That the solidarity houses and solidarity can continue

mda. “That the solidarity houses and solidarity can continue.”  This was one of the 10 “dreams” for the future of Schoenstatt.org expressed during the its council planning meeting in Madrid at the end of January.  Since May 2013, the “100 houses” solidarity project has become an endless narrative of personal stories of solidarity – and not only for the eight Schoenstatt.org planning team who couldn’t stop telling each other the best stories – in that there are now almost 150 houses donated in covenant solidarity with the poorest families on the outskirts of Asunción. It is also an expression of covenant solidarity with Pope Francis.  In mid-February, another seven houses were built.

Various obstacles, including torrential rains, hampered access to these “open country” areas, so it was only two weekends ago that it became possible to build more solidarity houses that reflect the wide diversity of this jubilee project.

South Africa finally has its first solidarity house!

The donor wanted it named after the “original shrine” of South Africa, the first shrine in Africa, which today is possibly also the “most humble and poorest shrine” in South Africa, the Cathcart Shrine.

Marriage is a shrine. A couple that has been married for 50 years is a shrine filled with grace for many.  In the year of the Synod on the Family, a family on the margins of Asunción received a roof over their heads, a home, thanks to the donation by a German couple on their golden wedding anniversary.

The Internationality Shrine in Bocholt, Germany, now joins daughter shrines all over the world who already have their solidarity house.  “The Original Shrine, Belmonte, Bellavista are there,” commented one of the Schoenstatt.org team members, “as are all of the shrines in Switzerland and Australia, also so many national shrines, the central shrines of the Schoenstatt Fathers, the Institute of our Lady of Schoenstatt, the men’s branches, the family branches.  But there are many more that are missing, such as Milwaukee, Nueva Helvecia, the Tabor Shrine…Let’s see who will donate their solidarity houses!”

When a shrine ceases to exist but still lives on

There is a solidarity house from the pilgrims of Dinslaken, Germany, and another given by the founder of the Prayer-Rally for Pope Francis.  And Pope Francis – to whom all of the solidarity houses belong because they are a gift to him – now also has a house with his name, given on 17 December, his birthday, in gratitude for the books with the message of the Jubilee Audience published in five languages…the house had been given while the preparations were underway to print the books.  When the house was built, the books had already been delivered in Chile, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, South Africa, Portugal, Guatemala, England, Argentina, Paraguay, Russia, Spain…

There are shrines that stop existing.  This was the case of the “cell shrine” in a prison in Hamburg.  It ceased to exist with the release of the person who asked the Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt to come down and extend her graces among the prisoners.  This shrine “lives on” in the form of a solidarity house house built on the outskirts of Asunción….giving a family a home, forever.

We continue

Despite wet roads, the brave team of “solidarity builders” in Asunción continue building – donations for a further five houses are on the way: “If tomorrow you can send me what you have, I thank you because as always, ‘I cast my net into nothingness’ and have already ordered material to continue building the houses,” wrote Ani Souberlich, who in addition to everything is ironing clothes to give to the families of “our houses.”

The Hirschmugl company in Sittendorf, Austria, will soon have two more solidarity houses in the name of its office shrine, the corner of the company dedicated to the Blessed Mother and her Son, a place where business decisions are made, where place where work conversations with clients and collaborators take place, both about the products but sometimes also about faith, where Mass is celebrated and where people who are passing by can pray…

A house will be built in “solidarity” by two families in Germany and Italy, who together donated the 200 euros still needed to build a house, with a great part of the material donated.  And another house is simply a “Thank You.”

100 houses

The initiative to build 100 solidarity houses emerged from a small group of Schoenstatters committed to Schoenstatt.org who were looking for ways to express in deeds the covenant in solidarity that they sealed with Pope Francis on 31 May 2013.  In the context of the Jubilee year, the private initiative of a part of this team to create basic infrastructure in the heart of Paraguay for houses that could continue to be built for its beneficiaries, guided their decisions to give – the support of friends and acquaintances – Pope Francis 100 basic houses for 100 families who live in extreme poverty, as part of this covenant solidarity with him.  These will be the living memory of this covenant of love with Pope Francis and something that will remain as a concrete symbol of the Jubilee of the 100 years of the Covenant of Love.  The solidarity houses carry the names of daughter shrines, home shrines, work shrines and heart shrines.  They are the expression of the “jubilee step” that motivates us to go out from the shrines towards the existential peripheries to “sanctuarize” (using Pope Francis’s word) the world.

Original: Spanish. Translation: Sarah-Leah Pimentel, Cape Town, South Africa

Our Shrine is present

For Giro Payment

Ana Esperanza Souberlich Martinez
N° de cuenta: 7.0175419/0
BIC UBBRPYPX
Banco Itaú Paraguay S.A. Asuncion
Paraguay

For Giro Payment within SEPA (Europe)

A. Souberlich/M. Fischer

IBAN DE08400602650062268615
BIC GENODEM1DKM
Reason for payment: Protective Roof

Ask here for Information for money transfer via Moneygram

Address for more information or other ways to transfer money: donar@schoenstatt.org

This project is a jubilee project of the “schoenstatt.org dreamteam”, friends and visitors of schoenstatt.org and our jubilee gift to Pope Francis.

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