WORLD YOUTH DAY LISBON 2023, Maria Fischer • Following the invitation of Pope Francis, “Queridos Avós“, Dear Grandparents, an initiative of the Schoenstatt Family Movement in Portugal, launched the “Grandparents’ Initiative for WYD23” to create a strong prayer chain of all our grandparents and the elderly for WYD: they can join in prayer for their “grandchildren” who are working, volunteering or participating in this great upcoming world event! — The initiative of Schoenstatt Portugal has been taken up by WYD and has also been shared on the social media of
Read More ARGENTINA, P. Darío Gatti • On June 4, 2023, we celebrated the 30th anniversary of our Shrine in Rosario and the crowning of the Blessed Mother. Our Archbishop, Eduardo Eliseo Martín, presided over the celebration and also sealed the Covenant of Love. With him at the altar was Ernesto José Fernández, recently elected Auxiliary Bishop, member of our community of the Schoenstatt Institute of Diocesan Priests, and a diocesan priest received the Pilgrim MTA to go on mission with her… — When I say “Rosario” in Argentina, people certainly associate
Read More ITALY, Eugenio Minici and Vanda Rebuffat • On the afternoon of the 19th of May, the Café for Couples took place in the Parish of the Patron Saints in Rome, under the direction of the Schoenstatt Fathers. It is an offer of an afternoon of rest and deepening of unity as a couple, of walking together and of original freshness. — The day began with the “couples’ game”, questions for the couples to get to know each other better in the group of couples present. After the game, some themes
Read More CHILE, Susy Jacob (Vínculo Magazine) • With only 41 years and 7 years as a priest, Fr. Gonzalo Illanes has just assumed with enthusiasm and joy the task of leading the life of the Schoenstatt Movement throughout our country. Previously, he had been in charge as vicar in the parish of San Cayetano de La Legua, advisor of the Boys’ Youth in Temuco, advisor of the Family Branch in Valdivia and national advisor of the Boys’ Youth. — He acknowledges that he received his appointment with surprise, as it was
Read More SPAIN, Soledad Menéndez and César Fernández-Quintanilla • Life in Cuba today is a nightmare. A daily struggle for survival, with no prospect of change and for many with only one way out: to leave the country. Every day, thousands of Cubans try to escape this situation in different ways, some at the danger of their lives. Many arrive in Madrid. Without papers, without work, without money and often with a broken soul. Here they come into contact with Father Bladimir in very different ways. — Bladimir Navarro, Schoenstatt diocesan priest,
Read More BRAZIL, Maria Fischer • “What builds and maintains a Schoenstatt Shrine? I answer: hearts in Covenant with the Blessed Mother. That is the raw material of a Schoenstatt Shrine, abundant in today’s Chapel, or rather, in the always Shrine.” — Comment made by Luis Ventorini to the article about life around the Shrine in Santa Cruz do Sul that was published a few days ago. Hearts in Covenant with the Blessed Mother gathered once again on the afternoon of Covenant Day, November 18, 2022, as has always happened before and
Read More UGANDA, Maria Fischer • The first real life covenant day photos of this August 18, 2022 reached me short after starting my work, and they came from Uganda, exactly from the Nakivale Refugee Settlement, the 8th largest refugee camp in the world, hosting 119,587 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Somalia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Eritrea. One of them is Jean de Dieu Ntisumbwa, from Burundi. Since he came there, he works to spread Schoenstatt, with one Pilgrim Mother and the great missionary zeal in his heart. — Uganda is
Read More GERMANY, Maria Fischer • During a solemn Pontifical High Mass in the packed Fulda Cathedral on Sunday, 31 March 2019, Bishop Dr Michael Gerber (49) was inaugurated into his office as spiritual leader of the Diocese of Fulda by the competent Metropolitan, Archbishop Hans-Josef Becker (Paderborn). Two thousand people took part in the Mass in and around the Fulda Cathedral, among them many members of the Schoenstatt Movement in the diocese of Fulda and from all over Germany and beyond. Schoenstatters from Austria, Bolivia, USA and Argentina followed the ceremonies
Read More WYD PANAMA, Pope Francis’ messages 24.01.2019, María Fischer• “I just heard the Pope’s words to the bishops in Central America. These are words for us to reread, pray, and discover the message in order to bring it to life. Not only for the religious but also for lay people who play any pastoral role,” commented Ana María Ghiggi from the Schoenstatt.org team after the live transmission of Pope Francis’ meeting on 24 January. We share the messages here so that we can read, pray, and discover and bring Pope Francis’
Read More POPE FRANCIS – CHRISTMAS MESSAGE 2018 • Sitting around the table at the jewellery workshop of the Brothers of Mary in Schoenstatt in the afternoon on Christmas Day, a Paraguyan, a German who lived in Chile for nearly 25 years, an English woman who was born in India, and a half-Latina German woman, we spoke about how to translate “fraternity.” Or rather, we were talking about Pope Francis’ message and about inculturation, internationality, internationalization (of the Schoenstatt communities, the place of origin) and the international mission of schoenstatt.org and its
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