On October 7, 2012, on Sunday evening, the meeting of the Third International Committee of the Peregrination of the Czestochowa Icon "From Ocean to Ocean" took place. The committee took advantage of the fact that most of the leaders were already participating in the World Congress of Prayer for Life in Vienna.
The meeting of the committee was planned towards the end of the congress. Lech Kowalewski conducted the meeting.
The route of the pilgrimage thus far was summed up with great approval and satisfaction. The representatives of the countries, which Our Lady in the Czestochowa Icon has already visited, shared their stories and experiences. It was unanimously agreed that a pro-life campaign of this magnitude has not taken place anywhere, yet. The assembled present had brought with them their collected photographs and videos to be compiled into a shared archive of materials, so that a commemorative photo album and a documentary film could be prepared in the future. The peregrination proposal has been realized in full, even though, from the beginning, many people did not believe that this would be at all possible to achieve. Our Blessed Mother has already crossed the Far East, Siberia, Ural Mountains, Eastern-, Middle-, and Southern-Europe, the Alps and is continuing in Her travels. As the coordinators from the Western European countries have assured, She will safely arrive at Fatima for Christmas as scheduled. For this, we all have to be grateful to Our Blessed Mother.
The representatives of the countries that are still awaiting the visit of the Icon of Czestochowa talked about the status of their preparations and discussed associated problems, expressing some of their fears. The most advanced preparations so far, have been made in Great Britain. Lech Kowalewski introduced the representatives of the upcoming hosting countries to the operation and functioning of the "Life Mobile," which is somewhat complicated. Many organizational issues remained to be solved as they come up.
Unfortunately, before noon, there were also serious problems, as the motor exploded in the Skoda (vehicle) that was used to transport Our Blessed Mother through Poland. This time, the Skoda was pulling the new trailer replacement for the Life Mobile, which serves as the base for the glass shrine (encasing the Icon). This was supposed to ultimately solve the problems with the brake system. The three-year-old Skoda was decidedly immobilized at Brno (Czech Republik), about 150 kilometers north of Vienna. It was necessary to order a tow truck from Poland to pick it up and haul it back to Poland. A few kind priests took the trailer and the passengers to Vienna. After all, Our Lady has friends everywhere! Despite all of these troubles, the plan was executed. The glass shrine had already departed on the new trailer base in order to continue serving Our Blessed Mother. This type of events are rare, though. What has remained, are the related expenses and some trouble, but providentially, no one was injured.