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New Shore Conference held in Australia
Nachrichten - News - Noticias
 published: 2009-07-10

New Shore Conference held in Australia

Schoenstatters meet to consider future directions

 

“Neues Ufer”-Konferenz in Australien: Wallfahrt zum Bildstock

Conferenica "Nuevas Playas", Australia - peregrinación a la ermita

New Shore Conference, Australia - Procession to the Wayside Shrine

“Neues Ufer”-Konferenz in Australien: Wallfahrt zum Bildstock

 

Das Team: Bernard Toutounji, Michael King, P. Andrew Pastore, Pat Pate, Sr Mary Louise, Shirley Hall, Terry Pate, Fr Denis Foley. (von links)

El equipo: Bernard Toutounji, Michael King, P Andrew Pastore, Pat Pate, Hna. Mary Louise, Shirley Hall, Terry Pate, P. Denis Foley (de izq.)

New Shore Team. L to R – Bernard Toutounji, Michael King, Fr Andrew Pastore, Pat Pate, Sr Mary Louise, Shirley Hall, Terry Pate, Fr Denis Foley.

Das Team: Bernard Toutounji, Michael King, P. Andrew Pastore, Pat Pate, Sr Mary Louise, Shirley Hall, Terry Pate, Fr Denis Foley. (von links)

 
Pater Andrew Pastore begrüßt Delegierte  

El P. Andrew saludando a los delegados

Fr Andrew welcoming delegates to the conference

Pater Andrew Pastore begrüßt Delegierte

 
Arbeitssitzung  

Trabajando

Conference in session

Arbeitssitzung

 
Aussendungsfeier  

Envío

Fr Andrew blessing sea shells at the Sending Out Ceremony

Aussendungsfeier

Fotos: Terry Pate © 2009

 
   

AUSTRALIA, Terry Pate. The Australian Schoenstatt Family held a two day conference at Mt Schoenstatt in Mulgoa, Sydney at which the movement in Australia looked at itself and, with the power of the Holy Spirit and our Mother Thrice Admirable, was able to look at where they should be as leaders in the future.

Sixty two delegates gathered on Friday evening to celebrate Mass followed by two talks. The first, by Sr M. Elizabeth Foley, focused on "who we are today" and was a thoughtful look at where the Australian Family finds itself in the world existing today. Essentially, we are family, we are children (of our Mother and Queen and our Father Founder), we share a mutual home (in the Shrine), and we are people who are struggling in today’s circumstances. The struggle is more one of how we present ourselves in our Covenant and therefore bring more people to God through our Movement. The second talk, to set the scene for the conference, was by Fr Andrew Pastore and put the conference firmly in the context of the four milestones.

Preparing the ground

All those who had registered or had expressed an interest in attending, were given a series of pre-conference papers over the two months before the conference designed to provide background reading and to prepare people for the conference. These covered;

  • The Shrine – Source of Life and Heart of the Schoenstatt Family
  • Reflection on Vatican II – Vision of the Church
  • The Pre-founding Document in the Context of our Times
  • Schoenstatt’s Education
  • Organisation and Structure of Schoenstatt
  • Report on the Planning Conference for 2014
  • Profile of the Schoenstatt Leader

These papers turned out to be very good source material for group discussions and led to a desire for more of the same in the future.

This conference was built around four modules involving a short talk introducing the topic, a short period of quiet reflection and an hour of intense discussion in seven working groups. The discussion was followed by a report back session where the essentials of the individual discussions were shared and recorded. Each day started with Morning Prayer followed by Mass and the modules were interspersed by encounters with Father Kentenich, the Shrine and, of course, meals. It quickly became obvious that all those attending joined in wholeheartedly in the group discussions and the final plenary session. This was seen as most heartening by the New Shore Team of organisers and, really, was a huge "plus" in the staging of the conference.

A Community of Faith – A Spirit of Searching

The first module, "A Community of Faith" was based on commitment as the bottom line in any leadership role as exemplified in the First Milestone. In the groups, the people shared their level of commitment to Schoenstatt, together with the struggles this created for each in the modern world. They also tried to establish for themselves what it meant to be a "Lay Movement". After the sharing session (and a cup of tea!), the gathering launched into the second module, "A Spirit of Searching", in which the concept of courage was discussed. The Second Milestone was the motivating force here. The questions considered revolved around the difference between loyalty and trust, how the members could grow in trust and how they could overcome past differences and move on.

An encounter with Fr Kentenich around the Father Statue was introduced by a short audio recording of Fr Kentenich speaking in English during his time in the USA. This was followed by a reading of some extracts of his talks relating to the concept of the New Community on the New Shore.

A Community of Leaders - Our Apostolic Mission – Our Responsibility

The final module for the day used as theme, "A Community of Leaders", with the emphasis on communication. This was seen as a great challenge in living with high ideals and was allied to the Third Milestone. The discussion related to the Good Shepherd as leader and how communication could be made more fruitful.

A conference dinner dedicated to the memory of Fr Boes, a Schoenstatt Father who toiled faithfully in Australia for many years, preceded a Shrine Encounter. This was held in an adjacent building to the Shrine as it was bitterly cold and not everyone could fit into the Shrine. However, it was very meaningful and was based on the three Graces of the Shrine and was followed by Benediction with the actual Blessing finishing the Encounter from the doorway of the Shrine.

The final day began with morning prayers and Mass followed by the fourth module, "Our Apostolic Mission – Our Responsibility". The question on everybody’s lips was – where do we go from here? As a community with a mission, the conference tried to look ahead to discern the direction Schoenstatt should take. This commenced with a review in discussion groups of the Statement of Intent drawn up at last year’s October conference and how the members saw this direction and how this progress could be communicated from the Conference.

Empowered by the Spirit – Live Father’s Mission.

After lunch, the final or plenary session was held at which it was decided to give the task of summarizing the group outputs to a small group for general presentation within two weeks of the conference. Also at this plenary session, a number of those attending undertook a variety of personal commitments to further the mission in Australia – Empowered by the Spirit – Live Father’s Mission. The final activity of the conference was a "Sending Out of Conference Participants". After pausing at the cemetery of the Sisters, including two of the original Sisters of Mary sent out by Fr Kentenich, to remember those in the Movement who had passed on to eternal life, the procession wound on to the Wayside Shrine at the boundary of the property. This is the original Shrine on Mt Schoenstatt and here, after a prayer, Fr Andrew blessed and distributed sea shells and commemorative cards to all the participants.

 


 

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