Our Mission
Moral and Spiritual Renewal of Society
Schoenstatt’s goal is the moral and spiritual renewal of society. We want to help bring about the Kingdom of the Father on earth by forming personalities and communities firmly rooted in Christian principles and values.
Mary is our way to this goal. Through the covenant of love with her, we want to create and foster a Marian culture in our world – a culture of Marian love for God, Marian faithfulness, Marian nobility, Marian freedom and generosity, Marian purity. We want to give the world a Marian face.
Soul of the Schoenstatt Movement
Together with the other institutes and federations of Schoenstatt, we were founded to be the soul of the Schoenstatt Movement. Our main task is to help inspire, form, and give life to the Schoenstatt Work so that it becomes fruitful for the Church and world. As Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary, we place special emphasis on the Marian education and formation of girls, women, and families.
A Mission in the World and for the World
As a secular institute, we have a special mission to be the arm of the Church in the world. We want to influence and shape all levels of society and all aspects of human life with a Christian spirit. By our being and actions, and as instruments of the Blessed Mother, we want to bring the message of God’s love to every corner of the world.
A Longing World Needs New Life!
“In our world, often dominated by a secularized culture which encourages and promotes models of life without God, the faith of many is sorely tested, and is frequently stifled and dies. Thus we see an urgent need for powerful proclamation and solid, in-depth Christian formation. There is so much need today for mature Christian personalities, conscious of their baptismal identity, of their vocation and mission in the world! There is great need for living Christian communities! And here are the movements and the new ecclesial communities: They are the response, given by the Holy Spirit, to this critical challenge at the end of the millennium. You are this providential response.”
(Saint John Paul II to Ecclesial Movements, May 30, 1998)
The New Evangelization
Schoenstatt has a mission for the new evangelization, called for by Saint John Paul II, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis. As Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary we want to give a valuable contribution – not only through our own evangelizing work, but also through the formation of lay people, both youth and adults, capable of bearing the spirit of the new evangelization into the Church and world.
“Schoenstatt brings a remarkable missionary dynamic into the Church. How many initiatives of evangelization and formation for youth, adults – men, women, and families! But above all: How many people can testify that their lives have changed here in the shrine! How many young people have experienced through Schoenstatt the joy of the faith and the beauty of being a Christian! How much missionary potential in individuals and communities has already been uncovered here and placed at the service of the Church!”
(Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko to the Schoenstatt Family, October 18, 2013)
We Pray with Pope Francis
Today we look to [Mary] and ask her to help us proclaim the message of salvation to all and to enable new disciples to become evangelizers in turn.
Star of the new evangelization, help us to bear radiant witness to communion, service, ardent and generous faith, justice, and love of the poor, that the joy of the Gospel may reach to the ends of the earth, illuminating even the fringes of our world. Mother of the living Gospel, wellspring of happiness for God’s little ones, pray for us.
(Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, Nov 24, 2013)