P. Guillermo Mario Cassane bendiciendo la ermita en Mar del Plata y nuevas imagenes para la Campaña en Inglaterra - 13 de marzo de 2003 Fr. Guillermo Mario Cassane blessing the wayside shrine in Mar del Plata and new Pilgrim MTA pictures for the Campaign in England - March 13, 2003 P. Guillermo Mario Cassone segnet das Bildstöckchen in Mar del Plata und neue Bilder der Pilgernden Gottesmutter für die Kampagne in England - 13. März 2003
María y Jorge Tiscornia frente de la ermita Maria and Jorge Tiscornia by the wayside shrine María und Jorge Tiscornia beim Bildstöckchen Fotos: © Jorge Kund 2003
Chicos del Colegio donde peregrina la Mater Children of the school where the Pilgrim MTA visits Kinder der Vorschule, bei denen die Pilgernde Gottesmutter unterwegs ist Foto: Tiscornia Kunc © 2003
En Schoenstatt: Maria Geraldine Tiscornia Kunc con sus hijas Michelle y Josy, Martin Kunc, Jorge y María Kunc In Schoenstatt: Maria Geraldine Tiscornia Kunc with her daughters Michelle and Josy, Martin Kunc, Jorge and María Kunc In Schönstatt alle zusammen: Maria Geraldine Tiscornia Kunc mit ihren Töchtern Michelle und Josy, Martin Kunc, Jorge und María Kunc Foto: POS Fischer © 2002
En Inglaterra: Martín y Geraldine con sus hijas In England: Martin and Geraldine with their girls In England: Martin und Geraldine mit den beiden Mädchen Foto: Tiscornia Kunc © 2002

G. BRITAIN/ ARGENTINA, Geraldine Tiscornia Kunc/mkf. "While reading the news in www.schoenstatt.de as I did each week, I felt inspired with the note about the Illumined Rosary with the children in Borken, Germany... I had heard about it in Argentina, but never experienced it; when I read the note I wanted to do something similar here" – wrote a missionary of the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign born in Argentina and now living in Purley, England. A year and a half ago, she started the Campaign in the South of England. With two pilgrim images blessed and sent on March 13 from a little wayside shrine near her parents' house in Mar del Plata, now there are 6 circulating in England and Wales. And all this happened because of a promise to promote Schoenstatt.

"As you can imagine, I started working and I have a meeting with the priest in my parish and with the Principal of Michelle’s School – the children will be so happy! Claire, one of the missionaries, loved the idea and will start one in her children’s school. I also thought of writing Anna to see if she can do the same in Wales. I have great faith in this project and feel happy and inspired…"

It all started in a small chapel in a school...

We asked Geraldine what made her start the Campaign in England.

"I met the MTA when I was 15 years old. A small wayside shrine was built in the school I went to all my life. At 16 I made the Covenant of Love with the MTA and promised her to do something to promote Schoenstatt and to let others know her and feel the devotion as I had felt when I first met her. This promise was always in my thoughts but I didn’t know how to manifest it. After I finished high school I stayed in closed contact with Schoenstatt. I visited many shrines during my traveling, participated in retreats in Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, Argentina and had the Pilgrim MTA at home for many years. In one way or another I stayed in touch with the movement.

It all happened so fast and so sudden. We were at my parents' home in Mar del Plata, Argentina, visiting them from Purley, England where we lived already for one year. Each visit to my parents included, of course, at least one visit to the "Shrine of the New Shores" in Mar del Plata. Each visit to a Shrine is a sort of ritual, to find PEACE in the arms of the MTA, to find shelter and get help. It is also a time to show gratitude for all the blessings.

The last Sunday in August 2001, we were ready to go to Buenos Aires and from there to return the same week to the UK. We decided to visit the Shrine once more to thank the MTA for the trip to our dear country with Josie, our new young daughter of 3 months. After the Mass, we visited the office to get addresses of the other shrines in England, since we only new the one in Manchester, up North, very far from where we live. We met Sister Marie Madelaine from Germany who is living in Mar del Plata. Aware of our devotion and our desire to fulfill the promise I had made when I was 16, she offered me the possibility of becoming a missionary of the Rosary Campaign of the Pilgrim MTA in Great Britain.

Nobody had ever started the Campaign there...

In that visit you also learned that there is no other Shrine in England, right? And that the Campaign had not been started either. What was your reaction?

I realized I would be the founder. My first thought was: Can I do it? Will I be able to accomplish such a task? It was going to be hard work to confront a foreign language and an unknown culture and with all my responsibilities. The possibility of fulfilling that promise made to the MTA was what moved me to commit to this job with no hesitation. So on my trip back to our home in England I was thinking how to accomplish what I had been asked to do.

The Pilgrim MTA with families from Latin America, Europe and England in Purley.

Once back in England, how did you start?

The first step was to contact Schoenstatt people in England, because I needed material written in English and all I had was in Spanish. Searching the internet I discovered a Schoenstatt youth’s "chat"; they were my first help getting information in English. Through them I contacted the Press Office in Vallendar, Germany and met Sister Kornelia who helped me with the Campaign by sending me material in English and by helping me to contact other Schoenstatt people around the world. From them I also received assistance on each step of this project. Once I had sufficient material I was able to start working. I started by circulating the image of the Pilgrim MTA with some families from the school of my oldest daughter, Michelle. Several are Latin American families, others European and English. Many Latin American families were familiar with the idea of having a pilgrim image at home, of praying the rosary in the family each day and some of them knew about Schoenstatt. It was not as easy with the English families, since they were not used to such images and didn’t know about Schoenstatt. After telling them of the miracles of the MTA some of them agreed to receive her in their homes and this way they fell in love with the sweet image.

Visit to the Original Shrine and a new promise

How did the Campaign develop?

Many families of the school and friends were listing their names to receive the Blessed Mother in their homes. It soon passed the 12 families per image. In the meantime the image was also around the school classes where the children prayed daily and many of them also fell in love with the sweet image of the MTA and asked to take her home. I also contacted the priest of my Parish, who was glad about the idea of promoting the Rosary prayed in the family and of course he supported me in the Campaign. I placed some ads in the Parish newsletter which helped me get more families for the Campaign. The number of families was growing and one image was not enough. Then I decided to ask my parents to get two more images since the Campaign was growing rapidly. In April 2002 my parents visited us here and brought two more images for the Campaign. At that moment I realized that without knowing I was fulfilling that promise made to the MTA and my heart felt great joy. After asking the MTA for her help and blessings, I was now for the first time doing something for her, I was founding HER Rosary Campaign in England.

With these two images the Campaign was "consolidated" and we went with my parents on a trip to the Original Shrine. Visiting the place where the Movement had started and visiting the tomb of our Father was a dream come true. I not only gave thanks to the MTA for her help in the Campaign and the support she was offering me, but I promised her that very soon a Shrine would be built in the South of England. During this visit I met other Schoenstatt families and couples from Liverpool who were visiting Schoenstatt. One of them was Pat McEvoy who in March 2003 gladly agreed on becoming a missionary of the Campaign. An image she had not circulated yet is going to be part of the Campaign. We have two groups almost ready in Liverpool and I will be soon contacting the missionaries.

The Great Missionary didn’t remain in Purley.

Obviously the Great Missionary didn’t remain in Purley?

Obviously not! Little by little the images were dispersed and currently there is one in Purley, one in London and another one in Reading. Several families have experienced small miracles received from the MTA, their testimonies will be part of another article. Thanks to the help of the MTA I met many people who knew the Movement and, like me, wanted to promote it. Anna from Wales is one of them, who always wanted to learn more about the Movement and showed a great devotion to the MTA by becoming one of her missionaries. Anna is organizing a pilgrimage in June to the Convent of the Poor Sisters Clare in the North of Wales. It will be a day dedicated to promote Schoenstatt, the Rosary Campaign, a day of prayer and silence where the families of the Campaign and Schoenstatt will enjoy a Schoenstatt day. This is how once again we needed another image since the other three were circulating among several families in different places. I asked my parents for another image. At the same time my parents were building a wayside shrine in the corner of their house in Mar del Plata where many people could visit and pray to the MTA.

The blessing of the wayside shrine in Mar del Plata

The blessing of this wayside shrine of the MTA in Mar del Plata, Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, took place on March 13^th. Designed to look like a small shrine, the wayside shrine at the house of Jorge and Maria Tiscornia invites everyone to meet and pray to the MTA. For Jorge Tiscornia and his wife Maria, that 13^th day of March their dream came true – to bless the wayside shrine built in honor of the MTA of Schoenstatt. Father Guillermo Mario Cassone, Schoenstatt assessor in Mar del Plata did the blessing and Sister Marie Madelaine read, as a gift, a profound meditation of Fr Kentenich.

We asked Jorge Ticornia how the wayside shrine was born

"When the internal voice speaks to us it makes a strong impression that we cannot ignore, it will follow us everywhere, until we face it as a reality and we take action," - says Jorge Tiscornia. "This is how one day I saw it as a dream and immediately knew what I wanted and how to make it. The message from the Blessed Mother was clear. She wanted us to build a project in her honour, but it was not to be in the place we originally though, but in the city of Mar del Plata. My wife and I decided to do that and started working. Going around this beautiful city we arrived to the Schoenstatt Shrine. While visiting it we experienced a profound peaceful feeling. Then a group of very dedicated people in the Movement showed us their devotion to Our Lady and this made us decide to offer the Blessed Mother to all those who are willing to meet her. After that message we received in dreams and the peace experienced in the Schoenstatt Shrine, we decided to honor her in this city of Mar del Plata. It was important to think of a place and a way to build it, especially since we wanted to share it with others who love her like we do. So in the corner of our house, where there is much transit of vehicles and people, we built a small wayside shrine with the image of the MTA using the same design that Fr Kentenich used for the Shrines. It gives a nice feeling to find her during the day and also at night when illuminated attracts all those who pass by. It gives us great joy to share her with all those who love her and gives us peace of mind to know that she is always close to us when we express our devotion with a simple prayer and as Fr Kentenich expressed it: "We give ourselves to the Virgin Mary without reservation, to be conducted to her divine Son. To Jesus with Mary."

New images for England and Wales

At the same time that the wayside shrine was blessed by a Schoenstatt Father, two images for the Campaign in Great Britain were blessed, arriving with this to a total of 5 images.

What will be the images destination?

"One of them will circulate in Wales where Anna is anxiously waiting and preparing with all her soul to be a missionary. The other one is for Pat McEvoy in Liverpool. This way the Campaign founded a year and a half ago has six images in Great Britain where we expect to build a Shrine in the South in a time not far in the future. As a first step, we want to build a wayside shrine here in the South of England to finish the first part of the promise.

I want to thank the MTA and God for choosing me as a missionary and founder of the Campaign, for helping me fulfill the promise, for giving me the strength in every step and for supporting me in the moments I felt overwhelmed."

Where there many instruments helping you to accomplish your promise of the day of your Covenant?

Yes, and I want to thank all of them:

• Sister Marie Madelaine for giving me the opportunity of being a missionary and for the initial push; for her confidence in me and her help with the images, without them there would not be any Campaign
• The Press Office, for the help, support to continue with the task as missionary and founder of the Campaign, for each email of encouragement, for the material and for the personal contact
• My parents, without them I would not be who I am today, for their love, strength, support and unconditional help in this and in every moment of my life, for being there always for me
• My husband and my two daughters, pillars of my life, they supported me and encouraged me to go ahead, helping me to do the job being missionaries with me. Without their love and unconditional help and support I would not be able to continue.
• The other missionaries: Flavia (Brazilian, Reading) and Claire (English, London) who received the images with open heart and perform their job each day with love and devotion for the MTA. Also Anna, future missionary, for her energy and love for the Campaign
• All the people I have met in Schoenstatt, the young people in the "chat" in Germany and Switzerland, the Schoenstatt friends in USA (specially Don Blan and Enrique Soros) and Great Britain, and all those who one way or another were of help to keep going. To all...
• Thank You Very Much! Each one added a grain of sand to make this possible.

Translation: Carmen Barruel, Tienen, Belgium