Time of globalization for the Schoenstatt youth

Chileans, Argentineans and Portuguese meet in the Shrine of Lisbon

Paseo por la costa portuguesa A walk along the coast in Portugal An der Küste Portugals
El grupo Porta da Europa The group: „Door of Europe“ Die Gruppe “Tor Europas”
Visita al centro de Lisboa Visiting the center of Lisbon Besuch im Stadtzentrum von Lissabon
Un misionero y tres portugueses One missionary and three young people from Portugal Ein Missionar und drei junge Portugiesen
La JM de Buenos Aires en la Catedral de Lisboa Jorge and Tomas from Buenos Aires in the Cathedral of Lisbon Jorge und Tomas aus Buenos Aires vor der Kathedrale von Lissabon Fotos: Tomás Garzón © 2007

PORTUGAL, Tomás Garzón, A trip through Europe, by two members of the Youth from Buenos Aires, departing from Schoenstatt brought about reflections, discoveries and a challenge for the future.

Diogo Caroso, branch leader of the Boys’ Youth from Lisbon waited for us at the other side of the airport exit. A little holy card of the Blessed Mother timidly peeked from our baggage and on the reverse side it listed the five pillars of our branch in Argentina. "You will see that the Blessed Mother will welcome us with something special in Lisbon", I had commented to Jorge, my group brother, a few hours earlier. He crossed the pond for more than two weeks to know Schoenstatt and to make this trip with me. Barcelona had already happened, and the main course of the journey awaited us.

Upon going through the exit hall without meeting anyone, I decided to give the Blessed Mother the role of protagonist and I put on my best face of "I am the person that yo are looking for". Immediately we met Diogo and we departed to the youth center in Lisbon, beside the house of the Schoenstatt Fathers and one block from the Shrine. Through previous emails we knew that there would also be "some Chileans", "Very good!", two or three more people to travel with through Lisbon", we thought – we were totally wrong. There were not two or three, rather there were 14, and their presence would not be as tourist companions.

Door of Europe Mission

About five years ago, a group of youth from the Shrine of Campanario began to think about a project that would seem like madness to some. It was: to go on mission to Lisbon, perhaps for six months, perhaps a year, to found the Boys’ Youth. Would it be a university exchange, or maybe finding work there? No, it was simply working with the youth. Although in reality it was not a simple idea, since there were many practical problems to resolve: a place to live, money, language, responsibilities and studies that would fall behind, family approval. None was so great as to say no. A group of fifteen Chileans committed at that time to the Door of Europe mission.

The idea behind the mission was very clear: we should return to Europe from Latin America to revert the weakening of the faith and of the Church. Perhaps this was clear because it was precisely in Chile that Father Kentenich’s 31^st of May took place. More than 55 years ago in the Shrine of Bellavista, he made a fundamental step to give Schoenstatt the charisma of renewal for the Church. Portugal, because of its cultural resemblance and because of its geographic location seemed like the logical place to initiate this crusade. Each semester, there would be three missionaries building a Schoenstatt youth like the one they experienced in Campanario, and at the same time, a completely new one.

A warm and young family

For us, the experience was to see the fruits. Upon arriving to Lisbon we encountered a youth that was alive, full of projects and with a Schoenstatt as real as ours. It is clear that those years of mission were a success, and for that reason now the missionaries can again go together to enjoy the place that for three years and a half were synonymous of project, mission, home and growth for all of them. But please note, that this trip was also marked by the will of God and by the same apostolic spirit.

During the five days that we shared in Lisbon, we participated in three Masses. The first one, with the youth from Campanario, the second one was with all the Boys’ Youth from Lisbon; the Sunday Youth Mass in the Shrine was the last one. In all of them we breathed a very young and good Schoenstatt air that made us feel more at home than ever.

We have much to give

Argentineans and Chileans well know the misgivings and the biases that can mark our relationship. But it is much easier when the attachment is backed by Schoenstatt and the Covenant of Love. So when we met these trans-Andean brothers, aside from any comment or teasing, the reality was that we felt inspired, almost misplaced. Questions immediately followed: could our youth from Buenos Aires or perhaps from all of Argentina do something like this? Why haven’t we done it yet? We were at odds, without having a clear response to these and other questions.

The important thing however was to feel that our youth has much more to give. We are not always conscious of the wealth that we have. We are prepared for great things, we simply have to make that famous exercise of "placing the hand on the pulse of time and the ear on the heart of God" to see what direction to take. We are certain that we are not the only ones who feel the almost intolerable restlessness of doing something more, of going farther. So, let us unite these desires in a joint project that will mark our generation at a national level.

Schoenstatt globalization

That is what globalization is for us: wherever we are, we can find a Shrine and a group of youth traveling the same road as we are. We are convinced – and by knowing the cause – that it is a proposal for everyone, where neither language nor the level of wealth, nor race matters. For those of us who had the good fortune of experiencing the Schoenstatt Youth Festival, previous to the encounter with Benedict XVI in Cologne in 2005, it was very clear that the international atmosphere around the Shrine and through the Covenant with Mary is what is going to build the Schoenstatt youth in the coming years.

The first centennial of the founding is approaching in 2014. We have seven years to continue working, from every place where the Schoenstatt youth is already alive, so that then there will not be three thousand, but rather, ten thousand or even more, who will unite around the Original Shrine. Following the example of the group Door of Europe, we want to accept the challenge!

Translation: Celina Garza, Harlingen, TX, USA