Posted On 2013-02-05 In Schoenstatt - Reaching out

“To take the Word with your own children is something truly magnificent”

Maria Fischer Feb 05, 2013

ARGENTINA, Guillermo Elcano. In this article, Alejandro and Maricé, along with their children Maria and Gabriel, relate the experience of going on mission as a family. As was previously reported in El Diario and other local media outlets, on Saturday, January 26^th to Friday, February 1^st, the Family Missions of the Schoenstatt Movement visited several neighborhoods close to Saint Peter’s Chapel. The special way the mission was carried out caught the attention of a large part of the community; that is, going on mission as a family with their own children and with the children of other couples. A total of eighty-eight carried out the large task in Coronel Pringles announcing the Word of God as a family, listening to the needy brother/sister. There were gatherings for children and youths, talks for parents and Masses celebrated by Father Javier Arteaga, National Director of the Schoenstatt Movement, who accompanied the mission along with two seminarians.

We were also enthused to go on mission

El Diario conversed with one of these missionary families composed of Alejandro Maria Minvielle, his spouse, Maricé Marletta and their youngest children Maria 15, and Gabriel 14. Although the family is larger since “we have three other children, who are adults 29 and 28 years old, who did not come to Pringles, but they have been on mission before”, Maricé related. And it is because of these adult children that “we came to mission; they carried out the missions first and the enthusiasm and experiences that they saw were so profound, they enthused to us also go on mission.” This is the fourth mission in which these parents have participated.

As for the Family Missions, they have been carried out for fifteen years and this date coincided with a celebration that they celebrated in Coronel Pringles last Tuesday. Maricé related that two of the founding couples of the Family Missions and their children are a part of this mission in the city.

A way of living the faith

For this missionary mother, “to mission as a family is something wonderful because of the experiences that one has” and “to take the Word with our own children, is truly something magnificent,” she stated decisively.

Alejandro related that it is difficult to transmit this experience. It is a way of living the faith in a very complete way. To be able to share the faith with our children and to transmit it as a family is very rare for the people, because we are accustomed to see youths who go on mission or groups of adults or religious; but the fact that a fifteen year old youth rings the doorbell with their parents is something wonderful,” he proudly expressed.

Like a large family

Alejandro related that “to be a mission parent, we came with our biological children, and at the same time, we had been previously assigned to more children. In this mission, we are seven couples and approximately seventy youths, who are divided among the mission parents.” This is how the family of life is formed.

But the mission is not only for the outside, for the neighborhood or the community, “because we go on mission internally and externally,” Maricé explained, clarifying that “in the internal mission (of life) it is much more about the bonds among ourselves; and then we have another family, that we call a mission, the one with which we go on mission,” Alejandro added that “generally, our own biological children are not with us; they go on mission with other parents,” this occurs so that “everyone can bond with each other,” Maricé added, “like a large family and we live like a large family,”

Vacation with God

When many families or youths are on vacation, they enjoy the beach or swimming pool, but not these families. We asked Maria if all this time is part of their vacation time, she responded saying “yes, in a way we chose this, and we could have said no, but it is something that clearly helps us also and it is good for us. And as much as we are a family during the year, at this time the family bond is stronger, that is why we are here and we chose to do it.” Maria said some very strong words that many of us should take into account: “We are on vacation; but we cannot forget about everything we do during the year, nor can we be on vacation from God.” She finished saying, “that it is a way of remembering this and of living it more fully.”

A very strong community

Alejandro and Maricé used this outlet to stress the “openness that Father Ernesto has shown since the first moment there was a possibility of coming. We were surprised by the dynamic of this parish, which is very large, with many families, youths, elderly people, and with much joy. The Mass of sending forth was truly a celebration. Sometimes it is thought that the Mass and all the Catholic activity is boring, with too much protocol, that it is for a few; and here we found ourselves like being at home because generally we are very rowdy.” They also expressed that “they were surprised by the generosity of the people of Pringles, of the town, of how they were welcomed in their homes, of the parish community, how they organized themselves to feed us, to wait on us. In this mission, all the families could go out. They found mattresses for us when we are accustomed to sleep in sleeping bags. This was a luxurious mission. All of us were pleasantly surprised by the good will of the people and the generosity of the people. Father Ernesto has a very strong community, they assured.

Faith shared as a family

Those who shared in the gatherings, talks or were visited in their homes by these families agreed about the humility of all of them and of their kind treatment, the attentive listening, the tender and sincere words, in the family unity. And that despite everyone’s common problems and those of all the families, it is possible to live as a family and for the family through the faith shared as family.

Article published in El Diario of Pringles in its edition of February 1, 2013