ECUADOR, Erika Cedeño •
The Schoenstatt Family Work 2017, CIOFG17 Ibero-American Congress will take place from September 7-10 in Guayaquil, Ecuador, with the motto: “With joy, families reaching out.”
This Congress will bring together 170 couple delegates from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Germany, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, the United States and, Uruguay who along with forty-five advisers from different communities of the Schoenstatt Family work will be welcomed to this warm land. The Congress seeks the unity and strengthening of the family from the ideal and mission, assuming the ecclesial challenge posed in the Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, and inspired by the Santa Maria Letter that Fr. Kentenich wrote to the Schoenstatt Family.
This desire came about in Philadelphia, USA (2015), when several Schoenstatt couples and advisers participated in the gathering with the Holy Father, and they saw how essential it would be to share the present reality and promote an up close and real encounter among the different communities that would allow them to inspire, support, share, and show the many projects and apostolates that the Church and the world needs today.
Sharing Fr. Kentenich’s vision
Delegates from several countries, convoked by Fr. Jose Luis Correa and Sr. Elizabeth Parodi (Schoenstatt Continental Coordination), met in June 2016. They agreed that they would offer daily motivational and multiple workshops, where they would share those experiences and projects from the Father and Founder’s vision that will help them face the challenges of the present-day family and plans for its future needs. The workshop presenters from different countries belong to all areas of the Schoenstatt Family Work.
The Ecuadorian Family enthusiastically takes on this challenge, because they have placed their smallness in Fr. Kentenich’s hands. Fr. Kentenich consecrated them on the paten the day before his departure to meet with the Lord.
More details about the Congress are provided on the website: www.ciofschoenstatt.com (spanish only)
Original: Spanish. 5 August 2017. Translation: Celina M. Garza, San Antonio, TX USA . Edited: Melissa Peña-Janknegt, Elgin, TX USA
