mkf. It is one of the greatest challenges for which the Mayen-Koblenz District and the community of Vallendar should be prepared for during the next three years, and which the District Administrator, Dr. Alexander Saftig, and the Mayor, Fred Pretz, who accepted this challenge along with the Schoenstatt Movement agreed. The challenge is called 2014, and on the afternoon of February 23rd while the meeting in the City Hall was emptying slowly, one might have thought that an hour of the Covenant culture had just been experienced.
First an informal meeting of the leader of the district, Dr. Alexander Saftig with the members of the local Schoenstatt Commission and Team 2014 took place in November. Then it was clear: Team 2014 wanted to work with the competent authorities of the city, municipality, and district right from the start, even in the first stages of planning by relinquishing to parallel institutions. The region also received the clear signal that the district, the city, and the community would assume the celebration of the centenary of Schoenstatt as their own.
Here and only here, now and only now
On February 23rd, Dr. Alexander Saftig welcomed the representatives from the different institutions, jurisdictions, agencies, organizations and businesses in the meeting room of City Hall – from emergency care for catastrophes, police, businesses related to transportation – as well as representatives of the local Schoenstatt Commission, and Team 2014 to the first information meeting. A little over fifty people attended; after the welcome by Dr. Saftig and Mayor Pretz, they received -from Team 2014 for the first time- a response to the questions: Why are thousands of people coming from all the continents to Schoenstatt-a place that from a strictly geographical point of view is inadequate for events of this size- and why are they arriving at the same time, on October 18, 2014? For the theologians the answer is: because then and only then and here and only here do the sacramentals of the place and time coincide. For the athletes: because this is when the World finals will be played not the elimination games in some country or some place. For the strategists: because another day or other place does not exist as a unique and ideal point. What will happen on October 18, 2014, will never happen again and never in another place. And for this “here and only here, now and only now” of October 18, 2014, we need three years of advance planning for a general concept for lodging, a general concept for mobility, a general concept for provision of food, a general concept for security and authorization in order that all of this will be secondary so that the primary focus on October 18, 2014 can be experienced as a grandiose time for Schoenstatt and the world.
Where will everyone be housed and what happens if…?
What was thought or made concrete during the following hour left some “future visions” of colorful afternoons that seemed like child’s play: strengthening the railroad lines, making Vallendar a pedestrian zone for four days, marking all the highways, information centers at the airports, converting regional sports arenas into community centers, making the business area of Vallendar a “celebration mile”, making the lower floor of City Hall the center of operations. And they outlined some possible logistical contours of the jubilee: the Schoenstatt houses will be destined for personnel and personalities, the participants of the celebrations will be housed in area lodgings preferably in hotels, guest houses, hostels (there are 25,000 beds available here) also according to need, they could be housed in community centers or in family homes, basically arriving by railroad lines that already exist in Vallendar and to going on pilgrimage through the city toward Schoenstatt – “And since then, each family who lives on Hellenstrasse, should wave a flag to welcome them,” said Fred Pretz.
This afternoon no decision or concrete plan was made, but work can begin. On October 27, 1912, during an initial conference, Father Kentenich said, “I am convinced that we can contribute something useful if everyone participates,” and it could be that at the close of this afternoon in the meeting room of City Hall looking toward 2014, the “yes” full of joy may become a “why” and “together we will begin a great work and together we will carry it out”.
Translation: Celina Garza, San Antonio, USA/ Melissa Janknegt, Elgin, USA
