Fr. Joaquín Alliende Luco. “In March of 1963, I had the great opportunity of spending 15 days with the Father and Founder in Milwaukee. I had the task of presenting him with a possible apostolic tactic for Schoenstatt in Chile. Among other things, we strolled through the cemetery where he usually meditated. I spoke to him about a request for the Community of the Fathers to take the pastoral responsibility for the Shrine in Maipú (this Shrine is dedicated to the VIRGEN DEL CARMEN, Patroness of Chile, it is the National Shrine). I unfolded the reasons advisable for taking on this work.
I explained that it seemed to me that it was our responsibility to try to salvage Chile’s and Latin America’s Marian tradition, and to boldly project it toward the Church on the new shore. I explained that probably no other community would be interested in this work which was likewise traditional and futuristic. I also told him how interesting the service to a National Shrine would be for beginning to unite the civic forces in the Church…..in the sense of a Universal Apostolic Confederation (CAU). It was cold on the little winter roads of the Milwaukee cemetery. Father walked silently along my side. He would not interrupt. When I finished talking, he said to me: “You are correct in all that you have told me, but you are mistaken in your last item. Not only should the Community of Fathers work at the National Shrine, but also the Sisters of Mary and the entire Movement should cooperate with the Virgin Mary so that, more and more, She may be the Mother of the Chilean people…..”
