USA, Angie Santos. For the second time, the Houston Family came together to celebrate their Family Day, on Saturday October 27th. Mainly by himself, Alex Quintana, who is now in the Schoenstatt Father’s seminary in Paraguay, mainly organized the first one. The Leaders’ Circle, which was recently formed followed all of his ‘good directions’ and wondered how he was capable of doing all of it last year, organized it this time.
Baby steps
The Movement in Houston is very young, and still small, but the Schoenstatt Fathers have made it a priority to form leaders and help it grow. Two of them, Father Jesus Ferras, and Father Patricio Rodriguez visit regularly. The Sisters also visit once a month, especially Sister M. Mara, who drives long hours to visit Houston and many other Texas cities, where there are groups of girls and young women. The Fathers come to serve the Houston Movement and other cities from the state capital, Austin, where five Schoenstatt Fathers now live. For more than fifty years, the Schoenstatt Sisters have been in Texas, at Lamar, close to Corpus Christi. Schoenstatters from major cities like San Antonio, Dallas, and of course Houston, dream that some day they will send some Sisters to live in their city, where the growth potential of the Movement is huge.
Father Jesus attends the Leaders’ Circle meetings and is making sure the leaders receive training on how to form and lead groups. There definitely is life, families, pilgrims, groups, and the Rosary Campaign, so it is important to form them and organize the Movement in this big city that is so diverse and so spread out.
Sharing as a Family
Family Day was held in St. Cecilia Catholic Church’s beautiful parish hall; it was a gorgeous day. The room was arranged with flowers, Schoenstatt flags, and a banner with the new Schoenstatt Houston Logo. Father Jesus conducted much of the day, welcoming everybody and introducing the next activities. Some of the most active leaders shared their experiences and how the MTA is working her miracles. A delicious lunch was served, and that was a great opportunity to meet and network with other people. Father Patricio, Sister M. Mara gave the talks and John Goetschel, talked about Schoenstatt’s mission. There were also group meetings, and it was very difficult to get them to stop and return to the main halls, the conversations were that good! The event ended with Holy Mass.
There are immense challenges ahead, distance, language barriers, diverse cultures, but there is clearly a call from the Blessed Mother and Father Kentenich to share the culture of the Covenant of Love with many hearts.
