Germany Tag

Josef Bamberg
GERMANY, Renate Siebenkäs •  Today, on the Fourth of Advent, we look with the whole Church to St. Joseph. Quite wrongly, as it was said today in the Holy Mass in St. Hippolytus in Troisdorf, so often portrayed as an old man or unworldly baroque. Whoever is looking for a representation of St. Joseph that shows him dynamically and as a man, father, and craftsman, will find what he is looking for in the Schoenstatt shrine of the Bamberg diocese on the Marienberg near Scheßlitz. And here, a few weeksRead More
Exerzitien
GERMANY/SWITZERLAND, Melanie and Ulrich Grauert • From the 27th of November to the 01st of December it was time again. Finally! Silent retreat for leaders with Fr. Michael Hagan of the Schoenstatt Fathers. The business year was slowly ending, the budgets for the coming year were more or less finalized, the forces were once again strained in the final spurt towards Christmas, and this short time out from Sunday evening to Thursday noon came just at the right time. — You could just about cut yourself out of the denselyRead More
Synode
SYNOD ON SYNODALITY • On August 5, 2022, the German Bishops’ Conference published its report on the preparation of the 2023 World Synod of Bishops. The three-year global preparatory process for the Synod of Bishops, which opened in Rome in the fall of 2021, addressed the national level in the first phase. — The results of this diocesan synodal process are being pooled in the bishops’ conferences in these weeks and passed on to the Vatican. “In our journey towards a #ListeningChurch, we should take today’s reading as an opportunityRead More
memhölz
GERMANY, Renate Walser /M. Fischer • “You never leave so completely something of me stays here…” One cannot help but think of this song by Trude Herr when reading the report written by Renate Walser, the new house director of the “Haus der Familie” in Memhölz, Germany, about the farewell of long-time house directors Gertrud and Norbert Jehle on January 30, 2022. — Renate Walser has already started the new job as house director on December 1, 2021. “Briefly about my person: I am a native of Upper Allgäu andRead More
mein platz
Elke Karmann, Germany • When I read your article “I want everything …”, I thought: How beautiful that someone is writing what is also burning on the nails of many of us Schoenstatters. I, too, have followed with interest the German Synodal Way and the documents prepared for it, especially with regard to women, and I was able to follow most of the discussions and votes of the third plenary assembly of the Synodal Way – thanks to the Internet. As a Schoenstatter, I was especially pleased that Bishop GerberRead More
Zukunft
M. B. Oelschner, Germany • I want everything / I do not want to be a spectator / I want to do something myself / And always know why / I will not give in / I want everything. This old song by Gitte (album: Ungeschminkt, 1982) comes to mind as I reflect on the voting results of the German “Synodal Way” on women’s priesthood issues: In their final document of the “Synodal Way,” about 81 percent – both lay and bishops – voted in favor of women’s priesthood, andRead More
P. Juan Pablo Catoggio en Costa Rica
COSTA RICA, Fr. José Luis Correa Lira, Lourdes Rosabal • “I think he went back to Germany, very happy for all the life he experienced here”, commented Fr. José Luis Correa about the recent visit of Fr. Juan Pablo Catoggio, Superior General of the Institute of the Schoenstatt Fathers, to Costa Rica, where he was with a full schedule between January 8 and 12, 2022. — Father Juan Pablo presided at several Eucharists in the Shrine: the same day of his arrival in San Jose, dazzling by the quality ofRead More
Frauenbund
SCHOENSTATT, Press Release of the Schoenstatt Women’s Federation • During the days of 27.12.2021-8.1.2022 the Chapter of the International Schoenstatt Women’s Federation took place. 25 representatives from 7 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Puerto Rico) met and deliberated on the most important matters of the community. The meeting took place in a hybrid format: some members were able to be present on the spot in House Mariengart in Schoenstatt, Germany, while most joined via video conference – a new experience. — A community in the process ofRead More
Tränen des Petrus
Maria Fischer • “And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly (Mt 26,34)” How many times do cocks have to crow for him to finally come to his senses and admit that he has made mistakes?, asks a good Catholic friend, horrified, angry, disturbed in view of the Munich abuse report and the statement of Cardinal Ratzinger and not only him. — When will he finally weep, when will the Church finally weepRead More
Kentenich Buch Urteil
GERMANY, Maria Fischer • Not only in Brazil are the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary fighting with legal means – against the city of Santa Cruz do Sul and large parts of the Schoenstatt Movement because of their plans to sell the Schoenstatt grounds and shrine and the planned demolition of the latter – but also in Germany before the courts. Namely for the omission of certain statements in a book that has long since been published and translated against the historian Dr. Alexandra von Teuffenbach and the Bautz publishing house.Read More