Schoenstatt Apostolic Movement


The Apostolic Movement of Schoenstatt is a Catholic Marian movement founded in Germany in 1914 by Fr Joseph Kentenich, who saw the movement as a means of spiritual renewal for the Catholic Church. The movement is named after the small locality of Schönstatt which is part of the town of Vallendar near Koblenz, in Germany.
As a movement of renewal within the Catholic Church, Schoenstatt works to revitalize the Church and society in the spirit of the Gospel. Its members seek to connect faith with daily life, especially through a deep love for Mary, the Mother of God, who helps, educates and guides them in becoming better followers of Christ. As an international movement, it has expanded to every continent and has members from all vocations and walks in life. It is a spiritual family whose many branches and communities join to form a single Schoenstatt Family.

History

The Schoenstatt Movement was founded in 1914, when Father Joseph Kentenich, the spiritual director in a Pallottine school in Vallendar, Germany, and a young group of seminarians sealed the "Covenant of Love" with the Virgin Mary in a small chapel, now known as the Original Schoenstatt Shrine. Father Kentenich was inspired in part by the success of Bartolo Longo in establishing the Marian shrine to Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii, and felt called to establish a new shrine in Schoenstatt, to "create a spirituality which would be adaptable to conditions of rapid changes in the modern world".
Throughout its early years, Schoenstatt began to grow as a retreat center for different groups. During World War I, many of the young seminarians, such as Joseph Engling, were put to the test when they were called to serve at the battlefronts. There, “the lives and testimonies of the young Schoenstatt members attracted more people from different states of life.”
During the 1930s, with the rise of Adolf Hitler, Fr. Kentenich and other Schoenstatters, such as Fr. Franz Reinisch, criticized Nazism, and as a consequence the Schoenstatt Movement was registered as a threat to the Nazi regime. In 1941, Fr. Kentenich was arrested and sent to the Dachau concentration camp, where he began to expand Schoenstatt among the prisoners. He would remain there until 1945 when the concentration camp was liberated.Between 1947 and 1948, Fr. Kentenich visited South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and the United States to help communities in these countries to build up Schoenstatt. During this time, Fr. Kentenich met thousands of people, many of whom would play important roles in the development of the Movement, such as the Chilean Mario Hiriart and the Brazilian deacon Don Joao Pozzobon. In 1950, Pozzobon began the Pilgrim Mother Apostolate. He travelled thousands of miles on foot to evangelize in schools, prisons, hospitals, and homes.
In May 1949, Fr. Kentenich wrote a letter to the Church authorities in Germany, well known in Schoenstatt as "Epistola Perlonga". In this letter, Fr. Kentenich highlights the dangers that the Church faces due to some models of theological thinking which “separates the life of God from His creation and our Spirit of humanity.” The letter was considered offensive by German and Vatican Church authorities, and resulted in Fr. Kentenich's exile to Milwaukee for 14 years.
According to the Schoenstatt Movement, “the Second Vatican Council opened a new vision of the Church which better understood the Work of Fr. Kentenich. In 1965, he was called to return to his native land and was fully rehabilitated by Pope Paul VI.” During the following three years, he was able to continue his work with Schoenstatt. He died on September 15, 1968.After the death of Father Kentenich, the Schoenstatt Movement “remained profoundly attached to the person of the Founder, working on the growth of creative loyalty to his mission and his charism, adapting itself to new cultural environments and historical challenges.”
Schoenstatt has continued to grow through the Movement's various apostolates, such as the Pilgrim Mother Apostolate, which has reached millions of people in many countries, social and educational actions around the world, the development of Federations, Leagues, and other groups for families, youth, and pilgrims, and the expansion of Schoenstatt shrines.File:Refugium peccatorum.jpg|thumb|right|205x205px|Mother Thrice Admirable Madonna by Luigi Crosio, 1898

Mother Thrice Admirable

The picture of Mother Thrice Admirable was donated by a teacher in 1915 to the Pallotine seminarians under the spiritual direction of Father Kentenich. It was painted in 1898 by Luigi Crosio under the title Refugium Peccatorum Madonna. It has since been called the Mother Thrice Admirable Madonna, a key symbol of the Schoenstatt movement.

Communities of the Apostolic Movement of Schoenstatt

Secular Institutes

These are organized on the international level. According to the official website, "The members of a Secular Institute oblige themselves to a permanent apostolate and to an established form of community," and they "belong to the form of Consecrated Life in the Church and are of 'Pontifical right'."File:Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary.png|thumb|220x220px|Currently there are around 1,800 around the world.There are six secular institutes in the Schoenstatt Movement:
  • Secular Institute of the Sisters of Mary
  • Secular Institute of the Brothers of Mary
  • Secular Institute of Schoenstatt Diocesan Priests
  • Secular Institute of Schoenstatt Fathers
  • Secular Institute of Ladies of Schoenstatt
  • Secular Institute of Families

    Apostolic Federations

These are organized on the national level. According to the official website, "Members of the Federation oblige themselves to a permanent apostolic service and foster an established form of community. In the spirit of the evangelical counsels, they strive for perfection in keeping with their state in life."The following are the Apostolic Federations of the Schoenstatt Movement:
  • Men's Federation
  • Family Federation
  • Women's Federation
  • Mother's Federation
  • Priest's Federation

    Apostolic Leagues

These are organized on the diocesan level. According to the official website, "Belonging to the League are people who, aspiring to sanctity, allow themselves to be educated by Schoenstatt and in this way make efforts to carry out an apostolic activity service in their lives". Pilgrims are also associated to the Schoenstatt Apostolic Leagues. While they do not incorporate themselves to a specific branch of the movement, they maintain regular contact with the shrine and the Apostolic Movement.
The Apostolic League includes groups like Girl's Youth, Professional Women's League, Mother's League, Priest's League, Men's League, Boy's Youth, Family League, and People and Pilgrims.

Organs of Coordination

At the International Level

  • General Presidium - According to the official website, "The General Presidium represents the entire Apostolic Movement of Schoenstatt. In its relationship to the Holy See, the General Presidium is dependent on the Pontifical Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, to which it periodically informs about the life and activities of the Apostolic Movement of Schoenstatt". As of January 2021, Father Juan Pablo Catoggio is the president of the General Presidium of the Schoenstatt Movement.
  • International Coordination of the Schoenstatt Movement - In addition to maintaining the Movement's official website and social media platforms, it collaborates in the unity of the Movement at the international level. Father Heinrich Walter and Sister M. Cacilda Becker are the international coordinators of the Schoenstatt Movement.

    At the National Level

  • National Presidium - It represents the Apostolic Movement before the Bishops' Conference of that country.
  • National Central Committee
  • Diocesan Councils

    Schoenstatt Around the World

The Schoenstatt Movement is expanded in more than 110 countries. Some of those are:Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Burundi, Canada, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Italy, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Tanzania, United Kingdom, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela, Vietnam.
207 Schoenstatt Shrines have been built worldwide, providing a center for the Schoenstatt community in that region. According to the official website, "The Schoenstatt Shrine is one of the great places of pilgrimage of the Catholic Church with about 15 million people who regularly draw from its stream of graces". Schoenstatt also makes itself present through the Pilgrim Mother Campaign, which spans more than 110 countries in the world, with around 30 million members.

Spirituality

The central issues in the Schoenstatt Movement are the ideas based on that which Father Joseph Kentenich founded the movement in 1914, including Christian personality development, orientation toward ideals, and community.
" wishes to be understood as a universal vision, comprising time and eternity, this world and the next, the economic, social, ethical, political and religious needs of all people, including the dispossessed, the millions of masses. …It wants to help redeem the world not only from its earthly sufferings, but also from sin and from its alienation from God. It tries to do this under the guidance and in the school of Our Lady by applying the original principles of Christianity in a new way to restore the disturbed relationship between the individual person and society, the person and business, the person and technology, and the person and social advancement." - Joseph Kentenich