Radical Gospel Heroism

Summer camp in Lipova, Romania: July 10^th to 14^th, 2006

Juegos y deportes forman parte del campamento Games and sports are part of the camp Spiele und Sport gehören zur Sommer-Tagung
Artistas jovenes Young artists Kleine Künstlerinnen am Werk
Oratorio Prayer room Gebetsecke Fotos: Schw.  Kinga © 2006

ROMANIA, Sister M. Kinga. Many Schoenstatters in Romania are celebrating the highly successful Schoenstatt Girls’ Youth summer camp that was recently held in Lipova. The theme of the camp was "Radical Gospel Heroism." In this country where Christians suffered so much persecution under communism and which even today remains one of the poorest countries in Europe, gospel heroism is already the lived experience of many Romanian Christians. Thus, the Girls’ Youth camp focus was to embrace that heroism and give their lives to God to an even fuller, more radical extent. Many made great sacrifices in order to attend; for example, two girls who had morning jobs traveled a total of 25 km every afternoon after finishing their work. In the end, twenty-three girls in all, ranging in age from 14 to 28, came from many different cities and towns to participate.

The young girls wanted to meet some "Schoenstatt Stars"—heroes of everyday sanctity, and they eagerly talked with them about how to become more faithful in their own lives. The atmosphere was beautiful, as the girls were very receptive and opened their hearts to learning all that they could about Schoenstatt.

During the camp, Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary Sister Aenn and Sister Kinga were teaching and directing the girls. Five priests were also available to help, and each day at least two of them celebrated Holy Mass for the camp participants. Throughout this time, the girls were working in two groups: one was an introductory group, and the other group was advanced and went more in depth. Seven of the girls were first-time attendees: the youngest of the first-timers was 14 and the oldest 24. By the end of the camp, all the girls who had not yet made their Covenant of Love wanted to make their covenant and seal it!

What are we waiting for?

While Sister M. Kinga was preparing the girls for the Covenant of Love, they were discussing the subject of the capital of grace: Schoenstatt would not exist at all if no one filled the capital of grace. When one girl heard this, she immediately exclaimed, "What are we waiting for? There are so many people in the world!" She wanted to encourage all of the girls to share the message of Schoenstatt so that the stream of graces from the Shrine would not run dry. This girl’s father, with whom she is very close, will be going into the hospital soon after the camp is over, and she is offering this trial as a contribution to the capital of grace.

At the culmination of the camp, six girls sealed their Covenant of Love. Because Romania does not yet have a Schoenstatt Shrine, the Covenant celebration was held in the Basilica of Maria Radna, with three priests serving at the altar. In addition to these six, one girl made her consecration as an apostle of Mary (which corresponds to the group of little girls), and another girl left soon afterwards for Vienna because she wanted to seal her Covenant in the Shrine. The remaining campers joined with the "first time Covenant" girls by renewing their own Covenants of Love.

It was almost like World Youth Day!

The girls met in a secular building for the camp, but they worked hard to decorate a room to be a beautiful and special place of prayer. There was a jar that was filled with petitions and gifts, and they were even able to have adoration at night.

During the afternoons, the girls had time for recreation such as singing songs, playing games, or taking short trips, and they also worked on crafts. After the camp was over and during the return trip home, Sister Kinga and some of the girls had to wait for an hour at the train station, so the girls decided to play the guitar and sing…as they said, "It was nothing spectacular!" But when they stopped singing, the employees at the station gave them resounding applause. Something like that does not happen every day, and it was very similar to something that happened last year in Cologne at World Youth Day!

Covenant Day text messages on the 18^th

Since almost all the girls who participated in the journey have a cell phone, no matter where they lived, they called each other on Covenant Day. They would let the phone ring once, and then they would hang up. They did this because a call would be very expensive, but it does not cost anything when the phone just rings. Thus, they were able to remind each other and remember together that that day was the 18^th. Everyone knew what the ring meant: Happy 18^th! Sometimes they sent a text message or e-mail with just the phrase: "Happy Covenant Day!"

Translation: Celina Garza, Harlingen, TX/Amy Peebles, Austin, TX, USA