PARAGUAY, II Congress of the Latin American Centre for the Protection of Minors, press release • “I am among you, because the first step of this penitential pilgrimage is to renew my plea for forgiveness and to tell you from the bottom of my heart that I am deeply hurt. I feel called to take responsibility for all the evil that some priests, many of them, have done. Because of the sexual abuse of children, and in the face of this outrageous evil, the Church kneels before God and begs
Read More PORTUGAL, Lena Castro Valente • At the beginning of 2022, an article of mine appeared on schoenstatt.org about the establishment of an Independent Commission commissioned by the Portuguese Episcopal Conference to investigate the abuse of children by priests, pastoral workers, scouts and others “in the life and work of the Church in Portugal over the last 50 years.” A year has passed and, as promised, the Independent Commission has submitted its report to the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP). — On February 13 of this year, in a press conference, the
Read More ABUSE IN THE CHURCH, Roberto M. González • At the beginning of March, Pope Francis presents us with a new video with this month’s prayer intention; he calls on the universal Church and each individual Christian to pray for victims of abuse. — What specifically is the Pope asking of us? He asks us not to be silent when abuse happens, in whatever form. Let us remember that there is not only sexual abuse, but also abuse of conscience, which is the beginning and symptom of other forms of abuse.
Read More SYNOD ON SYNODALITY • On August 5, 2022, the German Bishops’ Conference published its report on the preparation of the 2023 World Synod of Bishops. The three-year global preparatory process for the Synod of Bishops, which opened in Rome in the fall of 2021, addressed the national level in the first phase. — The results of this diocesan synodal process are being pooled in the bishops’ conferences in these weeks and passed on to the Vatican. “In our journey towards a #ListeningChurch, we should take today’s reading as an opportunity
Read More Fr. Jaime Vivancos, Spain • I have been a Schoenstatter since I was 22 years old. At that time, I moved with my family from Valladolid, the city where I was born, to Madrid. Shortly after arriving in Madrid, I joined the student youth who met at the Schoenstatt Center on Calle Serrano, where there was no Shrine at that time. — Since then, I have had an experience that I can describe without hesitation as wonderful and that has helped me renew my faith to the point of considering
Read More Stefan Becker, Boys’ Youth Trier, Germany • “But I must also express gratitude to those who are not yet alive, to those who are coming. Yes, what will Schoenstatt become if the coming generations are not seized and permeated by the same spirit as we are? Doesn’t this have to remain the law in the Family for all times: Each generation must conquer Schoenstatt anew.” This is a small part of an address by Father Kentenich. He said this on August 11, 1935, in the context of his Silver Jubilee
Read More Maria Fischer • “And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly (Mt 26,34)” How many times do cocks have to crow for him to finally come to his senses and admit that he has made mistakes?, asks a good Catholic friend, horrified, angry, disturbed in view of the Munich abuse report and the statement of Cardinal Ratzinger and not only him. — When will he finally weep, when will the Church finally weep
Read More Brazil, Fr. Matheus da Silva Bernardes • The text published by the Schoenstatt General Presidium on the official schoenstatt.com website on 10 March 2021 is in keeping with the tone of previous texts, that is, the absence of constructive self-criticism and the complete inability to emphathize with victims of abuse. – Just when we thought that all of the issues around Fr. Joseph Kentenich, the founder of the International Schoenstatt Movement, were beginning to calm down, the emergence of new situations show that the matter is far from closed. This
Read More Editorial schoenstatt.org, Maria Fischer • “Out of respect for the possible victims” and “the Schoenstatt Movement, a great movement that is spread throughout the world, with a very large footprint at the service of the Gospel,” Dr. Stephan Ackermann, the Bishop of Trier — the diocese where the Original Shrine is located and the headquarters for the International Schoenstatt Presidium, where the process for the beatification of Fr. Kentenich is in the diocesan phase — has adopted “a wider focus over the process […] “after debating with academics in various
Read More BRASIL, Luciana Rosas • Following the reaction to the article Abuses in Schoenstatt: a topic to be discussed I realized that it is very important to give continuity to the topic and the debate, creating more knowledge, awareness, and empathy. This third article Understanding more about Spiritual Abuse, the last in a series of three articles, will examine some of the characteristics of abusive systems so that we can identify situations of spiritual abuse and help and empathize more with the victims who have suffered abuse. The goal is that with a
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