, a worrying and painful deficiency arises within him that will weigh upon his whole life.

Mons. Ivan Prenđa

From Don Ivan I received a treasury of great riches. He watched over us, led us everywhere, rejoiced sincerely in the beautiful moments and wept with pain in the difficult and sorrowful moments of our lives. We felt that he watched us closely and worried over us. He always said that at night he could not sleep peacefully while young people were wasting their lives on the waterfront. What moved him most of all was the birth of a new child. To this day I have never met anyone who rejoiced so much over every new life! 

Ines Jednaković

In 2001,  Mons. Ivan Mustać was appointed Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Zadar by Archbishop Ivan Prenđa. Their relationship reminds us of the relationship of the Apostle John, the beloved disciple, to Jesus. From the day he came to know the Archbishop, he never left his side. And just as Jesus entrusted John with the care of his Mother, so the Archbishop entrusted Don Ivan with the most important tasks for the Archdiocese of Zadar.

Both of them shared that name, and they gladly celebrated their name day together in the company of those close to them. Of the Archbishop he said: "He was a wonderful man and bishop. He worked tirelessly and prayed constantly. We prayed together every morning. We worked a great deal, perhaps even too much. We cared deeply about the archdiocese, the people, the priests. He was gentle, modest towards himself, yet open-handed towards others, and he never turned away anyone who sought help. A man of prayer, he prayed for hours in the chapel. It was rather endearing: with us his co-workers, even those of us who were already fifty years old, he would treat us at lunch as though we were seminarians, behaving towards us as a father would. He had immense mercy for priests, defending them against every attack, even while he himself was slandered. He would say: 'That is nothing, I am not important, what matters is our archdiocese, the Church.' It seemed to me that he wanted me to carry the experience of the parish of Belafuža over to the whole diocese. He trusted me, and I served him faithfully."

Just two years later we witnessed a magnificent event for Zadar and the Archdiocese of Zadar – the arrival of Pope John Paul II in Zadar under the motto "The Family – the Way of the Church and of the Nation". It was, historically, the Pope's hundredth, or jubilee, journey outside the Vatican walls, and Mons. Ivan Mustać was at the head of the organisation of the meeting: "It was only the extraordinary effort of our late Archbishop Ivan Prenđa that brought about the Pope's coming to Zadar. He was insistent that the Pope should come to Zadar; he said: 'Let the Pope simply set foot on the territory of our archdiocese,' and that day also happened to be the thirteenth anniversary of his episcopate. In the end, the decision as to whether, and when, he would come to Zadar was made by John Paul II himself. The Pope decided to stay one day longer in Croatia and to come to Zadar on 9 June, on Whit Monday, the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church.  When we heard this we were overjoyed, and preparations then began even more intensively, especially once it was decided that the meeting would take place in the centre of the city. In his welcoming address, Archbishop Ivan Prenđa observed: "Today, here before you, we can bear witness to the fruits of the new evangelisation. We have an experience we can testify to: the faith preached by the apostles, handed down for almost two thousand years in our parish communities, which today we are deepening and passing on through the old and new ecclesial movements that Your Holiness welcomes and encourages. As the ecclesial movements grow, so too grows the faith of individuals, and families multiply who welcome life and in whom spiritual vocations are born." The atmosphere at the meeting was marked by the cheering of the great crowd of the faithful. The cries of "Pope, we love you" and "stay with us" still echo in the hearts of the people of Zadar to this day. It was our wish that the places closest to the stage should be given to our own faithful, that is, to those who take part in the Eucharistic celebrations in their own parishes. In short, we could all feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. Many families let us know that after their encounter with the Pope they were given children, after years of having none." Watching that magnificent event, one journalist remarked: "I have followed all the Pope's journeys, but this is something truly special. Everything is perfectly organised, everything runs like a flawless machine, or a well-rehearsed orchestra!" He was told in reply that Zadar was in any case known for its organisation, but that this time it truly seemed to have outdone itself! The Pope loves Zadar, and Zadar loves the Pope." Other media around the world commented on the event in a similar way.

Don Ivan held so-called classical pastoral ministry in the highest regard, but he also took part with great enthusiasm in promoting, in the parishes and in the Archdiocese, various ecclesial movements and realities:  "I did not come to know any ecclesial movement (beginning with the Charismatic Renewal) merely through books. Nor through discussion. But from within. As Pope John Paul II asked of all pastors – that they be close to the realities within the Church. In this way I experienced what St  Augustine used to say: 'For you I am a shepherd, and with you I am a Christian.' I have lived this experience ever since the small prayer group in Polača. In 1994, at the urging of Don Marinko Duvnjak, I listened for the first time to a catechesis of the Neocatechumenal Way. Once again this was a discovery that God had prepared for me. As a priest, this always helped me. It is no problem that people in a prayer community see even the weaknesses of their parish priest, but they also see his faith and his desire for conversion. After that, there was no difficulty in the faithful entrusted to me speaking sincerely, in confession, of even their most intimate sins, relying on the boundless Love of God. On the Way I experienced something new, something serious: that Christianity is lived, little by little, in a small community. I was glad  to see that every evening, in eight places, my parish lives, prays, receives catechesis."

After the Pope's visit to Zadar, in the very next year, 2004,  Archbishop Prenđa declared a Year of St Anastasia and a Year of the Family for the Archdiocese of Zadar, since the family is "the most fundamental, most burning and most challenging question facing the Croatian people and the Church. It is the first and most important path of the human journey, for man comes from the family and owes it the very fact of his existence. If a man lacks a family, a worrying and painful deficiency arises within him that will weigh upon his whole life", said the Archbishop of Zadar at the opening of the Year of the Family. The central pastoral event of the Archdiocese of Zadar that year – the archdiocesan family pilgrimage to Vrana under the motto "The Water of Baptism Flows Through the Family" – was held on Sunday, 19 September, with Mons. Ivan Mustać once again serving as organisational coordinator. It was a gathering of all generations, of parish structures and ecclesial movements, a display of colourful folklore groups, an "exhibition" of church banners, and a dignified, devout prayerful communion of 20,000 pilgrims from across the archdiocese. In his homily, Archbishop Prenđa spoke of the family as "the natural and proper setting for the normal development of the human person" and of God's plan for the family, to which God entrusted the handing on of the gift of faith to children, thereby fulfilling "the two marks of a healthy family: a cradle of life and a school of faith". The Archbishop called upon families to "cast off fear in the face of life, to remove the temptation of a life of ease at the expense of the sacrifice and love that make us more human and help us to progress, to drive out the scourge of abortion and divorce, which destroy peace of conscience and the happiness of families and of the nation, and to cherish permanence and fidelity in marriage".

Don Ivan's great care and dedication were directed, in a special way, towards young families, in whom he saw the renewal of the nation, the Church and society, and therefore hope for a better and more humane world. Ines Jednaković testifies to his love for young families and mothers: " As a young girl I had Christian values instilled in me regarding the living of pre-marital chastity. My mother passed this on to me. However, it did not seem possible or easy in practice. Thank God, I had the grace, at the age of 19, to begin attending catecheses and so entered the Neocatechumenal community.

It was there that I first came to know Don Ivan. My first contact with him was in holy Confession, which redirected my life in an entirely new direction. I can freely say that I received from him a treasury of great riches. And what was that treasure? His convictions about pre-marital chastity, mutual respect, love, fidelity, self-giving and forgiveness in marriage, and about passing on the faith to children and their Christian upbringing. 

Personally, I felt from him a careful pastoral guidance. He had a strong fatherly desire to help us young people be firm in our Christian decisions, unwavering in living them out, and uncompromising with the desires of this world. He watched over us, took us everywhere to World Youth Days with the Holy Father, rejoiced sincerely in the beautiful moments and wept with pain in the difficult and sorrowful moments of our lives. He loved to make us laugh with his irresistible way of telling jokes, but within ourselves we were always ready, at any moment, for his reproof. We felt that he watched us closely and worried over us. He always said that at night he could not sleep peacefully while young people were wasting their lives on the waterfront.

Whenever he met me, whether in the community or in town, he would ask me how I was. That mattered a great deal to him.  He was "not one to mince his words", very open. He was interested in how each of us individually was living our Christian relationship, but equally in how we were growing as a couple. He always encouraged the two of us together, and his face would light up whenever he met us. That was, for us, a most striking support. We knew that we could not "sit on two chairs". We also knew that we were called to be authentic Christians, that is, radical in living pre-marital chastity – something he always emphasised in a special way from the altar. We could see clearly the point of it. Don Ivan explained to us beautifully that in this way we are formed anew, we grow in love, we seek the good of the other, we guard the dignity of our bodies, and we cultivate the depth of our relationship with one another. And so shaped, we enter readily into all the beauty, but also the difficult times, of marriage. He always said of marriage that it was important for it to be a house built on rock, that is, on Christ. 

He rejoiced greatly at our wedding, and instructed us in living out married life. He was concerned about whether we attended the holy Eucharist regularly, for he knew that this was the fundamental and primary help in living out God's will. He always repeated that every husband and father must be a firm and steadfast Christian, the head of the family, gentle towards his wife, attentive in raising the children, and he called upon every wife and mother to be submissive to her husband's love, to care for him and the children with love, and to guard responsibly the "corners of the house".

What moved him most of all was the birth of a new child. To this day I have never met anyone who rejoiced so much over every new life! 

A pregnant woman beside him could always feel like a queen. On one occasion he said: " You know,  we can joke around, I can tell jokes, but beside a pregnant woman I feel smaller than a poppy seed. " With what joy he baptised children, gave them nicknames! I also remember how he wept when I had a miscarriage. That was my first pregnancy. It seemed that for him it was as great a loss as it was for us, but he did not wait long to comfort us with words of faith and hope. He told us then: "You will see: God will give you children, you will see,  for certain things, great things, years of waiting are always needed; be at peace, be patient,  do the will of God."

Those were roughly the last words I heard from him in holy Confession, before he ended up in hospital ahead of his death.  At the births I had after his death, I felt his intercession, his closeness and his care,  and, in the end, joy at each new creature. Don Ivan left  an exceptional impression upon us, an example of strict fatherly love, yet at the same time of gentleness, patience and tireless persuasion in all the truths of Christian life. I am certain that he watches over us from Heaven and that he has obtained many graces for us."

Mons. Ivan Mustać also served as President of the Organising Committee of the Meeting of Croatian Catholic Youth, held 8–9 2010 in Zadar under the motto "That your joy may be complete" (Jn 15:11), which drew together more than 30,000 participants, and at which he put to use all the experience he had gained from the World Youth Days with John Paul II and Benedict XVI, in which he regularly took part all over the world. Archbishop Prenđa had personally expressed to his brother bishops his wish that the youth meeting be held that year precisely in Zadar. A few months before the meeting, Archbishop Prenđa unexpectedly passed away. The first vivid and warm testimony written in the Book of Condolences was that of Mons. Ivan Mustać, the Archbishop's long-time closest collaborator and Vicar General. He recalls that the Archbishop had received him in 1960 at the gates of the Zmajević seminary, frightened, accompanied by his worried mother and his father, a seaman. The Archbishop said then to his mother: "Do not cry, from today I shall be both father and mother to him." Mons. Mustać gives thanks for the wonderful days of joy in the seminary, and recalls how, as seminarians, they were met each time by the Archbishop, as rector, at the station in Zadar. Don Ivan continues: " In his time the seminary was home to all of us. He would greet us at the door with the words, 'My dear boy, come in, will you be staying for lunch?'" Don Ivan notes: "We rejoiced when he was appointed coadjutor; like small children we ran into his embrace, and I, as the people of Zadar shout at matches, shouted 'Three-pointer, three-pointer!' – like a three-pointer in the very last second that decides the winner. He had no other ideal but to give everything for the Church.

As the master of ceremonies at Don Ivan's first Mass, Archbishop Prenđa used to repeat, "These are my boys!". Don Ivan continues: " We had the impression that he watched over us like a hen over her chicks, after the Archdiocese of Zadar had, in those years, lost numerous priests, seminarians and seminary students. The diocese began to receive new priests, and that was a great joy for him" – writes Don Ivan. The dedication and message of the young people that accompanies the anthem of the meeting reads: "Dear Father, Archbishop Ivan! In the moment when the young shoot of your life's vine drinks most intimately from the Father's vine of wine in Christ, the young people of the Archdiocese of Zadar give thanks for the wine of your love, which they had the grace to taste. That our joy may be complete. We dedicate to you the anthem of the Meeting of Croatian Catholic Youth in Zadar. To our beloved Archbishop Ivan – joy in the embrace of the heavenly Father is complete. Thank you, Father Archbishop, for having loved us. Your children".

The meeting began with a procession from the Forum to the Višnjik stadium. In this way the magnificent scene of the crowd of the faithful crossing the Zadar bridge, as had happened during John Paul II's visit, was repeated – that had been the favourite scene of the late Archbishop Ivan Prenđa, and it inspired the procession of the youth meeting.

Many people, from their balconies and windows, encouraged the young people and, in tears, greeted them with waving and singing. The young people arrived at Višnjik and had already set up the cross, while kilometres back on the peninsula there was still a mass of people, so that even an hour later there were still as many young people in the city centre as if the procession were only just setting out.

'We want the young people to see Zadar, but also for Zadar to see the strength of the young Church' – this was the wish of the President of the Organising Committee of the Meeting of Croatian Catholic Youth, Mons. Ivan Mustać, a wish whose realisation was also helped by 1,500 volunteers.

Mons. Mustać drew attention to the significance of the Youth Cross, weighing 115 kg, which was carried in the procession in turns by six young men: "but the girls want to carry it too, and they will take turns with the young men. We wanted the cross to be carried through the streets of the city as the hope of this generation. When we were young, we were told that God does not exist; this generation is told that they have no need of God. We, as Church, together with young people who are active and engaged in the Church – these young people and this gathering want to show Zadar a testimony of faith in Christ, who is the hope of mankind, who died and rose for us; the Christ in whom the young believe and whom the Church wishes to proclaim" said Mons. Mustać.

The last parish where Don Ivan served was the parish of St Anastasia in Biograd: "I am now in Biograd. Coming here was a challenge for me. I was sorry to leave the 10 communities in the cathedral. But I knew that God would take care of them. If it all comes from Him, it will not fail. Here I seem  to have calmed down a little, and I am once again enjoying the freedom of pastoral ministry. It will never be clear to me why we priests behave like spectators at a match. Yet we are called to play. Whoever has tried to play knows how difficult it is, and that one can make mistakes. The easiest thing is to do nothing."

Ines Grbić testifies to how greatly he loved his parishioners: "When I visited him in hospital in Zagreb on 22 December, even on his sickbed he was, above all, a parish priest thinking of his Biograd, grieved that, because of his hospitalisation, the people of Biograd did not have Mass every day for their departed. It was incomprehensible and moving to me that a man who could not get out of bed, and whose health, as he put it, was 'in a stalemate', was thinking not only of his parishioners – but of his parishioners' departed. 'In Biograd they were used to it, and always had a daily Mass for their departed, and now that is not possible.' That was Don Ivan. A priest to the end. In a message on 5 December he wrote to me: "Even if I survive, it will be hard for me to be parish priest of Biograd. I do not regret it – I know why I lived."

How he bore illness and suffering in his final months, he himself tells us: "I am entering a new phase of my life, and that is bodily suffering and illness, a heart operation soon awaiting me these days. I can be conformed a little to Christ the sufferer. Along with the fear that this operation brings, I feel "that the Lord is at my side, like a very brave hero". These days I would most like to withdraw somewhere so that I might taste intimacy with Christ. But I have so much still to do before I go."

"I ask forgiveness of all whom I have offended in any way. I forgive everyone. Especially the slanders levelled at me. When I was young I wanted to justify myself. Now I no longer do so. "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven," says Jesus.

God placed on the path of my life many wonderful people, for whom I lived, prayed, and strove to reveal the face of God, His boundless mercy. In that mercy alone I too place my trust.

God gave me a wonderful family. My parents. I love my brother, and he has always stood by me, as I have stood by him. Just as much, too, my sister-in-law and her children. They are grown now. I am glad to see that they have been raised in the faith. My sister Marija has long lived abroad. I have helped her as much as I could. I love her and her family too."

That was Father Ivan. Even then he did not think of retirement, but rather, if he survived, that he would continue to sail on as parish priest of some smaller parish: "What can be said in the end? For all my weaknesses, sins, failings. I have not failed. My life has had a deep meaning. I think I could have done so much, much more. Our sin always ruins God's plan for our life. Sin is truly an experience of death. That is why one day in grace is better than a thousand in sin. I repent of all the sins committed against the love of God. I judge no one, for I myself have experienced my own weakness. The priesthood is an inestimable gift of God, and without God it is impossible to live it rightly. Like St Philip Neri, I pray – "Watch over your Ivan, O God! For if you were to lift your hand from my head, your Ivan is capable of anything." My priesthood is the work of God."