August 16, 2010
Dear Holy Founder Generation,
How are you? In this month of Mary’s Assumption into
heaven receive heartfelt greetings from our MTA in the
shrine. May our Mother and Queen guide you and
help you as you begin your school year.
I decided to write this magazine in order to share with
you some of the blessings we have received these last months, and to also pass on some information about our upcoming activities.
The summer was, indeed, full of wonderful experiences for our Schoenstatt Girls’ Youth, but I would like to highlight two moments: the National Leaders’ Convention in Milwaukee and our Summer Camp.
I hope that as you read this magazine you can re-experience and treasure what Fr. Kentenich and Blessed Mother are trying to give each one of us and that you are able to have some time to reflect and treasure all these experiences in your heart. Sincerely, Sr. M. Mara
Our Encounter
National Leader’s Convention and youth pilgrimage, July 8-14, 2010
I know that not all of the girls were able to attend the National Leaders Convention in person, but in a way all girls from our Holy Founder Generation did, because we had the blessing to have nine girls representing you.
I decided to call this part of the magazine of the National Leaders’ Convention- Our Encounter- because the introductory words from the skit that we presented at the Convention in Milwaukee became real: “At the beginning of this year, our Mother and Queen gave us a great gift. She opened the door for an encounter, an encounter that we knew would bestow on us and our youth realm copious blessings. She invited us to the exile places to encounter our father and founder, to meet her, and to experience our blessed Schoenstatt family. And we? We said: “Yes” and started our spiritual preparations. It was not coincidental, but God’s providence to bring us especially this year of our father and founder’s centennial to celebrate and congratulate him. Since several years our Texas girls’ youth was not part of an encounter like this. We believe that our Holy Founder Generation Queen desires a new springtime in our youth realm, and we also trust that she will send us from here with renewed enthusiasm to strive always anew to embody our Texas Youth Ideal –to be a Holy Founder Generation.” (Skit’s Intro)
Yes, the trip to Milwaukee really became an encounter. One of the first places we visited was the Exile Shrine. It was our great joy to be at the shrine where Father Kentenich received his many visitors during his exile. It was nice how this July 8, 2010, he came to our encounter; he came to receive his girls youth from Texas, and we came to celebrate his 100 anniversary of priesthood. It won’t be possible to share all details of this day but we can say that this first impression was striking. We saw and experienced the Schoenstatt family who came from different states to celebrate our founder’s centennial. The festive Holy Mass was presided by Archbishop J. Listecki. It was a lovely Holy Mass and a great joy inundated our hearts. Fr. Kentenich’s presence was tangibly felt. He was celebrating with all his Schoenstatt children. After Holy Mass we watched a power point in honor of our father and founder’s priesthood. During this presentation we sang and adaptation from Fr. Kentenich’s text chosen for his ordination card:
“Unite, O Father, all minds in truth and all hearts in love. Father, make us one in you”
After our supper, we concluded our celebration with a closing prayer of thanksgiving at the Exile-shrine. The whole event was amazing and we felt as one big family. A little taste of that feeling was when we commuted back and forth from the exile shrine and the International Center in school buses. Everybody rode the bus and had a great time. The girls’ youth took the advantage to mingle with other girls and sing Schoenstatt songs for half of the way.
The next two days, we participated at different talks with all Schoenstatt branches. The youth was present and everybody made the comment how nice it was to have the Schoenstatt’s future as part of the leaders’ convention. The talks were centered on our preparation to the 100 jubilee of the Covenant of Love- Schoenstatt 2014. All presentations were a stimulation to prepare for 2014, and to tune our hearts to decide about the gift that we, as Schoenstatt Family from the USA, will give to our Mother Thrice Admirable for the Schoenstatt 100th Jubilee.
As representatives of the Texas youth, we felt happy to take part in all these discussions. We learned greatly from the sharing and comments from other branches. Each one of us was sent to a different discussion group, so at the end it was very enriching to share what each one had heard and expressed at our discussion groups. We tried to do our best in representing our Holy Founder Generation.
On July 9 in the evening, we gathered at the provincial house to have a celebration and present our gifts to our priestly father. All the states had conquered spiritual or material gifts for Father Kentenich. The states and cities that participated were: Indiana, Georgia, Florida, Madison, Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, New Jersey, Texas, Tennessee, Ohio, Milwaukee, Illinois, and the team of the Rosary campaign from the whole nation. It was beautiful, inspiring, and delightful to see how each state had striven to conquer a spiritual gift. As Texas family we presented three gifts to Fr. Kentenich. We gave him a frame with a picture with the Confidentia shrine, the Cor unum in Patre Shrine, and the father statue from Lamar. The picture represented our gratitude for our two shrines and our founder’s continuous spiritual presence in Texas. The second gift was a candle representing the Covenant of Love, and the third gift was the one that we have striven for during the last months before the convention. We offered Fr. Kentenich 202 answered prayers. We wanted to collect 100 answered prayers, but we were surprised that after all the Texas family joined our striving, we gathered many more. As we offered our gift to our founder, we thanked him for his intercession, and for being always caring for his children. He is the gift God has given us and he is the gift we want to gift back to the church.
On July 10, day when Fr. Kentenich celebrated his first Holy Mass, we had the celebration of his 100th jubilee of priesthood. Once more, it was a beautiful celebration. In the evening we had the opportunity to enjoy a presentation about the life of Father Kentenich by the boys’ youth. They did a great job. It was an almost two hour play that we enjoyed from beginning till end. They took their roles very seriously and we learned also a lot through this presentation.
The last day of the convention we had a beautiful experience with the other girls’ youth attending the Leaders’ Convention. They had discovered their year’s motto and so they shared with us how they had come to it and what it meant for them. Their year’s motto is: Hand in hand – we conquer hearts for you! At the end of our little meeting we all walked holding hands to the International shrine. It was a beautiful sign of unity and our great longing to help conquer hearts for Schoenstatt.
Through this experience we made friends with many other girls whose hearts also beat for our Schoenstatt Mother and the Schoenstatt world. It was great to see girls from all over the country sharing our ideals and trying to make the difference in our society. The feeling of “we are not alone” came also very strongly to us.
But this was not all. Blessed Mother had still a great gift for us. We had the opportunity to stay two extra days after the National Leaders Convention to trace our father’s footsteps. These two days were intensive. Yes, that sounds a little strong but it seemed that Fr. Kentenich and Blessed Mother were very interested in having us two more days to bless us by buckets and letting us experience many people who met Fr. Kentenich.
For this part I will let the testimonies of the girls speak by themselves and later on I will share few of the mosaic stones we heard.
TESTIMONIES
"Before I left for Milwaukee,I had been focused on my usual schedule; take care of my FFA(Future farmers of America) animals in the morning, go to school, go to work, and take care of my FFA animals at night. My days were jam packed and my heart was not as focused on the Blessed Mother as it should have been! So when the time came I went to Milwaukee not knowing exactly what to expect. When I landed in Milwaukee and was on my way to the Schoenstatt International Center I began to relax and forget about all of the things I had going on at home in Houston. I began to feel at home in Schoenstatt Milwaukee as I did at Schoenstatt Lamar. When we visited the International Shrine and the Exile Shrine I felt the same warm welcome from our MTA and when I looked at Blessed Mother I felt like I had been foolish with my time and thoughts! I felt her graces washing over me. I found a need to evaluate myself internally, and begin to focus on her and her Son to whom she would lead me. I also began to understand Father Kentenich a lot more; I understood some small things that were done in Schoenstatt like Father’s quotes, and I reflected on how the home shrine really impacted my life! By the end of the Leaders Convention I had seen some beautiful things that MTA had done for me in my life and I saw how one small seed (finding out about Schoenstatt) had really helped shape my heart and who I am today! One of the encounters with MTA that I am most fond of was when some of the girls’ youth members from across the country and me were in the shrine late at night singing to Blessed Mother! I thought it was absolutely beautiful and inspirational and one of my favorite encounters with father was when a Schoenstatt Sister of Mary named Sister Petra shared her past experiences with Father Kentenich with everyone. One of her experiences that she shared was told specifically for the girls’ youth that was there. She told us about a time when she had gone to confession with Father; she vividly explained how nervous she was to face and own up to her sin. After she confessed, father’s reaction was not harsh and upset like she anticipated, but it was caring and loving. The look on Sister Petra's face and her voice explained it all in a way that my words cannot begin to describe. Through her I saw our father and founder and felt his presence even stronger in my heart.”
Nothing without her, nothing without us!
One heart in the Father
Sofia Caylor, Houston
“The thing that really touched me most was that it felt like paradise out there in Wisconsin when you went into the city it wasn’t that pretty but when you went to the shrine and the surroundings around it, it was just BEAUTIFUL!! It touched me because wherever God has a home he's going to make it beautiful even in Lamar the place and the shrine are BEAUTIFUL!! But it never really hit me until I went to Wisconsin. Now the only thing I would change about it was the bugs...”
Maggie Montes, Austin
(First one to the right)
“When I first started writing this, I thought that I might single out just one moment or experience, and tell you what that one thing meant to me. However, it only took me a few moments to realize that this was an impossible idea. Impossible because (at least to me) everything that we did, that we heard, that we saw, and that we experienced was really only one experience: That of truly getting to know our father and founder.
We met father through both people and places. Several people talked to us about their own experiences with father, but one of the most memorable talks was with Sister Petra, Father’s secretary. She talked to us with so much enthusiasm, excitement, and animation that I felt like I had also been Father Kentenich’s secretary, getting to know father alongside her.
However, we did not only get to know father through the people who knew him, but also through praying where he prayed, walking where he walked, and sitting where he sat. It was incredibly amazing to be with father in this way. Unfortunately, the time eventually came for us to return to Texas, which, as much as I love Texas, was a very sad thing. Because none of us wanted to leave this special place, we each buried a medal next to the shine so that at least a small part of each of us would remain at the shrine with Father.”
Addie Arths, Dallas FW
(First one to the right)
“Yay! I think the best experience I got out of it was -understanding who our founding Father is and that he is not just a founder. I feel like even though he has passed I still know him. I also feel like I have found the other half of my Catholic faith, like there is so much more to it. I love the Shrines and they are my favorite places to be.”
Emily Caylor, Houston
Journey to the Exile places
“If someone asked me to define the phrase “amazing experience”, I would have to say my journey to Milwaukee during the Jubilee centennial of Fr. Kentenich’s ordination was definitely one. The reasons for this are endless. I visited three shrines (International, Exile, and Founder) during the trip, all of which our father and founder had been inside before. The Texas Girls’ Youth representatives encountered the Blessed Mother and Fr. Kentenich in numerous ways; my favorite was hard to decide.
On our last day in Wisconsin, we drove to the Exile Shrine and toured all around the area. The reason this was so special to me was because before our journey began, Sr. Mara gave each of us a different booklet that contained information on one of the places we would be visiting. My booklet was about the Exile Shrine, so when we walked around the grounds of Holy Cross, I was basically watching the pictures from my book come to life! Climbing the fire escape steps up to Father’s old apartment made me feel like one of the children coming to visit “Santa Claus”. I especially loved walking across the street to Calvary Cemetery, where Fr. Kentenich had long walks each day. Retracing his “footsteps” and making my own there was so moving to me all I could do was sing. Seriously, that’s pretty much all I did while walking by myself in the cemetery. It was awesome.
Besides having an amazing spiritual experience, I had lots of fun too. Free time was probably the owner of the most hilarious moments during the trip. In our bedroom, we had four sets of bunk beds and one twin, which provided Stephanie with the idea for the game “The floor is lava.” It would have been really funny if Sr. Mara had walked in on us. I’ve never laughed harder than I did in some of those moments.
Even though it was a short amount of time, I feel like I know so many people a lot better. Stephanie, Aspen, and Addie are so much fun to be with, and Sr. Mara is the best! Our tour guide Sr. Virginia is unforgettable; and of course our Blessed Mother couldn’t have been more present among us. I sure hope I’ll be able to go there again, and maybe next time I’ll bring the rest of Texas with me!”
Rachel Cox, Dallas FW
“How can I even start to describe my experience in Milwaukee? Well, I guess I can just say it was unique and magical! With this trip I was looking forward to experiencing a deeper encounter with the father and founder of Schoenstatt, Father Joseph Kentenich, and indeed I got what I was looking for and even more!
Reading about Father Kentenich, his life, his work for the Church and the world, his endless faith in Divine Providence, made me think: how can somebody do all these great things, and have so much vision of the future of humanity?
The truth is that he wasn't just somebody. He was a living instrument of God and Virgin Mary. While listening to all the testimonies of people who had known him I realized that this "Character" that had changed hearts of so many was real. But especially the testimony of the Fenelon's and sister Petra touched my heart very deeply and strong. It was one of those moments that you know you will never forget. There were many stories and testimonies that, it would be impossible to pick just one of them, but in general, one of the most important messages that Father Kentenich wanted to give me with this trip to his exile times was: "let me be your Father"
So now let us strive for the highest ideals COR UNUM IN PATRE!!”
Cristy Cintora, San Antonio
(The one in the middle)
“Before going to Wisconsin, my mother told me Father Kentenich was our Schoenstatt Father and I ignorantly argued that I only had two Fathers, my biological father and God. After all how could a strange man who died before I was born be my father? I didn’t know him and one can’t call someone they don’t know their Father because a Father is someone who guides you, teaches you, and loves you. To my knowledge this man did not fit that category, but on my journey in Wisconsin, I met my Schoenstatt father.
I met him through those who knew him. When people told us about their experiences with Father Kentenich, I could just see their faces light up with just the thought of Father. Everyone he met seemed to adore him. When the Fenelon’s showed us a slideshow with pictures of him, I noticed that in each picture there was always one person staring at him in awe. He seemed to radiate love and peace, which drew people to him. It astounded me that all these people loved him so much.
Each person we spoke to told us about how Father seemed to understand their individual needs and how to get through to them. One of the coolest things I heard about him was his respect for freedom. So often we see people forcing their beliefs to others, but in reality that just makes the other person’s belief weak because they don’t truly understand why they believe it. When people freely choose to believe something on their own, it becomes strongly rooted within in them. It amazed me how much he comprehended the necessity for freedom.
The most important aspect I learned from him indirectly was how to listen to God. So many people told me to listen to God, but I never knew what to listen for. Would he speak to me directly? And if not how would I hear him? Father Kentenich taught me to listen through Divine Providence. I learned he spoke to me through others, songs, or virtually anything I just had to look. It changed the way I viewed the world. Instead of going through each day trying to please myself, I searched for what God wanted me to that day.
Through this trip and through the many wonderful people I was privileged to meet, I found Father Kentenich. A man, who was a father in every sense of the word, he taught, guided, and most importantly loved each and every one of his children. I am glad to say that even though he is not on this earth he still did all of that for me.”
Stephanie Schuckenbrock, Dallas FW
(Opening the door)
“All of my experiences from Milwaukee were beautiful and powerful ones. Listening to the father Kentenich encounters made me feel closer to him and gave me a new understanding on what it is to really love Schoenstatt. They helped me understand that even when you feel abandoned the Blessed Mother is always there. Also getting to go to all of the different shrines opened up my eyes to all if the wonderful blessings we receive through the Blessed Mother. My time in Milwaukee was full of blessings and I hope we can go again.”
Aspen Davis, Dallas FW
