Waukesha, May 13, 2009

 

Dear Leaders of the Schoenstatt family in the United States:

 

Greetings to you on this special Fatima day! Today we had our Central Committee meeting here in Waukesha. It is my task to communicate to you some of our thoughts and plans in preparation for 2014.

 

 

We received a first communication from the General Presidium through Sr. Luciane Machens and Fr. Jose Maria Garcia inviting each country to send in the requests for the time and duration of the visit of the Father Eye symbol. This symbol will be traveling around the world to bring our Father and Founder to us in a symbolic way and to invite us back to Schoenstatt in 2014.

 

On the schedule we received there were the initial requests of the Martins to welcome the symbol during the month of August 2009 for events of the Federation, and for Texas by Sr. Corelia for all of October 2009. After a lengthy discussion we arrived at the following suggestion:

 

 

With this we wanted to make sure that Father Kentenich will be able to come to all the shrines and places here in the States eager to experience his spiritual visit.

 

 

Following the brain storming of our Diocesan Committee here in Milwaukee we concurred today with the ideas for the plans for next year, 2010.

 

 

This convention here in Milwaukee would take the place of our normal October Convention and bring together representatives from all the States for the celebration of the year of the priesthood. It will give us the opportunity to help us to celebrate the ordination of our Father and Founder as his Schoenstatt family of the United States and to coordinate our efforts in our striving toward 2014.

 

 

Since our Holy Father gave us the gift of this special year, from June to June, we are happy to use it also for our own striving to bring the priestly life and mission of our Father and Founder and all his followers more into the foreground. Here are some of the ideas which came to us so far:

 

a) To make good use of the new book to be published soon with texts of Fr. Kentenich on the priesthood.

 

b) Praying the Novena “In the Service of the Eternal High Priest” individually and during all our retreats during this year of the priesthood to pray for vocations for the Schoenstatt Diocesan Priests and the Schoenstatt Fathers.

 

c) Making an hour of adoration during the retreats or individually.

 

d) Using a prayer card with a special prayer for Covenant Sundays and in our home shrines.

 

e) Giving this novena also to our parish priests with the assurance “we pray for you!”

 

In March I recorded a 30 minute DVD in Ohio titled “1914-2014 Celebrating Schoenstatt’s Covenant” using the material from our planning session in Schoenstatt in February ‘09. It will be ready for distribution by May 18, 09, next week. The cost is exceptional, only $ 5.00 per piece. It can be ordered either here through us or directly from Tom Mayer with The Message Shop: http://www.themessageshop.org/   I would highly recommend it for personal use, group meetings or at retreats to give us insight into all the specific ideas generated for the years before 2014. Another uniting tool for our striving.

 

 

We shared with you some of our ideas for a fruitful celebration of the first year of this special preparatory time before 2014. Would you please share with us what you are planning already or what responses you received in your discussions of these suggestions I just related from here.

 

Keep in mind that we as a US-Schoenstatt family are dedicating each year to an individual shrine following the motto “Our Shrine for the Church”. This year it is the Confidentia shrine in Lamar, next year it will be the Mariengarten shrine in Milwaukee.

 

What we share with each other may help to unite us in our striving to live our Schoenstatt mission together and to plan on a national level for the next years of preparation.

 

Wishing you many covenant graces during this special month of May.

 

United in the Cenacle,

 

Fr. Gerold M. Langsch

Regional Movement Director