Why don’t we take the Pilgrim MTA to Saint Theresa Parish in Samborondón?

The start of the Schoenstatt adventure in Samborondón, Ecuador

Intercambiando Sharing Alte Erinnerungen...
La Hna Consuelo con sus primeras colaboradores Sr. Consuelo with her first co-workers Schw. Consuelo mit ihren ersten Mitarbeiterinnen Fotos: Angie Santos © 2009

ECUADOR, Angie Santos. Two days after the blessing of the Cuidad Celeste Shrine, a group of faithful collaborators of the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign met with their ex-adviser, Sister M. Consuelo, who had come for the blessing of the Shrine. During breakfast at the Sisters’ Retreat House, they recalled experiences about how they began to take the MTA and Schoenstatt to Saint Theresa’s Parish in Samborondón, and about the first pilgrimages to the grounds of the Shrine.

The Sisters’ Retreat House is famous for giving outstanding service, and it was there at an elegantly decorated U shaped table that a real family atmosphere truly developed, where the protagonists of the simple but courageous story took turns recalling and reconstructing the history of those first steps that gave the fruit of a new Shrine on the 31st of May 2009 in Ciudad Celeste, Samborondón.

The adventure began

The Blessed Mother began to develop a beautiful adventure of love around the years 1999 and 2000. Sister Consuelo, who was the sacristan of the Shrine at that time, was also in charge of the newly formed Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign. Before this time, there had been some initiatives to make Schoenstatt known, such as the mission in October, which reached many parishes in Guayaquil during three years in preparation for the Holy Year 2000. Moreover, Sister María Dolores and Father José Luis had already been working with the pilgrims for several years.

Sister related how the office had consisted of one piece of furniture. A loyal helper, María Isabel Álava, helped her with everything. Some missionaries began to take a census of the Pilgrim MTAs, and they organized a course for the Covenant, which was a key element for Sister.

The year 2000 was a milestone for the Campaign. Sister Consuelo and four of her missionaries (María de Viteri, María Isabel Alava, Lupe de Arce, and Sonia de Baquerizo) participated in the Campaign Retreat at Santa María, Brazil, where John Pozzobon had initiated the Campaign.

María Elena relates that when they saw the magnitude of the Campaign, they felt very small. In Ecuador they hardly knew the pilgrims. At that time in Brazil, there were entire provinces where there were only pilgrims and no Movement. They heard the testimonies of the pastors, and the importance that they gave to the Campaign in their parishes about how effective it was as a means for evangelization. "One can truly fulfill the mission of the apostolate with the Pilgrim MTA, in a very simple way, because when I take the Pilgrim MTA, I don’t even have to speak. She opens the way," María Elena said. They brought the first Auxiliary MTA for Ecuador from this retreat, and they also brought four other Pilgrim MTAs that were sent to other countries from Ecuador.

Sister Consuelo relates, that when they returned, she was impressed when a lady, María Elena, who she had taken to Santa María and who scarcely knew about the campaign, said: "Sister, why don’t we take the Pilgrim MTA to Saint Theresa’s Parish in Samborondón?"

Father Alfonso, the pastor at Saint Theresa, supported them and he obtained the names of all of the 2,000 families and they invited them. At the beginning about 100 families signed up, this was in May 2001.

Schoenstatt developed leaders

Then the mission continued with the area schools and universities, where they took the Auxiliary MTA. Sister Consuelo told how she launched the ladies to speak in public, to sing so they could spread the Schoenstatt message. "By the month of May, I could not go to all the schools, but Lupita de Arce, Maria Elena de Viteri, Tere Bourne, Martha de Roca, Sonia de Baquierzo, María Isabel Álava would go. Sometimes I could not sing, so I would tell María that Elena had to sing the songs, and she would say, ‘no sister, I can’t,’ but she did it very well, or I would introduce Tere, so she could give the talk, and she almost fainted, but they did well. That is Schoenstatt; it develops leaders. The Sister’s task was to take the heart of the Blessed Mother and the Shrine. And because of love for the Blessed Mother, a leader does what he/she has to do. María Elena commented, "Then, we were not embarrassed, we even spoke on televisión."

Sister said that the two keys to the Campaign were the Covenant of Love and Service. They led twenty courses for the Covenant of Love. And when looking at the faces of the people who were present, she commented about ways in which they had given of themselves in service for the Blessed Mother.

There was a possibility of obtaining land in Samborondón

The Mission of May in the parish was a success. One of the missionaries was Verónica Carbo de Baquerizo, who carried out the mission in her building. She and her husband, Iván Baquerizo, along with the Burbano family, wanted to donate some land in Samborondón to build a Shrine.

Sister Consuelo relates: "Once I went to Mass at Saint Theresa’s with Sister María Auxiliadora, and there I met with Vero de Baquerizo, and she said, ‘Sister, I heard that they do not want the land.’ And I said, ‘what are you talking about Verónica?’ She said, ‘We heard that they did not want the land yet.’ ‘Oh yes, we want it!’ ‘It’s what someone told Iván,’ she said. Sister María Auxiliadora, who was there, said yes, we want it. We had lunch with Sister María Auxiliadora, Sister María Marcela, Iván and Vero. They told us that at this time the land was mortgaged, but they wanted to donate it in the future. They asked Iván about the landord, and they took us to see it. Then Sister Yolanda, the Provincial Superior, came and interesting things happened, and they told us not to make it public until they had the deed."

The pilgrimages to the land of the future shrine began

By then Sisters M. Consuelo and M. Sandra had moved to Samborondón, first to continue with the Campaign and Sister Sandra was going to work with a school of the area, IPAC. At the beginning, they received the hospitality of Martha de Galvis and her family, and then the missionaries helped them rent an apartment. Each one contributed something, the beds, the mattresses. Lupe de Arce sent Sister her lunch every day. They even gave them a Christmas tree.

When they found out about the land, during Lent of the year 2002, they immediately began pilgrimages on foot on Fridays to the land for the Shrine. First they prayed the rosary, and then at the land, they would pray the Stations of the Cross. They did not know exactly where the land was, but they buried medals everywhere. (Eventually the Shrine was built on some land close by and much more beautiful). After the pilgrimage, they would go for lunch at Sister Consuelo’s house. At the meeting they stressed that they made these pilgrimages until the end, the most faithful were Myriam de Buendía y Mariquita de Alava, who continued doing it in spite of the rain, mosquitoes or mud.

The missionaries at that time also crowned the Blessed Mother as Queen of all the life there would be in Samborondón. They recounted that after a Mass at Saint Theresa’s, they invited everyone. Many people went and obviously so many people didn’t fit in the small apartment, so they looked through the shutters and window to see and to participate.

Adventures for love

There were many more commentaries and memories, such as when they needed funds and they began to publish the Agenda of the Pilgrim MTA through the initiative of Tere Bourne. She had seen them in the Schoenstatt bookstores and without knowing anything about it she and Sister launched it. They went to a print shop where Sister knew the man named, Luchito. He turned out to be Luis Jiménez, the boss at the print shop, and he helped them. They obtained sponsors, and the agenda helped to collect funds. They even gave a substantial contribution to Casa María. They also commented how through the initiative of María Isabel Alava they took the Pilgrim MTA from Samborondón to the province of Manabí.

After this lunch, they went to sing and to pray at the Shrine. Later they met at the new Shrine of Ciudad Celeste, where together they read the Schoenstatt Founding Document. And the history of this Shrine will continue to develop each day, with Covenants, Masses, visits, initiatives. The Shrine of Guayquil will always be the National Shrine, the first one, the cradle, but life will develop in both Shrines. Everything will be fused in the heart of the Blessed Mother, there will not be some from here and some from there. Furthermore the Schoenstatt Family from Samborondón should always keep in mind that the history began in a local parish, and that the Schoenstatt mission is to be at the service of the Church.

Translation: Celina Garza, San Antonio, USA/amj