For Love of Schoenstatt

Father Nicolás Schwizer: My First Contacts with Schoenstatt and the Father and Founder (1958-1968)

Manuscrito de la conferencia del Padre Nicolás Manuscript of this conference, by Fr. Nicolas Manuskript des Vortrags von P. Nicolas Foto: Cabral © 2007
Durante una Misa en Santa Maria During a  Mass in Santa Maria Bei einer Messe in Santa Maria Foto: Crivelli © 2007

PARAGUAY, Javier Cabral. The "virtual retreat with Father Nicolás," biweekly mail-outs on topics of retreats with Father Nicolás Schwizer, has a strong impact. More and more persons subscribe and at the same time ask: who is Father Nicolás?

With the intention of knowing more about the life of Father Nicolás Schwizer, we refer to a conference given to the Father Joseph Kentenich Secretariat in Asunción, Paraguay which relates his first contacts with Schoenstatt and with the Father and Founder.

Father Nicolás tells us in that talk:

After learning an administrative profession (municipal studies/notary and court clerk), at 20 years of age I decided on the priesthood and had to complete my university studies. I entered a Pallottine college (Ebikon). There I met Schoenstatt and was part of a group of students.

I sealed my Covenant of Love on June 28, 1959. After participating in a program for leaders, I sealed my Blank Check Consecration with the Blessed Mother on May 13, 1961. Throughout the years, learning about Schoenstatt was a slow and organic experience, especially regarding the MTA and the Shrine. Little was said about the Father and Founder. He was far away, exiled in Milwaukee. In spite of this situation, we accepted Father as our Founder.

In the last year of my secondary studies (Gossau), I decided to enter the community of the Pallottines, but for love of Schoenstatt. (At that time, that was the normal path for those who wanted to be a Schoenstatt Father.)

In the Novitiate

In 1963, I entered the novitiate of the Pallottine Fathers which was in a small village amidst the mountains of central Switzerland (Morschach). I spent two beautiful years there which were very important for my spiritual growth and my Schoenstatt vocation. I was the librarian, so I read a great deal on Father and on Schoenstatt. That broadened my horizon. I learned with greater depth about the mission, the pedagogy, and the spirituality of Schoenstatt. In this way, the Father and Founder also entered more into the first level of my life. Discussions and even struggles continued in the community on the position and mission of Father. For me this was positive so that I could accept him and always get closer to him.

In the university

Upon completing the novitiate, I began my theological studies at the university of Friburg. There I met many Chileans of the community who lived in the same house (Fr. Sydney Fones, for example). Through them and their simple and strong childlikeness, I encountered a new and deeper access to the Father and Founder.

Soon, the community of the Schoenstatt Fathers was founded (1965). With that came the moment of separation. Practically all of the students left the Pallottines and we entered the new community (1966). We did it for love of Schoenstatt. We wanted to be faithful to the Blessed Mother and to Her guidance which we felt was behind all things.

Upon entering the new community, they invited us students to make a tertianship for several months, that is a time of introduction, formation, vital exchange and study. There I met for the first time with the students from Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay who belonged to the same generation. We worked for a long time on the 20^th of January and Dachau and thus came to know a decisive stage in the life of the Founder.

But the great experience of the tertianship was to know him…..finally, to know Father personally. On one opportunity we all made a pilgrimage to Schoenstatt’s place of origin. There, on my birthday (7-17-1966), I had my first encounter with the Father and Founder. It was an encounter which had been desired for a long time. In the meantime I had read a great deal about him. It was no longer a great surprise. But to finally meet him, moved me profoundly.

At the major college (Munster)

Upon completing the tertianship, we continued our university studies and lived all together in a large, rented house; we were about thirty students from Europe and America. A fruitful time for the experience of Father was when my course was searching for its Course Ideal. We reflected a great deal on the spirit of the Father and Founder. We wanted to awaken and to cultivate his same spirit in us. We wanted to imitate Father in our lives. We wanted to imitate his attitudes, his surrender, and his paternity. Finally, we formulated the following motto: In Sion Spiritus Patris uniens et vivificans, ex María Virgine. On May 12, 1968, my course had the good fortune of being able to make the Course Ideal Consecration with Father. For almost an hour, he interpreted our ideal, speaking to us especially about the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of the Father. On that same opportunity, he wrote to me as a remembrance on a card with the picture of St. Nicolás of Switzerland the following words: "Vives in Spiritu Sancto! Mphcev: J.K." – Live in the Holy Spirit! Mother will take perfect care: J.K. It was a most beautiful encounter, very close, very intimate. We, six little seminarians, had Father to ourselves for an hour.

Fr. Nicolás is a Swiss Schoenstatt Father who in the ‘70’s arrived in Paraguay to work for Schoenstatt and he did it with great fruitfulness. In the year 2000, a very serious accident – which he survived almost miraculously – destroyed part of his brain and left him incapacitated. Today he lives his love for Schoenstatt in pain and giving witness to his priestly dignity which is demonstrated at each moment. Fr. Nicolás continues preaching via the internet in three languages (still lacking is his maternal language, German). He reaches six hundred persons who forward his homilies to others on their address lists. He continues preaching because of his love for Schoenstatt!

Reference: "My experiences and encounters with the Father and Founder." Conference given to the Father Joseph Kentenich Secretariat in Asunción.

Father Nicolás continues preaching via Internet

Translation: Carlos Cantú Family Federation La Feria, Texas USA 032707