WYD LISBON 2023, Stefanie Rottler • In Lisbon there are only two directions: Up or down. Whoever wandered through the charming alleys of Lisbon from August 1 to 7, 2023, may have encountered us, a group of 150 young people from the Schoenstatt Movement from Germany, Austria and Australia. — The big international Schoenstatt festival at the chapel in Lisbon was our impressive opening event, where the Portuguese Schoenstatt family spared no expense or effort in giving us a colorful welcome to the vibrant city. From there we went to
Read More WYD Lisbon 2023, Maria Fischer • It feels like going through withdrawal. The thousands of young people are missing, the hectic pace of press releases and photos offered by the WYD Lisbon 2023 press center, the live transmissions, the work against the clock of the schoenstatt.org team to cover the experiences in Lisbon… What will the youth of this World Youth Day take with them? And what about us? What about the many critics who were not there, but “know” that there was a lack of critical press, that everything
Read More NIGERIA, Maria Fischer • On Friday, August 5, while Pope Francis was praying the Stations of the Cross with thousands of young people in Lisbon, linking the sacrifice of Jesus for all of us to the wounds and frailties of young people today – A Via Crucis for the Frailties of Young People -, a young man in Nigeria was taken to the hospital. He is a priest, ordained just a year ago, who is eager to serve the Church in his country and is well prepared to work for
Read More PORTUGAL, WYD LISBON 2023, Lena Castro Valente – In an interview with Rádio Renascença, Bishop Américo Aguiar explained that for the first time in the history of World Youth Days, all the countries of the world will be represented, only the participation of a representative from the Maldives has yet to be confirmed. – Don Américo Aguiar, Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon, who will succeed Cardinal Patriarch Manuel Clemente after World Youth Day and will be elevated to Cardinal at the Consistory on September 30, is chairman of the World Youth
Read More WYD, Roberto M. González • For those of us who have the grace of living in Schoenstatt, or as in my case, 80 km from Vallendar, we know how beautiful it is to be able to visit the Original Shrine, but we are also witnesses that after the pandemic, the number of people and groups that pass through here has decreased. — But that has changed in the last two weeks, since a few months ago, group after group of boys’ and girls’ youth have been requesting lodging in Schoenstatt,
Read More WYD Lisbon 2023; Lena Castro Valente • Portugal is already experiencing WYD 2023 to the full with the arrival of thousands of pilgrims and volunteers. World Youth Day requires the involvement of many different areas of society, both civil and law enforcement (police, military). It was necessary to close the land, sea and air borders (Portugal is part of the Schengen area with free movement) because the times in which we live do not allow us to believe that all those who arrive come for good. — From the Vatican,
Read More GERMANY, Sr. M. Elinor Grimm/mfi • There are only a few days left until World Youth Day in Lisbon; many of the young people who are on their way there are already at the diocesan days, on pilgrimage to Fatima, or visiting shrines and historic places in Europe. For a good 450 of the young pilgrims from the Schoenstatt Movement, a side trip will lead them to Schoenstatt during these days, and some would also like to get to know the Dachau concentration camp memorial. — On Sunday and Monday
Read More WYD23/Original Shrine, Maria Fischer • Impressions of a “youthful” week around the Original Shrine dressed in the colors of WYD23: youth with flags and pictures of the Pilgrim MTA, many Masses in the Original Shrine, a celebration for everyone with the renewal of the Covenant of Love, encounters, songs, prayers…. — There was even an encounter between two of the youngest collaborators of schoenstatt.org – Father Rafael Mota from Brazil and Roberto González from Paraguay met in front of the Original Shrine. The first to arrive, at least the first
Read More PORTUGAL, Lena Castro Valente • Schoenstatt in Portugal is preparing to welcome a large number of young people in the Shrine in Lisbon and in Aveiro; the meeting of the Girls’ Youth and the Festival of the entire Schoenstatt Youth will be held in Lisbon. The Schoenstatt Boys’ Youth will hold their Ignis meeting before World Youth Day in Gafanha, near Aveiro. — Adoration as preparation for WYD The preparation has two aspects: the practical one, which consists in organizing the whole logistic structure to welcome the young people who
Read More ORIGINAL SHRINE, Maria Fischer • Around the Original Shrine it is still quiet as usual, but the photos that Pedro M. Dillinger sent us recently show the preparations. The air is full of youth, the air of World Youth Day (WYD). The symbol of the event has been on the altar of the Original Shrine for a long time, and outside you can see a structure that gives an urban touch to the “little chapel in the green meadow”. — Many groups, especially from Latin America, will take advantage of
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