La Juventud se despide con símbolos de entrega The Youth bids farewell with symbols of commitment Mit Zeichen des Engagements verabschiedet sich die Jugend von Schönstatt
Jovenes de Brasil y España en la Misa de Peregrinos, 15 de agosto Youth from Brazil and Spain in the Pilgrims’ Mass, August 15 Jugendliche aus Brasilien und Spanien in der Pilgermesse am 15. August
Misa de Alianza de la Juventud Femenina de Campanario, Chile Covenant Mass of the Girls’ Youth from Campanario, Chile Bündnismesse der Mädchenjugend aus Campanario, Chile
Durante la canción final During the closing song Beim Schlusslied
Madre, ven, recibe la corona… Who is this gracious lady… Königin, wir schenken dir die Krone...
Envíame, Mater... Mother, send me from here... Gottesmutter, sende mich…
Portugal canta del amor a Maria Portugal singsof the love for Mary Portugal singt seine Liebe zu Maria Fotos: POS Fischer © 2005
Fotos: © 2005

WYD – SCHOENSTATT, mkf. You cannot really tell nor calculate what is really happening. Thanks to the youth pilgrimages which stop by Schoenstatt on their way to the WYD, the old silence and tranquility no longer exists. There are those who hope – and wish – that it does not go back like it was before this month of August. Schoenstatt – in August – has been, in the words of a young Italian girl, "a place of pilgrimage like Fatima, Taize, and Lourdes where there are always people and there are always lines in order to get to the holy places, and where you hear different languages and all is….. faith….." The last youths of the Movement left on Monday, under a torrential rain, for the start of the WYD.

Holy Mass for the visitors was celebrated in the Pilgrims’ Church as usual. But this time it was "marked" by the arrival of two pilgrimages of young people from Italy. This made the Fathers and the Sisters responsible for this Mass somewhat uneasy. Many German pilgrims had the unique experience of seeing that not all of the pamphlets which you find available in Church are in German…..

Thus the German pilgrims were able to experience some of the life which the youths have brought to Schoenstatt. At the same time, the girls from Campanario, Chile celebrated their Covenant of Love Holy Mass in the Adoration Church with Father Patricio. Once again they all brought their valuable signs of love and commitment to Schoenstatt to the altar, not as a decoration but as authentic signs of their lives. In the meantime, in the Founder Chapel, the mountain on the carpet which covers the place of Father Kentenich’s homegoing, grows and grows. This is a small carpet which for quite a while now cannot be seen….. Just as the "Hill of the Pope" constructed on Mary’s Field will remain there contrary to the previous images, that is how, some think, the mountain of Father Kentenich’s love and his love for the Family should also remain.

Flags, some singing and readings in English, Portuguese and Spanish….. The youths bring to the Pilgrims’ Church a breath of "internationality." After Holy Mass authentic life erupts. It is organized by the youths – from Brazil, Portugal, Spain, USA, Ecuador – not only do the spontaneous songs come forth – songs from an intimate and moving love which are intoned with the whole soul – but also the vigor and the depth of the Covenant of Love also come forth. A young woman is absorbed and on her knees before an image of the Pilgrim Virgin which two young men from Brazil are waiting to put in its cover as soon as she gets up. Then the two together raise high the Blessed Mother’s image: "We take You on our shoulders to Cologne as Don Joao Pozzobon!" they utter aloud. Then She disappears into an appropriate case which one of the boys adjusts on his back with an almost tender gesture: "Here You will not get wet and I have You very near!"

The Family responds

What the youths from almost 40 countries have experienced and what they could tell of their experiences and commitment has been somewhat witnessed by schoenstatt.de .Twelve photo albums with 497 pictures capture the happenings of these last few days and not only for the chronicle. Photos have been viewed 177, 167 times. For a few days, the Schoenstatt Family throughout the World was electrified and alive, thanks to the Internet and live as it was happening in Schoenstatt. The two volunteer collaborators in Schoenstatt worked 24 hours. Some did it at night as well as during the day, translating articles from the other side of the Atlantic: this on one side. On the other side more than 2,200 visitors on the audioblog – visitor # 1,000 from Madrid, visitor # 2,000 from Buenos Aires. There were many questions on the Internet site, many retransmissions of articles to email lists or simply to all friends and acquaintances of the Movement and above all 107 commentaries from the Schoenstatt Movement. It will never be known how many visits were made to schoenstatt.de !

At the "Meeting" or by comments on the blog or via email, the Schoenstatt Family received and responded to the message of the youth. Leading with comments – each person or family is counted as one, including that they may comment on a daily basis – are Argentina (42) and Chile (26). Also Paraguay (10), Brazil (8), Bolivia (8), USA (7), and Mexico (7) participated actively and there was at least one comment from Costa Rica, Belgium, the Philippines, India, England, Italy, and Germany. Not included here are the many greetings sent to the youths via schoenstatt.de . Here the list is led by Chile, Argentina, and USA.

"With God in the suitcase"

"The word Schoenstatt" sounds differently in the World," Father Kentenich once said after a trip to South America. In any case, that is true when referring to the national and international press. "Hello to all! I was interviewed on the DEUTSCHE WELLE, a very important German television channel which is known throughout the World. This interview will be transmitted today, so if you can, see it," writes José Luis Fontclara from Paraguay. He is a long-time volunteer at the WYD Office in Cologne and a member of the Schoenstatt Movement. The DEUTSCHE WELLE has named this interview : "With God in the suitcase." The TV station ZDF will film the Schoenstatt Shrine in Cologne on Tuesday morning in order to air it on Thursday – the 18^th!—when the Pope arrives. It is about a program on the new Movements as bearers of the WYD, said Jurgen Erbacher in a previous conversation. Erbacher is in charge of programs regarding the Church.

"Open agenda" from Rosario, Argentina has asked that communication be negotiated with the Schoenstatt Movement so that next Saturday there may be a live interview on the WYD. Many Latinamerican news agencies gave detailed and extensive accounts on the Youth Festival in Schoenstatt. Even that which the Schoenstatt PressOffice did not know about was reported in the newspaper "KOLNISCHE RUNDSCHAU", the birthplace of Father Kentenich in the immediate area of Mary’s Field. The house has been painted on the outside for the WYD. The local newspaper "RHEIN ZEITUNG" (Rhine Daily) after making a complete report before the Youth Festival, seems to have exhausted the articles on "The Rhine in Flames" and "was recognized" for its miserable coverage of the festival while the greater newsmedia like the radio station Sudwestfunk and the Rheinischen Merkur (national weekly) published the event "on a grand scale." A French photo agency sent a representative. Radio stations and several local and regional newspapers also sent their own reporters to Schoenstatt.

Testimonies given via the media

And also this: the life testimonies of the youths reached wide circles through the media, especially during the days of the encounters in the dioceses. Something can be found in the "Acher-Rench-Zeitung": "The fact that the Chileans from the Schoenstatt Movement arrived in this deanery – while many others had no youths – this is due to the fact that the diocesan Schoenstatt center "Marienfried" is located in this region. "When men make a commitment to God, something happens," said Fr. Markus and he explained the basic intentions of the spirituality of the Schoenstatt Movement. In this sense, the Schoenstatt youth also offers the "search for footprints" to get to Jesus through Mary."

The "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" – the most read daily newspaper in Germany – thought itself capable of an indepth investigation referred to as "The Schoenstatt Order," to which, according to them, belonged the Mexican youths who spent the days of the encounter at nearby Augsburg. More important is said, for example, when they write on the program visits: "On Sunday the Neuschwanstein Castle, formerly Dachau, the old concentration camp." "Both were included in the program by the expressed desire of the Mexicans," said Lieble. "Father Kentenich, the Founder of Schoenstatt, spent four years in that concentration camp."

And then: "While in Germany they give two bottles of liquor to each high school student for their tote bag which they take to days of recollection, the Mexicans – who are not particularly known for their abstention – do not drink one drop of alcohol." "They never expressed the desire to go out at night to a bar or a disco," said Sieglinde Kast, a hostess. "We are not here to go to a party but to learn to know the people, to leave a good impression and to pray," said articulately one of the guests, Eduardo Morales Arcelus. Obviously this was said to the total astonishment of the news reporter. Upon reading the daily it can be deduced that "at least" it was the German participants who were enthusiastic about the beer tent at the Youth Festival in Schoenstatt.

The photos accompanying the article makes one feel that "our" Mexican Schoenstatt Youth has left a good impression and leaves more than one person thinking…..

Translation: Carlos Cantu, LaFeria, TX, USA