Schoenstatt...
An apostolic movement
Fr. Kentenich
“acceleration of our self-sanctification as a means of transforming our chapel into a place of pilgrimage”
New Person in the new community
Schoenstatt is an apostolic movement, committed to promoting the growth of the faith and renewal of Church and world through the apostolate of all the faithful and in every walk of life.
One of Schoenstatt’s aims is to form the new man in the new community. In other words to help form “modern canonizable saints,” that is, saints who correspond to the challenges of living faith in our present day and age.
A person can belong to Schoenstatt by joining the Apostolic League, the Apostolic Union or a Secular Institute. The criteria for joining depends on the degree of the apostolic, ascetical and community obligations to which one feels called. All members are united in The Covenant of Love with Our Lady of Schoenstatt.
Schoenstatt Branches active in South Africa
Structure of the movement
The Schoenstatt Movement or Schoenstatt Family also known as the apostolic movement of Schoenstatt imitates the natural family as far as possible so that in the various communities the people of God may become a family of God. Father Kentenich founded Schoenstatt as a “movement of renewal which, from Schoenstatt, is to form the Church and world into Christ, as Mary did. “
The structure of the Schoenstatt Family is formed by the God-given interplay of the orders of nature and grace. In the natural order, mankind is composed of men and women, children, youth and adults. Nature and grace move some to enter into marriage to become fathers and mothers; grace advises others to renounce marriage ‘for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” without, however, depriving them of their nature. Thus, the Schoenstatt Family is borne by four “pillars’: families, women, men and priests.
Each of these pillars is divided up into institutes, unions and branches of the league according to the varying degrees of their spiritual integration in the whole Schoenstatt Work and to the extent to which the members make themselves available for work in the movement, the Church and world. The Schoenstatt’s pilgrims’ movement embraces every age group and walk of life.