ARGENTINA, Claudia Echenique. The Sion of the Father Shrine in Florencio Varela is 17 years old, and at every annual celebration the altar is filled with more priests since the community of Schoenstatt Fathers in the region continues to grow. This year there were 4 Nigerian priests, who are working in the region to gain experience working with the Movement, in order to increase the Schoenstatt Family in their own nation in the future.
A growing community
“Father’s Region” has 30 members spread among Argentina (15), Paraguay (8), Italy (5), Nigeria (Father Andrés Rodríguez) and Germany (Father Ángel Strada). There are 19 seminarians and 8 novices on the way. Deacon Pablo Pérez will be ordained as a priest on April 30th and this year there will be two other ordinations in Paraguay for Pedro Marhalles and Pope Pereira.
The community from Villa Ballester organized the celebration this year, the large choir was one of the most outstanding things.
A commitment with the Shrine
In the homily, the Regional Superior, Father Juan Pablo Catoggio, mentioned that “at the beginning of the triennium toward the Schoenstatt centenary celebration, Providence has surprised and given us the Original Shrine, through the steps taken with the Pallotine Fathers. It was a surprise gift that demands our commitment with the Shrine just as the Founding Father demanded of the sodalists, whom he included in his dream and his faith in 1914.
This calls us to renew our first Covenant of Love and to take our place in the nearest Shrine and to also take our place in the Original Shrine. Since all of us are etched in the heart of the Blessed Mother and we are protagonists of the Schoenstatt history since always”.
Father Juan Pablo invited each one to “take up the Founding Documents again, to meditate on each phrase and to apply it to the present time, not the past. Today, it is Father, who is telling each one of us and he is proposing it. Let us meditate on it in the Shrine. Each one will give his response in his family, in his work, in his apostolate, in the nation”.
12 by 12
“12 for 12”, 12 vocations for the year 2012, is the challenge that the Fathers of the Region have assumed and they invite everyone to join with prayers for vocations.
In his homily, Father Juan Pablo posed a panorama to everyone that was as challenging as well as fascinating. “Vocations grow and will continue to grow, as you continue praying for them. This year we will have three ordinations! Each course has increased. Presently, there are 28 novices – one classroom of the school! We are praying for 12 novices for 2012. It is easy to remember: 12 for 12. Will it happen? Do not worry about the fulfillment of your desire…I love those who love me. (Founding Document, p.32, 11) The growth of vocations everywhere makes it necessary to have a novitiate every year. After 2012, course 2013 will begin.
Madness, yes. A bold thought, but not too bold for you… (Founding Document, p.31, 7). If the Queen sends us vocations she will also send the necessary resources. She has always done it, why not now. The Father knows very well what we need…does not worry…prove to me with deeds that you truly love me. How simple, and at the same time, how enormously demanding and difficult!
We, Fathers, cannot do it alone, we cannot do anything without Her, our wonderful Queen and we cannot do anything without you. Nothing. Will you join us? Will you make it your idea? Help us – to pray strongly for vocations. A madness today, when the priests are not precisely at their moment of glory or of fame, but for this reason, when it is more necessary than ever for God to grant us holy, human and weak priests, but holy through the grace of God.
We want to be protagonists of a new October 18. With the boldness of the Father and Founder”.
Playing a leading role in this moment of Schoenstatt`s history
During the offertory, Father Paul, a Nigerian priest, brought the crown to the altar, Bebi and Hugo Gómez, a couple from the La Loma Family and the parents of Fathers Beltrán and Martín Gómez, carried the bread and the wine.
After the Mass, all the priests were greeted by those who attended. The celebration continued with a shared lunch around the Joseph Engling House and it concluded in the afternoon with Adoration and Eucharistic Blessing.
Everyone returned home with the resolution to meditate and to embody the Founding Documents determined to accept the challenges that Father Kentenich has proposed to each one of us to be protagonists at this moment of Schoenstatt history.
Photos
Translation: Celina Garza, San Antonio, USA
