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Don Joao con la Peregrina: Croacia celebra el centenario con la entrega de la Peregrina N°. 1000 John Pozzobon with the Pilgrim MTA: Croatia celebrates his 100th birthday with the commissioning of the 1000th Pilgrim MTA Don Joao mit der Pilgernden Gottesmutter: Kroatien feiert seinen 100. Geburtstag mit der Überreichung des 1000. Pilgerbildes Foto: CR Argentina © 2004 |
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CROATIA, Fr. Christoph Horn/mkf. The 1,000th Pilgrim MTA was given to Croatian hands in Zagreb, on the day of the Pilgrim MTA, solemnly and with flowers! It was the eve of the 100th birthday of John Louis Pozzobon (12-12-2004), the founder of the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign. Joy fills all who helped with the Schoenstatt movement in Croatia to see what the Pilgrim MTA has done in only six and a half years, even though there is still no Schoenstatt Shrine, center, or steady community in the country.
"We honor the Mother Thrice Admirable as a queen who has lined up her victory prosession to the homes and hearts of the people in the Balkans: A thousand thanks for everything!!!" The Croatian Schönstatt movement has grown so much in these years.
She will work miracles
"She is the great missionary, she will work miracles," Father Kentenich frequently quotes St. Vincent Pallotti. It is with this conviction that in many countries people receive the Pilgrim MTA, thus committing themselves to carry the Blessed Mother to other homes.
And they do experience miracles... For example in Dubrovnik:
A daughter and mother-in-law both wanted to receive a Pilgrim MTA. For thirty years they have not spoken to each other. The contact person decided to put them in the same group rather than placing them in different groups. Now the daughter-in-law must bring her mother-in-law the pilgrim MTA. She gathers her courage and goes. There before the MTA, the two relatives who were once hostile now began to respond to each other, and continue to since that unforgettable day!
With only that incident, the whole Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign in Croatia would have been worthwhile.
The 100th birthday of deacon John Louis Pozzonbon
Three dioceses had a celebration when pilgrim MTA’s were dedicated in Dubrovnik (Saturday, December 4), Zagreb (December 11), and in Slavonia (Nijemci, December 12). About 400-800 people were expected and many Pilgrim MTA’s blessed and sent out. This time the content particularly regarded the life of John Pozzobon and everything the MTA has done through him.
Schoenstatt grows further
This year the annual meeting of the Croatian Schoenstatt family took place in Slavonia (Bosnjaci) - about 200 people came. They celebrated Holy Mass with the local parish, and bishop Marin of Djakovo came to celebrate. In the afternoon about ten to fifteen people sealed the covenant of love with the Blessed Mother, including a whole family with three children. A small meeting was held for priests on the following Monday, October 18th, ninety years after Schoenstatt was founded. Nine priests were in attendance, more than the last year.
In southern Croatia and Montenegro
One Schoenstatt center in Southern Croatia is Dubrovnik, known in the whole world as "pearl of the Adria", destroyed in great parts during the Balkan wars. At the beginning of October, Father Christoph Horn was there and held an introduction meeting to the covenant of love for ten women. Now further preparations are continued by the leaders.
From the 10th to the 12th of October, Fr. Horn was in Montenegro where the pilgrim MTA also visits three places. He had a good conversation with the bishop to Kotor, Dr. Ilija Janjic.
Good news are to report regarding the temporary Schoenstatt center. The chapel of St. George of Dubrovnik, given to the Schoenstatt movement, is on the list of historical places to be renovated in 2005. Specifically renovating the floor, choir, plastering, getting a new altar, as well as installing electricity and running water, thus will be due to the municipality. Then only the sacred vessels for the chapel remain when the finances allow. How long the work will last, nobody can say. However, even the decision to begin is substantial. Obviously prayer and sacrifice have already flowed into the capital of grace of our Mother Thrice Admirable!
Bishop Ratko in Mostar, called Schoenstatt "a positive element" of the church; dialogue with the bishops is important and proves to be fruitful for the spread of Schoenstatt in the Balkans. There are more and more circles of the pilgrim MTA in the town. A Franciscan wants to visit 35 families of his Confirmation class with the pilgrim MTA to pray with them...
Translation: Beth Rockers, USA