To the Return Visit at the Shrine

Reflection Days for Polish-speaking families in the Schoenstatt Centers in Essen and Frohlinde

Via Crucis con la Virgen Peregrina: acompañar a Jesús con ella Stations of the Cross with the Pilgrim MTA: accompanying Jesus with her Kreuzweg mit der Pilgernden Gottesmutter: wie sie Jesus begleiten und mit ihm gehen
Frohlinde: la mesa de los niños Frohlinde: children’s corner Frohlinde: der „Kindertisch“
En el departamento de una familia en Dortmund In the apartment of a family in Dortmund Im Wohnzimmer einer Familie in Dortmund
Retiro en Frohlinde, 24 de febrero: Familias de Bergkamen Retreat in Frohlinde, February 24: families from Bergkamen Besinnungstag in Frohlinde, 24. Februar: Familien aus Bergkamen
Familia de Marl, con la pequeña Marie Family from Marl with little Marie Familie aus Marl mit ihrer kleinen Marie
Participantes de Castrop – tres generaciones Participants from Castrop – three generations Teilnehmer aus Castrop – drei Generationen Fotos: Sr. Damiana Czogala © 2008

GERMANY, mkf. In areas of high population densities – like Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Kiel, Cologne, Koblenz – as well as in the German-Polish borderland, and especially in the Ruhr region, live some two million people with total or part migration backgrounds – enrooted in their own language and culture, united with the country in which they have found a new home, actively ready to partake in shaping Germany’s societal and cultural reality.

On February 23^rd and 24^th, almost 100 of them came to the Schoenstatt Shrines in the Ruhr region – Essen-Kray and Frohlinde-, to the "Return Visit". After the Pilgrim MTA of Schoenstatt had so often been with them in their homes, they were now open to visiting her. The Pilgrim MTA visits about 750 Polish families in the Ruhr region: in Bochum, Essen, Recklinghausen, Gelsenkirchen, Dortmund, and Bergkamen.

About 30 people from Essen and Bochum came to the Shrine in Essen-Kray on the afternoon of February 23^rd; it was the first time that the reflection day for the families who accept the Pilgrim MTA took place at a Schoenstatt center. A few of the families had already been to a retreat in Schoenstatt; yet, for the majority, it was the first encounter with the Shrine. However, it was certainly not the last: "We will now come more often," the people exclaimed again and again.

Education on mercy

In the Shrine, everyone was at first busy with writing their contributions to the Capital of Grace of the Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt on small pieces of paper – the guests’ gift for the return visit in her house. After all of the papers had been filled out and Mary was greeted, a few remarks were made by Sr. M. Damiana Czogala calling the people to become acquainted with Mary as their educator.

In the view of Father Kentenich as the fatherly educator, Sr. Damiana highlighted how important mercy is in education: whoever acknowledges his sins should still not be penalized for his sins but rather be accepted and included with even greater love. When a child tells the truth about something he did wrong, he should not receive a punishment…

Because then he will tell the truth again later on. So is it between God and us. Injuries afflicted upon our lives can heal where mercy exists. "I have never heard that before," stated a father who would have preferred to hear even much more about the topic, Fatherhood.

During the Stations of the Cross, three children carried three Pilgrim MTAs from station to station: just like she had accompanied Jesus, so she accompanies those who go along His Way of the Cross as well. The meeting ended with Holy Mass.

150 families in Dortmund – and 3 new Pilgrim MTAs

There are more than 150 families of Polish-speaking families alone in Dortmund who are visited by the Pilgrim MTA – that was the exact number until February 24^th when three more Pilgrim MTAs started to visit other families. In the four Sunday Masses of the Polish-Catholic Mission in Dortmund – one of the 67 communities of Polish-Catholic pastoral care in Germany – Sr. Damiana spoke about the Pilgrim MTA.

With the exception of the early Mass, over 500 people were present in each service, and many appeared open-minded. In the last Mass, Prelate Ryszard Mroziuk blessed the congregation with the MTA picture in his hand.

In the afternoon, the tables and chairs in Frohlinde’s Schoenstatt center barely sufficed for the crowd of 50+ adults and 10 children from Dortmund, Marl, Castrop, Recklinghausen and Bergkamen. The Pilgrim MTA is well-known among the Polish families in Bergkamen because a service for four new missionaries had taken place in their parish.

"This afternoon communicated so many new things to me about faith," commented one of the participants afterwards, "I have never heard such a message before."

A young married couple from Marl was there with their little daughter, only a few months old – a special return visit! This miracle of new life occurred since the Pilgrim MTA first visited them in their home. Wearing her baby booties from the Mother-Blessing, the little Mari was entirely jolly at the Shrine.

The Pilgrim MTA first began visiting Polish-speaking families in 1997 in Simmern (Hunsrück region). Today, the Pilgrim MTA present in 260 pictures visits about 2,200 families of Polish ancestry – included in this sum is also a very small number of Russian, Vietnamese, Croatian, and German families – families from Kiel and Neu-Münster to Munich, and from Aachen to Berlin.

Translation: Melissa Ann Schmid, Rochester, MN, USA