Over the last few years there have been several firsts for the Scottish Schoenstatt family. The first trip to Milwaukee and this year the first visit to Dachau. Individuals have certainly made the trip before but these group pilgrimages were a sign of the growing maturity in Schoenstatt's spirituality for the whole Scottish family. Here Eileen and John Shalloo tell of their experiences following in the footsteps of Fr Kentenich that led to the trial of Dachau concentration camp

' On Friday the 12th October 12 of us met up at Edinburgh Airport to start our pilgrimage to Schoenstatt and Dachau. For many months we have been preparing by prayer and instruction for this very special pilgrimage, again following in our Founder and Father’s footsteps, along with our preparation of welcoming our Holy Spirit Symbol into our own Schoenstatt Shrine.

After a safe journey we arrived at the Sonnenau in Schoenstatt and were welcomed by Sister Angela and her helpers. She spoke of us encountering Fr. Kentenich in a specific way. She asked the question ,’Why did we want to go to Dachau’? She spoke of her own first visit there and how you could sense the evil that happened there and yet we also had to give thanks, for all the graces that came out of that place. We would see things very differently when we went home

Early on Saturday morning we all got to the Mother Shrine where three of our group, Irene Morrison and Agnes and John Burns would make their Consecration, their Covenant of Love with our Mother Thrice Admirable. The Mass was beautiful, Fr. Charles a Nigerian priest spoke of the Covenant of Love as a privilege, an experience and a challenge, a day of many blessings followed.

After breakfast we headed of for Metternich and a tour of the Mariengarten Documentation, lunch and a visit to Sr. Emilie’s grave. On our way back to Schoenstatt we passed the site of the prison where Fr. Kentenich had been held, before transportation to Dachau. Our day finished with a private group visit to the Founder Chapel, where once again Sr. Angela did us proud. We were asked to choose from a little box(without looking) a card which had hands or hearts depicted on them. Sister had spoken the night before of the Schoenstatt Priests’ groups which were formed within the camp and the dedication of the Hand Group in Dachau on September 24th 1944. She also spoke of the Heart Group who made their dedication on the 8th December 1944. John and I both received a card with a heart on it. We desperately wanted to know what Father said about the Heart Group and his words to the group at that time was: our symbol demands of us a Mary like heart, Christ’s Heart, and God’s Heart to embrace the whole world, what a powerful and wonderful message, but could we live up to that?

On the Monday morning after we had Holy Mass at the Mother Shrine we moved on to Wurzburg with a sight seeing tour of the town led by one of the Mother’s of the Schoenstatt League. We stayed that night at the Schoenstatt Centre. One of the Sister’s showed us a very old film of the time Fr. Kentenich gave a priests retreat at Wurzburg.

Dachau: Thursday morning, we woke up to rain, such a disappointment after all the lovely weather we had. We departed for Dachau, its about an hour's journey from Munich and this was what we had all been waiting for. We weren’t sure what to expect or how we would feel. When we arrived the place looked grey and dreary somewhat in keeping with its nature. It was raining, and windy and there was no birds singing. A feeling of desolation and loss was what we felt. Sister hired personal receivers which we could listen to and try to understand the camp. We did all the historical part in the morning including watching a 22 minute film about the historical back ground of Dachau. That was a real eye opener.
Many a tear slid down a cheek and was quietly wiped away. Dachau is a vast site and the parade ground is enormous. It was difficult to image the place crowded with prisoners at any given time. Only one or two of the huts now remaining standing and have been turned into a museum, but the bases of the other huts remain.

In the afternoon we returned to the camp and Fr. Bryan Cunningham of the Schoenstatt Fathers led us through a very powerful and emotional stations of the Cross. We stopped at every point where Fr. Kentenich had stayed during his time there. We would like to finish with a quote from the third Founding Document, which seems to steal into our hearts very profoundly since we came home. “As a return gift (from Mary) we may ask for great graces of prayer for ourselves and our work-even many graces of contemplative prayer. This is not necessary for all of us, but for those who have been called to become leaders. For Schoenstatt cannot fulfil its calling unless a number of its members receive the grace of Contemplation.”

Friday after Holy Mass and Lunch we departed for the airport, each one of us carrying our own thoughts and feelings regarding our pilgrimage.

May the time we spent there, never allow us to forget, and never to allow it to happen again. For all those who suffered and did not survive we pray that they received their eternal reward'.

Eileen and John Shalloo.

[back]