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Luciana Loyola

December 20, 2020 By Luciana Loyola

International youth united in the heart of Rome

International youth united in the heart of Rome

Lisbon's youth receive the World Youth Day 2023 cross

December 20, 2020 - Pablo Arias.

On November 22nd, in St. Peter’s Basilica, the symbols of WYD were presented: the cross and the copy of the icon Salus Populi Romani. Panama had guarded them for the 2019 edition of WYD, now it gave them to the Portuguese youth, who are preparing with great courage for the new appointment in 2023.

Small delegations made the passage of the symbols, but the international youth were able to witness such an event after the celebration of the Mass of Christ the King presided by Pope Francis, in which he exhorted the youth to look at the face of Christ in all realities. In the words of the Holy Father, Jesus spoke to our hearts saying “I am there, young man who seeks to realize the dreams of life”. 

As always, the Pope encouraged young people to long for and to reach for the highest dreams. He centered his message on the realization of dreams and expressed: “the Lord does not want us to be parted from life, but to move towards higher goals, with joy and audacity… We are made to realize God’s dreams in this world”.

In conclusion, greeting the world’s youth, he reminded us that “we become what we choose, for better and for worse. Thus, through the Gospel in the celebration of Christ the King, he exhorted to give glory to God through works of mercy and finally announced that he would move the diocesan celebration of WYD from Palm Sunday to Christ the King Sunday, where the event would be “centered on the mystery of Jesus Christ the Redeemer of man” he concluded. 

Lisbon is preparing for its great appointment in August 2023 with the motto “Mary rose and departed without delay” (Lk 1:39). With its logo presented on October 16, and even with some setbacks, hope is renewed and with courage we hope to meet again to proclaim the Pope’s invitation: “Shout with your lives that Christ lives, that Christ reigns, that Christ is Lord.  

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Cruz de la JMJ, JMJ, Juventud, Vaticano

December 17, 2020 By Luciana Loyola

Mother: you must lead our Family

Mother: you must lead our Family

Schoenstatt media community crowns Mary in the Original Shrine

December 17, 2020 - M. Nilza P. da Silva
Webcam Original Shrine - Schoenstatt International

“We say to Mary: you must lead our Family, each and every member, every son and daughter of the Family. We give you this right, you must be the Queen! This is how Father Joseph Kentenich prayed in a moment of great difficulty for Schoenstatt and for the entire world at the coronation of Mary in the Original Shrine on December 10, 1939. The history of the International Schoenstatt Movement and its personal life history prove how seriously the Blessed Mother took the coronation.

“Here we are full of gratitude, to give you responsibility and rights, choosing you as the Queen of Schoenstatt Communication. Last December 10th, about 60 communicators from eight countries joined a prayer from the Original Shrine via online. 

Almost all of them are volunteers, enthusiasts, called and chosen by God to take the Schoenstatt charisma, Father Kentenich’s mission to the Church and the entire world. “We want to thank them for all the support and kindness that we, as Schoenstatt International, have experienced. 

We are grateful for the commitment of each one, especially in the translations to the different languages and in the critical revision. Thank you very much for the quick, honest and spontaneous responses you have expressed to us. Blessed Mother, we want to thank you for so many small miracles,” expressed Hemma Strutz, from Austria, in her prayer.

Zoom meeting communication team - Schoenstatt International

The proposal for the crowning in the Original Shrine originated from the communicators of Brazil and through Sister M. Cacilda Becker, from the International Coordination, it quickly inflamed the hearts of Germany, the USA, France, Austria, Ecuador, Venezuela and Chile. The diversity of languages is not a problem when the hearts speak the same language. We want to act together with all decision makers in this historic hour and contribute so that future generations can narrate the victorious achievements of our Queen.

In Brazil it was a whole day of crowning. The communicators who could not meet with the others because of their work, received the coronation prayer the day before and they connected to the Original Shrine by webcam early in the morning. An international group met at 8:30 p.m. from Germany and the last group met two hours later at 8:30 p.m. from Brazil. We believe that the Original Shrine has never received so many Schoenstatt communicators together. At the altar, the Virgin contemplated the name of each one, on printed sheets in which each person also wrote their personal intentions for the coronation.

A coronation that connects

During the coronation, in the Original Shrine, the communicators from Araraquara, in the State of Sao Paulo, also crowned a small image of the Virgin of Schoenstatt, gathered in their local shrine. It will travel to the residence of the members of the Communication Team, always reaffirming their confidence in the Queen.

In Poços de Caldas, in the State of Minas Gerais, the coronation also took place in the Shrine. It counted with the participation of many others through the social networks. Monique Vaz, from Mairiporã/SP, joins a small crown with the logo of the communicators of Brazil, making clear to the Queen her mission.

Webcam Original Shrine - Schoenstatt International

A coronation that inspires and transmits

Enthusiasm for the mission is coupled with responsibility for the consequences of what is communicated. For this reason, among the petitions that are entrusted to the Queen of Communication, all pray with Father Joseph Kentenich: all resistance may be overcome which obstructs our fruitfulness and prevents others from seeing the Father’s plan in faith. Help it to spread throughout the world and go victoriously through all the nations that soon there be one flock and one shepherd leading all peoples to the Trinity. Amen. (Heavenwards, 527-528)

All renew the Covenant of Love with the Queen and undertake a mission, remaining connected by the Queen’s heart, as instruments committed to setting the world on fire. As brothers in the Covenant they experience that in unity there is strength, and it is in sharing that all are enriched.

“In the heart of Mary we are united,” wrote Ana Christina Melquiades of the Institute of Our Lady of Schoenstatt, at the end of the day of the coronation. “Everything for our Queen and for the mission of communication,” adds Caroline Moraes de Freitas, from Pocos de Caldas.

Source: Schoenstatt Brasil

Filed Under: Articles, News Tagged With: comunicadores, Mater, MTA, periodista, Santuario, Schoenstatt Internacional, Schönstatt

December 16, 2020 By Luciana Loyola

Fr. Bodo-Maria Erhard passed away to the Father’s House

Fr. Bodo-Maria Erhard passed away to the Father’s House

One of the most prominent personalities of the Community of the Schoenstatt Fathers

December 17, 2020 - Heinrich Brehm

On the afternoon of December 13, the third Sunday of Advent, Father Bodo-Maria Erhard, a member of the Schoenstatt Fathers, was called by God to the eternity of Sion, at the age of 96. “As Schoenstatt Fathers we have lost one of the most outstanding personalities of our founding history. We feel very proud, to have had such a distinguished brother in our community,” expressed the Provincial of the Province of Sion of the Schoenstatt Fathers, Father Theo Breitinger, in the obituary of his brother in the community, who had a decisive role in the founding of the community and was its first Superior General between the years 1965 and 1974.

From physicist to theologist

Bodo Erhard was born on April 5, 1924 in Bad Schwalbach, Taunus, Hessen State. After graduating from high school in 1942 in Wiesbaden, he was recruited by the Army due to the war. After completing his high school education, he was able to continue his studies in physics and mathematics in 1946, graduating as a physicist in 1951. He then worked for the Siemens company in Heidenheim, Berlin and Munich, where he served on the company’s board until his retirement. During his career as a physicist he showed a particular interest in the exploration of space. In October 1957 he decided to leave the laity to aspire to the priesthood and to begin his theological formation at the Munich seminary.

His “favorite project”: The Schoenstatt Center in Munich

At the age of 10 he had his first encounter with Schoenstatt, as a student of the Pallottine School for youth, in Schoenstatt Vallendar. It was only for a few months, from Easter to the summer of 1934. After the war he met Schoenstatt again, he was able to listen to Father Kentenich’s conferences on different occasions, but it was through Father Alex Menningen that he found the way to the Movement and its spirituality.

Wherever he worked, he attracted people with similar ideas to him. An example of this was his time as a student in Darmstadt, where he formed a group of Schoenstatt university students. In 1948 he joined the Schoenstatt Youth Federation, of which he was a leader from 1954 to 1960. Also in Munich, from 1954 he contributed decisively with the foundation of a circle of leaders for the Schoenstatt Movement, and immediately he dedicated himself to the construction of a shrine and a new Schoenstatt center in that city, a favorite work, for which he felt co-responsible until the end of his life.

In 1959 Bodo Erhard decided not to continue on the path to the diocesan priesthood in the diocese of Munich, but to actively participate in the founding of a new community of Fathers, which was to replace the Pallottines as the inspiring community of the Schoenstatt Movement, due to the ecclesial controversy surrounding the Movement. 

He finished his theological studies in Munich in 1961. Two years later he traveled to Milwaukee, United States, to be with Father Kentenich, who quickly conquered him so that, given his experience in different areas of his life, he would take leadership in the new institute. On September 8, 1964, he received his priestly ordination from Bishop Antonio José Plaza of Argentina, and after the foundation of the Institute of the Schoenstatt Fathers, he was its first Superior General from 1965 to 1974.

Construction of Mount Zion

As superior general of the community, Mount Sion, the international center of the Schoenstatt Fathers, was created with the construction of the Sion Shrine, the current Provincial House and the house of the Community of Schoenstatt Adoration Fathers. With the foundation of the community of the Adoration Fathers on Mount Sion, it allowed the Community of the Fathers to have the necessary spiritual depth for a priestly community strongly oriented to the apostolic task.

At the end of his term as Superior General, he served his community as Provincial Superior of Sion Province for another 12 years, from 1974 to 1986. After some time in the filial house of the community of the Fathers in Essen, he returned to Mount Sion, settling in the filial house of the Fathers in the House of Adoration to give himself to the service of prayer with his confreres in the Sion shrine. After a long period of leadership, he was happy to give up his last years of life especially to priestly service from the confessional and the altar.

More information:

Memorial service: Friday, December 18th at 2:00 p.m. in the Pilgrims’ Church, Vallendar-Schoenstatt, Germany

Prior online registration is required due to current health conditions.

https://www.schoenstatt.de/de/besucher-information/gottesdienstzeiten/anmeldung-pilgerkirche.htm

The funeral will take place at the cementery of the Schoenstatt Fathers at Mount Sion.

Download: Obituary in German (pdf document)

https://www.schoenstatt.de/de/uploads/2020-news/20201214Nachruf-PaterBodo-MariaErhard.pdf

Sending of condolences: Schoenstatt Fathers, Mount Sion 6, Provincial House, 56179 Vallendar, provinzsekretariat@schoenstatt-patres.de

Source: www.schoenstatt.de

Filed Under: Articles, News

December 12, 2020 By Luciana Loyola

A different and unexpected Kentenich year

A different and unexpected Kentenich year

Both certainty and uncertainty characterise the path we are now taking with our founder.

December 16, 2020 - Fr. Ludwig Güthlein

Dear members and friends of the Schoenstatt Movement:

Advent marks the beginning of the new Ecclesial Year. I would like to take this opportunity to review the challenge of recent months. The questions about Father Joseph Kentenich, our founder, are for us a profound turning point, which will mark both the coming year and the time to come.

More information

Since July, publications with accusations against Father Kentenich have determined public opinion. The media context generated is completely insufficient.  I am glad that soon appropriate material can be published which will shed more light on the context of the various events according to our current state of knowledge.  I thank all those who have worked and are working on this.

The fact that the accusations against Father Kentenich were presented under the emotional title of sexual abuse, awakens in the present time the spontaneous reaction – and also among us -: When something is affirmed, surely there is something more, and the future will confirm it. This makes us prudent. It is good that sensitivity to such issues has grown. In the present state of the investigations, it can be said with a realistic estimation, that the main accusation against Father Kentenich is not justified. It is positive that the historical commission of the Diocese of Trier will soon be established and that it can begin its work.

Relying on one’s own experience

In view of the abundance of material, clarification and historical review will take time.  Each interior image we have of Father Kentenich today is a mosaic of many aspects and individual experiences. How decisive are the critical and contradictory pieces of the mosaic to our understanding of his life?

The current search and thorough examination is a great gain for all of us.  The greater the historical distance from the founder of our movement, the more complete and differentiated the reports and testimonies must be in order to have an overview of his person.

And at the same time, with all the collection of historical knowledge and transmitted stories, the question also arises about the personal relationship with him: What does Father Kentenich mean to me? Here we move in the area of intuition and appreciation. What awakens distance from him and what justifies trust in him and his inspirations.More consciously than before, we are challenged to perceive and take seriously our own reactions to our founding father.

Dialogue

The experiences are personal. And they are clarified through the feedback and reactions of others.  That’s why we need a dialogue – open and willing to learn – between all generations and communities in our movement. Everyone can contribute their questions, as well as their convictions and perspectives. Different approaches will be confronted.  I hope, therefore, that we can find and create many such spaces for conversation. Initiating a dialogue and sustaining it later may not always be easy. I believe that we are facing a crucial learning stage for the future of Schoenstatt. It is precisely irritations that are important for a new decision and greater certainty.

Openness and trust

We travel this road trusting in the covenant of love with Mary. She carries the child God in her womb to give birth to him.  In Mary it is already Christmas, while around her it is still a time of waiting, a time of hope and a time of longing.  Certainty and uncertainty characterize Advent at the same time.  Both also define the path we are now taking with our founder and the one we have to model.

Trust in the Blessed Virgin has already been shown many times and in many difficult circumstances. The history of our family testifies to this. Above all, the very life of our founder testifies to it.  The more complicated and threatening a situation became, the more firmly and decisively he lived from trust in the covenant of love. He always encouraged us to live in this attitude.

The covenant with Mary is our foundation, upon which we can take all the steps that God shows us and asks of us in the coming year. In this time of Advent I wish you all a deep trust in Divine Providence.

 

With warm greetings,

Father Ludwig Güthlein

Filed Under: News Tagged With: acusaciones, Kentenich, PJK, sexual, Shrine

December 12, 2020 By Luciana Loyola

Why Was There Silence for So Long?

Why Was There Silence for So Long?

Regarding the confusion surrounding the figure of Fr. Kentenich

December 15, 2020 - Press Office Schoenstatt International

In connection with the present confusion about the person of Father Kentenich and about his work as the founder of the Schoenstatt Movement, many members of the movement are asking questions such as: Why have we heard little or nothing about this? Why has there been silence in the past decades about what is now gradually coming to light? And many add the sentence: I want to know the truth!

These questions are connected with a feeling of disappointment. The image of Father Kentenich that is now emerging in public does not at all match the image that was conveyed about the Founder in the movement and that has also become the personal image of many people. The trust that many placed in Father Kentenich is being put to the test, is being questioned, or even destroyed. Certainly, these questions and the feelings associated with them should not and must not be pushed aside.

An Honest Look at The Founder

On behalf of all the branches and communities of the International Schoenstatt Movement, we wish to state clearly: Nothing should be concealed, nothing should be swept under the carpet of silence. It is necessary to find and share an honest, truthful, and differentiated view of the founder and our history.

But finding the truth is a difficult, complex undertaking. In finding the truth, it is not enough to arbitrarily publish and interpret discovered writings without knowing their context and how they came about, and to point out connections that cannot be found from the text alone. It requires patient detailed work to uncover and understand such connections. Nothing less than this has been the goal of various commissions within the Schoenstatt Movement. Little by little, results of this intensive work will be presented on this website.

Why Has Not Everything Been Said?

Does not publishing something always mean covering it up? Today, we are rightly overly sensitive about covering up delinquent or assaultive behavior. At the same time, there is a demand for absolute transparency. How did it come about that some things were not dealt with in public?

After Fr. Kentenich’s death, preparations soon began for the opening of a beatification process. It is part of the orderly process of such a trial that all the documents concerning the person and life of the candidate are gathered, as well as pro and con testimonies. All this is done in a non-public setting in order to ensure the greatest possible objectivity on the part of those involved.

Couldn’t it be assumed at that time that old accusations had been settled after Father Kentenich’s return home from exile? After his arrival in Schoenstatt at the end of 1965, after the opening of the beatification process by the very bishop who had carried out the first visitation and initiated the second one; and after the “Nihil obstat” for the process from Rome?

The knowledge that “everything” entered the process – positive as well as negative voices – and thus was subject to the judgment of the church authorities, may have contributed to the fact that these complicated questions were perhaps not yet approached proactively. In addition, there was the opinion that documents included in the trial files were also under lock and key outside the trial. The fact that this is not true in every case has only been clarified recently.

Why No Proactive Information About This Time?

There are a number of approaches to investigate and present the history of the founder and the movement with historical accuracy. Nevertheless, some backgrounds, contexts, personal data remained hidden until now. These are efforts that still require many more steps and will certainly occupy future generations in Schoenstatt.

Why didn’t more information come earlier? One reason is certainly that earlier generations lived in completely different contexts and therefore evaluated individual events differently on their time-related background. For example, Father Kentenich’s illegitimate origin at the end of the 19th century was a stigma whose depressing consequences we know today only from hearsay. This stigma had social and even ecclesiastical consequences. According to the ecclesiastical code of 1917, an illegitimate child could not become a regular priest. That is why the young Joseph Kentenich went to the Pallottine Fathers, who offered those concerned the possibility of working as priests in the mission. Father Kentenich himself never publicly addressed this biographical detail. At times he made hints that he was waiting for a sign to speak about it. His first biographies followed this example – not to hide the truth, but probably out of a reverence for his person and his work as founder.

The reason, the “Epistola perlonga” and the “Apologia pro vita mea” as well as other writings written in exile were not widely circulated is clear from their genesis. Most of these extensive documents were written for the archive. At that time, this was the only possibility for Father Kentenich to present the events and contexts from his point of view clearly and without embellishment. The writings reflect what he perceived from the various sides and how he himself judged them.

In addition, some of these writings contain clear and unsparing criticism of ecclesiastical authorities and of the superiors of his community. He sent    the “Apologia”, his justification writing, which he wrote for the bishop of Trier the year of his golden jubilee as a priest, was first sent to the bishop of Münster with the request for advice. The latter replied to him that if he felt he had been treated unjustly; he should bear it in silence for the sake of his work. Father Kentenich would have preferred a clear response, but he followed the bishop’s advice.

Assessment in Context

The Protection of the “Forum Internum” and of the Person

Why were such things not spoken about earlier in the Schoenstatt Movement? For the same reason that they were not spoken about in the Church in general. What happened in the area of confession and spiritual direction, then called guidance of the soul, was absolutely taboo and was subject – as it still is today – to confessional seal. The so-called forum internum was subject to absolute nondisclosure.

If someone wanted to communicate with another person about what she or he had experienced in confession, it was his or her responsibility. However, it was usually not to be negotiated in public. Since confession and spiritual direction deal with highly personal issues, hardly anyone would want his or her most private secrets to be discussed or even published in large circles.

As far as the publication of personal letters and other written material is concerned – as has now happened – the consideration must be even more differentiated.    Many contexts must be taken into account if one wants to gain a reasonably fair picture of Father Kentenich’s conduct. It is not a matter of justifying or downplaying various of his procedures, but rather of understanding the mentality of the time.

There is the problem that today, some 70 years after the relevant events, we apply completely different criteria to behaviors than did the persons affected at that time. The concept of spiritual abuse and spiritual abuse of power as we understand it today did not exist back then. In the sensitized situation today, we set completely different standards for behavior and the use of official authority than the church did in the 1940s and 1950s. It was taken for granted that penitents would be denied absolution if they did not behave according to the norms of the Church. Therefore, no one would have thought of doubting the authority of confessors.

Furthermore, forms of penance and penitential exercises, such as self-chastisement as an exercise in penance for one’s own sins, were widespread at that time for which we have little understanding today.  The latter was still common practice in some religious orders in the 20th century.

With regard to Father Kentenich, it is now the task to evaluate his behavior in the context of the time and of his pastoral and pedagogical intention as well as his mission. Exaggerations and wrong behavior must be named, classified accordingly and, if necessary, one must distance oneself from it. This is especially true where human failure has played a role.

 Now here lies another reason no one attempted to search for and publish personal letters in the archives of the Sisters of Mary, for example. Besides the respect for the internal affairs of a community, it was, above all, the right of a person to inviolability of privacy. For example, it did not occur to anyone to dig up personal incriminating material about Sister Georgia, who is now the talk of the town, and to reveal it to the public. 

This right to the integrity of the person has been violated with all severity in recent publications to discredit Father Kentenich. Now, what should the next step be? Should all the material about that sister be brought up, for example, in order to uncover the real background and possibly gain a completely different light on certain events? This is where a gulf opens up between what we understand today as the right to privacy in the digital age and the demand for complete clarification, even if precisely such rights to privacy are being violated. A tension is emerging that is difficult to resolve.

Some Initial Important Steps Towards Clarification

With great honesty, an attempt will now be made to work on individual accusations against Father Kentenich in the mentioned sense, in order to come closer to a clarification of the inquiries.

In doing so, it should also be taken into account that undeniably the framework of confession or spiritual direction can open up a space in which abuse is possible. The hasty publication that Father Kentenich committed sexual abuse is not tenable. The remaining accusation that he abused his position as founder, spiritual director, and confessor with sisters in order to suppress these sisters spiritually and in part in a way that was contemptuous of humanity remains to be examined. This accusation should be further investigated despite the manifold experiences in the Schoenstatt communities that Father Kentenich met people   with an attitude of extraordinary respect.

At this point we ask all members of the Schoenstatt Movement to trust in our sincere effort to work out new and realistic perspectives with reverence for all persons concerned and to make them accessible to all.

At the request of the General Presidium of the International Schoenstatt Movement and in cooperation with different people from the Schoenstatt Movement, topics will be discussed that concern Fr. Joseph Kentenich, founder of the Movement, and about which information is requested today. This approach is made because of the current knowledge of documents and writings to which one has access. The results of the investigations and dialogues can be read in the respective thematic articles.

Press Office Schoenstatt International

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Movimiento de Schoenstatt, Padre José Kentenich, PJK

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