Four continents, six countries: Maria Elena, Ecuador; Cousett, USA; Victoria, Ecuador; Sr. Kornelia, PressOffice Schoenstatt, Constancya, Kenya; Angie, Ecuador; María, Spain; Rosa Emilia, Ecuador; Mónica, Ecuador; Macarena, Chile. Vier Kontinente, sechs Länder: Maria Elena, Ecuador; Cousett, USA; Victoria, Ecuador; Sr. Kornelia, PressOffice Schoenstatt, Constancya, Kenia; Angie, Ecuador; María, Spanien; Rosa Emilia, Ecuador; Mónica, Ecuador; Macarena, Chile.

Foto: POS Fischer © 2002

SCHOENSTATT, mkf. "I really came to Schoenstatt on the perfect day," said Constancya from Kenya, studying German at the Kreuzberg Center in Bonn, "Meeting so joyful, totally normal and deeply religious young people from so many countries on just one evening is really something!" Constancya, invited to a spontaneous farewell party for Press Office Schoenstatt's first Spanish translator (since 1999) and correspondent for Ecuador, shared some intensive hours with Schoenstatt members from five countries – a special but not exceptional experience during April and early May in Schoenstatt.

Angie Santos, Guayaquil, Ecuador, working for PressOffice Schoenstatt in the office in Schoenstatt! Angie Santos, Guayaquil, Ecuador, bei der Arbeit fürs PressOffice Schoenstatt im Büro in Schönstatt!

Foto: POS Fischer © 2002

"I'm terribly homesick for Schoenstatt," wrote Angie Santos short after her return to Ecuador in an e-mail accompanying one of the translations into Spanish she had made for schoenstatt.de. Early to mid April she had spent several days in Schoenstatt, sitting in the room of PressOffice Schoenstatt for the first time since she started to work as translator and correspondent in October 1999 – "with the report about the opening of Sr. Emilie's process of canonization!" Several other volunteers were working there during this time: Cousett Ruelas from Texas, USA, studying in Koblenz for a semester, Macarena and Ester from Chile, Rosa Emilia and Maria Elena from Ecuador, all five of them participating in a three months' Schoenstatt program, and Mónica Cadena from Ecuador. The highlight of the farewell party for Angie was the gift of free schoenstatt.de mail addresses and certificates for those active who want to continue their work for Press Office Schoenstatt from home: "You simply get a wider horizon and a yet deeper love for Schoenstatt with all that you get to know from Schoenstatt in other parts of the world", said Maria Elena.

In House Sonnenau: Soledad Leiva, Eduardo Callao (with shingle), Sr. Kornelia In der Sonnenau: Soledad Leiva, Eduardo Callao (mit Dachschindel), Sr. Kornelia

Erich Berger (l), and Alois Hirschmugl, Austria: a short visit to Schoenstatt in view of a "Kentenich style of management" - interviews and research about lay spirituality and work spirituality with the Schoenstatt Brothers of Mary Erich Berger (l) und Alois Hirschmugl, Österreich: in Blick auf Unternehmensführung im Stil von Pater Kentenich machten sie Forschungen über Laien- und Arbeitsspiritualität im Gespräch mit den Schönstätter Marienbrüdern

"Happy birthday!" for a visitor from Santa Maria, Brazil "Happy birthday!" für den Besucher aus Santa Maria, Brasilien

Foto: POS Fischer © 2002

A Shingle from the Original Shrine for Chile

A couple from Santa Maria, Brazil, sitting in the entrance hall of House Sonnenau together with a lady from Curitiba, Brazil, singing… "It's my birthday today," the husband proudly stated, "and it is my biggest birthday gift to be here!" –Eduardo Callao, Engineer from Nacimiento, Chile, member of the Federation of Families, came on April 27/28 during a business trip to Europe. A member of his course understood the chance of the day: "He could take my slate from the Original home to Chile, we live only 170 kilometers apart!" For a long time already, he had waited for one of the slates of the roof of the Original Shrine – replaced by new ones during the renovation in past December, as a "piece of our home and origin" at home in Chile! Another visitor from Chile, Soledad Leiva, shared the joy of the long-awaited slate on this Sunday!

On May 1, Birgit and Christine, from Northern Germany, came for a "private May pilgrimage" to Schoenstatt. "We wanted to use the day off to begin the month of Mary in Schoenstatt," Birgit shared. "Simply be in the Original Shrine, join a May benediction here, that's worth while to drive the two hours!"

Don Blan with his Pilgrim Mother in the Original Shrine... Don Blan mit seiner Pilgernden Gottesmutter im Urheiligtum...

Foto: Ruelas © 2002

...and in the cockpit, flying back from Schoenstatt ....und im Cockpit auf dem Rückflug von Schönstatt Foto: Blan

Bringing the Pilgrim Mother to the Source of Origin

On Thursday afternoon, April 25, Don Blan, American Airlines pilot from Dallas, Texas, USA, realized that a dream would come true! For the first time he was assigned for a flight to Frankfurt, Germany – and Frankfurt is only a good hour from Schoenstatt! The Father of eight children, active in the Family Movement and Missionary of the Pilgrim Mother since years, always carries his picture of the Pilgrim Mother in the cockpit. "I promised her to take her where ever I go", he shared, "and now I could take her to the Original Shrine, to the Father Kentenich's tomb, to the Joseph Engling memorial." He arrived on Friday around lunchtime, the Pilgrim Mother in his arms, and simply wanted "to pray in the Original Shrine, by the tomb of Father Kentenich, to see the places where John Pozzobon also wanted to go, and to share about the Campaign!" He got to know Father Esteban Uriburu when he gave a talk in Texas. "I already knew the Campaign, and took notes of each word that Father Esteban said. After the talk, he came to me and asked me about my notes, and we kept in conversation for a very long time. Later, he invited us, my wife Christine and me, to Santa Maria and Buenos Aires to know more about the Campaign. I'll never forget the moments when we sat in Santa Maria at the table where John Pozzobon sat, saying the rosary together like he had done…" A silent moment of prayer and encounter in the Founder Chapel, the Pilgrim Mother that probably has traveled the most kilometers on the sarcophagus… "I'll ask her to bless all the countries and places over that we fly," Don Blan said. After lunch in House Sonnenau, one hour is left until the train leaves. No new places, "only once back to the Original Shrine!" The Original Shrine was already prepared to be closed; Brother Richard brought the Unity Cross for Saturday (it is in the Original Shrine each Saturday). "Can I see the cross? I repaired it when it was damaged on its arrival in Mexico, and I never saw it again…" Brother Richard with a big smile handed the cross over to him – a special moment short before the farewell! "Now I only wish to come back one day with my entire family!"

First hand experiences with Father Kentenich: Mike Fenelon (4th from l) Erlebnisse mit Pater Kentenich aus erster Hand: Mike Fenelon (4.v.r.) Foto: Ruelas

Visit to Schoenstatt for a week: Vanessa Sicouret, Ecuador; with Cousett Ruelas Eine Woche Schönstatt: Vanessa Sicouret, Ecuador, mit Cousett

Foto: Blan © 2002

Meeting the "Child hand-in-hand with Father Kentenich"

Special excitement and joy for the girls from Chile, Ecuador, and USA who were spending an intensive Schoenstatt time: they were invited to meet with the "child hand-in-hand with Father Kentenich": one of the most famous pictures of Father Kentenich is the one that shows him walking a meadow with a little boy by his hand. This then little boy, now member of the Schoenstatt Institute of Families' General Council, Mike Fenelon, USA, mid April visited Schoenstatt, and offered some time to the girls and some others who used the chance for getting some first-hand stories about Father Kentenich.

Soon after Angie Santos' departure, another of Press Office's volunteer co-workers visited Schoenstatt – for one week, Vanessa Sicouret, Ecuador, stayed in House Sonnenau, giving a helping hand to some translations to be done. Like Angie, she enjoyed to sit "physically" on her virtual work place!

Bringing the Pilgrim Mother to Purley, England: Geraldine Tiscornia Kunc (front, r) with husband (l), parents and daughters Michelle (l) and Josy Mit der Pilgernden Gottesmutter nach Purley, England: Geraldine Tiscornia Kund (vorne r.) mit Ehemann, Eltern und Töchtern Michelle (l) und Josy Foto: POS Fischer © 2002

Like Touching Heaven

"For me, it was like a dream of that I not yet woke up! Being in Schoenstatt was a very strong experience that moved me deeply. We arrived at home totally happy with the visit by the Blessed Mother!"– less than 24 hours after the departure from Schoenstatt, Geraldine Tiscornia Kunc wrote this mail from Purley, England. It was dream come true on this Saturday afternoon, April 27, for Geraldine and her husband, and for her parents: for the first time in life they had been to Schoenstatt.

"Can we pray the rosary on the way to prepare for the first visit to the Original Shrine?", asked Geraldine a few minutes after having set out from House Sonnenau to the Original Shrine. They decided to walk to "extend the time of anticipation". Her husband took the rosary, and so did her parents, Jorge y María Toscornia from Mar del Plata, Argentina; Michelle (4) also knew how to pray, only Josy (1) could not yet join, but seemed to be proud with the announcement: "Josy, one day when Schoenstatt in Southern England is really big, you can tell that you were in the Original Shrine when both Schoenstatt and you still were very little!" In silence, all entered the Original Shrine for the first time, the source of origin for all they love and live for!

Geraldine brought a Pilgrim Mother picture sent out from the Shrine in Mar del Plata when she and her family moved to England in September 2000. Now, her parents had to bring two more Pilgrim Mother pictures as the visits of the Pilgrim Mother to the teachers and children in Michelle's school were contagious… Geraldine: "It was Father José Pontes who introduced the Mater in our school when I was a child, he celebrated the Covenant Mass for us in Schoenstatt in Florencio Varela, and he gave various retreats there that I attended." Through Geraldine, also her parents became attached to Schoenstatt, specially to the Shrine in Mar del Plata, the 'Shrine of the New Shores' . From Schoenstatt, Geraldine also took a home shrine style picture, similar to the Pilgrim Mother, blessed and sent out in Schoenstatt, for the school – on request of the director: "The Mater already is in Michelle's school, in the prayer room. The director was very pleased and each morning, the children and teachers pray the rosary there during May." On the last day of their stay in Schoenstatt, they discovered the new "souvenir" Pilgrim Mother pendants – something that all fell in love with at once. Michelle ("Missionary by nature!") at once discovered the missionary potential of her new necklace. " Michelle also carried her 'Pilgrim Mother' and showed the picture to all, at the same time teaching her fellow students the German words she had learned!"

Nazareth group from Liverpool, England Nazareth-Gruppe aus Liverpool, England Foto: POS Fischer © 2002

England for the Blessed Mother – "She will Work Miracles!"

On the same day when the "Argentine-English" Schoenstatters arrived, Bill and Pat McEvoy came with three other couples of their Liverpool Schoenstatt families' group, the Nazareth group. "Seems our MTA is to work miracles," Pat shared. "Out of the blue, a busload of pilgrims will come from Wales to attend our May Sunday in the Shrine, all thanks to a lady from South Africa, who fell in love with the Blessed Mother. Since she arrived to England she has worked for Schoenstatt in her new home!" Big surprise for the group to meet more Schoenstatters from England just at the next table in House Sonnenau – and to hear about their dream of a Shrine in Southern England! "For so long did we pray for young families to join the movement, families with children who are still young and can grow into our Schoenstatt world," Pat McEvoy said. "Maybe we are meeting and greeting our answered prayers today!" The Nazareth group from Liverpool is working for the Holy Spirit symbol for the Shrine in Bolton, their pilgrimage to Schoenstatt was of course linked to this idea. Surprise during a walk on Mount Schoenstatt: the statue of Father Kentenich. Two central questions arose: "Why there and not in a more prominent place, like on front of the Original Shrine or at least by the Adoration Church?", and , "What if we'd steal him for our Shrine in England?" Two no less spectacular answers in the course of night's sharing: "Maybe the place in front of the Original Shrine is reserved for a statue to be worked for by the whole international Movement!", and, after some investigation about the weight and customs declaration: "He would sure love to be with us!" – Note: the statue is still in Schoenstatt, but: Liverpool's coming back in June!