Church – Francis – Movements Category

“No somos laicos por omisión, por no haber decido ser sacerdotes, monjes o consagrados. Somos laicos por vocación”
SPAIN, Narcís Vidal, from the Apostolic Movement of Schoenstatt, Tarragona • A few days ago, I was invited by the diocese to participate in a congress for the laity in Madrid with a main theme: “The First Announcement”. — I must confess that my expectations were very low because of the reality around me. Accustomed to lectures full of ideas and desires where one then has the impression that it can come to nothing, or what is even worse, with rigid and strict concepts where one can hardly see theRead More
Sant'Egidio en Ucrania
NEWSLETTER OF THE SANT’EGIDIO COMMUNITY • I received the newsletter on February 22nd, I read it on February 24th, the second anniversary of the beginning of the war against Ukraine. Sant’Egidio, this young Movement from Together for Europe is in Ukraine, it is doing in Ukraine what Schoenstatt cannot do there, simply because it is not in this martyred country. With the permission of Sant’Egidio (of course, as they wrote to me) we share this newsletter in covenant solidarity. — Two years after the beginning of the war in Ukraine,Read More
Misión Juvenil La Plata
ARGENTINA, Lilita and Carlos Ricciardi • From January 27 to February 4 of this year, the Archdiocesan Youth Mission of the Archdiocese of La Plata for young people aged 14 to 25 took place in the city of Villa Elisa (14.7 km from La Plata) under the motto “Let us proclaim greatness in its simplicity”. — We learned about it through the announcement made by Father Guillermo Khidir at the Sunday Mass in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish. At the end of the service, we asked him how weRead More
Alegria en la diversidad
THE POPE VIDEO, editorial team • In The Pope Video for January, Pope Francis encourages us “to recognize the gift of different charisms within the Christian communities, and to discover the richness of different ritual traditions within the Catholic Church.” The Holy Father’s intention becomes a moving appeal: “There is no need to fear the diversity of charisms in the Church.” — Christians need to understand and live “the gift of diversity in the Church.” This is the powerful prayer intention that Pope Francis shares in the first Pope VideoRead More
Belén 2023
HOLY LAND, Maria Fischer • “And our heart tonight is in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace continues to be rejected by the losing logic of war, with the roar of weapons that also today prevent him from finding an inn in the world (cf. Lk 2:7),” Pope Francis told us on Christmas Eve. Not only our heart, I thought. Also our name. Our names, sent during Advent (or already before) to the monks of Dormitio Abbey in Jerusalem, who, as they did years ago, wrote these names on aRead More
Parroquia Buen Pastor
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, Father Jean Marie Bisimwa Isaac • Father Jean Marie Bisimwa Isaac is the superior of the community of the Schoenstatt Fathers in Congo and the pastor of the parish of Bon Pasteur Kalundu. They are three Schoenstatt Fathers who have been working in this parish in eastern Congo for three years, taking care of the parishioners and the construction of the first Schoenstatt Shrine in this country. We asked: How is the construction of the Shrine being lived in the parish?  — The Schoenstatt Fathers arrivedRead More
peregrinos hacia el santuario
MESSAGE OF POPE FRANCISCO • On November 11, in the Paul VI Audience Hall, the Holy Father Francis received in audience the participants in the Second International Meeting for Rectors and Collaborators of Shrines, organized by the Section for Fundamental Questions of Evangelization in the World of the Dicastery for Evangelization, under the theme: “The Shrine: House of Prayer. On the way to the Jubilee 2025”. — In the lists of shrines in general or Marian shrines in the world, Schoenstatt shrines are not found, although some of them –Read More
La Famiglia di Schoenstatt e la Famiglia Pallottina unite in preghiera sull’altare di San Vincenzo Pallotti
ITALY, www.sac.info • The Pallottine Family was happy to welcome the members of the General Presidency of the Schoenstatt Family for a Holy Eucharistic celebration at the altar of St. Vincent Pallotti, on 8th November 2023.  — The Holy Mass was presided over by General Superior of the Secular Institute of the Schoenstatt Fathers, Fr. Alexandre Awi Mello. Fr. Alexandre Awi Mello was the Secretary of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life from 2017 to 2022, and hence his presence was significant all the more for the members ofRead More
WORLD DAY OF THE POOR, message of Pope Francis • “When speaking of the poor, it is easy to fall into rhetorical excess. It is also an insidious temptation to remain at the level of statistics and numbers. The poor are persons; they have faces, stories, hearts and souls. They are our brothers and sisters, with good points and bad, like all of us, and it is important to enter into a personal relation with each of them.,” we read in Pope Francis’ message. This message, at this time ofRead More
HOLY LAND, Maria Fischer • “I carry your name to Bethlehem in the Holy Night”: what the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of Dormition in Jerusalem have been doing for many years on the Holy Night has a special touch this year. In this Christmas marked by hatred, violence, and unimaginable suffering, they will carry the names of people from many nations and languages to Bethlehem. — “We are witnessing in these days a violence against children, women and men that can hardly be expressed in words. In deed andRead More