PARAGUAY, editorial team •
Few weeks remain in a Year of Fr. Kentenich celebrated within all the Schoenstatt Family in preparation for the 50th Anniversary of his death, 15 September 1968. A multitude of varied initiatives have emerged this year, in a year that is not just for memories, but also a call to personally and concertedly embody Fr. Kentenich’s person and charism in covenant. In Paraguay, the Year of Fr. Kentenich will close with the blessing of a statue in Tupãrenda. —
In the 2017 Pentecost Letter, Fr. Juan Pablo Catoggio, on behalf of all the General Presidency, tells us:
“Let us focus on our father and founder for one year: on his thinking and message, on his interesting and varied biography, and on the answers he has given to the challenges of the Church and the world and still wants to give through us today. This year gives us the opportunity to deepen our relationship with Father Kentenich, so that his charism can be reawakened in us. Let us invite many people to meet Father Joseph Kentenich for the first time or to rediscover him as a prophet of our time!”
Recalling this impulse, Fr. Martín Gómez, National Director of Schoenstatt in Paraguay, invited the country’s entire Family to participate in the statue’s blessing on September 15th:
As a Paraguayan family, we also want to place the father and founder in the center, we want to celebrate and express gratitude for the gift God gave us through his person, his charism and his mission. For this reason, during the meeting of the Central National Advisers we decided to extend the invitation to all the Paraguayan Schoenstatt Family to participate in the solemn blessing of Fr. Joseph Kentenich’s statue, which will be placed close to the Tupãrenda National Shrine on 15 September 2018. We want to gather as a National Family to have a celebratory closure filled with gratitude in this year dedicated to Fr. Joseph Kentenich. Concretely we invite you to the opening ceremony on Saturday, September 15, in Tupãrenda at 5:00, after which we will celebrate the Holy Mass, and then we will bless the statue of our Father and Founder.
Following and embodying Fr. Kentenich’s life example
Fr. Martín’s letter states,
“We invite you as of now to prepare yourselves and to spiritually conquer Father’s statue, carrying out abundant contributions to the capital of grace and to offer them for the intention and the request of all the International Family to pray for his prompt beatification.”
“This endeavor should motivate everyone of us more and more to continue and to embody our Father’s life example. We ask that you collect the capital of grace from all the communities so they can be offered on that day in Tupãrenda. We hope that this invitation will be broadly and fervently welcomed within the entire National Family. How beautiful it will be to gather as a family in our common home, the Shrine of Our Mother and Queen of Tupãrenda and along with her, to celebrate the gift of the person of our founder, whose mission encourages us to struggle every day, from the strength of the Covenant of Love with Mary, to make Paraguay that “Nation of God, Heart of America”, that we greatly desire!
Many people are already preparing to go on pilgrimage to Tupãrenda on that day. Bishop Francisco Pistilli, a Schoenstatt Father and Bishop of Encarnación will also attend.
Original: Spanish. 17 July 2018. Translation: Celina M. Garza, San Antonio, TX USA. Edited: Melissa Peña-Janknegt, Elgin, TX USA
