Dear Schoenstatt Family and friends:

Greetings from Schoenstatt, Germany! On this day we want to join the Schoenstatt Family worldwide in celebrating the 100th Ordination Anniversary of our Father and Founder, Fr. Kentenich. It has been a gift for me to be able to participate in the closing of the Year for Priests in Rome and to be here in Schoenstatt participating in the Conference celebrating Father’s Ordination Anniversary.

Today, July the 8th, there will be a solemn Holy Mass at the Limburg Cathedral with the Most Reverend Tebartz von Elst, Bishop of Limburg. It will conclude with an encounter in the place where Father Kentenich was ordained, the Mission House of the Pallottine Fathers in Limburg. In the afternoon, a walking pilgrimage for the intentions of the Year for Priests will take place from Limburg to Schoenstatt. The pilgrims will arrive on July 10th, the 100th anniversary of Father Kentenich's first Holy Mass.

In this spirit I would like to share with you words of Fr. Heinrich Walter, President of the International Schoenstatt Work and General Superior of the Schoenstatt Fathers:

"In this Year for Priests proclaimed by the Pope, we see an open door to demonstrate to the Church the priestly richness of Father Kentenich. We are proud to have a founder who - as a priest - has been so fruitful in his life.

He was a priest who matured through a crisis in his youth. He accepted the great challenge of risking his life and was not afraid to face the hierarchy of the Church. He was a priest who spoke about God as if he were exactly next to Him. His love for Mary awakened all the powers of his soul and impregnated his entire pastoral work. His heart was so big that he was able to unite himself deeply with each person he encountered. His priesthood was a source of joy for us. This is what we want to manifest publicly.

In reality, Schoenstatt was born one hundred years ago with the priestly ordination of Father Joseph Kentenich. The group of sodalists was formed around that young priest, who, as such, lived as a shepherd amid his flock.....a flock which is a family which has a Father.

He was not only a dispenser of the sacraments: he was a creator of relationships, a former of persons, an expert in covenants, a strategist in organization, a prophetic interpreter of the times.
His priestly being is always attached to all of us. It is a joy for all of us and a task for the entire Family to present his priestly profile today. Each pastor, each diocese, the entire Church, should experience the richness which his priestly life embodies.

The key is to give to the Church, in the present challenges, all which has made fruitful the priesthood of our Father Kentenich. Would it not be possible that with the present crises of the priests, the entire Schoenstatt Family would become enthused for helping the Church, manifesting an image of that priesthood which has confirmed its fruitfulness so that it can be a model for many?"

It is very appropriate that the centennial celebration of the ordination of Father Kentenich fell "precisely" during this Year for Priests. It is the overwhelming example of a priest who has lived and has worked as a "man of God." We are very grateful for him and we can present him to the world.

As a Schoenstatt Family in Austin we have lived in a special way this Year for Priests called by our Holy Father and as a gift from the Providence we have added Father Kentenich’s Centennial of his ordination. I can say with certainty that we have had the opportunity to grow in our love and attachment to our Founder as we strive to conquer our future Shrine through our Capital of Grace and the many Covenant Sundays and fundraiser opportunities. I want to assure you that the leaders of our Movement are working hard to making this wish and longing of ours a reality. There will be a Movement wide invitation soon to give you an update on our advance in this work entrusted to us by you all and to talk about the next steps in this process. We also want to officially place a picture of Fr. Kentenich in the Movement house when we come back from the summer break as a symbol from this year of his Anniversary.

I would also like to ask you to pray for two intentions that are happening now over the summer. One is the annual Boys Walk from Corpus Christi to the Confidentia Shrine in Lamar. This walk happens every year in the weekend of Father’s ordination and is organized by the Boys Youth in Texas. The other event happening this coming weekend as well is the National Leaders Convention at the International Schoenstatt Center in Milwaukee, Wi. This is an opportunity where all the diocesan leaders of the Movement in the US will gather to receive input and share about the life of the Movement nationwide. As a preview, one of the very important announcements will be the blessing and dedication of the new Schoenstatt Shrine in Miami, Fla. in December this year. On behalf of our Diocesan Committee and the Movement Board we are grateful to be very well represented by David and Lizette Anglin of the Family Branch, Christel and Ruben Montez of the Board, Rachel Gardner of the Professional Women and Paige Ingersoll from SUW as well as Father Christian. Thank you for representing us and sharing with our sisters and brothers in the Covenant of the life of our Movement in Central Texas.

I will have you all very much present today as I participate of the Mass and the events in Limburg and as I pray for you and all of your intentions from the Original Shrine in Schoenstatt. Yours in the Covenant,

Fr. Jesus Ferras, ISP
Movement Coordinator

Dear Schoenstatt Family and Friends:

May 31st is just around the corner! This 31st of May we celebrate 61 years of F. Kentenich's moment of audacity, trust in Divine Providence and love for our family, which resulted in the heavy cross of the exile but brought the victory of our movement being recognized by the Church as a work of God. *This May 31st will be a three-fold celebration for our Schoenstatt Family, as we celebrate *

- *the third milestone in Schoenstatt history, *
- *the third anniversary of our wayside shrine at Addie Roy*
- *and also as we join in spirit with the Schoenstatt family in Ecuador to celebrate the movement's 50th anniversary. *

We will celebrate with *Mass at 11am on Monday, May 31st (*Memorial Day) at the Chapel House. Please bring a dish to share! After mass there will be a short video presentation by Carolina Alvarez on the Movement in Ecuador, about their initial struggles and all the life that the movement brought to the country.

To commemorate the third anniversary of the wayside shrine, we will also lift up final count of all our *Hail Mary's offered as our Capital of Grace for the Shrine*! Please find the April Covenant Mass totals at the end of this email. Let us dedicate ourselves in this last week in the spirit of the mission of May 31st, to continue to show the Blessed Mother through our Hail Marys that we desire to build her a shrine, that she may bring about a renewal of organic loving, living and thinking in our Austin Diocese and even further.

- *PLEASE REMEMBER EITHER TO BRING YOUR HAIL MARYS to the Mass or report them online by sending an email to cog@schoenstatt.us by Sunday, May 30th.*

Finally, here is a brief paragraph on the history of this third milestone in Schoenstatt history:

May 31st 1949

"After the war Fr. Kentenich started traveling to countries where Schoenstatt had become established. During this period he wrote a letter called the ‘Epistola per Longa’ [latin for ‘very long letter’] on ‘mechanistic thinking’ to Church authorities in Germany. In this letter he pointed out the dangers of contemporary theological thought which separated the idea of God from the life of God as opposed to organic thinking, loving
and living which sees things in their God-willed context. He placed this letter on the altar of the shrine in Bellavista, Chile for the healing and the mission of the Church.

The response to this letter was a Visitation of Schoenstatt by Church authorities who decided to separate Fr. Kentenich from the Schoenstatt work. He was exiled to the Pallottine Province House in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for over 14 years"

We hope to see you at the celebration!

Dear Schoenstatt Family and friends:

May is the month in which the Church honors the Blessed Mother in a special way. Let us celebrate Mary's month with Covenant Mass next Sunday, the 16th. Mass is at 11am at the Chapel House on Addie Roy Rd, with a potluck lunch to follow - please bring a dish to share!

Also, the Boys Youth will be giving us a special presentation after Covenant mass about the part of the future Shrine that their branch is conquering - the pews! (Including the two pews already sitting in our Chapel!) This is an especially great chance to invite or bring along any high school aged boys looking to renew their faith life and dig in to
Schoenstatt - it will be a great chance to see what the Boys Youth is all about! Please extend an invitation to any young highschool men you know who might be interested!

Please remember to bring your contribution to the Capital of Grace for our future Shrine - namely, the Hail Mary's ya'll have been praying! Please put your prayer cards (or tally sheets with the number of prayers written down & branch name) in the basket by the COG poster BEFORE MASS; the count will be done following mass. Please find the COG Sheet attached, so that you can print it and pray! If you cannot make it to Covenant Mass, please email in your prayers BEFORE SUNDAY to cog@schoenstatt.us.

Many blessings to all the Mothers! May our Mother Mary continue to form you and deepen your calling to the most precious vocation of motherhood. Happy Mother's day to you and to our Blessed Mother!