18 November 2024 · 2024-11 newsletter
I was very privileged to be able to visit the original Schoenstatt again this October. This visit came about at the suggestion of another of my fellow ‘pilgrims’ who had made her membership consecration in Schoenstatt in 2014 and wanted to renew it now 10 years later in Schoenstatt. As Edna and Agnes Aldana and myself had also made our life membership consecration at that time, we were invited to go along.
It was originally planned that we would not only renew our commitment to our membership consecration on the 15th October, but also stay in Schoenstatt for the celebrations on the Foundation Day – 18th October and the celebrations of the Jubilee of the Crowning in the Adoration Church on 20th October. However, as it turned out, only Zenny Custodio (Mothers branch), her husband Gil and myself were able to stay for these celebrations.
What follows is my reflections on these celebrations and what this meant for me personally.
Firstly, let me share with you my joy when I found out that the house I was staying in (along with my fellow pilgrims) was Schulungsheim – the house ‘on the mountain’ where Father Kentenich lived from his return from exile on 24th December 1965 till his death on 15th September 1968. It was also a blessing for us that we further found out that Sr. M. Olivia, our ‘newest’ Australian Schoenstatt Sister was working in the guests dining room and also in this house was Sr. M. Emilyn, Sr. Charito Maria and Sr. M Emmylou, our Filipino Sisters. So it was truly a bit of our Australian/Filipino Province here in this house.
The celebrations for the Foundation Day – 18th October, began with a solemn Mass in the Pilgrims Church and Sr. M. Emilyn had organized a car for us to go to the celebrations. This was also a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the centenary of the Covenant of Love in 2014, which had been a moment of great importance for Schoenstatt and the whole Church, and you could feel that sense of excitement from all those who had been in Schoenstatt in 2014.
The sisters responsible for the pilgrims are much more aware these days of the language difficulties for those who don’t speak German, so we were quickly given headphones by Sr. Miriam (the sister responsible for the English speaking pilgrims) so that we could hear a translation, especially of the homily.
During the Mass, the celebrant, Father Lothar Herter, recalled the 75th anniversary of the “31st of May”, a “milestone in Schoenstatt’s history”. Among other things, he recalled that Schoenstatt’s founder, Father Joseph Kentenich, had made a point to offer Schoenstatt’s spirituality at that time as a response to the essential needs of the times, which are also very relevant today. “If the sacred is missing in our world, people lose their home and their centre,” Fr. Herter said.
It was a real blessing for me to realise that I was actually in Schoenstatt on this day, 10 years after celebrating the Centenary of Schoenstatt here in 2014 and it made me think about all that has happened in our Schoenstatt family since that time, and also the impact those celebrations had on me.
The church was beautifully decorated with many Pilgrim Mothers on display. During the Mass, the First Reading was read in English by one of the Filipino ladies we had previously met at the English Mass in the Shrine on the Tuesday evening. She also read the Prayer of the Faithful along with another lady who read in German.
After the Mass we joined our Filipino Sisters, along with some of the Filipino community that we had met on the Tuesday evening at the English Mass (another great experience having Mass in English in the Original Shrine and for me to be able to do the Reading during the Mass. Zenny read the Prayer of the Faithful, so these Filipino people were very generous to us).
One of the great joys is the people you meet unexpectedly and the experiences they share. For example, while in the line for lunch in the Pilgrims House, a lady heard us speaking English and the first question we were normally asked is, where do you come from?”. People were always amazed when we said from Australia – “you came all that way” was the usual amazed response. This lady told us she had been in Milwaukee during her university days and had stayed in Waukesha. She shared some of her experiences with us.
It gives you a real feeling of ‘being at home’ when people – whether they can understand you or not, do their best to make you feel welcome and included.
In the afternoon there was the International Covenant Hour which again took place in the Pilgrims Church. It was great that again, Sr. Miriam had provided us with the headphones so that we could hear all this in English and really feel included in the celebrations.
Fr. Ignacio Camacho, who conducted the Covenant Celebration program, mentioned the “110 years of the Covenant of Love” on this day, bringing to mind the great jubilee of 2014 and the jubilee “75 years of May 31, 1949” as important events this year. The date May 31, 1949, recalls Father Kentenich’s efforts to draw the attention of the German bishops of that time to the dangers of mechanistic thinking. His proposal to overcome it through “organic thinking, living and loving” was not understood by the Church at the time.
The three-day celebrations at the Bellavista/Chile shrine in the spring of 2024, with 1500 participants and the commemoration of May 31, 1949, were shown by means of a video recording, as well as a witnessing of one of the sisters who had participated in these celebrations. She shared her insights from these days.
In reflecting on the Jubilee of 2014, we saw another short video and a former 2014 volunteer from Paraguay, recounted how she experienced her nine months of volunteering, during which she was able to help prepare for the Jubilee in Schoenstatt together with 20 other volunteers from 10 different countries. The main experience for her was the feeling of belonging to an international family. Even today, the volunteers from this time maintain a “close contact” with each other.
When she thinks of the jubilee, the first thing she remembers are the many beaming faces and the joy of those who had longed to come to the Original Shrine for so long and had finally arrived. “We, the generation of 2014, still carry this fire within us, this privilege of having been here, in Schoenstatt.” But from this also comes the responsibility to spread the fire. I think all of us who had been at the 2014 Jubilee celebrations could relate to what she said and consider for ourselves what those experiences meant for us, both then and now. I know that whenever I hear the hymn, “Your Covenant Our Mission – ….We are your Family”, it recalls to my mind the experiences that we shared with so many people during those days of blessing in 2014.
At the end of this International Covenant Hour, we then processed to the Original Shrine to renew the Covenant of Love and to ask for the Holy Spirit for the whole world. Sr. Emilyn suggested we grab the Australian Flag, but someone had already taken it, so we just went along with the crown, glad that at least Australia was represented.
As it was raining lightly, many had their umbrellas up, but we had not been forward thinking, so hadn’t brought our umbrellas. I had “lost” Zenny, Gil and Sr. Emilyn along the way and so was standing alone at the side of the shrine when one of the sisters whom I had gotten to know during my last few visits to Schoenstatt, came over and offered to share her umbrella with me. At the end of the celebrations, there was the usual burning of the contributions to the Capital of Grace which for me encapsulated the symbolism of what the Covenant of Love is all about – “nothing without you, nothing without us”.
As we were staying ‘up on the mountain’, Sr. Emily was trying to arrange lifts for us to get ‘home’.
In the meantime, I had met another sister that I aware of where I was staying. She offered me a lift in her car so our problem of transport was solved.
For me, this had been a great way to conclude this day of Covenant celebrations – a day of sharing experiences, of sharing friendship (both new and older), sharing an umbrella with someone I know, and being offered a lift from another person I had gotten to know over the years. This not only made me feel that I was indeed part of the Schoenstatt family, but that I actually had people that I could call by name in this family. This symbolised for me that Schoenstatt is not only a family, but that like all ‘extended’ families, some people we know better than others, but all are part of the family.
The next day, Saturday, was the eve of the 20th October, the day, when in 1974, the Schoenstatt Family celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of Schoenstatt’s foundation (1914-1974) and crowned our Mother Thrice Admirable in the Adoration Church as Queen and VICTRESS of Schoenstatt. At that time, our MTA was given the new title of Victress of Schoenstatt, expressing the victory of Our Lady in bringing our father home from the 14 years he spent in exile.
As a prelude to these celebrations, on this Saturday evening, we were invited to a Cantate in the Adoration Church in front of the Crowned picture of our MTA. This was a program of songs and hymns of praise to Our Lady sung in various languages and with different accompaniments.
For me, (I might have been a bit bias), but the most moving was the Magnificat hymn to the Immaculata sung in Vietnamese by the sisters in Sister Olivia’s course (which includes 2 Vietnamese sisters, a Brazilian, an Austrian and an Aussie). Although I had no idea what they were singing, the harmonies were wonderful and quite different from all the other songs.
At the end of the evening, Father Bernd Biberger, Director General of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary and member of the General Presidium, spoke a few words and then gave his priestly blessing. The evening ended with a singing of our consecration prayer, in ENGLISH, which again for me, was a symbol of the awareness of the universality of our Schoenstatt Family.
As Sr. Emilyn and Sr. Charito Maria were officially on holidays, it was suggested that when we got back to Schulungsheim, that we needed to do something to continue the celebrations. We decided to “celebrate” with ice cream – which we did! Thus, the day ended fittingly with joy, laughter and friendship, and we know that ‘grace builds on nature”.
The Sunday morning we were out bright and early to attend the Holy Mass in the Adoration Church where Father Biberger was the celebrant. As there was also a Holy Mass in the Pilgrims Centre later that morning for those attending the Movement Conference, there were probably not as many people as might otherwise have been at this Mass.
During his homily Fr. Biberger spoke of the importance of the crowning in 1974, and again referred to some of what Bishop Tenhumberg had said at that time and also the relevance of this crowning for us today. I have to admit that although Sr. Miriam had again been very thoughtful in bringing us the earphones so that we could hear all that was said in English, I don’t really remember much of what Fr. Biberger said. I was caught up in the whole celebration and its impact on me rather than taking in words.
I was once again caught up in the grandeur and size of this Church. If you have been to the Adoration Church, then I am sure you will know what I mean. It tends to remind me that God is not only a loving and generous Father, but He is also a God of might and power and majesty. However, I still feel comforted within this Church as if it guards and protects you.
While it was again a celebration of the Jubilee of the Crowning of Our Lady in the Adoration Church, as Queen and VICTRESS of Schoenstatt, it was I think rather ‘low-key’ because of the National Movement celebrations that were also taking place at this time. However, as I couldn’t be at our Jubilee celebrations in Mulgoa (which I had initially attended in 1974), I was pleased to have been here in the Adoration Church 50 years later to join in these celebrations.
As Zenny and her husband Gil were leaving after the Mass, I had the afternoon to myself. I was leaving the following afternoon so took a walk down to the Original Shrine one more time. As there was Adoration in the Shrine, I thought this was a fitting way for me to conclude my time at these Covenant weekend celebrations, and to give thanks to Our Blessed Mother, to our father and to all those who had helped make my time here in Schoenstatt so blessed and special.
Original Schoenstatt will always have a special place in my heart as I will always think of it, not only for the many places of grace, especially the Original Shrine, the Founder Chapel, the Adoration Church and the many other places in and around Schoenstatt. But for me, it is not just the places, it is also the events that I have been very privileged to take part in over the years, and especially the many people I have met and in some cases have come to know personally. It is truly for me a home, a place of grace and a place of blessing, which I hope I can share with others.
I would like to conclude with a special ‘thank you’ to Sr. Elizabeth who through Divine Providence, was in Schoenstatt during part of our time here. She was able to take a week’s holiday to be with us. She also organized some special things for us, such as having the chalice that was our Women’s Group gift for the 2014 Jubilee Celebrations, used at the English Mass in the Original Shrine on the Tuesday evening; having us invited to attend a Mass at Mount Moriah (the home of the Diocesan Priests Institute – to which Fr. Denis belonged). This Mass was special in that it was celebrated at the Dachau altar – the same altar that the priests used in Dachau. Sister Elizabeth also organized for us to visit Metternich – the home of Sr. Emilie and the Mariengarten. And she managed to get us transport to these events which made things so much easier.
I can only conclude with the words, which I feel appropriate: “Loyalty for loyalty, love for love” Adsum.
Shirley Hall
Women’s Branch
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