Our Apostolic Work
Our main apostolate is to inspire, support, form, and build up the Schoenstatt Movement. Whether we do this directly or indirectly, everything we do as Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary has an apostolic character because we do it for our mission in the Church and world. We see ourselves as instruments in the hands of the Blessed Mother.
Here are some of the different fields in which our sisters are involved:
Education and Formation of Girls, Women, and Families
Some sisters are directly involved in the work for our movement. This especially includes planning and leading retreats, camps, and pilgrimages, accompanying formation through regular group meetings, training lay leaders of the movement, and offering educational and spiritual resources via online media and printed publications.
Centers of Formation
Wherever the Blessed Mother chooses a place for her special activity of grace from the Schoenstatt Shrine, she also creates centers of education and renewal. Sisters offer pilgrims and guests a natural and supernatural home through the work in the sacristy, the kitchen, the dining room, the house, the reception office, the gift shop, and other areas of responsibility.
Engagement in Apostolic Initiatives
Sisters bear responsibility for various apostolic initiatives in Schoenstatt. The Schoenstatt Pilgrim Mother, for example, is an apostolate in which lay missionaries bring the image of the Mother Thrice Admirable to homes, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, and other areas of society. Sisters help coordinate this work. Other sisters work to advance the causes of beatification and canonization of Father Kentenich and Sister M. Emilie, bringing their message to wider circles.
Social Projects
In some places, our sisters take charge of social projects to provide for the basic needs of people as the Blessed Mother would do. In the Dominican Republic, for example, our sisters run a nutrition center for small children and vocational schools for high school students and adults. In Mexico, our sisters help to coordinate and accompany large-scale youth missionary initiatives in which people in remote areas receive the sacraments and catechetical instruction as well as food packages.
Various Tasks in the Service of Schoenstatt
Some tasks are more hidden and yet essential for our Schoenstatt mission. Sisters care for the practical details of our family life, provide an atmosphere of home and prayer in our houses, and offer special services. This includes work in the sewing room, the laundry, housekeeping, gardening, translation work, the formation of our young sisters, the care for our sick and elderly sisters, and many other areas.
Secular and Ecclesiastical Professions
As a secular institute, we also work in a wide variety of professions to bring the spirit of Schoenstatt into the Church and world. Some sisters live and work outside of the community as externs, radiating Mary’s image to their surroundings as teachers, nurses, computer analysts, accountants, university professors, religious education coordinators, and assistants in diocesan chanceries, just to name a few. Any task befitting the dignity of women is a possibility for a Schoenstatt Sister of Mary.
Prayer and Sacrifice
Prayer and sacrifice are the foundation of everything we do. All sisters take up the responsibility to pray and offer acts of love for the fruitfulness of the whole Schoenstatt Work. The Adoration Sisters, the contemplative branch of our community, are especially responsible for this holy task. In addition, our sick and elderly sisters are the “lightning rods of grace” for our community and the entire Schoenstatt Work through all they offer. They are our greatest treasures!