Heavenwards, Always

Kathy Kanewske: "I began setting his Heavenwards prayers to music, as I sought to see Dachau through his childlike eyes"

Las voces puros de los niños... The pure voices of the children... Die reinen Stimmen der Kinder…
... un reflejo del espiritu filial del Padre en Dachau ... a mirror of the childlike spirit of Father Kentenich in Dachau … ein Spiegel des kindlichen Geistes Pater Kentenichs in Dachau
Kathy Kanewske en la presentación en Schoenstatt Kathy Kanewske during the presentation in Schoenstatt Kathy Kanewske bei der Präsentation in Schönstatt
Cor unum in Patre en Schoenstatt Cor unum in Patre in Schoenstatt Cor unum in Patre in Schönstatt Fotos: Haskins © 2007
Donna Haskins, Sr. Angela, Kathy Kanewske en la Oficina de Prensa Donna Haskins, Sr. Angela, Kathy Kanewske at the Press Office Donna Haskins, Sr. Angela, Kathy Kanewske im PressOffice Foto: POS Fischer © 2007

SCHOENSTATT, mkf. "The childlike spirit of Father Kentenich in Dachau": This is the subtitle Kathleen Kirkland Kanewske -author and composer of well-known musical works including songs like "All I want is Jesus inside", from Austin, Texas, USA- gives to her latest work, "Heavenwards, Always", up for distribution come March 2007. "The CD is not yet for sale", she wrote.  "We want to come to Schoenstatt and let you hear it, first! We would like to bring it to Father in the Adoration Church.  One of the songs repeats over and over:  "Cor Unum In Patre." We would like to play the CD for our beloved Schoenstatt Sisters and Fathers…" Secretly, Kathy Kanewske added the dream of dreams: That Sisters, Fathers, the Schoenstatt family would one day sing these songs. Her dream came true.

The simple story of "Heavenwards, Always" can be read at the back side of the CD cover. "A Schoenstatt Sister of Mary gave me a tiny blue prayer book, Heavenwards. She told me that it consisted of prayers composed by Father Joseph Kentenich in a Nazi concentration camp. I opened it and began to read Father Kentenich’s Morning Offering, written in Dachau, March 29, 1945:

"What I bear and endure, what I say and what I dare… what I am and what I have… all my joys and all my sorrows, I give to you as a gift of love…"

Like Dorothy in Oz or Alice in Wonderland, I fell into a new world – the world of Father Joseph Kentenich… A world where all that matters is simplicity and humility; where sacrifice can fill God’s treasury of Grace; where God’s Providence cannot be erased in a death camp; and where a love of the Mother Thrice Admirable can help anyone to become a child again.

Reading his words, I wanted to know more about this humble German priest. What did he suffer? What did he dare? What did he take on? What brought him joy or inflicted a sore? What, surrounded by the horrors of his situation, caused him to compose the words of his Morning Offering? My journey with Father Joseph Kentenich was just beginning. I began setting his Heavenwards prayers to music, as I sought to see Dachau through his childlike eyes."

With the eyes of Father Kentenich

"I sat in the Original Shrine at Mass this morning and thought about how my eyes can look at the altar…the same altar that Father Kentenich saw. I looked at the statue of St. Michael and knew that Father Kentenich had looked at that, too. I just looked all around… seeing it through Father’s eyes", Kathy Kanewske told her audience of some 50 in the hall of the Father Kentenich House at Monday night, January 22. "That’s how I began writing the songs of Heavenwards; I just kept thinking about Father, thinking about his eyes, thinking about what he saw…and how he kept his free royal priestly personality in Dachau, and always, and how he was brave and never stopped being a child… how he chose naiveté and good cheer."

Kathy Kanewske, her husband, Craig, and long-time friend Donna Haskins, arrived in Schoenstatt on January 16, with the "master CD", photos of the recording and a number of dreams in their luggage. They were able to play the CD at Father Kentenich’s tomb, and to bring it to Dachau the very 20^th of January, creating strong interest in the staff of the Concentration Camp Documentation Center. Who knows… one day…the pure voices of young women and children might sing here, in Dachau, of a German priest who prayed here and made a family of thousands and thousands pray in the Dachaus of today: The things I suffer and I bear, the things I say and what I dare, whate’er I think, whate’er I love, the merits coming from above; what I take on, am fighting for, what brings me joy, inflicts a sore, my very life and all I have I give to you as a gift of love."

His childlikeness resounds in these tunes

How did "Heavenwards, always" begin to take shape? "I began writing songs and taking them to Sr Christa Marie and Sr. Brigid’s home. I started teaching songs to the Schoenstatt Girls’ Youth. I would pray and ask Father Kentenich: Help me to see it through your eyes… What was it like?

Eventually I had many, many songs, using his words from Heavenwards. I began to pray about recording a CD. It was perfect, in my opinion, to have the young women’s and children’s voices singing Father Kentenich’s prayers. Their voices, on the CD, represent his heart, his childlikeness before God, his total dedication to the Blessed Mother."

And they do. But there is more. Donna Haskin’s notebook holds treasures in jpg format and in avi. Looking at the pictures of the little girls and boys as they sing in the studio, it is hard to not start to pray… Their pure voices represent Father Kentenich’s childlikeness, no doubt. But there is more: These songs have brought his childlikeness before God, his total dedication to the Blessed Mother into their eyes, into their faces…and into their lives. Three teenage girls singing "The Mariner’s child" start swinging and dancing with the "waves", laughing, radiating with joy, as they sing and sing and wave their arms: My father is at the helm, my father… Exuberant joy born of childlike surrender. Do you know the land imbued with joy? "The hell of Dachau has become heaven for us".

Instruments

The owner of the recording studio in Austin offered his service for free when he heard that the music was set to prayers written in a concentration camp by a German priest. "Not only Jews?" he asked. "Germans, too?" He comes from a Jewish family. "The Lord was so good to us. Our priest, Father Bud Roland, agreed to both chant and sing on the CD. Sisters of Mary sang with us. A friend who is an opera singer volunteered, as well. I needed a very good flute player, guitarist, percussionist, violinist and oboe player." Kathy shares the story of internationally known violinist Javier Chapparo, from Lima, Peru. "I needed for him to play on the song ‘Morning offering’; which he did so beautifully. After that… I asked for another song… and another…and another. I was worried that I was being too pushy. I said: I’m worried about using up all of your time. Javier cupped his hands and held them out to me. He said: Do you see these? These are not hands; these are ears. I am your donkey! And he put his hands on his head and flapped his hands like donkey ears. Then he said: I will carry you! I am your servant. He reallz did carry us all. He was our humble servant and an integral part of the entire CD."

The album "Heavenwards, Always" is divided into three sections or movements: "I remain a child", "Suffering nourishes the love", and "I Father’s heart always heavenwards". The album ends with the song "Procedamos in pace". Father Kentenich declared these words on 2 April 1945, four days before he was released from Dachau. "Father Jonathan Niehaus discussed these words with me", Kathy shares. "He said Father Kentenich had heard rumors of the possible release of clergy from Dachau. When Father Kentenich declared: Procedamos in pace, in nomine Domini et Dominae, Matris Ter Admirabilis", he was not actually referring to "leaving the concentration camp". Instead, he was resolutely declaring that he would go forward with life. The closing message of this album.

One heart in the Father

There were some wet eyes in the hall of the Father Kentenich House when the tunes of the album faded. A member of a Family Group who had invited all the other couples of the group of the group to come this night, told Kathy: "I closed my eyes while listening to the music, imagining, like you, to look to Dachau with Father Kentenich’s eyes. It was a deep experience. Kathy, your songs make me see with his eyes…" - "How wonderful to hear our dear Father Kentenich’s words set to beautiful music! What a labor and gift of love to all Schoenstatt and the world! Thank you Kathy for employing your considerable gifts for the glory of God and our Mother Thrice Admirable and Queen of Schoenstatt!", reads a comment to the "Morning offer" that can be heard on the internet. " When we sing we pray twice, whn we listen to this we can sing with the angels. Thank you so much Kathy and Father K for the beautiful music and the powerful words which have tears rolling down my face. Your gift to the treasury of grace here will bless many people for many, many years. Glory and Praise be given!!!! I am awed by the beauty of the blessings the MTA has given!" we can read in another comment." – "I listened to this this morning and the music has been circling in my head all day. What a gift to Schoenstatt and to the world! We are awaiting the circulation of the new CD with heartfelt joy and anticipation. I believe incredible blessings will come with the listening of Father’s words set to Kathy’s music. It truly lifts the heart and mind to God."

The presentation in Schoenstatt ended with a dream come true. Father Lothar Herter and several Schoenstatt Sisters joined Kathy singing at the piano: Cor unum in Patre, one heart in the Father. And this made it for her and for all and for Father Kentenich "a gift of love".

• Listen to the Morning Offering
• Video: Cor unum in Patre in Schoenstatt
• More from "Heavenwards, Always"
• The CD will be available around March 1; 13.00 US$ plus shipping and handling: kathykanewske@hotmail.com