mkf. “To live passionately for God and mankind;” with these words which are the motto for the centennial celebration of Father Kentenich’s ordination which concluded on June 20th at 8:00 P.M. – said Cardinal Claudio Hummer – “the legacy to the Church ” from Father Kentenich can be described. The prefect for the Congregation for the Clergy said precisely: “We all need this passion of love in the modern challenges of society in order to be joyful Christians today. The openness of the secular world for God and the Divine does not happen primarily through thinking, but through that love which is ready to go the way with Christ.”
Last Sunday, June 20th, with a Pilgrim Church filled with more than 1,700 persons, Cardinal Claudio Hummes – accompanied by Bishop Stephan Ackerman (Bishop of Treveris), his auxiliary, Bishop Jorg Michael Peters, Bishop Felix Genn (Bishop of Munster) as representative of the German Episcopal Conference and more than two hundred priests from all continents – presided at the solemn Holy Mass which was accompanied by the youth choir of the Limburg Cathedral where the centennial anniversary celebration of Father Kentenich’s ordination was commemorated.
A priestly life which had repercussions on many men and on the Church
The prefect for the Congregation for the Clergy, responsible for all priests of the Catholic Church, highlighted that Father Joseph Kentenich “for decades he attentively dedicated his concern to the pastors of souls and founded several communities of priests. His entire work was aimed at renewing the Church. This impulse is identical with the intentions of the Second Vatican Council, which took place during the final stage of his life.” The Cardinal thanked the Schoenstatt communities of priests for their active collaboration regarding the Year for Priests which concluded last week and convoked “men and women, priests and laity in this Church” to work together so that “the Church becomes a family, a family which offers a home and shelter.”
“The event which we celebrate today,” said the Cardinal, “is also a sign of the degree and with what fruitfulness our Lord Jesus Christ took the Servant of God, Father Joseph Kentenich, into his service. His priestly life had an impact on those who belong to his spiritual family, but also further afield.”
A life which extends until today
The ample program which preceded this solemn Eucharistic celebration gave witness to the fruitfulness of his life.
In the morning, there were testimonies and speeches from very diverse persons – a Sister of Mary, a family, priests, youths, a philosophy professor, an area leader, a person with a degree in social pedagogy – regarding how Father Joseph Kentenich has become a model and how his spirituality is an inspiration for having a coherent style of life and work.
“When I, as a pastor, take very personal care of someone,” said Fr. Armin Haas who from infancy has been fascinated with the idea that a man, with all his humanity, can be a “transparency of God” like Father Kentenich, “it seems that suddenly he is mysteriously present in me.”
“Aha, so now you are the dear God for me,” said a fourteen year old girl to her mother after a deep conversation on God, the world and life. And she understood: yes, in a certain way, yes. And the Church is in the center of the home by means of the Home Shrine, the place where the family prays, the place where they also celebrate and invite their friends. Father Kentenich calls it thinking, living and loving organically.
The area leader of Rin-Erft – to which Gumnich belongs, the place of Father Kentenich’s birth – Mr. Werner Stump, guides himself in his daily politics with the strength of faith and in Father Kentenich’s rectitude; Brigitte Wacker develops, from the pedagogy of attachments which she learned from Father Kentenich, organic concepts in the guidance of addicts and their families: these are only two of the many testimonies which were shared today on how one learns in the school of Father Kentenich to live and work passionately for God and for mankind.
This passionate love for God and men is also reflected in the eyes of a young Cuban priest who not long ago sealed his Covenant of Love. He is in Schoenstatt for the first time and hopes that soon in his country the first community of Schoenstatt priests will come forth. He captures the atmosphere of the place – he understands nothing of the program which was planned totally in German, and he leaves the church. Outside, he mixes with the spontaneous festivity taking place and with priests from Peru, Chile, El Salvador and Argentina, with Italian youths and youths from other places…..they talk about how they are on pilgrimage in their lives following the footsteps of Father Kentenich.
The morning concluded with a prayer for priests which was composed by the Schoenstatt Families Work.
The principle of reconciliation
During the afternoon festivity – in which the Viergeteilt quartet from Montabaur was presented – Dr. Michael Hochschild from Paris, a professor of diagnostic contemporary history spoke in an auditorium filled with many personalities and some six hundred participants on “The principle of reconciliation,” referring to the contribution, perhaps surprisingly actual, of Father Joseph Kentenich to the challenge of the twenty-first century to “create bridges between God and the world, between the emotional and the rational, between the individual and the community, between the past and the future….. looking at Father Kentenich, also speaking on the complementation of the German and Latin cultural traditions. It means learning more and more for the future, and learning from the experiences which rupture. Perhaps it could be said that with Father Kentenich it is about trying to create, with Mary, gentle and loving bridges.”
Bishop Felix Genn who represented the German Episcopal Conference gave thanks for the commitment and the testimony of life from the Schoenstatt Movement. He stressed the broad vision of this festive encounter with the Church’s Year for Priests. The priestly life of Father Kentenich is an expression of fidelity to Christ and to the priesthood as a sacrament of the presence of God. The mayor of Koblenz, Prof. Dr. Joachim Hofmann Gotting, returned in his words of greeting to the topic of the conference and appealed to the respect for creation and the commitment to the dignity of man.
Parallel to the festive activity, there was a great quantity of prayer offerings, personal blessings, guided tours, conferences and testimonies.
Priestly conference
As finale to the centennial celebration of Father Kentenich’s ordination to the priesthood, an international conference for priests took place in Schoenstatt until June 23rd. 250 priests from Burundi, Nigeria, Kenia, South Africa, Chad, India, Australia, USA, El Salvador, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and from various European countries participated. One of the culminating points was the Eucharistic concelebration with the president of the German Episcopal Conference, Bishop Dr. Robert Zollitisch. This was on Tuesday, June 22nd in the Adoration Church. (This news will be published separately)
Documentación
Translation: Carlos Cantú, Schoenstatt Family Federation, La Feria, Texas USA 062910
