SYNOD ON SYNODALITY •
Shortly after Christmas, a German priest, Father Faulhaber, told me a precious detail about the Episcopal House of Bishop Michael Gerber, Bishop of Fulda, a member of the Schoenstatt Institute of Diocesan Priests. At Bishop Gerber’s request, and with his participation, the manger in the house was placed under a huge tent that was “widened” from one wall to the other, leaving only a narrow path to go from one office to the other. “‘Enlarge the space of your tent,'” the title chosen for the working document for the continental phase of the Synod on Synodality, motivated him greatly, and this theme, according to Fr. Faulhaber, will also mark Lent in the diocese. —
It is a very Schoenstatt theme, because on October 18, 2014, Fr. Kentenich said the key words that this Shrine should be a place of grace “for our house and for the entire German Province and perhaps even beyond”. From that moment on, Schoenstatt has had the tendency to go out (not only since the Jubilee of 2014, but always), to be universal, to enlarge the space of its tent. This is a tendency and a task that prevents any kind of self-sufficiency, any tendency to become a club, an island, or an oasis and less so something closed and exclusive. The title of the working document: Joy, gift and task for each Schoenstatter!
The Continental Synodal Assemblies
The high point of the continental phase has arrived: the continental synodal assemblies. We begin this Sunday with the Synodal Assemblies for Europe and Oceania. The Middle East will follow on February 12, followed by Asia, Africa, and Latin America at the end of March.
The websites of the different continental assemblies can be accessed through the portal www.synod2023.org . For the Assemblies of Oceania, Asia and Africa, it is also possible to subscribe to a special newsletter to receive daily information about the meeting. The European Assembly will offer a live stream of the sessions. Among the delegates of the larger movements, Maria Pelz, Family Federation, and Father Heinrich Walter will be attending for Schoenstatt.
Prayer vigil
In mid-January, the Ecumenical Prayer Vigil was announced at the beginning of the upcoming 16th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. The vigil is part of the initiative “Together, Meeting the People of God” promoted by the Taizé Community in collaboration with the General Secretariat of the Synod, various Vatican dicasteries and the Diocese of Rome. To find out more, visit the website (together2023.net). The logo for this vigil combines the logo of the Synod with the image of the tent.
Original: Spanish. Translation: Maria Fischer @schoenstatt.org
