For the victims and survivors of the violent act in Graz: Sea of lights and commemoration in Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral

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Vienna, June 11, 2025 – With candles, incense, music, and prayers, Caritas, the “Junge Kirche” of the Archdiocese of Vienna, and mourners commemorated the victims and survivors of the violent act in Graz on Wednesday evening in and in front of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. “I don’t know the answer to the question of why,” said Apostolic Administrator Josef Grünwidl, visibly moved, during the service organized by the “Junge Kirche” in the cathedral. “As long as I am on earth, I do not expect an answer from God – but I do expect him to give me hope and perspective,” said Grünwidl, quoting a Jewish scholar: “God is not the answer, God is the prospect.” The service offers help in the face of helplessness: symbols and gestures can express despair and anger where words fail.

“Many people in Austria feel powerless after this terrible act,” said Vienna Caritas director Klaus Schwertner in front of the sea of lights organized by Caritas on Stephansplatz. “In these hours, we want to send a signal of solidarity that shines to Graz,” Schwertner told Kathpress. The commemoration in front of the cathedral was intended to give young people, relatives, and friends of the victims the feeling that they are not alone, because the children had been robbed of their safety in the sensitive environment of school.

Time for tears and hope

In St. Stephen’s Cathedral, pastors from the Archdiocese of Vienna, identified by red vests, wandered through the aisles with boxes of tissues and invitations to talk. “Today should be a time for tears, but also for hope and solidarity,” said Steffie Sandhofer and Constanze Huber, who also provided the musical accompaniment for the service, setting the tone for the evening.

Accompanied by songs played on acoustic guitars and piano, visitors were free to move around the church, placing incense in bowls at stations set up throughout the building and lighting candles for the victims and their families. At the end, everyone joined in singing the song “Von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen” (Wonderfully sheltered by good powers) with lyrics by the Christian Nazi martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Many were moved by the lines “God is with us in the evening and the morning and most certainly on every new day.”