Building Site Original Shrine

mda. We will need new postcards, because the surroundings of the Original Shrine no longer resemble the photos and postcards of one, ten or twenty years ago. “After the renovations it will no longer look the same around the Original Shrine as the place where I had some of the deepest experiences of my life. How must it be for pilgrims to see it different from the postcards? One of my best memories is when I first came to the Original Shrine and said: It looks just the same as on the postcard, only much better, because now I can meet the Blessed Mother at the original place of grace.” Those were the words of Sarah-Leah Pimentel. Since 1 October there is a big sign on the construction site fence at the Original Shrine: Building Site Original Shrine. The long-planned, and even longer needed repair work began already on 30 September. It is connected with some changes to the grounds, which will create “more space” around the Original Shrine and allow pilgrims easier access to it, while opening up the view of the whole area from which in the next hundred years a wave of renewal will flow out – not just for the place, but for the whole world.

Queca Espinoza from Lima, Peru, remarked, “Almost a hundred years ago Fr Kentenich and the first Sodalists had a similar start”. They also changed this chapel – outwardly by painting and decorating it (sky blue with stars), garlands, statues and pictures, inwardly by “transforming it into a place of pilgrimage and grace”. In the course of a hundred years, first the Schoenstatters, then the Pallottines, made many changes. A new altar came in 1934, the chimney was removed, the bell changed a number of times, statues, symbols and pictures came and went, and around the Original Shrine trees were chopped down and re-planted, walls and hedges set up, signs fixed, and candle stands put up and removed. “Renovations and building work always create a lot of dirt and confusion,” wrote Melissa Janknegt. “Now the Original Shrine is more in the forefront and centre of our attention – the jewel in the crown, the source of all grace for us in the covenant of love. We are no longer tenants, but owners, with all the responsibility. What a wonderful gift to the Family for its jubilee! A more beautiful place not just for us, but for everyone.” “Around the Original shrine there have been so many changes in the last hundred years,” wrote Mary Cole, “but it makes us aware of what is important – the Original Shrine itself. Let us hope that the outward changes bring inner changes for us all.”

Strengthen the foundations

Building site Original Shrine! Arne Reichert and his construction firm APS from Vallendar, who has already worked on the renovations of the Covenant Home with expertise and empathy, is responsible for the renovations at the Original Shrine. The aim is that by the Jubilee celebrations in 2014 all that could damage the structure of the Original Shrine will have been removed. A lot has to be done. Rain and damp have penetrated the walls and foundations of the Original Shrine. Cracks and damage to the plaster became visible at the first survey. So it is necessary to open up the dangerous areas and stop the penetration of damp from below and the sides. Brother Richard, who for many years was sacristan of the Original Shrine, gave every help and advice, and showed what measures the Pallottines had taken in the last years to drain the area. “We simply live in a place where it rains a lot and often”, said Rector Egon Zillekens, a member of the administrative board of the Original Shrine. “The spray that hits the normal plaster on the walls, damages the plaster and the walls. We will now create a protection that will look good.”

I am thinking of the foundations of my life

The pictures of the long-planned and essential renovation work have triggered a lively discussion not only among the collaborators of schoenstatt.org. What can Rector Zillekens reply to the at times heated reactions? “I am very happy that the Original Shrine has become the focal point and has awakened so much interest. On the whole joy outweighs the protests, because we are preparing the Original Shrine and Pilgrims’ Place for the jubilee, and creating space around the Original Shrine.” One of the builders remarked this morning, “It looks as though it has been set free!”

“They are building here for centuries,” said Norbert and Bernadette Weweler, who took over as sacristans of the Original Shrine at the beginning of September. They were looking at the foundations of the Original Shrine that had been exposed and remarked, “I am thinking of the foundations of my life.”

Stones from the Original Shrine

From the first day there was a strong movement, if not a trend: Rubble and stones were collected from the places that had been opened around the foundations of the shrine. The Adoration Sisters were particularly zealous in carrying away the stones in bags. Norbert Weweler now has boxes prepared for the collectors, and even Rector Zillekens has taken along a number of stones – for pilgrims, for people who can possibly never visit the Original Shrine.

They make the Original Shrine tangible. Many think of the renovation of the roof over ten years ago and of the many bits of slate that found their way all over the world.

The last pieces became a symbol at the end of the Conference 2014, when the representatives of the countries received one as they were sent out again. At that time they had the longing, which they hardly dreamed possible, but which is today a reality: the Original Shrine “belongs to us” – as a jubilee gift from the Pallottine Fathers. Gifts are tasks.

You lead me out into the world … (Ps 18)

In connection with the renovations a number of changes are taking place around the Original Shrine. The huge cypress directly beside the Original Shrine has been cut back severely so that there is more light and air there. The trees that were planted more than ten years ago at the Heroes’ Graves – Nothing without you, nothing without us – were cut down so that everyone can see them and the Original Shrine from the Pilgrims’ Place. The gate at the back of the Pilgrims’ Place has been widened and will be re-built with the same stones from the old wall. The wall behind the Heroes’ Graves adjoining the Original Shrine, which is not so old, has been taken down so that the Original Shrine is now a stand-alone building.

Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance (Is 60,3)

Throughout the building operations the Original Shrine will remain open. Until 15 October it should all be finished and the Original Shrine “shine out as never before”. New outer plaster, which was immediately necessary, and of course a new coat of paint outside will complete the work. Then the opening of the Jubilee Year on the eve of 18 October 2013 can arrive, as well as the great pilgrimage from all the countries and continents on 18 October 2014. “We want to deal very carefully with our Original Shrine”, said Rector Zillekens. The walls of the Original Shrine are too precious to support loudspeakers, lights and candle stands. A testimony from the shrine in Tuperenda comes to mind. One of the men in one of the preparatory groups for 18 October said, “For us the Shrine is like a person. It is infinitely precious, it is alive. And we would never hammer a nail into a wall and fix anything to it.” Another point is being sought for the loudspeakers, and of course there will again be more possibilities to light candles. Spotlights will be sunk into the floor so that the Original Shrine can be lit up and shine out …

Simultaneity as a signal

Yes, we will need new postcards in Schoenstatt’s second century. And a new attitude. “The Blessed Mother is giving us a shove to go out into the world,” remarked Kohnie Valderrama in Madrid. The Original Shrine is the place where disciples and missionaries are formed, so that from there, as Francis has requested and demanded, they can go to the ends of the earth through the formative power of the covenant of love. So it is fitting that just in the days when the Original Shrine is renovated, a few thousand kilometres away in Asuncion the Original Shrines house in solidarity is being built – donated by a pilgrim from Germany. It will be one of the hundred houses for the poorest of the poor that is being built in gratitude for “our home in Schoenstatt”.

We fill the jars in the Original Shrine with our gifts

Since 23 June 2011 there has been a silent, but very effective, pilgrimage to the Original Shrine. The first pilgrim came from Bolivia. At this moment someone in Malaysia is entering the Original Shrine with filled hands. There have been far more than 6000 people until today who have come, some just once, others every day, like a mother in Paraguay who is constantly praying for her son to be let out of prison. They come via the “hotline to the Original Shrine” in schoenstatt.org. They send their thanksgiving and repentance, their self-surrender and longing; they send sickness, plans, diagnoses, letters, talks, disappointments, hopes, trust and the names of countless people. Saturday after Saturday their petitions arrive for the Holy Mass “on the way to 2014” and are placed in the jar. Quietly, almost unnoticed. When Rector Zillekens remarked almost by the way that Norbert Weweler had discovered the ancient fireplace and said, “We can put something in”, the idea was born: All the gifts that have come to the Original Shrine in this way will be put into this cavity on a USB stick and remain there forever as a living capital of grace for the open Original Shrine. If you want to join in, it will be open until Sunday.

Original Shrine Direct on the way to 2014 – “We fill the jars with our gifts”

Photo album 1 (Rektor Egon M. Zillekens)

September 30, 2013

Photo album 2 (Norbert Weweler)

October 2, 2013