More commitment, more knowledge about the campaign, fewer problems..

Going on a pilgrimage to the Shrine as a parish

Las misioneras más jóvenes... The youngest missionaries... Die jüngsten Missionare...
Con las peregrinas frente del Santuario del Padre With their Pilgrim MTAs in front of the Father Shrine Mit den Bildern der Pilgernden Gottesmutter vor dem Vater-Heiligtum
El camino del Padre... The Father road Der Weg, auf dem Pater Kentenich oft gegangen ist
Un paraíso para niños A paradise for children Da kann man ja nicht widerstehen...
Bajo los arboles... Under the trees... Unter blühenden Bäumen... Fotos: Monica Jendrzejczyk © 2008 Álbum de fotos – photo album – Fotoalbum

ARGENTINA, Cristina White/Monica Jendrcejczyk, Monica Jendrcejezyk, a missionary and leader of the Rosary Campaign, knew how to mobilize her parish: she gathered about sixty people, who went to New Schoenstatt, Florencio Varela, where fifteen pilgrims’ Covenants were sealed and Pilgrim MTA’s were commissioned on the first weekend of Advent. The majority of the pilgrims were girls, and Monica prepared all of them. At New Schoenstatt, they held a ceremony presided over by Deacon Facundo Bernabei. The girls enjoyed the Shrine as well as the trees in a very organic way.

It all began with a concern by the Campaign in Lomas del Mirador, and the desire of having a little more commitment, a little more knowledge about the Campaign, and a few less problems…Problems that arise from a dynamic life: two girls were missionaries in the same grade, which caused some jealousy, until one of them decided to be a missionary in her neighborhood; several Missionaries who needed more than one Pilgrim MTA... So at the beginning of the year 2008 they each asked for one more, which was truly beautiful.

A short while later they began the workshops, where they began to get to know each other and to learn more about the origin of Schoenstatt. From the start, more girls than adults attended the meetings.

The children’s own way

The girls had their own way of taking the Pilgrim MTA to their companions. Camila, Monica’s daughter has been a missionary with the Pilgrim MTA since she made her First Communion. She doesn’t say a prayer when she offers the Pilgrim MTA, but when she offers it, she asks: "Do you want to take it today?" Obviously she has received some negative replies, but she always continues with her mission. Her mother relates: "When she came home and told me who did not want to receive the Pilgrim MTA, without her knowing, I would place the name of the girl behind the picture in my Home Shrine, -oh what a coincidence – on the next round this girl would say, ‘yes.’ She was surprised when I told her."

Everyone in a circle with the Blessed Mother in the middle

During the first workshop, they began to learn about the life of Father Kentenich. "Fortunately I had material to work with everyone," says Monica. "At the beginning we all gathered in a circle with the picture of the Blessed Mother in the middle, we invoked the Holy Spirit, and then each one expressed their petitions, and they offered an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be to the MTA."

Then there was a time everyone recalls as being especially touching: "Each one told how they had learned about the Blessed Mother and who had brought Her to them…" To learn about Father Kentenich took three meetings. "During one of the meetings, I drew each mystery on a large poster, which the girls chose randomly. Then each one, if she wanted to, would pray that mystery at that time with the decade they had made.

A few day prior to the time when they learned about the story of John Pozzobon, I invited a friend to the San Isidro Shrine, and to my surprise, in the bookstore, there was a video of John Pozzobon In the Footsteps of Jesus waiting for me. It was a lot of work to set up a classroom for the video, but we accomplished it.

Queen of the youth

Four of the girls, who are twelve years old, wanted to be missionaries. Very soon the bishop of the diocese would be coming for a pastoral visit, and Camila had wanted to crown her Pilgrim MTA since the previous year. Her mother had crowned hers that year as Queen of Dignity in the Families, and the girl desired to do something similar. Camila shared this desire with her little friends, and among themselves, they decided to crown the Pilgrim MTA as Queen of the Youth on September 14^th, in the presence of Bishop Baldomero Carlos Martini at the Holy Name of Mary Parish. Fifteen days after this crowning as Queen of the Youth, a friend of the one of the girls died in an accident along with his father. It was a terrible blow for everyone. One of the teachers from the school said: "It’s a good thing that these children have someone to hold on to!" She didn’t know that they had crowned the Pilgrim MTA, when she found out, she said: "The Blessed Mother prepared the way," and today she was one of the people who sealed her Covenant of Love.

There were two talks at the parish to prepare them for the Covenant of Love. One of them had to be held in the kitchen of the school because the parish secretary had an emergency, and they could not find the key. But the great hostess wanted it to be this way in the kitchen! The second talk was held at the request of the Charismatic Renewal Group.

The great day arrived.

Finally, on November 29^th, the great day of the pilgrimage to New Schoenstatt arrived. Father José Riba was going to preside at the ceremony, but he had to travel to Córdoba, so Deacon Facundo Bernabei assumed the task. Everything turned out very well. There were about sixty people, forty-five traveled by bus, and they finished praying the rosary as they arrived at the door of the Shrine. A total of thirteen people sealed the Covenant of Love, among them three girls, who are already missionaries. In the afternoon after lunch, we traveled on the road where Father Kentenich liked to meditate. The girls enjoyed the trees and all the ways of playing that this road offers! It was a beautiful experience for everyone.

Closing of the year

The next meeting will be on December 20^th to close the year. At that time, they want to share a little about the first month of the mission and about the Covenants; the meeting will conclude with Mass where a Pilgrim MTA will be commissioned to a girl named Valentina, who is eight-years old. She wants to be a missionary with the children in her class; and she is the little sister of Camila’s friend, who is also a missionary. "On November 29^th, they could not attend, because their little cousin was baptized. But the Blessed Mother knows how to do things very well; it will be a beautiful excuse for us to present ourselves before the community, so this little girl can finally receive her Pilgrim MTA," Monica shared.

Translation: Celina Garza, San Antonio, TX, USA/amj