The Campaign, an explosion of life and of graces

A missionary church: the activities of the Rosary Campaign in the DevotoVicariate, Buenos Aires

Mil Ave Maria, P. San Rafael Arcangel Thousand Hail Mary, at St. Archangel Raphael’s Tausend Ave Maria in der Pfarrkirche Hl. Erzengel Rafael
Adoración Eucarística en San Ramón Nonato Adoration of the Holy Sacrament at St. Ramón Nonato’s Anbetung des Allerheiligsten in der Pfarrei St. Ramon Nonatus
Adoración Eucarística, P. San Rafael Arcangel Adoration of the Holy Sacrament, at St. Archangel Raphael’s Eucharistische Anbetung in der Pfarrkirche Hl. Erzengel Rafael Fotos: Campaña del Rosario Vic. Devoto © 2007

ARGENTINA, mkf/crvd. It is like driving a Schumacher Ferrari instead of a Polo, or like running with the best athletes of the world for a gold medal in the athletic world instead of walking with little steps. The activities of the Rosary Campaign of the Devoto Vicariate in Buenos Aires demonstrate a church that is alive and that is missionary, worthy of being present in the V General Assembly of CELAM. Since it is not known if this will happen, it is presented on Schoenstatt.de –knowing that there are hundreds of articles that could be published about this explosion of life and of graces that is the Rosary Campaign of John Pozzobon, whose protagonists can justifiably be called missionaries. They are not only called missionaries; rather, they truly are missionaries.

As the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign they prayed the One Thousand Hail Marys in Adoration, a practice that has developed in parishes, hospitals, children’s homes and homes for the elderly, for the purpose of deepening the religious and Marian spirit and at the same time to convoke the people to the parishes, to accompany the most needy people, and those who are in different residence homes, and for their relatives, the personnel that serve them and the chaplains. Meanwhile, they try to collaborate in different social actions: in the parishes they collaborate with non-perishable food, rosaries and informative brochures; in the hospitals they provide items for personal hygiene, clothes, rosaries, brochures and other things that the patients need and which the chaplains request.

For example, they prayed in the "Christ the King" Home, and then they celebrated the birthdays of the children of the Home, with games, gifts and surprises so that they would experience a different and special day.

Last year the One Thousand Hail Marys were prayed at 7 hospitals, 17 parishes, two Homes and 3 shrines and chapels.

Different modalities of the Campaign

There are several modalities of the Campaign in the Vicariate that emerged from the life experiences and that are a response to different difficulties and situations of the people: there are MTA’s for the blind or people with other visual problems, for the ill, for babies or sick children, for those who desire to have a child, for a life that is beginning, and for Serenity and Confidence.

Every 18^th of the month a Covenant Mass is celebrated and there is Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the "Tabor of Mary" Shrine, as well as the prayer of the Holy Rosary in the wayside shrine "Sarmiento Square" in Chas Park.

As an acknowledgement of the Covenant of Love that Father Joseph Kentenich carried out, the people are invited to seal the Covenant of Love. They also celebrated the renewal of the missionary commitment, each missionary brought their Pilgrim MTA to "fill it with Graces" in the Shrine, the leaders of the Campaign took the place of the missionaries who were unable to attend. On the other hand there were several commissioning ceremonies for new missionaries and for existing missionaries who needed more MTA’s to accompany special situations.

The preliminary stages to erect a wayside shrine in Villa del Parque continue with perseverance and with hope, and there is encouraging progress in the negotiations.

They collaborate as much as possible with some the many needs of the "Christ the King Children’s Home of Villa Urquiza, with the "El Sol" Home for the Elderly from Villa Pueyrredón, with the pastoral for jails; they provide material and spiritual help to the university pastoral and several missionaries have helped at the different restrooms for the last Pilgrimage to Lujan representing the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign.

They use email and informative bulletins to carry out the catechetic work of evangelization according to the liturgical season, commemorative days of the Movement and of the Campaign, and especially, by transmitting the messages of the Holy Father, as well as the words of the Servant of God, John Pozzobon.

They began the year with the promise: "We continue united to Jesus and Mary who are our models and we entrust ourselves to Divine Providence in order to persevere in the mission that God Our Father has entrusted to us, as a loving offering for the glory of God".