ENGLAND, Fr. Bryan Cunningham/mkf. “In the year 2000 the Schoenstatt movement in England and Wales gave this shrine as an invitation to Our Lady of Schoenstatt to make her home among us. Following the ancient tradition of the national shrine in Walsingham we prayed that this shrine could become a new Nazareth for the new millennium”: two simple and significant sentences in the invitation for the 10th anniversary of the Shrine in Kearsley, Bolton, near Manchester, summarizing history, mission and future of the first Schoenstatt Shrine in England at the eve of its 10th anniversary, to be celebrated October 3.
The Shrine was blessed October 1st, 2000. The highlight of celebration of the anniversary on Sunday 3, 2010, will be the Holy Mass presided with Rt Rev Bishop Mark Davies and Very Rev Anthony Kay VG. Before, “10 years of amazing grace” will be remembered. The Schoenstatt Family of England will receive the visit of the Father Symbol for this occasion. The Father Symbol, that already visited several countries on its world pilgrimage in preparation for the centenary of the Covenant of Love in 2014 – such as Puerto Rico, Hungary, Poland, Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia – will be in England for two weeks. Different groups have the chance to welcome this symbol to their group meetings. A meaningful brochure with texts on the triennium of preparation for 2014, the Conference 2014, the world pilgrimage of the Father Symbol and its history has been published in order to help prepare for the important visit.
The prayer of the Schoenstatt Family in England is that the next ten years will bring us the grace of vocations and increase the number of families and youth who find their spiritual home in the shrine.
