KENTENICH COMMUNICATION, Cristina Tagle and Maria Fischer •
“You don’t know how happy the “Schoenstatt News” make me! It’s like falling a little more in love with Schoenstatt,” wrote Cristina “Kiki” Tagle, from the first Family Federation Course in Chile, on Tuesday 1 March after receiving the weekly Schoenstatt.org newsletter, compiled for many years by Monina Crivelli, a co-founder of Schoenstatt.org. Kikí is one of the almost six thousand recipients of this newsletter that every Monday opens the doors to Schoenstatt.org. Every Monday, she not only reads the news, but always mediates on them, compares them to her experiences and comments on them…
“It’s a beautiful testimony of how Schoenstatt.org touches the heart of its readers,” commented Tita Andras, from Vienna, after reading what Kiki has shared. “It would be good to share it as a story and testimonial account,” proposed Fr. José María García, and that’s exactly what we are doing.
“How can one not be thrilled to read that Fr. Alexandre Awi Mello, who we lovingly remember as the author of his precious book “She is my Mother,” is going to participate in the Madrimaná celebration in Spain, to honor the participation of the Blessed Mother as history’s greatest role model.”
The attachment with Costa Rica
“How wonderful what has happened in Costa Rica! The enormous work of Fr. José Luis Correa, who in his farewell mass in Chile, asked that we pray for vocations. And everything we read about Costa Rica…the arrival of the Fr. Kentenich’s picture and the growth of the Home Shrines in the neighboring country, their participation in Ireland,…how Schoenstatt is growing! How Fr. Kentenich is growing with his contagious faith in the Blessed Mother and the Shrine! –”
By sharing Kikí’s comment with the Schoenstatt.org team, Gonzalo Vega, from Costa Rica’s founding generation, felt compelled, in turn, to share his own personal experience with Kikí:
“Wonderful, wonderful Kikí … In Costa Rica we love and remember the Tagles with great affection.
Twenty years ago, their prayers and contributions to the capital of grace planted the roots of the Costa Rican Family, and a year before (2016) the purchase of the land and construction of the Family Shrine of Hope, five couples went to Bellavista to place a letter signed by those couples and Fr. José Luis Correa on the altar, asking the Blessed Mother to intercede in that step.
There we were, presenting and placing the letter on the altar, when the door opened unexpectedly and in came Guillermo and Kikí…and we saw this door that opened as a sign from the Blessed Mother to take the next steps. It was a moment of encounter…they also signed the letter. I am sharing the photos of that great heavenly moment!”
Living WYD with Schoenstatt.org
Kikí Tagle also mentions the WYD experience:
“Those Germans who came early to prepare themselves for World Youth Day. All the work that was done in Panama to welcome the visitors. We were able to follow every step of it... and suddenly you saw the Pilgrim Mother images. And the “San Francisco de la Caleta” parish with the Schoenstatt Fathers, what a beautiful job they did, welcoming and spreading the joy … how proud I am! Members from Texas also came to collaborate and provide motivation.”
In solidarity
“I was also saddened by the news of Fr. Michael Marmann’s death, who was so committed to the Movement, a witness to the reunification of Germany, the Superior to the Schoenstatt Fathers, a faithful son of Fr. Kentenich. Let me take the opportunity to tell you that I always take you to the Shrine … “, she says at the end of her email. Participatory solidarity …
“How can we promote this work (Note: reference to the MTA magazine) on the battlefield? Without doubt, by thinking and living in the spirit that comes from it; to reflect again on everything proposed and discussed therein; compare it with our experiences, draw the consequences and then speak about it openly with the leaders of the congregation. In this way, communication will remain objective and faithful to life,” wrote Josef Fischer, the first prefect of the Schoenstatt Marian Congregation, on 13 April 1916, several weeks after the launch of the MTA magazine. With these words, he was encouraging the other sodalists to become active, participatory users, to become people who allow themselves to be inspired by what is shared.
Three simple steps for a providential reading of Schoenstatt.org, a new MTA magazine, a reading that can capture the voices of the soul, life streams that are expressed in testimonies, stories, proposals, reflections, but above all real stories of real life:
- Think and live in the spirit derived from Schoenstatt.org
- Reflect on everything proposed and discussed
- Compare it with our own experiences
- Draw consequences
- Speak about it with other Schoenstatters, leaders…
In this way, as Josef Fischer said 103 years ago, communication will remember objective and faithful to life.
Thank you, Kiki, for doing this, week after week.
Thank you for encouraging others, we hope, to do the same as you.
Original: Spanish, 7 March. Translation: Sarah-Leah Pimentel, Cape Town, South Africa
