Vietnamese May Crowning Pilgrimage
May 25, 2025
In Rockport Texas there is a small parish of Vietnamese immigrants. The idea arose to invite the parish to make a May pilgrimage to our Shrine in the Jubilee Year. Connected with the invitation was the hope that we could enthuse some of the parishioners for Schoenstatt through the Pilgrim Mother Apostolate. Of course, the problem was that none of us know Vietnamese. Some of the parishioners know English, but many do not know it well or at all. In view of this the idea arose to ask if one of our Vietnamese Schoenstatt Sisters could give a talk on a video for the people here. We could contact the province responsible for the Schoenstatt Sisters in Vietnam. They kindly helped us by providing a video that had been prepared some years ago by Sr. Alisia, who is Vietnamese.
The half hour video briefly summarizes the founding history of Schoenstatt and the Original Shrine. It ends with a time of prayer, led by Sr. Alisia, in the Original Shrine. We also received a digital copy of a brochure introducing the Pilgrim Mother Apostolate in Vietnamese. We could make some copies of this to share with our guests. With this material in hand we dared to ask the pastor, Fr. Tung Tran, if we could invite his parish. He was not too optimistic that the people would respond, but he said we can try. He also helped promote the pilgrimage and promised to be there. The date was set for Sunday, May 25, from 2 – 5 pm, and the pilgrimage was announced as an opportunity to crown the Blessed Mother in the month of May.
We had no idea how many people would accept the invitation, but we decided that even if only a few show up we will do all possible to make it a nice experience. Three mothers from our Schoenstatt groups in Corpus Christi came to help set things up and to welcome the Vietnamese pilgrims. We did not get a very large group of pilgrims, but we are grateful for each of the twenty five Vietnamese who came, including the pastor, another priest, and Sr. Teresa, a religious of the Incarnate Word Sisters. To our great surprise and joy Sr. Teresa had organized a typical dance in praise of Mary with a group of women from the parish. We only heard about this after they arrived, but we gladly adjusted the schedule to include their beautiful dance.
The activity began with some words of welcome in the hall of our Training Center. Then the video was presented. One could sense that the people were very interested and happy to hear the text in Vietnamese. After this a brief 1explanation of the Pilgrim Mother Apostolate was given in English and translated by the pastor. The people were invited to think if they would like to start a Pilgrim Mother circle in the parish. Some expressed that the idea is very beautiful, but no one volunteered to begin this apostolate. We still have hope that in the future someone will feel called to be a missionary of the Pilgrim Mother. After this we offered a snack and took time for questions and answers. One question was about the meaning of the Father eye in the Shrine and a few other questions had to do with the life of our father and founder.
Meanwhile our ten dancers were ready and eagerly waiting to begin their act. Sr. Teresa expressed their gratitude for the invitation to share their culture and for the rich Marian atmosphere they experience here. The dancers were dressed in long very simple, noble gowns of different colors. Two were dressed in white, two in yellow, two in pink, two in purple, and two in light blue. Each dancer had two small flower arrangements of the same color as their dress one in each hand. The dance was to a Vietnamese Marian song.
Directly before the dance, the crowning of the Auxiliary Pilgrim Mother took place. One of the dancers was chosen by lots to offer the crown. After a few prayers led by Fr, Tung, a Vietnamese song was sung as the lady placed a small flower crown above the picture. Then the dancers began their homage to the Queen. It was very uplifting and prayerful. At the end of the dance all the flowers were gracefully placed on a table before the crowned image.
After thanking our dancers and taking photos, we began to organize our procession to the shrine. One of our Schoenstatt mothers from Corpus Christi led the procession. Two of the Vietnamese men proudly carried the Auxiliary Pilgrim Mother that had just been crowned. Directly behind them were our dancers with their flowers again in their hands. The rest of us followed behind. The rosary was prayed and songs were sung after each decade, alternating between Vietnamese and English. When we arrived at the Shrine the crowned image was 2placed on the decorated communion rail near St. Joseph and the dancers placed their flowers around her and on the altar of the shrine. It truly looked very beautiful and fitting for a Queen. In the shrine we finished the Rosary and then Fr, Tung exposed the Blessed Sacrament for a time of silent adoration. After this he led us in praying the Divine Mercy chaplet alternating between Vietnamese and English. Then he gave the blessing and reposed the Blessed Sacrament. After this we still prayed the Jubilee year prayer in Vietnamese and prayers for the Holy Father, ending with a song.
In Rockport Texas there is a small parish of Vietnamese immigrants. The idea arose to invite the parish to make a May pilgrimage to our Shrine in the Jubilee Year. Connected with the invitation was the hope that we could enthuse some of the parishioners for Schoenstatt through the Pilgrim Mother Apostolate. Of course, the problem was that none of us know Vietnamese. Some of the parishioners know English, but many do not know it well or at all. In view of this the idea arose to ask if one of our Vietnamese Schoenstatt Sisters could give a talk on a video for the people here. We could contact the province responsible for the Schoenstatt Sisters in Vietnam. They kindly helped us by providing a video that had been prepared some years ago by Sr. Alisia, who is Vietnamese.
