Impressions of a Conference...

2014 Conference: Planning is what we least did during the days we spent in the main hall of the Father Kentenich House

P. Matheus Bernardes, Asesor de la JM de Sao Paulo Fr. Matheus Bernardes, Assistan of the Boys ’ Youth of São Paulo P. Matheus Bernardes, Standesleiter der SMJ in Sao Paulo
Durante la conferencia: organización de las intervenciones During the conference: organizing the order of speakers Während der Konferenz: Organisation der Wortmeldungen
En el secretariado Backstage office Tagungs-Sekretariat
Un regalo especial para los servidores.... A special gift for the helpers Ein besonderes Geschenk für die Helfer
Envío – intercambio Sent out – together Ausgesandt zu zwei und zwei

2014 Conference, Fr. Matheus Bernardes. For several weeks, I have been meaning to sit at my computer to write a few words on the Konferenz 2014 (2014 Conference) held in Schoenstatt from 1 to 7 February. Spending a month in the German cold working on the Conference preparations meant that my normal work fell by the wayside. Returning to São Paulo meant chasing after lost time. Thanks to God, everything worked out in the end!

When I first heard about the Conference, I immediately became excited! I was at a Boys’ Youth directors’ meeting when Fr. José María García, belonging to the General Council for the Schoenstatt Fathers, presented the project created by the International Presidency. It was an enormous challenge: for the first time in Schoenstatt’s history, representatives from 32 countries would meet so that together, they could decide on what the spirit of such a great celebration should be, in this case, the celebration of 100 years of the Covenant of Love.

In one of life’s providential moments, I not only became very interested in the project but was also thrown head-first into the Conference’s central committee. I become a kind of operations officer for the Conference: I had to make sure that whatever the moderators thought up happened. Of course, I don’t need to mention the wonderful grace of being in Schoenstatt once again…it is our home! The Original Shrine will always be our home, and this last time, I blessed to celebrate two Holy Masses there. There, where our father and a group of seminarians put everything into motion!

I worked hard and I had to check all the texts before releasing them…texts in three languages! You can imagine that by the end of the day I didn’t know which language I was speaking any more, that is, if I spoke anything that made sense at all! I was also responsible for coordinating a team of volunteers and translators. Lots of work in other words! The 1^st of February arrived and we started! Representatives from 32 countries, three official languages (German, Spanish and English, but we also heard bits of Portuguese and French), many familiar faces: consecrated and lay members, the shepherds of our Family.

The most obvious is not obvious at all

The official name for the meeting was Konferenz 2014 – Planungstagung (2014 Conference – Planning Meeting) but thankfully, planning is what we least did during the days we spent in the main hall of the Father Kentenich House. Before we could decide on practical, we needed to discover the spirit of the celebration and ask ourselves what God has prepared for us for 2014. It was then that we began to experience grace. We were in a cenacle, many languages, many people but a single heart and a single soul.

As Fr. Alexandre (Brazil) said in the plenary session: "The most obvious is not obvious at all!" We might have thought that simply agreeing to celebrate the Covenant of Love is too little. We would need to find something more sophisticated…wrong! We have to celebrate the Covenant of Love, celebrate the new initiative God took with Schoenstatt. When we began discussing this topic, the Conference participants realized that we couldn’t simply talk about a celebration, rather 2014 should be a life current for the whole of Schoenstatt International. It should be a moment when we seal a Covenant of Love with the Blessed Mother and invite the wider circles of the Church to celebrate together with us. 2014 should be a year of grace, a year of renewal in our mission, a year in which we are once again sent out by the Church to evangelise people with the charism of the Covenant of Love.

A life current...a revival

A life current…a revival…a new Schoenstatt! May Schoenstatt set the Church of the third millennium on fire with all the strength of its origin! May Schoenstatt become an apostolic force in the service of all! May Schoenstatt announce the wonders of Mary and contribute to the renewal of the world! May Schoenstatt be the heart of the Church so that it too can become the soul for a new world!

Here in Brazil, we have already been preparing ourselves for some time. Now, however, the preparation belongs to the entire International Family. Darüber hinaus, as the Germans say, beyond! We dream of 2014 but also beyond – we want to be a vision of the father and prophet and not be afraid to announce the good news of the Covenant of Love to all people everywhere.

2014 awaits us….let us prepare ourselves for the great celebration of the Covenant. Let us renew it at our source!

Translation: Sarah-Leah Pimental, Johannesburg, South Africa