ARGENTINA, Betti Iaria/org. On April 1st, the day the Original Shrine was entrusted to the Schoenstatt Fathers (represented by the Schoenstatt Fathers). Many asked themselves: Where is the Father Symbol for the Original Shrine today?” the symbol, given to the Original Shrine by Father Kentenich will someday take its place there, is on pilgrimage throughout the world at the request of Conference 2014 and with the desire of gathering around Father Kentenich so that “our family will be purified and will grow in unity to strengthen us in our mission at the service of the Church and of society.” In other words, so that covenant solidarity will grow within the Family as soul of the covenant culture. A few days after this historic day, the response arrived: the Father Symbol was in Bariloche, Patagonia, Argentina on that day.
On March 31st, Mabel Andrade and Aurora Mansilla took the Symbol from the Shrine of Comodoro Rivadavia. Father Javier Bonan, Pastor of Our Lady of Snow Parish, along with the Schoenstatt Family and people from the community welcomed it with prayers and songs. After the blessing, everyone went on pilgrimage before the Symbol that Father Javier held in his hands.
During the afternoon, it traveled to wayside shrines and Homeshrines (among these, it visited the Espinosa Family, Sister Rosario’s parents). In the evening, everyone went to the Parish of Saint Francis Assisi. After presenting the Symbol to the community, the pastor, Father Lynch, celebrated the Mass for Palm Sunday; then he gave a blessing to the entire Schoenstatt Family. Saturday night it remained in Betti Iaria the coordinator from Bariloche’s Homeshrine.
The Father Symbol – Sunday, April 1st
April 1st, Palm Sunday arrived. During the morning, the Schoenstatt Family went on pilgrimage with the Symbol and the Pilgrim Auxiliary from the Our Lady of Snow Parish to the Nahuel Malal Wayside Shrine. A group of mothers and missionaries welcomed them; they prayed the texts prepared by Argentina’s Commission 2014. At noon it was taken to the Immaculate Conception Parish, where at the request of the Pastor Jorge Pliauzer, they entered in procession with the Symbol after Communion, and it was placed over the tabernacle. They remained with it in prayer until the evening Mass for Palm Sunday accompanied by a group of Schoenstatters from Saint Martin of Andes. After Mass, Mr. Cesar Marina de Neuquén received the Symbol from the hands of the coordinator so it could continue its itinerary…
Attached forever
Most likely the Schoenstatters from Bariloche were not aware of what was happening on that same day in Schoenstatt… but, as of now, San Carlos de Bariloche, will be forever attached to the Original Shrine in a very profound manner. On October 18th, 2014 when thousands and thousands of pilgrims arrive and when the Symbol returns to the Original Shrine, the pilgrims from Bariloche will be greeted as those who had the Father Symbol in their wayside shrine on that April 1, 2012, in the Year of the Shrine current, when the doors of the Original Shrine were opened as we had prayed with great passion at the hour of the opening of the triennium …”
Celina M. Garza, San Antonio, Tx: English translation – M.P.Janknegt: English edit
