Posted On 2013-06-26 In Original Shrine

There are days that become historic: May 22nd 2013

Fr. Javier Arteaga. There are days that become historic.  May 22nd, at approximately ten o’clock in the morning, a group of Schoenstatt Fathers was gathered in Zion when we received an email with the extraordinary news that the Pallottines had donated the Original Shrine; the email indicated the link to the Pallottine website in Germany.  We searched the page and it said:  “The Pallottine Community gives the Schoenstatt Movement the pilgrimage chapel in Vallendar-Schoenstatt for the jubilee year 2014.   It was decided by the Provincial Assembly, the community’s highest decision-making body, during its session on May 22, 2013, in the provincialate of Friedberg, Bavaria.  Along with the chapel, the donation includes the adjoining pilgrims’ square.”  Telephone calls followed immediately to confirm the great news.  It was true:  the Original Shrine was ours.

The news spread throughout the world with a great wave of joy, awakening immense gratitude to God and to the Most Holy Virgin within the Schoenstatt Family.  In many Shrines, the bells rang out announcing the great news, and many received it with tears in their eyes.  The Original Shrine was finally ours.  It is a miracle.

It is necessary to know the history

For the purpose of history:  in 1965, when the Founder returned from exile, while he was in Rome and at the request of the Holy See, there were meetings among the Pallottines (the owners of the Original Shrine) and the Schoenstatt Movement, about the use of the Shrine.  A compromise was reached that Monsignor Wissing, the Schoenstatt leader, would name a Pallottine priest as rector of the Shrine, and a Schoenstatt Father as rector of the Movement of the People and Pilgrims, and that between the two, they were to agree about the use of the Original Shrine.

But the afternoon before signing the agreement, the General Father of the Pallottines went to see the Founder and Father, he was very concerned, because he was in a very difficult situation considering that by signing the agreement it would take away the Pallotines’ right to designate the Rector of the Shrine, a right that belonged to them according to their constitution.  He considered this as interference of an outsider that would create a serious problem in his community.  The Founder and Father replied that Schoenstatt did not want to take away any right from the Pallotines, he only wanted free access of the Shrine, so if the General Father committed to respect this right, he would commit that the agreement would not be signed.  The Pallottine General Father was very satisfied with the Founder’s words.

Then, Father Kentenich spoke with Monsignor Wissing and with Monsignor Tenhumberg, the Schoenstatt representatives in the conversations with the Pallottines; he presented the situation to them, and he asked them not to sign the agreement.  Monsignor Tenhumberg expressed his doubts to Father Kentenich that this commitment with the Pallottine General would be fulfilled, to which Father Kentenich replied: “All right, I assume that responsibility.” However, despite the Founding Father’s generous gesture, times of alienation and misunderstanding continued.

Someday…

Father told his collaborators that the reason that he acted this way was that he did not want conquerors and conquered in the problem surrounding the Original Shrine, since sooner or later, we should be able to work together.  It was advisable that there be no open wounds, so that later, a more fraternal relationship would be possible.  According to his vision, it could happen in the future, when there were new generations of Pallottines who were not a part of the conflicts with Schoenstatt, which they would give up the Original Shrine since it did not mean anything special to their life and their mission.  This is what happened on May 22nd, after forty-eight years.

Our contributions

We still have to clarify what will happen with the access roads to the Shrine, the parking space, the sacristy and the formalities of transfer that will make the ownership of the Original Shrine concrete and definitive.  Surely you ask yourselves:  What can we do to collaborate?  Is it sufficient to say “thank you” and to say a prayer?  As I wrote in the Covenant Letter in February, ultimately, I believe that now more than ever, our “contributions” to truly possess the Original Shrine should be:

First offer capital of grace: the Original Shrine will definitively be ours when we “conquer it” with our offerings of love in solidarity.

Second make an effort toward fraternal Family unity: the Original Shrine will be our “common home” if we live in the Covenant Love among ourselves.  Let us grow in fraternity and generosity, let us set aside absurd ambitions and power plays, and foster unity, sincere dialogue and work in common.

Third develop a Covenant culture: following Father Kentenich’s example and that of the first Schoenstatt missionaries, let us offer the Covenant of Love, let us establish attachments and build bridges among men/women and of men/women with God.  In this year of faith and of mission, Pope Francis convokes us to be an open and pilgrim Church:  let us present the message of the Covenant of Love with Mary and let us be builders of “Covenant culture”.

Dear brothers/sisters, I am sure that today Father Kentenich would again repeat Goethe’s words:  “What you inherited from your fathers, you must earn in order to possess.”

Original: Spanish. English translation: Celina M. Garza, San Antonio, USA

Fr. Javier Artgeaga is National Director of Schoenstatt in Argentina. The text is taken from his “Covenant Letter”, June 2013

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