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!

Dear Schoenstatt Family,

First a huge thank you to everyone who made the "On The Grounds" dinner and auction fund raiser a big success! Many items were sold and over 2,000 dollars were made for our future Shrine! Thank you to everyone who worked hard to make it happen, and to all those who braved the rain to attend. Our prayers stay with Sr Carol, who continues to send us her prayers!

This April Covenant Mass we saw the biggest contribution to our Shrine Capital of Grace so far! Everyone from the children to the Hispanic Youth to the Rosary Campaigners really stepped up their devotion to offering Hail Marys - the numbers sky rocketed from last month! Below are the final results, including last minute prayers emailed in. Congratulations to SUM, who is still leading in first place, and to Rosary Campaign and Hispanic Youth, who are chasing them in second place!! Also, thanks to the children who again worked so hard counting alllll those stickers!!

Movement TOTAL: 108,472

That means we've conquered over 1,000 stones for our pathway to the Shrine!!!

First Place: SUM with 32,900
Second Place: RC & HYA with 27,958
Third Place: Mother's Branch with 16,480

Annunciation Austin: 10,342
SUW: 7,292
Family Branch: 3,750
Schoenstatt Fathers: 9,750

Don't forget to bring your Hail Mary's to the May Covenant Mass! There is now a basket in the Chapel House next to the COG poster - please place COG papers here if you turn them in ahead of time. Also, remember you can email them at any time to cog@schoenstatt.us. Make sure to include your group!

Let us continue to be UNITED in our efforts to show the Blessed Mother how strongly and dearly we desire her to inhabit our Addie Roy land in a special way, in her Shrine!

In the heart of the Blessed Mother,

Rachel Gardner

Communications Coordinator
Diocesan Committee

Dear Schoenstatt Family and friends:

We would like to communicate to you that Sister Carol suffered mild health problems this past weekend making it impossible for her to travel and be with us during this week. Rest assured that she is okay, but needs plenty of rest and prayers! She sends this message to us:

"I will place this disappointment into the Capital of Grace for the future Shrine in Austin. Momentarily it is the biggest contribution I can give. I was eagerly looking forward to meet the Schoenstatt Family of Austin. All for the Shrine!"

In Father,

Sr.M.Carol"

Our prayers will be with Sr Carol as she recovers. Yet in the light of faith, let us offer this change of plans, as she has, for the Capital of Grace for our future Shrine, and let us not loose the momentum and spirit that we have put into the wonderful weekend!

Instead, we want to carry on with the "On the Grounds" Dinner and Auction fundraiser for the Shrine, and take advantage of this already prepared moment to go deeper into the Schoenstatt spirituality together.

Thus the Dinner this Saturday is not canceled and will continue with the usual schedule, featuring talks by members of our Austin movement about the gift and originality of movements in the Church and the role of the Shrine within the Schoenstatt Movement. You can still email Nazia (nzx@me.com) dinner reservations until WED APRIL 14 and bring your payment to the event.

We would also like to remind all of Covenant Mass this Sunday, April 18th at 11 AM as usual followed by potluck and a talk. This month's talk will be about about Fr Kentenich and the main milestones in his life in the context of his 100th Ordination Anniversry this year.

The "Our Marriage: A Cradle of Sanctity" mini retreat for new couples will take place as scheduled after the talk.

Let us come together this Saturday for fellowship, great food, and deepening our Schoenstatt walk of faith and join the Schoenstatt Family on Sunday as we celebrate Covenant Day united in spitit with all our brothers and sisters in the Covenant around the world.