Church – Francis – Movements Category

WYD2019, COSTA RICA, Maria Fischer • “You will see many young people when you leave the shrine,” commented Fr. José Luis Correa at the end of the Family Mass, at noon on January 17, 2019 at the Costa Rica shrine. In attendance are a family from Londrina who accompanied their son to the IGNIS meeting of the Boys’ Youth, a woman from Paraguay who is accompanying her daughter and a group of youth, men and women from the Movement in Costa Rica who worked hard right up to the lastRead More
WYD2019, COSTA RICA, Maria Fischer • 25 chalices for the hosts, but they are actually trophies that have been transformed into something sacred by skillful hands. 300 Sandwiches. I don’t know how many cups of coffee, tea, juice, and I have lost count of the bowls of salad. Thousands of calls to airports, tourism agencies, buses, Uber.Hundreds of moments of listening, laughing, praying, cleaning bathrooms and tables. The Costa Rican family surpassed themselvees in welcoming the young people who have come to the shrine. And they were still arriving onRead More
WYD2019, Costa Rica, María Fischer • 8:00 pm, on 14 January 2019, in Costa Rica’s shrine along with many members of the Costa Rican Schoenstatt Family, the preparation teams for the international gatherings of Schoenstatt Youth, IGNIS and Hinéni, and their advisers celebrated Mass in the shrine. In addition, they presented to the Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt— the last preparation details— the gatherings, and the youths that will participate. The gatherings began on Thursday, the 17th and ended with the sending forth from the shrine Mass, on Sunday, JanuaryRead More
WYD 2019, COSTA RICA, Maria Fischer • “We are always here to welcome the young people…” Cata Cabezas related. And they are— they were there greeting them, welcoming them, feeding them, giving them something to drink, preparing the shrine for their Mass, and providing them lodging in their homes (“Eight Brazilians in my sister, Daniela’s home, isn’t that great?”) They took them to sightsee and enjoy the local places of interest …and were there simply to be present to converse, share stories, inspire each other mutually with the real lifeRead More
THE POPE VIDEO, editorial team with material from ACIprensa On 8 January, the Holy See published the video with Pope Francis’ prayer intentions for January 2019, dedicated to the “evangelization of the youth and to work for peace.” As usual, this video can be found on Schoenstatt.org (bottom of the page) and we invite you to share it. In the video the Holy Father tells that “young people have, in the Virgin Mary, a reason for joy and a source of inspiration” and invites the youth of the world toRead More
WYD 2019, COSTA RICA, Maria Fischer • On that sunny morning filled with people hurrying serenely to get everything ready for the arrival of 600 young people to the Family of Hope Shrine in Santa Ana, San José, the “pure life” of joy, anticipation, and commitment is felt. Some young volunteers have already been here for a few weeks and several couples are preparing the house to welcome the young people to come. At the same time, the place is filled with the usual participants of two Sunday Masses: OneRead More
CHILE, Fr. José Luis Correa with material from iglesia.cl/Comunicaciones Rancagua • The different pastoral departments of the Diocese of Rancagua experienced a rich planning morning on Friday, January 4th, in the historic city’s Schoenstatt Shrine. A Schoenstatt Shrine at the service of the local Church – just like the two Schoenstatters who participated, Fr. Iván Guajardo (of the first Federation course of the Schoenstatt Diocesan Priests) and Ramón Galaz, from the Family Branch. The Diocesan Vicariate Ministry convoked a gathering attended by seventeen area ministries, to determine what each departmentRead More
Juan María Molina, Schoenstatt Fathers seminarian • In August, I returned to Chile with a question: what will continuing on the journey to the priesthood be like under these circumstances? It is clear that the reality of the Church in the world is not the best, but it is something altogether very different to be studying and living in the center of the storm… The first half of 2018 had me living in Germany at our community’s central house for a time of prayer and study. My seventh year ofRead More
WYD 2019 Panamá, press office• The Panamanians now have the official Popemobile to be used by Pope Francis during his apostolic visit, for World Youth Day Panama 2019. —   Thanks to the contribution of two businesses: Distribuidora David, who donated the vehicle, and Tri-Star Centroamérica was in charge of its design and the manufacture, Panamanian hands completed the Popemobile’s assembly. It’s an automatic transmission dual-cab Ford Ranger XLT with all the specifications the Vatican requested to ensure the Supreme Pontiff’s security and comfort. The Popemobile has an escalator, aRead More
SPAIN, edited with material from the archdiocese of Madrid and www.behakuna.com Last October 12th at the Vatican, Pope Francis received a gift:  the last project of Hakuna— a youth-led Movement within the Catholic Church born at 2013 World Youth Day in Brazil that has spread throughout all of Spain, accompanied by people from Opus Dei – called Hakuna Nativity Caravans: a project where Hakuna committed to accompanying refugees and immigrants during the Christmas season.— Hakuna Nativity Caravans has no other goal than accompanying those most in need.  As Pope FrancisRead More