Chapter Eight: About Schoenstatt's History
Chapter Eight: About Schoenstatt's History
See CCC 27.
Christian history cultivates the relationship with God by keeping alive the moments of his special intervention and activity in our personal lives and human history. It is therefore attuned to the “inbreak of the divine” as God unfolds his covenant with the Church.
To grasp this truth, one need only recall the covenant history of the Old Testament (e.g. Noah, Abraham, Moses, David) and of the New Testament established in Christ (recalled each year in the great liturgical feasts of the Church). It shows the concrete path of divine invitation and human response in the past and gives orientation in the search for God’s will in the present and future. Schoenstatt’s covenant spirituality (è 86) is attentive to the concrete history of the covenant of love with the MTA as a school that helps us grow in the covenant with God.
Moreover, this history is seen in the light of a practical faith in Divine Providence. Hence, this history’s most central defining moments shed light on Schoenstatt’s identity and mission. Recalling and reliving them helps secure this identity and mission in changing times, and helps guarantee Schoenstatt’s authentic contribution to the renewal of our times. As founder, Fr. Kentenich reflected on Schoenstatt’s history and identified certain documents and events as central and defining. He called them the “Founding Documents” (è 70) and “four milestones” (è 18), which this chapter will consider along with other important moments.
Founding documents: è 166, 168, 177, 184
Milestones: è 168, 179, 187, 193
“Old Schoenstatt” refers to the history of Schoenstatt’s founding place in the centuries before it was purchased by the Pallottines in 1901. During the lifetime of St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), Bernard’s good friend Bishop of Albero of Trier, established an Augustinian convent as part of a new effort to evangelize western Germany. This convent was founded, according to an official document of the Bishop, on October 24, 1143 in “eyne schoene statt” (“a beautiful place”), the present Schoenstatt near Vallendar.
It took some eighty years to finish construction of the “Cloister of Our Lady of Schoenstatt” (patron saints: Our Lady, St. John the Baptist, later St. Barbara) and it soon was filled with many vocations. This vigorous life continued for over 100 years. By the 1300s, in a time of general decline in the religious life set in, and the abbey lost so many sisters that it had to be dissolved in 1436. A second founding followed in 1487, but the trying times of the Reformation led to a new depopulation of religious houses and the abbey was closed for good in 1567.
Except for the two west towers, the ancient church and abbey was completely destroyed by the Swedes during the Thirty Years' War (16181648), and what was left lay mostly forgotten and little tended until a certain Mr. Dorsenmagen became its owner in the late 1800s. It was from him that the Pallottine Fathers bought the property in 1901.
The convent cemetery is known to have had a St. Michael’s chapel from at least 1319. It is likely that it was also destroyed by the Swedes in 1633. The chapel was rebuilt in 1681 on the ancient foundations. It too passed into Pallottine ownership in 1901, becoming the Schoenstatt Shrine in 1914.
The beginning of “new Schoenstatt” was in 1901 when the Pallottines acquired the old convent and grounds. They returned it to religious use by making it the boarding school for high school seminary.
Key developments of Schoenstatt’s “pre-history” are connected with the life of its Founder, Father Joseph Kentenich.
- November 18, 1885: the birth of Fr. Kentenich in Gymnich, near Cologne, Germany.
- April 12, 1894: unable to take care of her son, Fr. Kentenich’s mother leaves him at an orphanage in Oberhausen, Germany. In her distress, she entrusts her 8-year-old son to Mary, who takes this dedication totally to heart. This laid an important foundation for the later covenant of love.
- September 24, 1904: Joseph enters the novitiate of the Pallottines. His 6 years of formation are marked by a difficult interior crisis that further prepares him for his mission to understand the interior crises of the modern soul.
- July 8, 1910: Fr. Kentenich is ordained a priest with the Pallottine Fathers in Limburg, Germany.
- October 25, 1912: Fr. Kentenich was appointed spiritual director of the Pallottine Minor Seminary in Schoenstatt. Two days later he introduces himself to the students with a talk now known as the “Pre-founding Document.”
The “Pre-founding Document” is the talk which Fr. Kentenich gave on October 27, 1912 as he began his work as spiritual director in Schoenstatt. His task was to win over the students who were in a state of rebellion over the heavy-handedness of the house rules. Fr. Kentenich first offered his service:
“I now place myself entirely at your disposal with all that I am and have—my knowledge and ignorance, my ability and inability, but above all, my heart.”
He then took up the challenge posed by the students’ search for freedom by proposing a program to engage the initiative of the young men:
“What is our aim then? (....)
Under the protection of Mary
we want to learn to educate ourselves
to become firm, free, priestly personalities.”
The boys made this plan their own. Little by little they grew toward more overtly religious aims, but the accent on self-education and the formation of a community of “firm, free, priestly personalities” is, until today, an essential part of Schoenstatt. Because this event initiated the series of events leading to Schoenstatt’s founding, and because the talk captures so much of what Schoenstatt aims to do, it has come to be known as the “Pre-founding Document.”
As Fr. Kentenich’s work as spiritual director progressed, he looked for a way to engage the students in a community that would not merely focus on ethical or social aims, but on genuinely religious ones. At the same time, he sought a community that would promote a maximum of personal initiative on the part of the boys, including in their striving for sanctity. When Fr. Kentenich became familiar with the Marian Sodality in 1913, he immediately felt it was the right organization for accomplishing the aims that would best help his boys progress both naturally and supernaturally.
After careful preparations designed to make sure that the decision was truly a free one on the part of the boys, the students petitioned their Pallottine community for permission to form a Marian Sodality. The founding took place on April 19, 1914, when the candidates from the upper classes made the Sodality consecration to Mary.
The impact of the Marian Sodality on Schoenstatt can still be seen in a number of forms which already became dear to the first generation, like the prayer “My Queen, My Mother,” known in Sodality tradition as the “Little Consecration” and the Sodality greeting Nos cum prole pia / benedicat Virgo Maria (Mother with your Blessed Son / bless us each and every one). In fact, Schoenstatt was organized as a Sodality all through World War I until specific forms were established for the Apostolic Federation (1919) and League (1920).
Event. October 18, 1914 is the founding day of Schoenstatt. On that day Fr. Kentenich and the founding generation of boys gathered in the old St. Michael’s chapel in Schoenstatt, Germany and made a covenant of love with Mary, the Mother of God (è 49, 67). The purpose of this covenant was to offer their efforts of self-sanctification while asking Mary to make the chapel a place of grace and their “cradle of sanctity.” The talk which Fr. Kentenich gave on that day, proposing this undertaking, is now known as the “First Founding Document” (è 48, 70, 71).
Importance for Schoenstatt. As its founding day, October 18 is considered the “first milestone” of the history of Schoenstatt. Fr. Kentenich characterized its inner meaning as “standing in divine light” or an act of heroic faith. The heroic faith he alludes to is that of faith in the invitation of Divine Providence to make this covenant of love and invite Mary to take up her abode in the Shrine (è 47). As a result, Schoenstatt has always been a movement strongly focused on faith and the renewal of the religious and moral foundations needed for faith to prosper.
Central to the charism of Schoenstatt is the means chosen on October 18: the establishment of a covenant of love with Mary, Mother of God. This covenant is not just another means to an end, but the soul of everything Schoenstatt is and does. Hence, one’s membership in Schoenstatt begins when one makes the covenant of love (i.e. makes the covenant of love of October 18 one’s own). Communities are constituted in the same way. Local Schoenstatt centers revolve around daughter shrines, home shrines or wayside shrines (è 59-65). Schoenstatt’s entire mission, spirituality, organization, and pedagogy is likewise a fruit of this historically unique covenant of love (è 69).
Importance for Catholic life and faith. For those who make the first milestone a part of their life through the covenant of love, there are definite benefits for the growth of Catholic life and faith:
• The covenant of love opens up a new and vibrant way to grow in the covenant which God began in the Old Testament, completed in the New Testament, and made us a part of in baptism.
• As a free, personal decision, this covenant gives a new opportunity for the faithful to consciously decide for faith in Christ and the Church and accept it as a personal commitment.
• Like all Marian consecrations (è 17, 67) it helps one grow into a deeper relationship with Mary. This love of Mary leads in turn to a deeper and more fruitful relationship with Christ and the entire Trinity.
• The accent on striving for sanctity according to one’s vocation and state in life helps us to more concretely realize the universal call to holiness which Christ makes of all his disciples. The incentive to self-education also helps give this universal call concrete shape in one’s everyday life (è 128)
• Based on an act of heroic faith, it gives us access to a charism and family in the Church which cultivates a stronger practical faith, especially faith in Divine Providence (è 23).
• Schoenstatt’s founding covenant is not just an individual act, but one with a strong community dimension, and those who make the covenant are drawn into the unique community of the Schoenstatt Family. This offers direct benefits for one’s growth into the community dimension of the faith as belonging to the people of God.
• The concrete local attachment to the Shrine as a place of grace helps give greater firmness and flexibility to faith in unsettled times, and the experience of attachment to concrete places, persons, dates and ideas helps one set down deeper roots in faith, hope and love.
In 1595, Jesuit Father Jacob Rem (1546-1618) established a Catholic youth organization called the “Colloquium Marianum” (Marian Colloquium). The purpose of the Colloquium was to encourage the most motivated members of the Marian Sodality in the Jesuit school in Ingolstadt, Germany to a great love of Mary, special works of apostolate and sustained self-education for sanctity. It flourished to such an extent that many of the future Church and secular leaders of Central Europe went through its ranks. As a result, whole regions that might have turned Protestant came under the leadership of a new generation of committed Catholic priests and laity.
Fr. Kentenich came upon a book about Fr. Rem and the Colloquium in 1915 and shared its contents with the entire Schoenstatt Sodality (è 13). Here the founding generation of Schoenstatt found what they wanted to accomplish in a living example. They began to express their mission and desire to conquer the world for Christ through Mary the “Ingolstadt-Schoenstatt Parallel.” Fr. Kentenich put it this way in a talk to the boys on May 30, 1915: “What would happen if the Ingolstadt of the past were to become the Vallendar of modern times? (...) Vallendar should truly become a second Ingolstadt (...) Our Shrine must be, in the image of Ingolstadt, the starting point.”
Two enduring legacies of the parallel are 1) the choice of the title of Mary as Mother Thrice Admirable (the title used in Ingolstadt) (è 13) and 2) the small panels at the bottom of the light frame around the MTA picture in the Original Shrine. These panels read: “Ingolstadt 1914, Schoenstatt 1919” and refer to the fact that in Schoenstatt’s first years the best public way they found to express their great aspirations was the historical model of Ingolstadt. After that Schoenstatt became a movement in its own right (è 173) and could openly speak of its mission of Marian transformation of the world in Christ.
Other central events of the founding era include:
• 1915: The gift of the picture of Mary that was placed in the Shrine and given the title “Mother Thrice Admirable” (è 13).
• 1916: the “supplemental founding act” in which Fr. Kentenich concluded that it was also God’s desire that Schoenstatt integrate into its mission the mission of St. Vincent Pallotti (è 37). As he saw it, the essence of this mission was to pursue the “Apostolic World Confederation” envisioned by Pallotti (è 36)
• 1916: the founding of the “External Organization” for members who had been drafted into the military. This step also permitted the extension of Schoenstatt to students who did not belong to the Schoenstatt Minor Seminary. The External Organization prepared the way for the definitive founding of Schoenstatt as a Movement in 1919.
• 1918: The death of Joseph Engling on the front near Cambrai on October 4. His death, coupled with the total offering of his life to the MTA for her mission on May 31, 1918, gave the young movement its first outstanding witness and candidate for canonization. As the movement developed, his biography and diary entries helped successive generations express and understand what they found was so new and life-giving in Schoenstatt.
The founding generation consists of all those who belonged to Schoenstatt before it formally became a movement in 1919. Most were students from the Pallottine school in Schoenstatt, but as World War I progressed, the membership expanded more and more into non-Pallottine circles.
At least 180 young men have been identified as having belonged to the Schoenstatt Sodality and the External Organization in these years. Of these, 16 died in battle (the so-called “Hero-Sodalists,” including Joseph Engling, Hans Wormer, Max Brunner), 43 later became Pallottine Fathers and 11 became diocesan priests. Some, including Fritz Esser, who carved the original “Servus Mariae nunquam peribit” for the Shrine (è 54, 58), died in their early 20s from health complications of the war years. Several became pioneers of Schoenstatt in such foreign countries as South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and the United States.
The term “Black crosses” is sometimes used to indicate those Schoenstatt members who died in battle during WWI and who heroically offered their life for Schoenstatt. They are also known as the “Hero Sodalists”. The expression “black cross” comes from the typical black crosses used by the German army to mark the grave sites of those who died during WWI and which were used to mark the graves of Max Brunner and Hans Wormer after their bodies were recovered and laid to rest behind the Original Shrine in 1934.
After five years in the form of a Marian Sodality, Schoenstatt officially became a movement with its own structure in 1919. On July 18, 1919 the Pallottines assigned Fr. Kentenich to work full-time with the new movement. And on August 19-20, 1919, the first organizational step was taken in a leaders’ meeting in Hoerde (near Dortmund). This meeting culminated in the creation of the Apostolic Federation and the codification of the first organizational principles.
A second important step came one year later with the founding of the Apostolic League on August 20, 1920. The purpose of the League was to open up membership to as many Catholics as possible from all walks of life. The structures of the League (è 143-145), including its subdivision into associate members and members, were already laid down in 1920. When the League was founded, the term “Apostolic Movement of Schoenstatt” was also formally introduced to designate all of those belonging to Schoenstatt.
The first woman to join Schoenstatt was Gertraud von Bullion(1891-1930), a Red Cross nurse who got to know about Schoenstatt through some of the Schoenstatt members serving as soldiers in World War I.
Through her insistence, Fr. Kentenich consented to the founding of the first women’s branch of Schoenstatt on December 8, 1920: the Women’s Federation. Von Bullion and Marie Christmann were the first two members, making their consecration to the MTA on that day in the Original Shrine.
The 1920s and 1930s saw Schoenstatt grow in depth and numbers all over Germany. Some of the most important developments included:
• 1921 (Feb. 2): Pallottine General Superior Cardi approves the Apostolic Movement as a part of the work of Vincent Pallotti
• 1922: Bishop Hennemann, a Pallottine, informs Pope Pius XI about the new Schoenstatt Movement. The Holy Father gives Schoenstatt its first apostolic blessing.
• 1926 (Oct. 1): Founding of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary, destined to become the first of Schoenstatt’s six secular institutes.
• 1929: Fr. Kentenich describes Schoenstatt’s importance to Church and world with these words: “In the shadow of this Shrine, the destiny of Church and world will be essentially co-determined for centuries to come” (è 44).
• 1933: Adolf Hitler and the Nazis assume to power in Germany. The Schoenstatt Family prepares to face great difficulties.
• 1933: The saying “Nothing without you, MTA, nothing without us” becomes a summary of Schoenstatt’s spirituality.
• 1933: Departure of the first Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary sent to the foreign missions. The first go to South Africa, in the next 7 years many others are sent to Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.
• 1934: The present altar and woodworking is placed in the Shrine.
• 1934: Peoples’ and Pilgrim Movement established as a Schoenstatt counter-offensive against the growing influence of the Nazis. In the next years, hundreds of MTA chapels and wayside shrines are erected all over Germany.
• 1934: Students from the Pallottine seminary in Schoenstatt, calling themselves the “Generation of the Black Crosses” (è 172), go in search of the mortal remains of the “Hero-sodalists” who died in WWI. The bodies of Max Brunner and Hans Wormer are found and reburied behind the Original Shrine. The “return of the heroes” on August 20-21 is the highlight of the 15th anniversary of Hoerde. With 4000 members present in an impressive display of prayer and faith in the mission of the MTA, it was the largest gathering in Schoenstatt to date, and a statement of faith in the power of the MTA to overcome the Nazi oppression.
The 1930s fell more and more under the shadow of the Nazi persecution. But the same persecution led to an accelerated growth in terms of the depth of the covenant of love. Here are some of the highlights:
• 1935: Fr. Kentenich celebrates his Silver Jubilee, states his personal gratitude to each Schoenstatt member for their part in his priesthood.
• 1937: Publication of Everyday Sanctity (by Sr. M. Annette Nailis) the first major book on Schoenstatt’s spirituality.
• 1939 (April): the Gestapo confiscates the Pallottine Seminary in Schoenstatt to train Nazi teachers. Since the school looks directly down on the Original Shrine, the movement must fear that the Shrine could be closed at any time.
• 1939 (May 31): in response to the threat to the Shrine, the Indivisa course of the Schoenstatt Sisters forms a human chain around the Shrine at night and offers to defend it, even with their lives.
• 1939 (Sept. 1): World War II begins.
• 1939 (Oct. 18): On Schoenstatt’s 25th anniversary, the Movement makes the first “Blank Check” dedication (è 76) in the realization that the victory over diabolical powers can only come through a more total gift of self to the MTA. Fr. Kentenich, in Switzerland, sends a message now known as the “Second Founding Document” (è 177).
• 1939 (Dec. 10): The Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary crown the MTA in the Original Shrine, with Fr. Kentenich doing the formal crowning act. It gives visual expression to the Blank Check of October 18 and the confidence that Mary will use her power to overcome the dark forces at work in the times. It is the beginning of what would later become the crowning stream in Schoenstatt.
Because of commitments in Switzerland, Fr. Kentenich was unable to be present for Schoenstatt’s Silver Jubilee celebration on October 18, 1939. Instead, he sent a lengthy message entitled “Words Befitting the Hour” to reaffirm the Schoenstatt Family in the spirit and mission of October 18, 1914. The resulting compendium of Schoenstatt spirit was of such great importance that it came to be known as the Second Founding Document.
This document is both a text of thanksgiving to the MTA and of renewal to Schoenstatt’s commitment to her made on October 18, 1914. In a stirring litany of blessings (No. 5-18) he recounts the many ways Mary has shown her love and power in 25 years of history, concluding with:
“Everything which the Founding Document hoped and prayed for has literally come true: Our Blessed Mother has erected her throne of grace here in a special manner, and she has revealed her glories to the world in many ways. She has become our Mother and Queen...” (No. 18).
The document then calls on the Schoenstatt Family to remain faithful to the sources upon which it was built, evoking the memory of Joseph Engling as a radiant example of Schoenstatt’s genuine spirit. He outlines three imperatives for Schoenstatt in the battles of the times (No. 50):
1. to cultivate the awareness of being instruments of God,
2. to maintain Schoenstatt’s decidedly Marian character,
3. to place new emphasis on the contributions to the capital of grace of the Mother Thrice Admirable.
In much of the rest of the document he then underscores the importance of the Blank Check dedication, which the Schoenstatt Family offered to the MTA on that day (è 76).
After the recommitment of Schoenstatt to its deepest sources of strength in 1939, events moved swiftly into the darkest years of the Nazi era, including the imprisonment and death of many Schoenstatt members. Not even the founder was spared, spending 1941-45 in prison.
• 1941 (Feb.): beginning of the Inscriptio lifestream when Fr. Kentenich uses St. Augustine’s phrase inscriptio cordis in cor in a talk for the Sisters. By October the Sisters become the first Schoenstatt community to make the Inscriptio consecration (è 77)
• 1941 (Sept. 20): Fr. Kentenich is arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in Koblenz.
• 1941 (Christmas): beginning of the Mariengarten (è 180)
• 1942 (Jan. 20): Fr. Kentenich opts not to make use of an opportunity to be declared “unfit for the concentration camp”; this comes to be seen as Schoenstatt’s second milestone (è 179)
• 1942 (March 13): After a two-day transport from Koblenz, Fr. Kentenich arrives in the concentration camp in Dachau (near Munich).
• 1942 (July 16): Founding of the Family Work and the Schoenstatt Brothers of Mary in Dachau.
• 1943 (Oct. 18): Dedication of the first replica daughter shrine in Nueva Helvetia, Uruguay (è 60)
• 1944 (Sept. 24, Oct. 18, Dec. 8): Fr. Kentenich gives talks in Dachau that come to be seen as the “Third Founding Document” (è184)
• 1944 (Oct. 18): Founding of “Schoenstatt International”
• 1945 (Apr. 6): Fr. Kentenich released from Dachau
• 1945 (May 20): Fr. Kentenich returns to Schoenstatt, the day becomes one of heartfelt gratitude to the MTA
Event. “January 20” is an important event that took place on January 20, 1942. This was the day that Fr. Kentenich, a prisoner of the Nazis in the Gestapo prison in Koblenz, Germany, freely chose not to use a legitimate opportunity to avoid transport to the concentration camp. That opportunity (arranged with great difficulty by his followers) was to request a reexamination of his health. A doctor had been arranged who knew that Fr. Kentenich lacked the use of one lung, meaning he could be easily declared “unfit for the camp.” After much soul-searching, however, Fr. Kentenich concluded that God’s will for him and Schoenstatt was to turn down the offer and freely embrace the concentration camp.
The reasons for this momentous decision were several:
1. He sensed a crucial “interwovenness of fates” between himself and his family. His choice was not just about his personal fate, but directly impact Schoenstatt’s future: externally (especially if Fr. Kentenich would die in a concentration camp) and internally (whether it would be so rooted in God as to always choose the ways of heroic sanctity). Given this reality, he could choose nothing less than the way that best served his family.
2. In particular, he felt the urgent need to secure the “inner freedom of the family” so that it would prosper even in times of extreme fear and distress. By not choosing the way of exterior freedom, he was clearly showing his family the high value of interior freedom, anchored in “the reality of the supernatural.”
3. In the concrete moment of the family’s history he also saw the urgent need to challenge his followers to trust even more radically in God’s power over human power; he therefore combined his decision with the declaration of his belief that his freedom would depend on the family committing to the Blank Check and the Inscriptio. This expressed the “interwovenness of fates” in the other direction – that his well-being would be determined by his family.
Fr. Kentenich was able to write a few short letters on January 20 that were smuggled out of the prison. A few lines from these letters capture the spirit of his decision:
“The answer came ... to me during the consecration [at Mass]. Our priests should take the Inscriptio and Blank Check seriously, especially some of the older ones. I will then regain my freedom. Please understand my decision on the basis of faith in the reality of the supernatural and in the interwovenness of fates of the members of our Family.”
“Please fulfill one request for me: See to it that the Family takes the Blank Check and Inscriptio seriously... Then I will be free.”
Importance for Schoenstatt. This heroic decision would have a deep and irreversible impact on Schoenstatt and its spirituality. The covenant of love of October 18, 1914 was raised to a new and decisive level of heroic maturity – expressed in the Blank Check (total conformity to God’s will, è 76) and Inscriptio (love of the cross, è 77). Because January 20 was not a hidden act, but one that placed the whole Movement in a life-and-death situation, it also placed this level of covenant heroism at the center of the Family’s awareness.
Fr. Kentenich characterized the inner meaning of January 20 as “standing in divine confidence” or an act of heroic hope or trust. He spent much of the rest of his life actively challenging the members and communities of his movement to “get up onto the stage of January 20” and make this milestone their own so as to reach the interior freedom and so needed for our times.
The profound effect of this milestone can be seen in Fr. Kentenich’s characterization of January 20 as “the axis of the entire history of the family.” The importance of inner freedom, total self-giving and radical trust in God, always important to Schoenstatt, were now sealed in a way that made them inseparable from Schoenstatt’s identity. The role of Fr. Kentenich also began a new phase of development: whereas he was previously more in the background of the public awareness of the movement, he was now thrust more into the foreground because of a heightened public appreciation for his role as founder. Moreover, January 20 marked a new stage of growth for Schoenstatt’s experience as a family. The realization of the “interwovenness of fates” of founder and followers enhanced the sense of belonging together. A new and unique expression of this was the Mariengarten or Garden of Mary (è 180).
Importance for Catholic life and faith. January 20 intersects with decisive realities in the Catholic faith. Especially when one thinks of Fr. Kentenich’s heroic act, it provides:
• A concrete application of Jesus’ injunction, “Unless you take up your cross and follow me, you cannot be my true disciple” (Lk 14,27), in a way that connects it to the challenges of the modern Church.
• A new way to appreciate and grow closer to Christ in his total acceptance of the will of the Father, including his death: “Before he was given up to death, a death he freely accepted...” (Eucharistic Prayer II).
• Motivation to seek the heroic spirit of the virtues, that is, to go beyond the “first conversion” (turning away from sin and turning to God for my sake) and grow toward a “second conversion” (total surrender of self to God for his sake).
• This heroism of trust in God’s power is especially suited to making us better able to face the life’s crosses and suffering, to overcome deep-seated fears that keep us from totally serving God, to be more totally attuned to the plans of Divine Providence.
• Spiritual foundations for the spirit of martyrdom and, if it is God’s call, the ability to die a martyr’s death.
• The community dimension of January 20 helps us grow as the “communion of saints” – with solidarity for one another and coresponsibilty for the well-being of the Church. It can also help us find sound footing for a Christian approach to social justice issues.
• Growing into January 20 ordinarily creates a more solid basis for the total integration of the human person and hence aids the receptivity for the graces of salvation as they affect one’s commitments to self, family, vocation, Church and God.
The “Mariengarten” or “Garden of Mary” is an important lifestream within the Schoenstatt Family rooted in a historical event of Christmas 1941. Although the event took place before January 20, 1942, it is considered a concrete realization and unique embodiment of the spirit of the second milestone.
In the context of the first Christmas after Fr. Kentenich’s arrest (1941), one of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary living at Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Koblenz wrote a Christmas letter to the Christ Child, expressing her desire that Fr. Kentenich be freed. She then left it for her superior to do with as she pleased. The superior was so impressed by the letter that she smuggled it into Fr. Kentenich in prison. Fr. Kentenich, sensing the genuine spirit of faith behind this request, replied and was able to smuggle out a “letter from the Christ Child” to Sr. Mariengard. In it he alluded to the name of the young Sister and its meaning: Mariengarten, that is, Garden of Mary:
“My dear little Mariengard,
“I shall grant your wish when your heart and the heart of our entire Family has become a blossoming Garden of Mary. Thus, the fulfillment of your request for the ‘miracle of the Holy Night’ is placed in your hands and in the hands of all Schoenstatt children.”
That Christmas the letter became the central Christmas message for the entire Sisters’ community in Koblenz. They immediately set out to create this “Garden of Mary” through their strivings, so that Fr. Kentenich would soon be free. It was the beginning of a lifestream that eventually encompassed the entire Sisters’ community and finally spread into the entire Schoenstatt Family.
Until today this lifestream plays an important role, especially in the women’s communities. Groups and communities prepare by working on spiritual strivings and choosing an appropriate symbol for themselves to be “implanted” in the Mariengarten. The act is done with the MTA in special connection to the person and mission of Fr. Kentenich.
Starting with the letter of Sister Mariengard to the Christ Child and Fr. Kentenich’s response (Christmas 1941, è 180), the Schoenstatt Family began to express the striving for Fr. Kentenich’s freedom from prison in terms of the “miracle of the Holy Night.” In the childlike language of the Mariengarten (“Garden of Mary”), if only Schoenstatt would become a flourishing garden, the miracle promised on the “Holy Night” (the German way to speak of Christmas Eve and Christmas Night) would come true.
When Fr. Kentenich returned safely to Schoenstatt on May 20, 1945, it was immediately considered the fulfillment of this promise and seen as the realization of the “Miracle of the Holy Night.”
When Fr. Kentenich was sent into exile (è 189-190) and a new wave of striving began for his freedom, many circles saw this in the light of the Garden of Mary and prayed for a “second miracle of the Holy Night.” In a beautiful gift of Divine Providence, the actual day of Fr. Kentenich’s return from the exile years to Schoenstatt, Germany, took place on December 24, 1965 – indeed, the Holy Night!
The “Candlemas vision” refers to an inner certitude which Fr. Kentenich received two weeks after January 20, 1942. The conviction grew within him that God would grant him his freedom and ensure a richly blessed future for his Movement because he had freely decided to go to the concentration camp. The day this happened was February 2, 1942, known traditionally as the feast of “Candlemas” (Presentation of the Lord), hence the title “Candlemas vision.”
The term “vision” does not refer to any kind of apparition or other unusual phenomenon, but to a conviction inspired by grace. Because the resulting conviction included the fact that Schoenstatt would survive to thrive and be a blessing for the Church, the term “Candlemas vision” also came to be used to describe the prayer that the pope and bishops also come to this same conviction about Schoenstatt as a genuine work of God and as a source of ongoing blessing for the Church.
Examples of faith. Fr. Kentenich spent 3 years in the Dachau concentration camp (1942-45) and many other Schoenstatt members were also arrested and imprisoned by the Nazis. Prominent among these were Bl. Karl Leisner (ordained in Dachau, died in 1945, beatified in 1996), Fr. Franz Reinisch (beheaded in 1942 for refusing to swear the oath of allegiance to Hitler) and Fr. Albert Eise (died in Dachau in 1942). The courageous witness of these and many other Schoenstatt members, including of the Ver sacrum (Holy Springtime) generation of seminarians and priests, would inspire new fervor in the generations to come.
Growth in depth and numbers. In contrast to the intended objectives of the Nazis, Schoenstatt did not whither and die during the Dachau years, but was able to grow in depth and numbers, both inside and outside of Dachau. The primary growth in depth was the solidification of the spirit of the Blank Check and the Inscriptio. The growth in numbers was visible in the founding of the Schoenstatt Brothers of Mary and the Family Work by Fr. Kentenich in Dachau on July 16, 1942, and the proclamation of “Schoenstatt International” in Dachau on October 18, 1944. The latter was a direct fruit of the growth of Schoenstatt among many non-German priests in the concentration camp. An expression of this overall growth was the “Third Founding Document” (è 184).
Important literary works. Also contrary to all expectations, Fr. Kentenich was able to compose important literary works in the adverse conditions of Dachau. These have since become important parts of the Schoenstatt library. Most prominent are the study Marian Instrument Piety and the prayers which were assembled after the war into the now standard prayer book Heavenwards (è 185).
The first daughter shrine. The Dachau years, with the overseas stations being cut off from Germany, also led to the construction of the first replica daughter shrine in Nueva Helvetia, Uruguay (è 60).
In the fall of 1944, the many Schoenstatt groups in Dachau were coming to a certain maturity, especially in the two leaders’ circles known as the “Instrument Circles.” Their interaction with Fr. Kentenich led to a series of three talks which were of such great importance that they were later called the “Third Founding Document.”
These three talks were held in the camp streets of Dachau under adverse conditions. The main themes can be summarized as follows:
• September 24: the four basic attitudes of Schoenstatt International – community spirit, founder spirit, the spirit of leadership and the spirit of instrumentality.
• October 18: the formal proclamation of Schoenstatt International and the mutual commitment of Schoenstatt and Pallottines to their respective aims.
•December 8: the four dimensions of the covenant of love (è 75) as it embraces the entire person and attains its perfection. The broadest horizons of the covenant of love with the MTA are set forth in the work of God’s instruments to extend his plan of redemption to the whole universe.
Heavenwards is the name of Schoenstatt’s most famous prayer book. It consists of prayers written by Fr. Kentenich during his imprisonment in Koblenz and Dachau.
Fr. Kentenich edited the collection of prayers immediately after World War II and they were published in late 1945. With the publication of this book he hoped to share something of the heroic spirit of faith and love that allowed Schoenstatt to not only survive but continue to grow in the adverse conditions of Dachau. As the title indicates, the spirit of these prayers is to inspire those who pray them to be constantly turned to God the Father, that is, “heavenwards.”
The years immediately after World War II were decisive ones. Schoenstatt grew internationally. Fr. Kentenich spent long stretches of times overseas. The movement was maturing in its organization and spirituality. Key events include:
• 1945: reorganization of the Schoenstatt diocesan priests into League and Institute; later leads to a new founding of the Priests Federation.
• 1945: the first October Week in Schoenstatt.
• 1946 (Oct. 18): Crowning of the MTA as Queen of the World in direct connection with the crowning of the MTA in Dachau in 1944.
• 1946 (Feb. 2): Ladies of Schoenstatt is formally founded, becomes a Schoenstatt secular institute for single professional women.
• 1947 (Feb. 2): Pope Pius XII promulgates the apostolic constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia, creating secular institutes in the Church. A few weeks later, Fr. Kentenich is received in private audience by Pope Pius XII. Fr. Kentenich promises that Schoenstatt will work to make the secular institutes a fruitful part of the Church (è 194).
• 1947 (March 15-Oct. 11): Fr. Kentenich’s first major overseas tour – visits Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile.
• 1947 (July 18): Fr. Joseph Barton, working in original Schoenstatt with German refugees from Eastern Europe, begins the tradition of celebrating the 18th of each month as “Covenant Day.” His work also helps start the tradition of signing the “Covenant Book” when someone makes the covenant of love.
• 1947-50 (Dec. 29, 1947 to Feb. 28, 1950) Fr. Kentenich conducts his second overseas tour and is absent from Germany for over 2 years. He visits South Africa (Dec. 31, 1947 to Apr. 4, 1948) and the U.S. (June 5-Sept. 6, 1948), but spends most of his time in South America.
• 1948 (May 20): Canonical erection of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary as a secular institute; Fr. Kentenich sees this as a significant step toward the recognition of Schoenstatt by the Church.
• 1949 (February): The diocese of Trier conducts an episcopal visitation of the Schoenstatt Movement. This begins the chain of events leading to May 31, 1949 (è 187).
Event. May 31, or the “31st of May,” was an important historical moment that took place on May 31, 1949. Fr. Kentenich returned from Dachau in 1945 with the deep conviction that the way Schoenstatt had prospered in the persecution was a sign of Divine Providence that Schoenstatt was to be a crucial answer to the grave challenges facing the Church in the upheaval of the post-war era. He therefore worked tirelessly to expand Schoenstatt overseas and to draw the attention of the Church authorities to the spiritual treasures God was offering the Church in Schoenstatt. The effort to engage Church authorities in a discussion about Schoenstatt was only moderately successful. Some bishops worried about Schoenstatt becoming a competition to the dioceses and parishes. In the end an episcopal visitation was ordered by the Diocese of Trier so that the German bishops could more exactly understand Schoenstatt and its spirituality. The visitation, conducted by Auxiliary Bishop Stein (a bishop who was generally favorable to Schoenstatt), took place in February 1949.
In the meantime, Fr. Kentenich’s concern was growing about the state of the Church. Signs of a highly destructive mentality that undermined sound faith, hope and love – something he called “mechanistic thinking” (è 103) – became alarmingly acute, not only in Germany, but elsewhere. He especially wanted to make this danger clear to the German bishops. When he received the concluding report of the visitation, he could not help but feel that Divine Providence was insisting that he use the opportunity to reply to the report in a way that clearly portrayed the danger. To do this he would have to take a very hazardous route: he would have to risk looking ungrateful to the bishops by not focusing on the positive results of the visitation, but by focusing on elements they respectfully asked to be limited. But these were exactly the elements which he felt were crucial bulwarks against the mechanistic danger. He would specifically risk offending Bishop Stein, whose positive evaluation of Schoenstatt in the visitator’s report was contrary to other powerful voices among the German bishops.
The result was the composition of a lengthy answer to the visitator’s report. Fr. Kentenich called it the Epistola perlonga, that is, the “very long letter.” Written over the span of 3 months, it encompassed some 200 type-written pages. On May 31, 1949, when the first part was done, he took it to the little Schoenstatt Shrine in Bellavista, Santiago, Chile. There he placed it on the altar and, joined in prayer by some 20 Schoenstatt Sisters, offered it to the MTA. In a talk which he gave in that crucial hour, he stated his awareness of the risks involved, including to Schoenstatt, but that the danger to Church and world left no choice but to act. He said:
“Whoever has a mission must fulfill it, even if it leads into the darkest and deepest abyss, even when it requires one death leap after another. A prophet’s mission always includes a prophet’s fate.”
The sending of this letter initiated a chain of events that led to his exile by the Church and nearly led to the dissolving of Schoenstatt. But it also initiated a new lifestream in Schoenstatt that took up the commitment to overcome the grave dangers facing the Church in our times, especially mechanistic thinking.
Importance for Schoenstatt. May 31 is so important that it is known as the “third milestone” of Schoenstatt’s history. It radically altered the external course of history by embroiling the movement in a struggle with the Church at a time when many other Catholic works were able to expand and freely develop. Instead of being able to work freely in the 1950s and early 1960s, Schoenstatt had to labor “under the shadow” of sanctions by the Holy Office. Much of its energy had to be used to defend itself and ward off accusations, and the exiling of the founder (1951-65, è 190) put the movement’s most charismatic leader on the sidelines. Even after Fr. Kentenich was reinstated in 1965, the shadow over Schoenstatt was difficult to dispel, especially in Germany, until many years had passed.
On the other hand, May 31 also led to extremely important growth for Schoenstatt in terms of its inner identity, family spirit and mission for the Church. Parts of the Schoenstatt Family (especially in Chile) explicitly took up the cause of May 31 as a “crusade of organic thinking, loving and living” (è 104) to counteract the mechanistic peril. Other parts (especially in Germany) wrestled with the teaching of “secondary causes” (è 188) and, because of the adversity, more deeply embraced key realities of Schoenstatt and its identity: the relationship with Mary, the importance of the Shrine and the essential place of Fr. Kentenich as father and founder. This wrestling later proved to be a blessing when Schoenstatt was able to maintain its mission and identity as clearly as it did in the years of turmoil after Vatican Council II.
Moreover, May 31 ushered in an era in which the whole Schoenstatt Family was forced more decentralized (greater emphasis on the places outside of original Schoenstatt, especially the centers outside of Germany), even while gaining a more consolidated hold of its spirituality. Because of May 31 and its consequences, Schoenstatt also became more conscious of its calling to help build an organic Church, culture and society, where the natural and supernatural, faith and life, culture and religion, etc. are not separated but integrated.
Fr. Kentenich characterized the inner meaning of May 31 as “standing in divine power” or an act of heroic love. In this sense, the third milestone is an important reminder that the entire vigor of heroic faith shown in January 20 (è 179) is not disconnected from a mission and a responsibility for the Church. That Fr. Kentenich was willing to risk everything for the well-being of the Church signals to his followers that they must love the Church, even heroically. The content of May 31 further indicates that Schoenstatt’s mission for the Church includes helping open to her the world of secondary causes and organic thinking, loving and living.
Importance for Catholic life and faith. The spirit of May 31 also connects with central realities of Catholic faith and life. They include:
• Like January 20 it urges the faithful to grow in heroic faith, hope and love, including a love for the Church which is willing to give up all things if the well-being of the Church demands it.
• Personal spirituality avoids closing in on itself because May 31 puts spirituality at the service of the mission that goes with it. This sense of mission also reinforces the community dimension of the Church, for one’s mission is always seen in the context of the broader Church.
• At the same time, one’s personal mission as a follower of Christ (by way of analogy with Schoenstatt’s mission) is cultivated and seen as valuable to the building up of the Church.
• The specific shape of the mission of May 31 turns our attention to the importance of organic thinking, loving and living and of secondary causes for sound Catholic life, as well as of the need for the Church to foster a sound pedagogy and psychology of secondary causes.
• May 31 also turns our attention to the Church’s mission to shape not only the spiritual reality but the entire world we live in, including science, medicine, the arts, politics, society and culture.
• May 31 gives specific impetus to the missionary work of the Church as it struggles to overcome the fundamental crisis of faith (inability to believe and shape his life according to faith), hope (inability to trust what he cannot see) and love (lack of deep-seated experiences of being loved and able to love, first with secondary causes and then with God).
• May 31 also gives the Church and its followers a concrete lifestream to help overcome the disintegration of relationships, values and morals and the inability to commit to God which plague our world today.
See CCC 306-308.
Secondary causes are all created persons, things and forces of nature, referred to as “causes” because they help shape the world and history. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:
“God is the sovereign master of his plan. But to carry it out he also makes use of his creatures’ cooperation. (....) God grants his creatures not only their existence, but also the dignity of acting on their own, of being causes and principles for each other, and thus of cooperating in the accomplishment of his plan (No. 306).
These causes are “secondary” because they have been created by God, the Primary Cause, but this does not detract from the genuine freedom which God grants to certain of his creatures, including man.
The mission of the 31st of May puts into sharp focus the importance of respecting and defending the role of secondary causes in God’s plan. This importance becomes especially clear in the positions of Mary, the Shrine, Fr. Kentenich and ourselves as instruments of God.
• Mary is an instrument of God whose unique ability to draw us to Christ adds warmth and depth to the Christian experience. Part of the mission of May 31 is to defend her contribution from many attacks, even within the Church, from those who feel she obstructs the way to Christ, when exactly the opposite is true.
• The Shrine is an instrument of God helping the soul set down roots in the reality of His covenant through a physical place filled with what it means to have and live a vibrant covenant relationship with a heavenly partner, in this case Mary. This local attachment is defended by May 31 as an important bridge between nature and grace.
• Fr. Kentenich grew to be an instrument through whom many people began to experience the real and personal love of God the Father. The effect this had in changing lives was sometimes so astonishing that it caused his opponents to denounce it as “suggestion” or “personality cult.” This was a central aspect of the controversy around May 31 and led to his testing by the Church. The testing showed that his role as instrument of God was not tainted by suggestion or self-seeking but by a genuine ability to be a transparency of God’s fatherly concern.
• Ourselves. We, too, are called to be transparencies of God. By the way we live our lives as God’s instruments, we can manifest the presence of Christ, Mary and God the Father to the world around us. In fact, this is an important feature of Schoenstatt’s instrument spirituality (è 87).
The central events of the years after May 31, 1949 were the thorough testing of Schoenstatt and Fr. Kentenich by the Church, including Fr. Kentenich’s exile from 1951 to 1965 (è 190). Here are some highlights:
• 1950: John Pozzobon begins his apostolate of visiting families with the Pilgrim MTA (è 66).
• 1951: The Holy Office in Rome initiates an apostolic visitation of the Schoenstatt Movement. After some months of review, the Holy Office decides to remove Fr. Kentenich from all positions of authority and to reassign him indefinitely to the United States.
• 1952 (June 21): Fr. Kentenich arrives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; he lives at the Holy Cross provincial center of the Pallottines until 1965.
• 1953 (June 20): Dedication of the Schoenstatt Shrine in Madison, the oldest Schoenstatt Shrine in the United States.
• 1953 (August): The apostolic visitation is concluded and Pope Pius XII gives Schoenstatt the nihil obstat (it is approved as a work of the Church). The founder, however, must remain separated from his work.
• 1954: Special Marian Year declared by Pope Pius XII. October 18, Schoenstatt’s 40th anniversary, is also the day a new Schoenstatt Shrine is dedicated on the Holy Cross parish grounds in Milwaukee.
• 1959 (Easter): Fr. Kentenich accepts a weekly commitment to say Mass and hear confessions for the German Catholics of Milwaukee, for this his center of activity is St. Michael’s Church.
• 1959 (Oct. 18): Dedication of the Schoenstatt Shrine in Lamar, Texas (on the Gulf Coast near Rockport).
• 1960 (July 8): Fr. Kentenich celebrates the Golden Jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood.
• 1960 (Christmas): The Unity Cross is presented to the MTA in the Shrine in Bellavista, Chile (è 192).
• 1962-63: Beginning of the home shrine lifestream (è 62)
• 1964 (Oct. 17): Dedication of the Schoenstatt Shrine at the new International Center in Waukesha (west of Milwaukee), it is dedicated on the eve of Schoenstatt’s 50th anniversary.
• 1964 (Oct. 18): Schoenstatt’s Golden Jubilee. It is announced at the celebration in Schoenstatt, Germany, that Pope Paul VI has decreed the separation of Schoenstatt from the Pallottine Fathers. This makes necessary the formation of a new Schoenstatt Fathers community (done in 1965).
• 1965 (July): Beginning of the heart shrine lifestream (è 64).
• 1965 (Sept. 13): Fr. Kentenich called to Rome.
Fr. Kentenich’s decision of May 31, 1949 (è 187) led to a chain of events culminating with the Church’s decision to initiate an examination of his work by the Holy Office (today the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith). This took the form of an apostolic visitation conducted by Dutch Jesuit Father Sebastian Tromp.
It was the conclusion of Fr. Tromp that Fr. Kentenich was too influential in the movement and that the attachment of his followers to him was exaggerated. He decided that Fr. Kentenich was to be removed from his offices and separated from his work. The Holy Office confirmed this in a series of decrees issued in 1951, culminating in an “administrative” (as opposed to a punitive) transfer to the United States, without permission to return to Europe. This time is generally referred to as the “exile.”
The precise place of his exile was the provincial house of the Pallottine Fathers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He arrived on June 21, 1952 and spent the next years of his life writing, corresponding, counseling families, receiving visitors, and serving as chaplain to Milwaukee area German Catholics. He celebrated significant Jubilees of his life in Milwaukee: the Golden Jubilee of his profession as a Pallottine (1956), the Golden Jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood (1960), the Golden Jubilee of the founding of Schoenstatt (1964).
The opening of Vatican Council II (October 11, 1962) led to a decisive change of perspective in Rome. The presence of the bishops from all over the world and the council debates put pressure on the Holy Office to resolve cases like those involving Fr. Kentenich. The issues involving Schoenstatt were reexamined in a new visitation (1963-64) and led to Pope Paul VI’s decision to separate Schoenstatt from the Pallottines (1964). As a consequence, a separate Schoenstatt Fathers community was founded in 1965. Finally, Fr. Kentenich was called to Rome where, after a final round of difficulties, the cardinals and Pope Paul VI agreed to transfer his case to the Congregation for Religious, effectively dropping all decrees. After 14 years of exile, Fr. Kentenich was reinstated in his duties as founder of Schoenstatt and received the blessing of Pope Paul VI (è 193).
In spite of the difficulties caused by the separation from its founder, Schoenstatt continued to grow and mature. It remained spiritually vibrant and creative. Its aims and spirituality became clearer and parts of its organization came into their final form. And something of a positive “exile legacy” could be discerned for generations to come.
Spiritual life. In these years Schoenstatt endured much suffering, but was able to direct it into the form of a stream of prayer and sacrifice. Many grew in the generosity of their contributions to the capital of grace. Others dared to reach for the heights of the Blank Check and Inscriptio while still others even offered their lives in the spirit of the Joseph Engling Act (è 78). Much of the striving was offered for the eventual freedom of the founder and for the victory of the MTA in this great difficulty. But there were also other lifestreams which took up specific points of Schoenstatt’s mission, like the “crusade of organic thinking, loving and living” based on May 31, 1949 (è 187).
Aims and spirituality. These were also years in which Schoenstatt’s aims came into clearer focus. The formulation of the three aims (è 28) reached its present form, especially as the mission for the salvific mission of the Western World (è 35) became more explicit. What sources were essential to Schoenstatt’s identity and life also became clearer in the teaching of the three “contact points”( è 9). The Shrine continued to gain in importance, with no fewer than 33 new daughter shrines being built in those years, consolidating the presence of Schoenstatt all over the world. Add to this the development of the home and heart shrine (è 62, 64) and one notices how fruitful these years were for the spiritual maturity of the Family.
Organization. The exile years also saw Schoenstatt’s total organization grow in depth, diversity and numbers. The Schoenstatt diocesan priests began a process that led to a fruitful restructuring of the priests’ branches in the years 1964-66. The Family Work, already growing on the League and Federation level, finally developed the core needed to establish the Family Institute in a process that began in 1962 and came arrived at a formal founding in 1968 (è 149). Finally, the separation of Schoenstatt from the oversight of the Pallottines in 1964 led to the creation of a secular institute of priests totally dedicated to the care of Schoenstatt – the Schoenstatt Fathers, founded in 1965.
Specific features of the exile legacy. Finally, these years had certain qualities which showed signs of becoming a permanent legacy for the Schoenstatt Family. These points are sometimes called the “exile legacy” and are generally summed up as:
• Dilexit Ecclesiam – Fr. Kentenich’s love for the Church in even these years of testing stand as a constant call to Schoenstatt that it must always love the Church.
• The home and heart shrines – these additions to the “organism of shrines” provide Schoenstatt with important means to fulfill its mission in a world becoming more fractured, depersonalized and pluralistic.
• The new image of father, child and community – Fr. Kentenich especially stressed this point: that the exile years had given Schoenstatt an unmistakable experience of how everything depends on God’s personal love and mercy (“new image of the father”), our response as his children (“new image of the child”) and how this shapes the kind of community which the Church will need on the new shore of the times (“new image of community”).
The Unity Cross is a well-known work of religious art that originated in Schoenstatt. It depicts Mary at the side of the crucified Christ, holding the chalice to collect the redeeming blood. It shows Mary’s cooperative role in the work of redemption and the “two-in-oneness” of Christ and Mary in the Father’s plan of salvation.
The cross was created by the first generation of Chilean Schoenstatt seminarians who studied in Brazil and Switzerland. During their studies (at the end of the 1950s) Schoenstatt in Chile went through a great crisis of unity. When the first of their number was ordained a priest and ready to return to Chile, they wished to give a gift to the MTA that would both give thanks for their formation and help work the miracle of unity.
The Unity Cross was crafted by one of the seminarians (the future Fr. Angel Vicente Cerró). Finished in 1960, it was brought to the Schoenstatt Shrine in Bellavista (Santiago), Chile in the Holy Night of Christmas 1960. To the grateful astonishment of all, the arrival of the Unity Cross did usher in a new era of reconciliation and unity. Just five years later, when Fr. Kentenich celebrated his 80th birthday (Rome, 1965), the Chilean Schoenstatt Family gave it to him as their gift. He gave it to the Ladies of Schoenstatt in Stuttgart, Germany. The original of the Unity Cross is still found in the Schoenstatt Shrine in Stuttgart today.
Today the Unity Cross is a familiar feature of many Shrines and home shrines around the world. It has even found their way into other circles, including the communities founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, after Mother Teresa took a great liking to this design.
Event. The “fourth milestone” refers to the important historical events of 1965 that resulted in Fr. Kentenich’s reinstatement and return to his work in Germany. The primary dates are:
• October 22: Pope Paul VI signs the decision of the consistory of cardinals that effectively drops all decrees against Fr. Kentenich (this day was exactly 14 years after Fr. Kentenich left Germany in 1951).
• December 22: Pope Paul VI receives Fr. Kentenich in a private audience. Fr. Kentenich promises that Schoenstatt will do all it can to help realize the mission of the Church in the post-Vatican-II era.
• December 24: Fr. Kentenich returns to Schoenstatt, Germany and celebrates his Midnight Christmas Mass in the Original Shrine. The return to German is sometimes referred to as the “second miracle of the Holy Night” (è 181).
The fourth milestone also coincides with the solemn closing of Vatican Council II (December 8, 1965). Fr. Kentenich, who was in Rome at the time, symbolically blessed the cornerstone for the future Schoenstatt Shrine in Rome and spoke of Schoenstatt’s part in realizing the mission of the Council.
Importance for Schoenstatt. Fr. Kentenich characterized the inner meaning of the fourth milestone as “standing in divine victoriousness” or the “ultimate victory of dwelling in the supernatural world.” To him his freedom and the end of the exile were outward features reflecting a deeper reality that had been growing in Schoenstatt during the years of testing: a deep and unshakable trust and confidence in God’s power to win the victory.
Given its coincidence with the end of Vatican II, the fourth milestone is also connected with the mission of the Church “on the newest shores of the times” (è 198). In this light, Schoenstatt not only has a mission for the Church (è May 31, 187), but also a mission with the Church as she works to accomplish the work entrusted to her by Christ. This cooperation, including with the official structures and hierarchical leadership of the Church, took concrete form when Fr. Kentenich made definite promises to authorities of the Church (è 194).
This milestone looks forward. While the victory of God’s kingdom can only be partially accomplished this side of eternity, if one is totally anchored in the supernatural, something of divine victoriousness will shine through again and again. God can then use us as instruments to impress his features on the Church and world in the concrete places and era of history in which we live.
Importance for Catholic life and faith. The fourth milestone touches on some of the deepest teachings of the Church. The eschatological dimension of our faith (looking to Christ’s second coming) meets the soteriological one (the concrete work of redemption in our time). Through a greater experience of God’s victorious power, we become more able to do the works of God in spite of all opposition. We contribute total trust in God and availability to do his works; God contributes his power and willingness to use us as his instruments. The fourth milestone can also increase our appreciation for the Church, bringing into focus not only what I can do for the Church, but also how my part is complemented by working together with all others for the one great goal of building up the kingdom of God.
John Paul II: Audience with the Schoenstatt Movement 1985, 4; Lumen gentium 28, 37 (bishops, clergy, laity in the family of God).
There were three moments in Fr. Kentenich’s life when he made solemn promises to high Church officials connecting his work with that of the Church. Two were made to reigning Popes, one to a bishop.
1. The mission of the secular institutes. On March 14, 1947 Fr. Kentenich had an audience with Pope Pius XII in Rome. Just 6 weeks before, Pius XII had promulgated the Apostolic Constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia. It was a historic document, creating an entirely new form of the consecrated life in the Church – the secular institutes (consecrated lay people working in the world). This fit Fr. Kentenich’s own new kind of community in Schoenstatt and he thanked Pius XII for the new legislation. He promised Pope Pius XII that Schoenstatt would help see to it that this new form of community would contribute to healing the Christian social order in our times.
2. The Church as a family of God. On November 16, 1965 in Rome, at the celebration of his 80th birthday, Fr. Kentenich directed a second promise to Bishop Joseph Höffner of Münster, Germany. On this occasion, Bishop Höffner formally accepted Fr. Kentenich into his diocese as part of the founder’s reinstatement at the end of the exile. Fr. Kentenich used the occasion to promise not only his obedience to his new bishop, but also that Schoenstatt would make every effort to create a family-like spirit in which individuals and dioceses, priests and laity form the Church as a true family of God. A central part of this promise is to assist the bishop in being a genuine father to his flock, in the entire richness of what fatherhood means in Schoenstatt. Behind this promise is a vision of the Church built not merely on external structures of authority, but on a spirit and cohesion that comes from love and solidarity with the mission of the Church.
3. The mission of the Church in the post-Vatican-II era. On December 22, 1965, Fr. Kentenich was received by Pope Paul VI in a brief private audience. Paul VI had prepared a text in which he personally expressed his thanks to Fr. Kentenich and confirmed his rehabilitation. At this point Fr. Kentenich made the following promise in return: “In the name of the Schoenstatt Family, I heartily thank you for the good works you have lavished on Schoenstatt to an extraordinary degree, but also for my personal rehabilitation. In gratitude for everything which Your Holiness has done, we want to work to diligently work to help realize the unique mission of the post-conciliar Church for our modern times. And all of this under the patronage of the Mother of the Church.” As Fr. Kentenich stressed a few days later when he had returned to Germany, it was Schoenstatt’s role to actively contribute to the realization of what the mission the Church had undertaken at Vatican Council II.
The years 1965 to 1968 were marked by a final period of intense work by Fr. Kentenich to consolidate his work and set it on its course into the post-Vatican II era. Some of the highlights include:
• 1966 (June 2): On behalf of the Schoenstatt Family, Fr. Kentenich officially gives the MTA the title “Victress” (“Mother Thrice Admirable, Queen and Victress of Schoenstatt”)
• 1967 (July 16): Fr. Kentenich makes his only visit to Dachau after his release in 1945 (25th Jubilee of the founding of the Brothers of Mary and the Family Work)
• 1968 (Jan. 7): Completion of the founding of the Family Institute
• 1968 (June 9): Bishop Stein of Trier dedicates the Adoration Church on Mt. Schoenstatt (later becomes Fr. Kentenich’s final resting place)
• 1968 (Sept. 15): Death of Fr. Kentenich (è196).
The spirit of this era is best captured in the motto which Fr. Kentenich gave to the German Schoenstatt Family on the occasion of the Congress of the Catholic Church in Germany on September 7, 1968:
“With joyful hope and confident of the victory we go with Mary into the newest times!”
Fr. Kentenich died suddenly on September 15, 1968 at the age of nearly 83. It was a Sunday and the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. He had just celebrated his first Mass in the new Adoration Church in Schoenstatt, Germany and was unvesting in the sacristy when he died of heart failure.
In the following days representatives of the Schoenstatt Family gathered from around the world to pay their final respects. He was laid to rest at the very spot where he died, and so the sacristy in the Adoration Church was transformed into his place of burial. He was placed there on September 20, 1968. The stone sarcophagus was inscribed with the epitaph he had chosen for himself while in Milwaukee:
Dilexit Ecclesiam
He loved the Church.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have visited and prayed at his tomb, also called the “founder chapel.”
The years after Fr. Kentenich’s death were marked by the challenges of moving ahead without the earthly guidance of the founder. Still, it became clear that his presence took on a new form from eternity and that he continued to inspire his movement. The organizational leadership passed into other hands following the confederative model he had planned, new ways of doing things were developed and Schoenstatt began a new and creative time in its history. Here are a few highlights:
• 1969-70: The Father Symbol for the Original Shrine goes on worldwide pilgrimage to the Shrines around the world (Fr. Kentenich had planned a world trip for about this time and the Father Symbol went “in his place,” helping unite the Schoenstatt Family after his death).
• 1974 (Oct. 20): Victress Crowning of the MTA picture in the Adoration Church for Schoenstatt’s 60th anniversary; it is accompanied by an international crowning lifestream and many new initiatives in the international Schoenstatt Family.
• 1975 (Feb. 10): Opening of the process of canonization for Fr. Kentenich.
• 1984: Beginning of the international spread of the work of Deacon John Pozzobon of Brazil as the “Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign” (è 66). In the first year alone, Pilgrim MTAs reached Argentina, South Africa, Chile, Zimbabwe, USA, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.
• 1985: Celebration of Fr. Kentenich’s 100th birthday culminates with “Festival Week” in Schoenstatt, Germany (13,000 attend final Mass) and pilgrimage to Rome, including Schoenstatt audience with Pope John Paul II (è 199). At the Papal audience, the Schoenstatt Family solemnly renewed Fr. Kentenich’s promises to the Church (è 194).
• 1991: Pope John Paul II becomes the first Pope to dedicate and visit a Schoenstatt Shrine when he does so in Koszalin (northwest Poland).
• 1996: Beatification of Karl Leisner (è 34) by Pope John Paul II in Berlin, first Schoenstatt member to be declared “Blessed”
• 1999: Celebration of 50th anniversary of May 31, 1949 culminates with a major international gathering of the Schoenstatt Family in Bellavista (Santiago), Chile.
• 2000 (Dec. 29): In the final days of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, Pope John Paul II pays a private visit to the Schoenstatt Shrine in Rome.
In his final years, Fr. Kentenich liked to speak of the “Church on the new shore” or “the Church on the newest shores of the times.” This alluded to the totally new era and set of challenges faced by the Church in her work to bring the Gospel to the world of the today.
In saying this, Fr. Kentenich was also making his followers aware of their responsibility to help lead the Church to the “new shore” of the times through a dynamic and personal (as opposed to static and impersonal) apostolate, spirituality, pedagogy and community especially attuned to the new challenges of the times. This became especially acute in the years of Vatican Council II and thereafter, when the entire Church was seeking a renewed and vibrant way of proclaiming and living the Gospel in a new era of history. In this vision of Church, the Church has the task to be the “soul of the world” (Fr. Kentenich on the closing day of Vatican II, December 8, 1965) that breathes life into all culture and human activity by bringing it in organic contact with grace and the work of salvation (è 35, 36).
Pope John Paul II has spoken on several occasions about Schoenstatt. The most important of these was on the occasion of a special audience of the Schoenstatt Family in Rome for Fr. Kentenich’s 100th birthday on September 20, 1985. At that time he said:
With this pilgrimage to the center of Catholic Christianity and to the house of the common Father, you seek to allow the celebration of the 100th birthday of your founder, Father Kentenich. (....)
You have come here from many different countries to give thanks for that gift which God has given you in the person of Father Kentenich. Through the living memory of his person and his message, you desire to renew your spirit, in order to continue and proclaim his spiritual legacy; namely, to become more and more a spiritual family, which lives on by virtue of its founding charism, in order to fulfill its mission in the service of the Church and world. (....)
You are called to participate in that grace which your founder has received, and subsequently to offer the same grace to the entire Church. Then, the charism of the founder proves to be an experience inspired by the Spirit which has been passed on to their own followers, so that they may live, protect, deepen and develop it further. This is realized in the community of the Church, who only lives and grows out of the ever new loyalty to our Divine Founder.
Within this Spiritinspired experience out of which your movement came into existence, the covenant of love which the founder and the first generation sealed with the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Schoenstatt shrine on October 18,1914, occupies a central position. If you live this covenant loyally and generously, you will be brought to the fullness of your Christian vocation. (....)
An authentic Marian spirituality leads to a deep love for the Church. With his own life, your founder bore witness to this truth. It is precisely the same love for the Church which has brought you to this meeting today with the successor of Peter, in order to renew the promises which the Founder made to my predecessor Pius XII and Paul VI. In this way you express your intention to fulfill, through everyday sanctity, the challenges of the Gospel. You commit yourselves to collaborate in the formation of a new order of society, which mirrors the spirit of Christ. You express your readiness – each in his own sphere of life – to contribute to the realization of the Second Vatican Council. And finally, you want to help as much as possible so that every authority in the Church, established by God, may be recognized and valued as a spiritual fatherhood.
With joy and gratitude I accept the renewal of these promises and I ask you further: use all your strength that these great aims become reality! Together with your own prayers, I too pray so that you may receive the necessary grace. (....)
United with all the apostolic strength of the Church and faithfully integrated in the local Churches, you have to see to it that you yourselves become these individuals and communities who represent and transmit the spirit of the Second Vatican Council!
The loyalty to the spirit of the Council draws our attention to the vast task of evangelizing the world of culture. We find ourselves in a time of change and at the beginning of a new phase in history. (....) I encourage you, therefore, to intensify your efforts so that you may be wherever Providence has foreseen – instruments of God in the evangelization, not only of today's culture, but also of the future culture of your various different peoples. Realization of this task requires from you the perseverance in your daily striving to embody the new man, and the effort to live always in childlike dialogue with the God of history, understanding the signs of the times, as you have implored in your preparation for the jubilee celebration.
You can help realize Schoenstatt’s mission by becoming part of its stream of life and graces, be that in an informal way through the desire to take on the mission and ideals of Schoenstatt or in a more formal way by making the covenant of love with the MTA and joining the movement in one of its many branches.
In the end the key is the covenant of love with the MTA in the Schoenstatt Shrine. Those who make this covenant of love their own, including its dimensions of apostolate, self-education, love for the Church, faith in Divine Providence, everyday sanctity, etc. are on the best way to directly help the Mother Thrice Admirable accomplish the aims she wishes to fulfill on behalf of her Son Jesus from the Shrine.
Chapter Seven: About Schoenstatt's Organization and Structure
Chapter Seven: About Schoenstatt's Organization and Structure
See Apostolicam actuositatem 10, 24 (hierarchy and lay apostolate); CCC 773 (Petrine and Marian dimensions of the Church), 861f, 873-896.
Schoenstatt is an ecclesial movement (è 2) with a distinct structure in keeping with its spirituality and place in the Church.
Its place in the Church is that of a support and supplement to the existing structures in the Church. It supports the aims of the Church in her hierarchical structure (parish and pastor, diocese and bishop, etc.), even while offering impulses and activities typical of the movements: vibrant lay spirituality, additional opportunities for apostolate, community and faith experiences, etc. It is rather like the complementation of the Petrine and Marian charisms in the Church alluded to in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 773), where the accent on renewal and holiness (“Marian” charism) goes hand in hand with the accent on the Church in its “unity of mission” (CCC 873) and as an organized and effective body fulfilling its sacred trust to bring and nourish the Gospel in every part of the globe and through all ages (“Petrine” charism).
In keeping with its spirituality, Schoenstatt has a structure designed to be flexible and effective in cultivating the call to holiness. It wishes to evoke a maximum of freedom and initiative from its members, even while using a loose but concise organizational structure to facilitate the good working of the movement and to secure its identity and mission. These structures include various kinds of communities, including those which secure the overall identity and provide a core of leadership, and basic requirements, traditions and pedagogical tools (è 129) which express and secure the movement’s spirit and vitality. It also includes leadership circles and coordinating bodies which provide cohesion between the many groups and communities and general statutes which secure in writing general guidelines for the organization of the movement.
The underlying principles behind Schoenstatt’s structure and organization could be grouped under the headings “spirit” and “style.” “Spirit” refers to the way it relates to its spirituality, “style” relates to the way it puts this spirit into action.
The principles which underlie the spirit of Schoenstatt’s organization are found in the three parts of the “message” of Schoenstatt (è 20-27):
the covenant of love with Mary,
practical faith in Divine Providence,
and mission consciousness.
The effect of the covenant of love on Schoenstatt’s structure and organization is unmistakable (è 69). At times, Fr. Kentenich called it the “formal principle” which inspires and informs all of Schoenstatt, including its structure. Just as the soul penetrates and animates the body, the covenant of love with the MTA gives a distinct vitality and flavor all its forms and structures. Its organization is Marian, respectful of the freedom and autonomy of each person, ever in search of new ways to show one’s love for God and neighbor, community oriented, focused on cultivating genuine Christian life, attentive to the will of God the Father, Christ-devoted and Christ-centered, alive to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit.
The effect of practical faith in Divine Providence is to give all of Schoenstatt’s structures the quality of searching for God’s will. Here, too, the paramount importance of the freedom of individuals and communities is clear, for God seeks a free and magnanimous response to his will. It also leads to a strong ethos of working with life and the God of life. The way Schoenstatt is structured is meant to allow a maximum of cultivating life and growth (è 105-111). In this regard it is not forms and institutions which stand in the foreground, but the spirit and life which God stirs in the soul.
The effect of mission consciousness is to give all of Schoenstatt’s structures an apostolic orientation. This is apparent in its official name (“Apostolic Movement of Schoenstatt,” è 4) as well as in its desire to do all it can to help renew the Church and world.
The “style” of Schoenstatt’s structures can be described as
confederative,
family-like and
anchored but flexible.
Confederative refers to a style of organization which is
centered (in a common identity and spirituality) but decentralized (in its leadership and structures).
Schoenstatt is not composed of just one community or organization, but many autonomous but related communities. The accent is placed on unity in diversity as well as the richness and creativity that comes from multipolarity (different kinds of communities, different kinds of apostolates, different accents in spiritual striving, etc.). Leading a diverse family such as Schoenstatt is more challenging are requires the ability to work with and appreciate many charisms. One must know how to balance structure and freedom, following the founder’s oft-repeated principle: freedom as much as possible, obligations only but also as much as necessary, cultivation of the spirit as much as possible. Communication is also an essential foundation for leading such an organization, as is the establishment of genuine moral authority built on personal interest in each member, vision, sacrifice, democratic involvement of all members and wise use of the authority with which one has been entrusted.
Family-like refers to a style of organization which is able to resist the tendency of institutional forms to petrify or stifle life. It is a style which works to connect spirit and form (overcoming dead formalism), persons and obligations (overcoming the rigid legalism). Such a style shows in the interest in consulting with one another when mutual concerns are at stake. It shows in a sense of solidarity for one another in which the various parts support and feel responsible for the well-being of one another, even to a certain sense of unity with the others’ mission. It also shows in the fostering of moral authority and respect for those asked to lead. Because of the strong emphasis on freedom, it is much easier to ignore the leaders; this is counteracted by a family-like desire to see in the authority-bearers the embodiment of the unity of the whole and the voice of God speaking through his or her efforts to promote the aims of the group or community.
Anchored but flexible refers to Schoenstatt’s style of seeking flexibility to accommodate much freedom and many kinds of initiative, but without loss of identity or its unique charism. Part of any effective spiritual work in our times is to face the challenge of adapting to constantly changing situations and needs; hence the need for flexibility. But mere activism can also lead to superficiality or a splintering of forces; hence the need for certain forms which help anchor the spirit behind the structures. They can be anchored according to the “law of exemplary cases” (è 122), that is, through groups or places which exemplify an ideal so that others can see the model lived in life, even while giving a certain instinctive flexibility in its concrete application elsewhere.
First, Schoenstatt is organized according to 1) the state of life and 2) the level of commitment of its members.
The organization by state of life (men, women, couples, priests) is a natural outgrowth of Schoenstatt’s accent on personality and faith formation, which is best fostered in groups with others of the same vocation and state in life. There are exceptions, especially on the pilgrim level, where the aspect of formation is not so pronounced.
The organization by level of commitment shows in different ways one can belong to Schoenstatt. One can belong as a pilgrim who occasionally visits the Shrine or as someone who as made Schoenstatt his or her full-time vocation, or one of various ways in between. Organizationally, this leads to the division of Schoenstatt into
- the Pilgrim Movement (or Peoples’ and Pilgrim Movement)
- the Apostolic League
- the Apostolic Federation
- the Secular Institutes
Schoenstatt’s pilgrim movement (or the peoples’ and pilgrim movement) is the broadest base of the Schoenstatt Family. It includes all those with a personal connection or attachment to Schoenstatt. Hence, anyone with a special love for the Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt, or the Shrine, or Fr. Kentenich and who makes occasional contributions to the capital of grace can be considered a pilgrim. Pilgrims are not officially required to commit to any specific apostolate, to join any group or to make a formal spiritual commitment. They may live in a more or less loose communion with Schoenstatt and its Shrine.
Special initiatives and organizations are possible on the level of the pilgrim movement. Examples of this are the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign, where the Pilgrim MTA is brought to many people (è 66) and the Schoenstatt Apostolate of the Sick, with its outreach to the elderly and infirm.
The Apostolic League is the broad organization of those who make the aims of Schoenstatt their own, live its spirituality and engage themselves apostolically according to their possibilities and state in life. Entry into the League formally takes place when one makes the covenant of love. One can belong to the League as an “associate member” or “member” (è 144).
The League is organized into “branches” according to the walks of life. Hence, one belongs to the Family (or Couples) League, the Mothers League, the Women’s League, the Men’s League, the Priests’ League, etc. The League is generally organized by diocese. It is the part of Schoenstatt meant to be most directly useful to the local bishop and the apostolate of the diocesan Church. On the other hand, when the League of a given area is still small, it can be organized on a regional basis until such time as a diocesan structure can be formed.
One belongs to the Apostolic League first as an associate member and then, if one so chooses, as a member.
Associate members have made their covenant of love. They have been accepted by the leadership of the league as willing and able to fulfill its basic commitments:
- occasional apostolate,
- general interest and growth into Schoenstatt’s spirituality,
- contact with the community of the League: ordinarily through participation in a Schoenstatt group and in at least one League event during the year.
Members come from the ranks of the associate members who feel that they are called to a stronger leadership role in the League. After an appropriate time of growth into Schoenstatt, they are accepted at the “membership dedication.” This dedication is a moment of further growth into the covenant of love. Members take on greater commitments in the League and generally form the leadership backbone of the League’s activities (leadership circle, membership circle or the like). Their commitments are:
- a permanent apostolate in keeping with their state in life,
- permanent striving for sanctity through the use of the educational tools proper to the movement: Personal Ideal, Particular Examination, Spiritual Daily Order with written control, and a monthly report, if possible, to a stable confessor,
- committed participation in the community of the League: if possible in a Schoenstatt group, in the activities organized by the diocesan branch of the League to which one belongs, in the leadership or membership circle to the extent this is possible.
Both the members and associate members of the League belonging to the same branch and state in life form a local league branch. This is ordinarily a diocesan organization. The local league branch has regular leaders’ meetings to coordinate apostolic initiatives, new groups, retreats or other special events. When a sufficient number has made the membership dedication, it is customary that a membership circle is formed. Its purpose is to see to the particular needs of the members and to be attuned to ways they can help the associate members.
The local league branch elects a diocesan leader every three years; the election involves both members and associate members and the person or couple elected can be from either group. Ordinarily, the Movement Director and Central Committee of the Movement will provide support to the local league branch by appointing a Moderator, who in turn helps keep the Movement Director and Central Committee informed of the growth and needs of the local league branch.
Two special forms of the League are the Schoenstatt Boys’ Youth and Schoenstatt Girls’ Youth, each an independent organization with its own leadership and customs. Because the youth are in constant growth and transition, the organization and methods of the Youth branches are distinct from those of the other branches of the League.
The Schoenstatt Boys Youth (founded 1914) offers groups and activities for boys of all ages. In the United States it is organized by age groups this way: 6-9 year-olds belong to the “Knights of Jesus and Mary,” boys 10 years and older are organized as the “Schoenstatt Boys,” often with special activities for the high school boys. University aged men (age 18 and older) form their own branch of the Schoenstatt Boys Youth. The Boys Youth in other countries is generally structured the same, but often with different names for the groups and branches of the different age levels.
The Schoenstatt Girls Youth (founded 1931) organizes groups and activities for girls of all ages. The youngest groups (Kindergarten to Grade 3) are called the “Little Crowns,” while girls in Grades 4 to 8 are called the “Marian Apostles.” There is a special High School branch with its own goals; this culminates in making the “acceptance dedication.” Young women of university age (18 and older) have their own branch and can make the “youth dedication.” This structure is essentially the same in other countries as well.
The Apostolic Federation (in South Africa: Apostolic Union) is the part of the Schoenstatt work which unites a maximum of striving for sanctity with a relative minimum of juridical form and norms. It goes beyond the demands of the Apostolic League by forming a permanent community striving for the spirit of the evangelical counsels. But it freely chooses to remain on the level of the associations of the Christian faithful (see Code of Canon Law, No. 298-329), as opposed to institutes of the consecrated life (as in Schoenstatt’s secular institutes), in order to express a maximum of magnanimity in striving for Christian perfection.
In terms of organization, one must speak of federation communities in the plural. As with the League, the Federation is organized into distinct communities according to one’s state in life. Hence, one belongs to one of five federations: the Family Federation, Mothers’ Federation, Men’s Federation, Women’s Federation, Priests’ Federation, etc. Each federation has its own internal structure, including the structures of “official” and “free” community. It normally organizes itself nationally. Each federation branch can also have its own international coordinating council.
One joins a federation community through a formal process of discernment, application and candidacy. Along the way one becomes familiar with what is required of its members:
- a permanent and universal spirit of apostolate in keeping with one’s state in life, especially as leaders,
- permanent striving for the spirit of the evangelical counsels, including through the educational tools proper to the movement: Personal Ideal, Particular Examination, Spiritual Daily Order with written control, and a monthly report, if possible, to a stable confessor,
- permanent commitment to the federation community, especially to one’s course and course ideal (the “free” community), but also to the one’s federation branch on the national and (if applicable) international level (the “official” community).
Central to the formative time of the candidacy is the experience of one’s course. The course is the group of candidates that begins its formation at the same time. They form a unique and permanent community within the federation, and have their own course ideal. Formal membership begins when the course is ready to make its consecration; at that time each member makes his or her consecration. This total gift of self to the MTA becomes the foundation not only for one’s personal striving for the spirit of the evangelical counsels, but also for one’s commitment to the federation community. The consecration is renewed on a temporal basis over the course of 6 years before one becomes a permanent member of the federation through final consecration. This commitment is not secured through any kind of contract or juridical bond but entirely through the generosity of the members and the moral binding force of the covenant of love on the members and the federation community.
See CCC 914-915, 928-929; Perfectae Caritatis 1-6, 8, 11.
Schoenstatt’s Secular Institutes are institutes of the consecrated life (see Code of Canon Law, No. 710-730) which have originated in Schoenstatt and form the most juridically anchored core of the Schoenstatt Work. They are permanently committed to strive for the evangelical counsels of chastity (virginity), poverty and obedience through a juridical bond officially recognized by the Church. Once Pope Pius XII established the secular institutes in 1947, Fr. Kentenich saw this as the appropriate place in canon law for his leading communities. This form corresponded to his own desire to have communities with great flexibility to work in the world and join together the spirit of religious and laity, orders and secular priests, God and world.
Fr. Kentenich founded six such institutes: the Secular Institute of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary (1926); the Secular Institute of the Schoenstatt Brothers of Mary (1942); the Secular Institute of Schoenstatt Diocesan Priests (1945); the Secular Institute of Our Lady of Schoenstatt (Ladies of Schoenstatt) (1946); the Secular Institute of the Schoenstatt Fathers (1965); and the Schoenstatt Family Institute (1968). The first five have been approved by the Church on either the diocesan or pontifical level; the Family Institute, breaking ground as a possible form of secular institute for married couples, is still awaiting formal approval by the Church.
Although the Schoenstatt secular institutes are independent and each has its own unique traditions and forms, they have certain features in common.
After an appropriate novitiate (in which all who entered at the same time form a permanent course community), members of the secular institutes make a contract with their community in which individual and community agree to mutual faithfulness. It is coupled with a consecration to God and the MTA. This “contract-consecration” is roughly parallel to the vows of other communities, but is deliberately built on a “secular” bond, namely a contract such as any worker might make with a company. This places an increased accent on the member’s freedom, but also on his co-responsibility if the community is to succeed. The consecration is the religious element which lends moral and supernatural strength to the contract, giving it the needed permanence. This form of juridical bond is recognized by the Church. It is made on a temporal basis for at least five years (depending on the respective institute), after which it is made permanent in a final incorporation or contract-consecration. This commitment represents the most juridically binding commitment within the organization of Schoenstatt. Together with it come commitments to:
- a permanent and universal spirit of apostolate in keeping with one’s state in life and the mission of the institute,
- permanent striving to live the evangelical counsels and their spirit, including through the educational tools proper to the movement: Personal Ideal, Particular Examination, Spiritual Daily Order with written control, and a monthly report, if possible, to a stable confessor, and through other practices particular to the institute,
- permanent commitment to the Institute family, both to one’s course and course ideal (the “free community”) and one’s superiors, province and assigned responsibilities (the “official community”).
Each of the Schoenstatt secular institutes have a central international government and smaller national or regional subdivisions (provinces, regions, etc.). Because their members typically have a greater opportunity for formation in Schoenstatt’s history, spirituality and pedagogy, they are looked to as the primary source of leadership within the Schoenstatt Work. Still, the confederative structure of the movement stresses the constant need of the institutes to develop moral authority for them to effectively lead, inspire and join in dialogue with the many other parts of the Schoenstatt Family.
Because the Schoenstatt Movement has so many different branches and communities, it has various levels of organization to coordinate its activities.
• On the diocesan level it is coordinated by the diocesan committee or council (è 152), often with the help of a diocesan director or coordinator (è 153). The branches of the league are also assisted by the moderators (è 154).
• On the national level (or regional, in the case of very large countries) it is coordinated by the Movement Director (è 156), the Central Committee of the Schoenstatt Movement (è 155) and the National (or Regional) Presidium (è 157).
• On the international level it is coordinated by the General Presidium (è 158).
On the diocesan level, the movement is coordinated by a Diocesan Committee (or Council), made up of representatives of the different parts of the movement present in a given diocese. Its role is to provide a venue for discussion of common issues and concerns, for coordination of responsibilities and events shared by all the branches in the local movement, and for decisions on general matters such a local motto, crownings of the diocesan family or the like. The Diocesan Committee works to maintain an optimal spirit of apostolate, prayer and community in the movement on the local level.
Such a committee can be structured in various ways.
• It can be a “leaders’ circle” to which all group leaders in the diocese belong. This is typically the starting point for a diocesan committee.
• As the movement grows in a diocese, more formal structures may be needed and membership to the committee may be limited to the diocesan leaders (with perhaps an alternate) from each League branch and (if applicable) local representatives from each Federation branch.
In either case, the pilgrim movement is ordinarily represented by the Diocesan Director or Coordinator, or by someone chosen from this part of the movement. The Institutes, if present in the diocese, are generally represented by the members working with the movement.
At such time as a more formal link is established between the movement and the diocese, a liaison can be named (nominated by the diocesan committee, appointed by the bishop) to facilitate communication between Schoenstatt and the diocese. Such a liaison would normally be invited to diocesan committee meetings and kept informed of the activities of the local Schoenstatt Movement.
In questions where a diocesan initiative would involve or concern the larger Schoenstatt Family, the Diocesan Committee must work together with the Movement Director and the Central Committee. If necessary, the Movement Director will refer certain questions to the National Presidium, such as the permission to build a Schoenstatt Shrine.
In dioceses where the size of the movement requires greater coordination, the Diocesan Movement Director (Diocesan Director, for short) can be instated. The Diocesan Committee can initiate the process of choosing one by consulting with the Movement Director. Such a director is ordinarily named by a diocesan presidium, confirmed by the National Presidium and submitted to the bishop for his nihil obstat. It is the task of the Diocesan Director to represent and oversee the Schoenstatt Movement (League and Pilgrims) in his diocese and act as a liaison between the movement and the Bishop. He heads the Diocesan Committee and confirms, after consultation with the Diocesan Committee, the diocesan leaders after their election by the branches of the League.
In dioceses where the movement is smaller, a diocesan coordinator can be appointed. This person helps coordinate the work of the diocesan committee and the activities involving the League and Pilgrims.
Although the League elects its own local leadership, it is also generally assisted by a moderator placed at their disposal by the central coordination on the national or regional level. Most often a member of one of the institutes or the federation, the moderator helps facilitate the functioning of the League and acts as liaison between the assigned branch and the Central Committee of the Movement.
The Central Committee of the Schoenstatt Movement is the movement’s main coordinating body on the national (or regional) level. It is made up of the moderators working with the League and the main coordinators working with the pilgrim movement, along with other representatives that the Movement Director feels are important because of important roles and functions in the movement on the national level. The Movement Director is the president of the Central Committee.
The Central Committee possesses no formal powers over the movement, but has the moral authority to inspire and coordinate matters of common concern. It works to enhance apostolic initiative, support the cultivation of the spirit, provide pedagogical assistance, promote authentic Schoenstatt spirituality and keep the spirit of the Founder vital and vibrant. It also helps the movement keep its focus on broader horizons: the issues and needs of the Church, contributing to the development of a Christian society, larger currents and lifestreams in the international Schoenstatt Family. It assists the Movement Director in giving direction to the efforts of the League and Pilgrims, especially through periodic leaders conventions, work with an annual motto, facilitation of special Jubilees, and work with lifestreams.
The Movement Director is the main coordinator of the League and pilgrim movement on the national (or regional) level. He is a Schoenstatt priest named by the national presidium and heads the Central Committee as well as the office which oversees the central inspiration and coordination of the movement. His main task is to support, inspire, oversee and coordinate the activity of League and Pilgrims. He appoints the moderators and works closely with them to foster the growth and prospering of the movement.
In matters affecting the Schoenstatt Movement on the national level, it is ordinarily the role of the Movement Director to coordinate the discussion and help the movement come to clarity about God’s will. He is also the normal liaison between the movement and the Church on the national level, such as to determine Schoenstatt’s involvement at regional, national and international Catholic gatherings.
The National Presidium is the formal body which convenes to consult and, as necessary, to decide on certain matters of central importance to the entire Schoenstatt Family (that is: movement, Federation and Institutes) on the national level. In the case of large countries like Brazil or the United States, it may be more practical to subdivide the country into regions and operate with a Regional Presidium in each zone. Matters of concern for the Presidium include: the appointment of the Movement Director, discernment of criteria for the construction of new daughter shrines, and communication with the General Presidium.
The National Presidium consists of the superiors of the secular institutes present in the country, as well as the national heads of the different branches of the federation. The Movement Director participates in the National Presidium as the representative of the League and Pilgrims.
The General Presidium is the highest international body in the Schoenstatt Movement. It coordinates and consults on matters of concern to the entire worldwide Schoenstatt Family. It includes representatives from all the Schoenstatt Secular Institutes and internationally constituted branches of the Apostolic Federation. Currently, the League is represented by the Movement Director of Germany on behalf of all the national Movement Directors.
The General Presidium considers matters affecting the entire Schoenstatt Family. It can help formulate new moments of challenge for the Schoenstatt Family and urge the entire Schoenstatt Family to take note of new trends or lifestreams, special initiatives, or significant anniversaries and jubilees. The General Presidium is responsible for authorizing new national entities such as national presidiums. When questions from the Church are directed to the movement as a whole, it is the task of the General Presidium to study the matter, make appropriate consultations and issue a response. The elaboration of the General Statutes is also a task of the General Presidium.
The General Statutes of the Schoenstatt Movement are the equivalent of its constitution and by-laws. It spells out its aims and structures and the particulars of its organization, including the place of the Institutes, Federation, League and pilgrim movement. It clarifies the confederative interaction of the various parts of the movement, as well as the relationship between the movement and its parts with the Church as a whole.
These terms are often used interchangeably. “Schoenstatt Family” refers more to Schoenstatt as a body of believers united by a common spirit and who share a family-like sense of identity. “Schoenstatt Movement” refers more to its dynamic of apostolate and spiritual renewal within the Church. “Schoenstatt Work” refers more to its features as a formal organization.
In certain contexts like the assignment of tasks for the Movement Director, the word “movement” takes on a very specific meaning. In such cases it means the League and pilgrim movement in contrast to the federation and institutes. When “Schoenstatt Movement” is being used in this sense, then “Schoenstatt Family” and “Schoenstatt Work” become the terms used to designate Schoenstatt as a whole, including federation and institutes.
Schoenstatt has a broad international presence. Members of the federations and institutes (about 7000 members in 11 distinct communities) are located in 30 countries, while the Apostolic League has a membership estimated at over 90,000 in over 40 countries. As of December 2001, the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign had at least 150,000 Pilgrim MTAs in circulation in 83 countries.
Countries in which Schoenstatt has Shrines (with number of shrines as of December 2001) are: Germany (55), Brazil (18), Chile (17), Argentina (16), USA (6), Portugal (5), Switzerland (5), South Africa (5), Poland (5), India (3), Puerto Rico (3), Spain (3), Mexico (3), Australia, Burundi, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Columbia (2 each), Austria, Bolivia, Czech Republic, England, France, Italy, Peru, Scotland, Tanzania and Uruguay (1 each), for a total of 168. It is estimated that the Shrines receive between 3 and 4 million pilgrims each year.
Schoenstatt Shrines and Schoenstatt Movement are found on all of the inhabited continents, and there is even a wayside shrine on Antarctica (established by the Schoenstatt Family of Argentina).
Chapter Five: About Schoenstatt's Spirituality
Chapter Five: About Schoenstatt's Spirituality
See Pius X, encyclical Ad diem illum, February 2, 1904.
Schoenstatt’s spirituality can be characterized as
Marian,
modern,
organic and
concrete.
Marian – it cultivates a deeply personal and effective relationship with Mary, the Mother of God as the “swiftest, shortest, surest way to Christ” (see encyclical Ad diem illum). Its Marian richness is anchored in the covenant of love with the MTA (è Chapter 4) and the importance of her Shrine as Schoenstatt’s unique place of grace (è Chapter 3).
Modern – it works to answer the challenges posed by the modern world to living the faith and striving for sanctity. The “new man in the new community” (è 29-33) is an attempt to integrate the Gospel with such typical features of the modern person and society as freedom, individuality and life in close contact with the world. It strives for everyday sanctity (è 88) and practical faith in Divine Providence (è 23) to enable the modern person to find God and live with him in the modern conditions of life.
Organic – Schoenstatt has a spirituality that is attuned to life (è 105) and to the healthy integration of all its parts: of nature and grace, of the natural and supernatural. This accent is so important to Schoenstatt’s spirituality because modern man is so hobbled by the breakdown of healthy relationships – both with God and on the human level – and growth towards sanctity today is impossible unless this organic integration is explicitly fostered. Moreover, Schoenstatt’s organic spirituality is also a fruit of its strong attachment to Mary, who radiantly unites in herself the natural and supernatural realities.
Concrete and practical – Schoenstatt’s spirituality does not merely clarify dogma or theory; it wishes to take the truths of the faith and live them concretely and in practical everyday life. This shows in the important role of pedagogy in Schoenstatt (see Chapter 6), for much of what Schoenstatt reflects on is how to grow, concretely and practically, toward sanctity.
Schoenstatt’s Marian devotion is rooted in the life of the Church. Over the 2000 years of her existence, the Church has discovered in Mary again and again her model and Mother (see Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, No. 60-65).
Fr. Kentenich distinguished between three kinds of Marian devotion in the Church – “ordinary,” “great,” and “extraordinarily great.” Ordinary Marian devotion is the usual reverence of all Catholics for Mary as Mother of God and cooperator in the work of redemption. Great and extraordinarily great Marian devotion places the love of Mary at the center of the spiritual life in ways that eventually allow it to uplift our entire life of grace and convert us more completely to the Gospel. The Church encourages the faithful to reach for these higher degrees of Marian devotion, especially through the voices of such saints as Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort. Schoenstatt has always been known for its extraordinarily great love for Mary.
Typical of Schoenstatt’s Marian devotion is its “covenant quality.” The covenant of love with the MTA is built on an active, personal relationship with Mary, that shows itself in deeds of love and striving for sanctity. The relationship is also shaped by a strong spirit of partnership. Other forms of Marian devotion may stress more a relationship of dependence and less the element of human cooperation, but Schoenstatt sees Mary as a mediatrix who delights in our freely given cooperation and willingness to serve as instruments for her mission.
Also typical is the “organic quality” of Schoenstatt’s Marian devotion. It sees the love of Mary as part of the growth of the entire person into the Gospel reality. In fact, love of Mary is such an outstanding catalyst for this growth that the frequent fear that Mary might detract from love of Christ has proven to be totally unfounded. In Schoenstatt’s experience, love for Mary consistently leads to a more vibrant love of Christ, God the Father and the Holy Spirit, not to mention a greater love for Church and neighbor.
Other features of Schoenstatt’s Marian devotion include a unique appreciation for Mary as Queen and Educator. There is a special place in Schoenstatt for Mary’s title as Queen, based on the personal experience of many individuals, families and communities that Mary truly uses her queenly power to assist, protect and lead us. This finds an expression in the crowning of Mary in Schoenstatt’s many shrines. As an Educator, Mary is experienced as someone who shapes and forms us, be it as individuals or in community. This is rooted in the dimension of the covenant of love as a work of education, both in the self-education needed for sanctity and in the help needed from Mary for us to succeed in fully forming ourselves and others in the image of God.
Schoenstatt can be considered a modern spirituality for many reasons. Among them is its accent on cultivating a truly lay and family-oriented spirituality. Whereas past eras of the Church thought about sanctity and organized piety almost exclusively in terms of monastic forms or religious vocation, Schoenstatt stressed from the beginning a way to holiness that respects the unique vocation of each walk of life.
This is closely related to Schoenstatt’s accent on being secular or “in the world.” Like many other modern movements in the Church, Schoenstatt stresses the need to be a leaven in society. This means fostering a form of modern everyday life which respects and uses the things of this world to reach sanctity, even while prudently avoiding the pitfalls of slavery to created things. It seeks to turn the things of the world into windows to the divine and opportunities to discover God, seeing this as one of the keys to the survival of the faith in our modern times. Even Fr. Kentenich’s decision that its leading communities take the form of secular institutes is a sign that our preference is not for the protection of monastery walls, but the cultivation of a lifestyle which brings the world to God.
Much of Schoenstatt’s spirituality developed with a particular sensitivity to the modern need for freedom and flexibility, even while finding a place to call home (the longing for family experiences) and set down deep roots. Out of this grew the unique accent on personal and community ideals, the cultivation of community as a spiritual family, and the practice of not prescribing particular spiritual forms, but of challenging the development of a “spiritual daily order” best adapted to each one’s personality and situation.
Schoenstatt fosters an organic spirituality which seeks the integration of nature and grace, head and heart, faith and life, God and world. The fracturing of modern man in both his thinking (thinking about God in connection with societal issues or one’s everyday life is practically a lost art) and living (breakdown of family and relationships, reduction of man to “what the masses want,” etc.) has been explicitly taken up by Schoenstatt as a challenge for desire to attain modern sanctity. This took on special form in the events connected to May 31, 1949, now considered the third milestone of Schoenstatt’s history (è 187).
Schoenstatt’s spirituality is organic in both its sources (the covenant of love with Mary as an organic, historical event rooted in life) and in its practice (a deep concern for the formation of the whole person). It finds strong roots in a love for Mary which wants to give all things to her, be it one’s nobility or one’s limitations. Fr. Kentenich also exemplified it in his personal interest in the life of each one God entrusted to him.
When used in the context of spirituality, “organic” refers to a spiritual approach which takes seriously the uniqueness of each individual, group and community. It is important that each one “know himself” and apply the necessary spiritual means in accord with one’s temperament and specific strengths and weaknesses. Hence, while others may need to be working on attentiveness in prayer, I may need to be working on seeing the brighter side of life or on not letting my temper get the best of me.
Seen this way,“organic” does not mean “the path of least resistance.” To strive for real sanctity means that there will be times when one needs to “go against the grain” of personal likes and preferences. This agere contra (as it is sometimes called), is a reminder that “organic” in the present order of salvation must always take the cross seriously. In keeping with a longstanding bit of wisdom oft repeated by Fr. Kentenich:
“There is no perfection without suffering and cross.”
Schoenstatt is a concrete (or practical) spirituality in that it is not satisfied with teaching certain principles or ideals, but is driven to find practical ways to live the faith in daily life. Hence, it is typical for Schoenstatt groups or individual members to look for a monthly resolution to apply some part of their striving for sanctity. There are different forms for cultivating this (see Schoenstatt’s pedagogical tools, è 129).
This “concreteness” is driven by the awareness that theory or reason alone cannot gain us sanctity. Nor can it be expected by just “living a good life.” It takes a deliberate cultivation in actual steps taken in everyday life.
It is also driven by Schoenstatt’s practical faith in Divine Providence. This feature of Schoenstatt’s spirituality has no rest until it works its way into a concrete dialog of love with God. This dialog involves the events of the day, what is moving in one’s soul, and the objective order of being into which one is placed (è 92). A truly dynamic modern sanctity is only possible against the background of such an ongoing dialog with the “God of life.” Here one finds the “open doors” which direct us along the ways of God and the traces of God’s wisdom, loyalty and love which give us the courage and insight needed to connect our practical daily life with God and his wishes.
Fr. Kentenich was fond of describing Schoenstatt’s spirituality as being “three-fold” or “three-dimensional.” By this he referred to three aspects of Schoenstatt which capture the richness of its life:
• covenant spirituality,
• instrument piety (or instrumentality),
• everyday sanctity.
See CCC 54-64, Lumen gentium 2-3, 9-10.
Christianity is a covenant-based religion. The covenants of the Old and New Testament are the very core of God’s revelation about how he saves us and draws us to himself.
The covenant plays a central role in Schoenstatt’s spirituality as well. It was founded through a covenant of love with Mary (è Chapter 3) and this same covenant is seen as the key to Schoenstatt’s distinct identity and manifold forms of life. This Marian covenant strengthens and deepens the covenant with God by giving an experience of personally knowing and loving a heavenly covenant partner, of being aware that this partner knows and loves me in return, of my personal salvation history, of having personal holy times and places, of growing through longings and fragility to a greater covenant faithfulness. All in all, the covenant experience even helps our attachments on the most human and natural level, strengthening and/or healing these basic attachments.
Schoenstatt’s covenant spirituality is one which reaches into all areas of life, spoken of as the “four-fold infinitism” of the covenant of love (è 75). Ultimately, the covenant of love with the MTA should become more and more the “fundamental purpose, form, strength and norm” of our life (Fr. Kentenich, 1952) , helping us make the covenant with God more and more the driving purpose, form, strength and norm of our lives as Christians in the world of today.
See Lumen gentium 33; CCC 913.
The covenant of love with the MTA is not only about personal formation, but it is also about offering oneself to God to help build up his kingdom on earth. In this sense, the covenant is apostolic. Essential to Schoenstatt’s spirituality is therefore the cultivation of our attitude and life as instruments of God. This is what is called “instrument piety” or the spirit of “instrumentality.”
In reality, it is a very simple thing: in the covenant of love I express my willingness and desire to be an instrument of God. Through my apostolate and service to family, friends, Church and world, I cultivate a lifestyle of actively building up the kingdom. But at heart the instrument also wants to be constantly attuned to God’s will; here is where instrument piety meets practical faith in Divine Providence (è 23). Behind this is the need to constantly renew one’s desire to seek and do God’s will and overcome the tendency to do only one’s own. Here the Blank Check and Inscriptio dedications (è 76, 77) have led many to become more effective instruments of God. Here, too, the cultivation of the attitude of childlikeness before God (è 89) plays an important role in one’s becoming an instrument who is more likely to trust in God and fulfill his will.
See Gaudium et spes 33-34; CCC 1533, 2013 (vocation to holiness), 2427 (dignity of work); AA 7 (use of the temporal order), 19 (faith and everyday life).
The Christian vocation is the call to holiness. In Schoenstatt this call is realized as everyday (or workday) sanctity, meaning the integration of one’s faith with every aspect of ordinary life. Fr. Kentenich contrasted it with the “Sunday sanctity” of Christians who go to church on Sunday but do not allow their faith to affect the rest of their lives.
Everyday sanctity has many facets. It can be described as “doing one’s ordinary duties in an extraordinary way (ordinaria extraordinarie)” or as “fulfilling the duties of one’s state in life as perfectly as possible out of total love for God.” Fr. Kentenich developed its most comprehensive definition in 1932:
Everyday sanctity is the God-pleasing harmony between wholehearted attachment to God, work and fellow-man in every circumstance of life.
Everyday sanctity is therefore attentive about not neglecting God because of the world, nor one’s family because of apostolate, nor one’s fellow-man because of work, nor one’s duties in life because of God. The ideal of the “everyday saint” is to strike the proper balance between the natural, rational and supernatural sides of the individual and community, so that one’s spiritual life is strengthened by good health, one’s physical faculties are augmented by clear thinking, and one’s resolution of mind and will are tempered by respect for one’s emotions.
Everyday sanctity also seeks to integrate work, prayer and suffering. In this context Schoenstatt understands work as man’s sharing in the creative activity of God (è 106), for prayer as a dialog of love with God and suffering as a crucial part of the Christian vocation.
Another characteristic theme of Schoenstatt’s spirituality is spiritual childlikeness, that is, the cultivation of one’s being a child of God. This is a favorite theme in Schoenstatt’s covenant spirituality and also relates to the instrument piety with its desire to totally serve God in all things. Fr. Kentenich liked to stress that it involves
1) an objective reality: we are children of God, both by virtue of our having been created by God with the gifts of freedom and the ability to love and, in an infinitely higher way, by virtue of Christ’s redeeming work made part of our lives through baptism and the sacraments;
2) the cultivation of attitudes that correspond to this objective reality: trust and dependence of God, faith in Divine Providence, desire to make God happy as His children, appreciation of human experiences of childhood and childlikeness, both natural (as in the family) and spiritual (as with a priest or spiritual guide).
The accent on childlikeness in Schoenstatt is the same as that found in St. Therese of Lisieux, whom Fr. Kentenich often mentioned as an example of genuine childlikeness. Schoenstatt’s Marian spirit is also closely related to this spirit, for Mary too is someone whose life was built around total devotion to God’s will, following and trusting God even when it involved great darkness and suffering, such as at the death of her Son, Jesus.
As a movement of religious and moral renewal, Schoenstatt’s spirituality is also deeply attuned to prayer. Schoenstatt does not prescribe particular prayers or forms of prayer, but encourages its members to “pray always” (cf 1 Thess 5,17). In keeping with everyday sanctity one should connect God with one’s life, work and mission, using the forms that seem most adequate.
Schoenstatt has always had a deep Eucharistic devotion and appreciation for the Mass and reception of Holy Communion. Its attachment to the liturgy shows in the practice of many of its members to attend daily Mass. From early on, the Shrine, too, was seen as a place of Eucharistic prayer, and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is generally part of the regular schedule of events at all Schoenstatt Shrines. Both the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary and the Schoenstatt Fathers have permanent adoration members who make Eucharistic adoration a central part of their apostolate, and there are adoration circles in many parts of the movement.
Other important accents on prayer come to light in the promotion of pilgrimage to Schoenstatt Shrines and other Marian Shrines, monthly and annual days of renewal of the covenant of love, promotion of the Rosary through the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign (è 66), and many other prayer initiatives.
Some popular Schoenstatt prayers are:
• “My Queen, my Mother”
(recommended for daily renewal of the covenant of love),
• “I trust your might”
(sometimes called the Prayer of Confidence),
• “With heartfelt love”
(a prayer of thanksgiving),
• “You know the way for me”
(a prayer to Divine Providence),
• “Holy Spirit, you are the soul of my soul”
(adaptation of the prayer to the Holy Spirit by Cardinal Mercier).
To this can be added the many prayers from Heavenwards, the prayer book which Fr. Kentenich composed in Dachau (è 185).
A practical method for deepening the attachment to God and growing in active faith in Divine Providence is by using Schoenstatt’s method of meditation. Fr. Kentenich recommended it many times. At times he called it putting up the ladder of Divine Providence. At other times he described it as savoring the mercies of God.
This method is quite simple. In quiet prayer I come into God’s presence and look back over the last 24 hours. I allow the main events and emotions to pass through my soul, taking time to resavor or taste them again. I then seek the vantage point of Divine Providence (“putting up the ladder”), asking the question: “God, what are you trying to say?” One may or may not arrive at an answer at this time, but asking the question disposes the soul to see the events as being in the hands of God and His plan of love.
In a second step, I now turn to the expected events of the next 24 hours. I allow the soul time to presavor or taste in advance the likely course of the day and how it might affect me. I seek the vantage of Divine Providence again, this time with a question like: “God, what to you want to accomplish through me today?” In this way I allow my soul to breathe the clear air of knowing that whatever happens, it will be in God’s hands.
Some of the fruits of this method of meditation are a greater deference to God’s will and trust in God, an increase in integration of faith and life, growth in trust in God’s providence, more inner fortitude and calm, and an attitude of making no decisions without entrusting them to Him.
(200 Questions about Schoenstatt, Chapters 5 to 8, version March 12, 2002)
Chapter Six: About Schoenstatt's Pedagogy
Chapter Six: About Schoenstatt's Pedagogy
See Gaudium et spes 4-10 (challenges of our times).
The word “pedagogy” refers to one’s educational style and approach. It encompasses one’s philosophy of education, methodology, and interaction with the persons being educated. It is directly influenced by one’s image of God and of the human person and community.
A sound pedagogy is important because objective truth is transmitted through the subjective process of contact between teacher and learner. Even the Gospel and the teachings of the Church depend on the personal work and witness of evangelists and catechists to transmit the faith. Many of the obstacles to the reception of the faith today are rooted in difficulties which the modern person has in assimilating basic values, including the lack of key experiences on the natural level (such as a stable, permanent relationship with father and mother). How to overcome such difficulties is, properly speaking, a pedagogical question: how can I prepare the soul for objective truth through foundational subjective experiences?
The enormous changes of the last 100 years have led to major shifts in the way people understand themselves, relate to others, and make commitments. For instance, the strong tendency today to understand oneself in terms of career and economic value makes it more difficult to open oneself to a vocation in the service of God. Or again, pleasure, success and “doing what everyone else does” (collectivism, è 30) have become so dominant that they impede the ability to relate to God (who cannot be grasped with these categories). Even our tendency to see and solve social problems using complex systems (itself a good) is a change which lessens the accent on the personal and unique, sometimes which gives impersonal (“it”) problem-solving the priority over concerning oneself with the personal “you.” Unless such shifts are taken into account on the pedagogical level (that is, on the level of educational approach), one’s attempts to open the soul to a permanent relationship to Christ and Church will bear little fruit.
Schoenstatt’s pedagogy can be characterized as
deeply natural,
deeply supernatural,
and deeply natural-supernatural.
In other words, it seeks to totally relate to the human person and the human condition as it is, embracing everything about man as he has been created by God and as he is found in modern life. At the same time it seeks to be totally related to God and his work, faithfully unearthing the vast riches of the supernatural reality for those Schoenstatt serves.
And finally, it seeks to be natural-supernatural, that is, building the bridges for a healthy and vibrant interaction of natural and supernatural, nature and grace, man and God (è 105). At times Fr. Kentenich would describe this process of building on both nature and the Gospel by saying, “First human, then Christian, then totally human.”
Schoenstatt’s pedagogy grew from its Catholic roots and its unique history.
Its Catholic roots allowed it to draw on the wealth of insight and experience gathered in the Church over the centuries. Biblical and doctrinal roots can be found, as well as the example of great saints like St. Francis de Sales and St. Therese of Lisieux. The sacraments and interaction with the worldwide Church also helped shape its approach.
Moreover, much of its unique flavor comes from the particular accents of its history and spirituality: the central place of the covenant of love with Mary, its desire to shape the “new man in the new community,” its constant attention to life and the challenges presented it by self-education and the apostolate.
In a very direct way it also grew out of the teaching charism and educational understanding of Fr. Kentenich. For him, education was the generation and service of life. He was not satisfied with merely transmitting doctrine or knowledge, but felt it must connect with life. Because of this he sometimes called Schoenstatt a “liaison” or “intermediary” between faith and life, between theory and practice. For similar reasons he often spoke of Schoenstatt as a “movement of educators and education,” working to realize in many practical ways what the Church teaches and believes.
Crucial to Schoenstatt’s pedagogy is
its image of the human person and community
and its image of the educator.
In its image of the human person and community, it sees man as created in the image of God, indeed of the Triune God. Man is neither a utilitarian object to be manipulated at will (such as through advertising that only appeals to the lower senses), only to be cast aside when he is no longer useful (like a worn part in a machine), nor a collective being who must understand his value according to how others see him. No, man is an image of the Triune God, both as an individual (three persons) and as a community being (one God). Man must therefore be treated with utmost respect as an image of God, already on the natural level. All the more so on the supernatural level when it comes to the cultivation of the divine life of grace. The education of an image of God must therefore take into account the features of a child of God, called to both unique individuality and the wealth of attachments in healthy, sustaining relationships.
Secondly, the image of the educator is crucial. In Schoenstatt the image of the educator is ultimately read from the image of the three divine persons. The Father, who begets all life, is the model for the fundamental attitude of the educator as “father” and “mother.” Fr. Kentenich often spoke of this role of the educator as that of “priestly fatherhood” and “priestly motherhood,” referring not only to the generating and nurturing of life, but to the “priestly” service of constantly serving as the go-between for both the natural and supernatural life of those in one’s care, leading them to God and to man. The Son, who as the Good Shepherd gave up his life for us all, is our visible model of this kind of education, “selflessly serving the life of others.” The Holy Spirit, who is the mutual love of the Father and the Son personified, is the model for the educator as the “great lover who never abandons his love” for those God has entrusted to his care. To be an educator means that one’s own interests recede into the background in favor the those whom God has given to me. One is therefore not the “owner” of their life but merely an instrument of God, participating in Christ’s prophetic, priestly and pastoral task.
Being an educator therefore means working on one’s own self-education in order to be a completely useful instrument of God. It also means prayer and a living relationship with God, recalling Fr. Kentenich’s insight that prayer is the greatest educational power in the world (see Education and the Challenge of our Times, p. 2-14). For Fr. Kentenich, the “educated educator” is one who awakens life not merely by a word or lesson, but by authenticity of life – both natural and supernatural – and the sincere power of love placed at the service of those one is called to educate.
The two foundation stones of Schoenstatt’s pedagogy are
love
and freedom.
They correspond to the most central values in God’s plan. God is love and has created us to love him. To love him fully we need to grow to the heights of the “freedom of the children of God” (Rom 8,21).
Schoenstatt’s core experience is a covenant experience – not based on fear or obligation, but love. In fact, one’s very belonging to a movement is a free choice. While my salvation depends on my belonging to the Church, my belonging to a movement is an additional act of religion not required by the Church. Hence the strong experience of faith as something I freely give to God. It is therefore only fitting that Schoenstatt’s pedagogy would be one that is built on love and freedom.
Schoenstatt’s pedagogy is guided by a broad range of underlying principles. Three of the most important are:
First: Ordo essendi est ordo agendi, that is, the order of being is the norm for the order of action.
Discerning God’s plan of love and freedom requires attentiveness to God’s voice. This is found in Scripture and Tradition. It is also found in the ordo essendi, the “order of being” – that is, natural law and the way each person and community has been created. This can have practical pedagogical consequences: for instance, because the different states in life (priests, women, men, couples, etc.) have different educational needs, Schoenstatt’s organization creates space for each state to generate life according to its own uniqueness. Or again, by being attuned to the uniqueness of each person, Schoenstatt does not promote a “one-size-fits-all” list of spiritual obligations, but encourages each one to develop a schedule that fits his own mission, temperament, etc., respecting the distinct “order of being” which God has given him.
Second: Grace does not destroy nature, but presupposes it; graces builds on, elevates, heals and improves nature.
Spiritual formation depends on a proper balance of natural and supernatural, nature and grace, primary and secondary causes (è 188). Grace must build on nature, while nature needs the power of grace to reach its full potential. Fr. Kentenich was keenly aware of how our ability to open up to the supernatural reality depends on natural pre-experiences such as the experience of our natural father. On the other hand, the healing and elevation of the modern soul, so downtrodden by the traumas of our age, is dependent on the vigorous action of grace. Only grace, properly integrated with action on the natural level, can elevate man and society to the level it desires when it speaks of the ideals of human rights, freedom and the dignity of the human person.
Third: Love is the fundamental and universal law of the world.
This axiom is a summation of the teaching of such great saints as St. Francis de Sales and St. John Bosco. Fr. Kentenich and Schoenstatt picked up on the “fundamental law of love” from early on. Behind this is the conviction that the strongest drive in the human person is not fear, justice, pleasure or even survival, but LOVE. Love is not only is the greatest power in heaven and on earth, but also the greatest creative force in the work of education. True and authentic educators must be geniuses of love. Just as God does everything through love, for love, out of love, so too must the educator strive to do all things through, for and out of love.
Schoenstatt’s pedagogy seeks to transmit a natural-supernatural experience of love built on freedom, thereby helping create the new person in the new community: fully able to love (God, neighbor, self) in committed Christian community (carried by genuine family spirit).
To reach this end, Fr. Kentenich stressed five “guiding stars” as essential features of Schoenstatt’s educational approach. They are
attachment pedagogy (è 100)
movement pedagogy (è 105)
covenant pedagogy (è 112)
and
a pedagogy of trust (è 117)
a pedagogy of ideals (è 121).
The “foundation stones” of love and freedom are captured in the “guiding stars” this way: love in the first three points, freedom in the final two.
Attachment pedagogy is the part of education to love which promotes and defends attachments to persons, places, things, ideas and values. Attachments are the fruit of love and the way to love. At times Fr. Kentenich would allude to this by quoting St. John Bosco:
“If you want to be obeyed, see to it that you are loved... Do you want to be loved? Then you must love. And that alone is not enough. You must go one step further. You must not only love your students, but they must know it as well.”
In other words: build an attachment on love and education of the whole person is possible. This can be done in on many fronts: in personal relationships, in the experience of being at home, in customs or rituals that remind the soul of previous deep experiences, etc.
Attachments not only involve the mind or will, they specifically engage the heart and soul, reaching the deepest part of the human person. A vibrant spectrum of attachments is necessary to fully develop one’s capacity to love (see “organism of attachments” è 22, 102). But not everyone has a vibrant set of attachments; many people today are extraordinarily weak in their attachments, leaving them spiritually and emotionally weak, living dysfunctional lives or, in extreme cases, lacking the ability to function normally in society. It was Fr. Kentenich’s lifelong conviction that modern man’s deepest malady lies in the inability to attach. He goes through life drifting from one relationship to another, from one house to another, from one fad to another, but never sufficiently sets down the roots of the soul to experience what it means to love and be loved unconditionally.
An effective attachment pedagogy must therefore promote a wide variety of attachments – to persons, places, things, ideas and values. It begins with the attachment of the educator to the educated, and his or her genuine interest in the life of the other. Often just by welcoming the other, by listening and taking in what is important, one can break through the cold indifference of mass society and give the other the courage and freedom to attach more deeply. Helps to attachment include outward signs, like the way one makes a house a home, or symbols, music, art and ritual that help to break the indifference of place or time and give the soul a chance to grow roots. Time is also important – time for relationships, time for quiet reflection, time for God – so that the soul can set down roots. At times one must also actively defend attachments from vices like immodesty or greed, which tear down healthy attachments in the race for worldly gratification.
Schoenstatt’s own experience of attachments helps it realize this pedagogy. It has its rich experience of attachments – to the Shrine, to the MTA, to Fr. Kentenich, to many symbols and songs, to its history, etc. – to refer to and encourage it to keep working at promoting healthy attachments.
Attachment pedagogy also depends on healthy thinking. Modern thinking belittles and likes to tear down attachments which may have taken years, decades or even centuries to build up. This “mechanistic thinking” (è 103) needs to be explicitly countered with “organic thinking” (è 104). This was the danger that caused Fr. Kentenich to risk his life’s work on May 31, 1949 (è 187). Attachment pedagogy works hand in hand with movement pedagogy (è 105) to help create a culture of life in relationship; both make best progress when they take concrete shape in explicit covenant experiences (see covenant pedagogy, è 22, 112).
Attachment pedagogy must face many difficulties. Some are rooted in the person. This may include the inability or lack of experience in entering into attachments. Here one may need to begin with very small and simple steps and patiently try to lead the soul to a greater growth in attachments. Mechanistic thinking can also be a difficulty (è 103). Or one might be too much under the influence of modern “mobility” and be a spiritual “drifter”; it can take great patience to lead such a soul to deeper attachment.
Some difficulties are rooted in our society. In the name of efficiency or business it urges or even forces us to change jobs, homes, even the city where I live. Because stability of place and friendships is so important for the rootedness of the soul, one must do what we can to overcome this tendency, though this may ask great sacrifices. Also, our society’s self-centered view of friendship, marriage, sexuality and family poses great risks for establishing, cultivating and protecting the most central personal attachments in our lives. The tearing down of cultural safeguards (such as common courtesies and moral norms) can actually endanger gains already made. Hence the importance of a certain preferential option for attachments.
Finally, there are difficulties which arise from the nature of attachments themselves. Fr. Kentenich spoke of the three-fold function of created things. By this he was referring to a basic observation of God’s plan: 1) created things (including persons) were created by God to attract us, that is, to arouse our wonder and draw us away from self to the other; 2) because of original sin, we are always in danger of becoming enslaved to the things of this world, therefore God also gives these things the function of disappointing us; 3) finally, they have the function of pointing beyond themselves to God. The difficulty inherent in this is that we often do not understand the disappointment as a positive gift of God and then fail to use the attachment to maximum benefit as a stepping stone to God.
Being aware that attachments are not isolated by in a context, i.e. the “organism of attachments” (è 22), can be crucial to an effective pedagogy of attachments. One must bear in mind how the various kinds of attachments (or lack thereof) may help (or drag down) each other in the attempt to lead someone to a fuller ability to love. One also does well to recall the “organic” side of working with attachments, such as in the laws of organic growth (è 107). Nor should one forget the important interaction of personal and community attachments and experiences to the development of the organism of attachments.
Families, groups, communities and nations also have their organism (network) of attachments. As with individuals, the cultivation of attachments is important for the community experience. The danger today is that community attachments are only cultivated in very shallow or disjointed ways, often without reference to God or higher values.
Attachment pedagogy demands of the educator a willingness to open his heart and “join the organism of attachments,” that is, become attached. The ability to accept attachment from others in a healthy, positive manner can go a long ways toward fostering their ability to love. Moreover, if one can be a transparency of Mary, Christ, God the Father, etc., one’s personal effectiveness will lead upward to the heavenly covenant partners, giving greater impetus to the growth of love. All in all, if education establishes a network of healthy and stable attachments with God and others, it can grow and develop in a healthy manner.
Definition. Fr. Kentenich coined the term “mechanistic thinking” (or “separatistic thinking”) in the 1930s to describe a major blight on modern thinking. What he meant was a thinking that habitually separates, takes apart and analyzes without maintaining context, connections and synthesis. In other words, it falls into fallacies about God, man and life because it artificially separates things that belong together. Fr. Kentenich pointed out four main areas of separation:
1. the separation of ideas from life,
2. the separation of God from secondary causes (è 188),
3. the separation of life processes that belong together,
4. the separation of ideas that belong together.
The word “mechanistic” puts it finger on the false assumption underlying this thinking. It assumes that one can think persons, personal relationships and organic realities (including the supernatural) in the same way that one can think about a machine: in a purely analytical and impersonal manner.
Examples. But because life is not a machine, the total organic context is crucial to arriving at correct conclusions. For instance, to “think” a person in isolation from family, friends and colleagues could seem the best way to reach the “essence” of the person. But can a person be understood without knowing his friends and family? Yet this is what mechanistic thinking does, such as when it proposes to “think” the “essence” of Christ by removing the “distractions” of such central and vital relationships in his life as Mary and the Church.
In moral and ethical questions, mechanistic thinking is prone to think only of what can be done, making light of how one process (such as biogenetic experimentation) affects other related organic processes like how it affects persons and society and our respect for life and whether it should be done. Pragmatic considerations create a convenient blindness to the consequences affecting the sum-total of human life and our responsibility before God.
Effects. Mechanistic thinking affects attachments in two ways:
1. It is generally blind to the importance of attachments, or is satisfied with their minimal cultivation. But much of what makes us human is a vibrant interaction of many kinds of relationships. For instance, although mechanistic thinking might see no benefit in cultivating a personal relationship with Mary or the saints (“I can go straight to God!”), it misses the richness of having many ways to go to God in the face of many different challenges in life.
2. It belittles and destroys values and sacrifices needed for attachments to take root and grow: respect for God’s laws on marriage, the primacy of parenthood over career, persons are more important than material goods, respect for traditional forms of faith and piety, the need to invest time and give up self-centeredness if one wishes to grow closer to God, spouse, friends, etc. Marriages fall apart, families suffer, priests and religious mock proven ways of popular piety, society loses a meaningful connection to God. These are just some of the ways mechanistic thinking destroys lives and culture.
Definition. Fr. Kentenich coined the word “organic thinking” as the counterpart to “mechanistic thinking.” It is the healthy thinking which opposes and heals mechanistic thinking. As the word “organic” indicates, it is a thinking which respects life as an organism, that is, in its living context of attachments and relationships. Hence, it is an integrated thinking: integrating nature and grace, head and heart, faith and life, God and world. Instead of separating, it unites the aspects of life that relate to one another:
1. related ideas and life,
2. God, the Primary Cause, and all secondary causes (è 188),
3. life processes that belong together,
4. ideas that belong together.
Organic thinking synthesizes. Fr. Kentenich often described it by use of some simple Latin vocabulary – it is an “et... et...” (both... and...) and not an “aut... aut...” (either... or...) thinking. By this he meant that organic thinking does not play off realities one against the other (God and world, faith and reason, Jesus and Church, Scripture and Tradition, liturgy and popular piety, Christ and Mary, etc.), but seeks the ways they relate the one to the other. An essential help to organic thinking is symbolic thinking. Through symbols one can often better grasp the sum total of life and organic realities than through analysis alone.
Organic thinking, loving and living. Fr. Kentenich stressed that the healing of mechanistic thinking is not just a matter of correct organic thinking, but also of organic loving and living. He equated this with everyday sanctity (è 88). In 1955 and thereafter he used this term to describe the mission of May 31, 1949 – it is a “crusade of organic thinking, loving and living” (è 187). The organic quality of Schoenstatt’s life is also inseparable from its spirituality (è 80, 83) and pedagogy (è 105-107).
Movement pedagogy sees education as a dynamic process of growth, movement and life. A favorite saying of Fr. Kentenich was, “Life begets life,” meaning more can be done through life contact than through lectures. For him education involved welcoming, awakening, fostering, healing and challenging life. This dynamic of growth applies to both individuals and communities.
Integration of life. Schoenstatt is an ecclesial movement (è 2). Its style and charism require that it be attentive to and actively foster a dynamic approach to faith, spirituality and Christian commitment. Modern dynamic approaches, however, tend to overemphasize natural goals, goods and “movement” at the cost of other key features of life. A sound movement pedagogy therefore seeks the integration of all the levels of life in both the individual and the community. It seeks
natural growth (including emotional, instinctive and physical growth),
rational growth (including the growth of mind and will),
supernatural growth (including the growth of grace and love of God).
This integration is also a central feature of everyday sanctity (è 88).
Working with Life. Integration of life requires that one know how to work with life and organic processes. This includes knowing how to appreciate and foster life on its many different levels, and how to work with the levels as they interact, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively. Fr. Kentenich elaborated a four-step way of observing and reflecting on life (è 106) and the “laws of organic growth” (è 107) as helps to a more effective working with life. Experience will also help one know when to trust life and be patient (for instance, when it needs to mature) and when to challenge life (for instance, when it becomes inbred, stale, complacent or self-centered) even while respecting the mystery of God’s plan which is behind each person and community. Other typical Schoenstatt accents in working with life are fostering independent initiative and creativity (to assure the attachment of those involved with the life that is in them and in their community) and fostering a style of community which both respects diverse identities and missions and sets down roots in a unity based on the God-given life found in the community.
Working with Lifestreams. For one to truly lead and form life, however, one must also know how to inspire, cultivate and respect larger movements of life called “lifestreams.” A lifestream (or life current) takes place when certain events, desires or trends (either of grace or thought) flow together to touch life in a deeper way. It is typical of lifestreams that they “strike a chord” in many people, motivating them to “join” the lifestream through a feeling of identification and actively partaking in some initiative or commitment. They “grip” the heart and lead to a new infusion of spiritual vigor or apostolic/community fervor. Lifestreams can be long or short in duration. A long-lived lifestream in Schoenstatt is the crowning lifestream which began as a single crowning of the Schoenstatt Sisters in 1939 (è 176), but was then taken up by parts of the Girls Youth in 1940. It struck such a chord in many parts of Schoenstatt that soon the MTA was being crowned in many places as an act with genuine personal meaning. This lifestream continues until today. A short-lived lifestream could be a jubilee or apostolic initiative that genuinely “grips” the heart and leaves a mark on those involved even though it might last but a year or two.
A leader using movement pedagogy will look for ways to integrate, inspire and promote life, especially through lifestreams. This is especially important today in today’s society, where the power of modern material means to sweep up the interest and energy of persons and communities is great. In other words, if one does not use lifestreams for the spiritual cause, it is likely that the secular and materialistic trends, fads and currents will form those around me so strongly that there is no room for God. Here one must be aware that the application of movement pedagogy demands patience, creativity and a firm faith that the deepest life is stirred by God and genuine encounter with him. At times one may find that a lifestream has developed more or less on its own. In such a case one must take care to foster it. At others times, one may need to try different things until something “strikes a chord” and grasps the hearts. But once a lifestream is found, it is worth the long effort, for it can lead to a much deeper engagement of the whole person than any lesson or isolated activity. Among Schoenstatt’s most effective applications of working with lifestreams is the community ideal (è 127).
Fr. Kentenich used and taught a four-step process for observing and reflecting on life. It bears similarities to the “see-judge-act” method, but adds a decided accent on grasping the final principles behind the matter at hand. These steps are also sometimes called the criteria for discerning the “voice of the times” (è 24).
1) Observe. I observe the life around me, especially in the persons and/or communities entrusted to my care. What inspires this life? Where does it come from? What enthuses it? What discourages it? What crosses does it bear? In which direction does God seem to be leading it? How does God seem to be involving me? Crucial to this step is the ability to listen, both to life and to God’s voice speaking behind this life. It is essential to treat life with respect and make an honest effort to get to its roots. Rash judgments or a “know-it-all” attitude can short-circuit the whole process.
2) Compare. I consider parallel cases from my experience, the experience of others, from history. To what extent is the life entrusted to me unique, and to what extent do certain laws seem to be at work? The purpose of comparison is not to put down (they are better than we, we are better than they), but to better grasp the underlying plan of God for those I serve. The comparison shows similarities and differences, and should bring into sharper focus the voice of God speaking in the concrete life entrusted to my care.
3) Reduce to Final Principles. In the third step I give careful thought to the principles underlying what I have observed. A surface evaluation or mere list of symptoms may be satisfactory to the behaviorist mentality of our times, but not to an effective movement pedagogy. If life is truly to be led according to God’s plan, one must try to come to the real sources and causes, the real metaphysical definitions. For instance, in questions of work, unemployment, etc. it would be insufficient to define “work” as “what one does for a living;” instead, one might need to fall back on the social doctrine of the Church to grasp its deepest meaning: “participation in the creative activity of God” (è 88).
4) Apply. Finally, I seek to respond to life in accordance with the life and principles underlying this life. For instance, in issues of work and unemployment, the definition of work as “participation in God’s creative activity” might lead to initiatives to give the unemployed at least some creative activity, even if it cannot be accompanied by pay at the moment. In this case one might still be far from resolving the unemployment, but will, perhaps, have resolved one of the concrete causes of distress – feeling useless and humiliated in one’s human dignity.
The “laws of organic growth” are an essential category for any movement pedagogy and effectively cultivation of life. They have a long tradition in Schoenstatt and are rooting in the observation of life and growth. Although there are many observations which one can make about “organic growth” (for instance, its often cyclical nature), the most important ones in Fr. Kentenich’s teaching are the following:
Life grows
1. slowly,
2. from within,
3. in all parts simultaneously but not at equal rates,
4. from one organic whole to another organic whole, and
5. with periodic bursts of growth (in stages).
To give an example: to effectively cultivate the local attachment to the Shrine, one must know that such attachments take time (grow slowly), must be allowed to grasp the person from within (and not just be imposed from the outside), and are part of a larger process of life (this attachment may, for a time, take the back seat to the growth of other important attachments such as the attachment to the Eucharist), and that all growth must maintain the integrity of the person as a whole (never forcing a person to be someone he is not). Finally, in spite of the general tendency for life to grow slowly, there can be times when it bursts forth and makes sudden, remarkable progress, like a “springtime” or “I suddenly understand” experience.
Part of the reason why an understanding of these laws is important is because of the mass nature of modern society. Because of the constant flood of impressions and experiences, real growth on a deeper level is often stymied, like a field flooded by too much rain. The objective of movement pedagogy is not superficial movement, but the movement of the whole person from within, and this requires the time and space for experiences to grow into attachments and beliefs to grow into convictions.
Dealing with life means dealing with tensions. Or: Where there is no tension, there is no life. Every person, community and plan of God involves the interaction of many different factors, motives and perspectives. For instance, all life has both a “conservative” side that seeks to preserve itself just as it is, and a “progressive” side that seeks to grow and change and become something greater.
As a genius of movement pedagogy, Fr. Kentenich knew how to bring together persons and groups with differing styles, ideas and goals. He did not try to eliminate the tensions, but to bring them into creative interaction. He knew and cherished the way tensions can propel life forward in the play of God. He therefore spoke positively of the Spannungsprinzip or “law of creative tensions.” This law is very evident in God’s way of creating the universe: the polarity of atomic particles (positive, negative, neutral), the motion of the planets and other objects (centripetal vs. centrifugal force), man and woman, the different temperaments and interests of people, even the often competing interests among the faculties of the human person.
A special case of the law of creative tensions is the “law of the unlived life,” where changes of leadership or focus of striving allow previously untapped energies and persons to step forward. While uniform leadership helps keep life more organized, it can also gradually suffocate initiative and lead to resignation, dissatisfaction or rebellion. Hence the importance of periodic changes of leadership and the willingness to take on new challenges, so that life does not become stagnant.
Crucial to an optimal use of the law of creative tensions is the personal anchoring in a community, however loose, and in an accepted moral authority. Greater tasks generally require the more formal structures of a juridically recognized community, but at times great tasks can suddenly take off “by way of movement,” that is, as a great lifestream suddenly engaging many people with little organization. Here, too, a creative tension must be found to give such movements of life enough structure to maintain momentum, but without stifling spontaneity.
Effective leadership rooted in true moral authority will go a long ways to unifying and coordinating the tensions brought about by life. The leader’s role is to respect the different dimensions and tensions while directed them in positive directions, keeping them from simply growing wild and devolving into rancor, rivalry, envy and conflicting plans and perspectives. It is also the role of such figures to help keep the tensions focused on God’s will and not merely on the human will of competing persons, hence giving it the needing “big perspective.”
Movement pedagogy is obviously dependent on practical faith in Divine Providence (è 23). As such, it makes ample use of the “law of the open door.” This term is inspired by St. Paul (see 1 Cor 16,9; 2 Cor 2,12; Col 4,3; Acts 14,27) and refers to the discovery of God’s wishes through the “doors” or possibilities that he opens to us. From the beginning of its history, Schoenstatt has been guided by the law of the open door, for the founding covenant of 1914 was discerned from the possibility that God might be opening a door to turn the Schoenstatt chapel into a place of grace. Because it is generally agreed that one should pursue such open doors unless there are serious reasons against it, Fr. Kentenich finally dared to pass through.
At other times, the corollary will be in play: the “law of the closed door.” If one’s plans or the expected growth of life meets an obstacle which cannot be overcome, one can speak of God having “closed a door,” which forces life to go a different route. Any movement pedagogy will therefore be attuned to the open and closed doors which God makes evident in the work of cultivating personal or community life.
This law is the second part of the “law of the open door.” After all, not all open doors will be from God, and not all open doors can be discerned as being from God before one chooses to pass the door through or not. Hence, the need to observe the effect of one’s decision on life: if the effect was positive, one speaks of a “creative resultant.”
Where this law becomes especially important is in the discernment of whether a decision or phenomenon is truly of God or may be of the Devil. In that case, one observes the resulting life according to the standard of what human expectation would normally lead us to expect. If it falls within the normal expectation, it is most probably within the bounds of the ordinary fruitfulness or frustrations of life. If, however, the resulting blessings go well beyond the normal expectation, one must suspect the hand of God. This is often described as an observation of three parts:
1) the greatness of the difficulties (or aims),
2) the smallness of the instruments,
3) the greatness of the success.
That is: if the difficulties were, humanly speaking, insurmountable and/or the instruments were, humanly speaking, too small, but the success was nonetheless great beyond all expectation, it is the hand of God (è 42).
The converse law also exists: if the negative results of a decision or chain of events go well beyond the normal expectation, exceeding the evil that merely human hatred, envy, etc. could accomplish, one must consider the “law of the destructive resultant” and suspect the hand of the Devil.
A further law which is often used to assess the necessary next step in a movement pedagogy is the “law of opposition.” Fr. Kentenich stated it this way in the Second Founding Document (1939):
“What may Divine Providence expect in the near future of the family ...? (....) We turn to the ideas and institutions in Schoenstatt which have been the focus of greatest controversy. We are guided by the thought that God permits such challenges in order to draw our attention to the things which he wants us to emphasize and make effective in a special way” (No. 49).
In other words, the path of growth desired by God is not necessarily the path of least resistence, but rather, the path of taking up the challenge raised by opposition. God often uses adversity to bring a person or community face-to-face with its weaknesses and need for conversion or its previously overlooked treasures. God may have in mind the stirring to a real decision and hence a real step forward in growth. Or he may be beckoning to heroism and sanctity. In any case, guiding persons or communities through times of opposition is not necessarily lost time, but can become precisely the moment which opens up new movement and growth.
“Covenant pedagogy” brings the elements of attachment and movement (organic growth) together with
concrete
personal (mutual)
commitment.
To be effective, the process of education must help the human person to grow from essential first attachments into concrete core relationships. The modern experience is very much aware of the vulnerability of relationships, but is lost when it comes to commitment, especially on a lifelong basis. Here the difficulties in forming attachments (è 101) plays a role. This is further complicated by the modern flood of information and experience, leading to a universalism that finds it hard to commit to just one person or state in life. As Fr. Kentenich would say: “Universalism without particularism is nihilism,” meaning that embracing the whole world without following through on one particular ideal, relationship or commitment leads to the failure to successfully form even one part of the world. It is ultimately the same wisdom which the saying points out: “It is easier to love the whole world than to love my brother.”
In addition, this part of Schoenstatt’s pedagogy seeks to mediate the experience of personal relationships, both natural and supernatural, that can support the person in a deeper way than the style of superficial relationship typical of an impersonal mass society. Moreover, if this personal relationship can be mutual, it can strengthen the dignity of the human person as both one who gives and receives love, awakening all the abilities of the soul to love God, fellow-man and self.
Schoenstatt’s covenant pedagogy therefore tries to lead the person from basic experiences of attachment to the experience of concrete, personal commitments – to the experience of the covenant. The basis of this pedagogy is Schoenstatt’s own core experience, the covenant of love with the MTA (è 22, Chapter 4), hence a central accent on leading to a concrete, personal covenant with Mary. Whether by leading to this covenant or by encouraging other concrete, personal commitments (for which the educator has a keener appreciation through his or her own covenant of love), Schoenstatt works to realize this element of its pedagogy.
The covenant of love with the MTA, the founding and central reality in Schoenstatt’s spirituality, has proven to be an outstanding means in helping many people grow in concrete personal commitment. By beginning with Mary and the Shrine, they seem to grasp more easily the inner secrets needed for all personal commitment.
The key to this covenant pedagogy is the appreciation of two great truths:
1. (from above) God’s chosen method of reaching out to man is covenantal, be it in the covenant of the Old Testament, the New Covenant of Jesus or our personal integration into the New Covenant through baptism. God ordinarily makes us capable of the covenant with him through secondary causes, that is, through covenant commitments with others.
2. (from below) Man is created not to live in isolation, but in relationship: “It is not good for man to be alone” (Gen 2,18). Certain relationships in our lives must be binding and lifelong to fully satisfy and form us for eternity. The earthly pilgrimage is a journey of experience and growth through earthly covenant to the covenant with God – a covenant history.
Based on these two truths, a covenant pedagogy must both shed light on the objective reality of covenant in God’s plan and find concrete ways to remove the obstacles and offer positive experiences of committed personal relationship. Ideally, this should enable to person to grow in all areas of attachment and commitment and to appreciate his story as covenant history leading to God.
What Schoenstatt offers is both its concrete covenant (with the MTA) and a concrete covenant community, the Schoenstatt Family, a place where many experience the effects of covenant commitment even before making the covenant of love their own. Hence, Schoenstatt’s covenant pedagogy not only works to lead many people to the covenant of love with the MTA in the Shrine. It also works to pave the way to a more covenant-oriented Church and world to the extent it exemplifies the effects of living a motivated covenant in ordinary everyday life.
Educators given the charge of leading others to any covenant will find the need for preparatory steps, involving attachment pedagogy and movement pedagogy. Part of the “movement” needed is motivation: reminders that covenant commitment, even with the sacrifices it demands, is ultimately more satisfying than modern non-commitment. Part of the “attachment” is to one’s own history as not just “random” but “covenant history,” a history with God. But in the end it involves the challenge of decision: Do I want to make this concrete, personal covenant of love?
As one grows into the concrete covenant of love in Schoenstatt, all of one’s covenant realities in life tend to be enriched. Indeed, this is a principle aim, pedagogically speaking, of the covenant of love. It should help us live our covenant with God, neighbor, spouse, family, etc. more fully, fruitfully and faithfully.
While covenant pedagogy is built on certain general principles, it is ultimately a very personal pedagogy, for the point of covenants is to draw us into total relationship – with everything that we are and have. This is most definitely true of the covenant of love with Mary. The sealing of each covenant, even while integrated into the one covenant of love of October 18, 1914, reflects the uniqueness of the person and/or group making the covenant. This is already clear from the unique way each person comes to the covenant of love. It can also show in the uniqueness of each covenant prayer and in covenant songs or symbols.
Pedagogically speaking, the covenant of love can also be the beginning of a unique covenant way, leading one to discover the covenant quality of other key relationships in my life. It gives an experiential foundation for daring to become more concrete and personal with the supernatural world: such as in a covenant of love with God the Father, Christ or the Holy Spirit. It also gives graces and a new, more concrete approach to living the earthly relationships God has given us: with my spouse, my family or group members, with the Church. One can find such nourishment in the world of Schoenstatt that one is drawn into new covenant steps with the MTA or Fr. Kentenich. Or I might find that my covenant seeks expression in a covenant place, such as a deep love for a particular Schoenstatt Shrine or in a home shrine.
It is a fundamental principle of covenant pedagogy that, when God leads us to a concrete covenant partner, it is because that person will be a primary instrument in leading us to heaven. This is true of marriage. It is also true of Mary’s role in Schoenstatt and the Church (è 17, 79).
Schoenstatt therefore emphasizes not only the importance of covenant education, but also of Marian education. The more that we come to know and love Mary, the more that our soul is enabled to live in covenant. The qualities of her person – fully redeemed, Christ-imbued, listening to the voice of the Father through the action of the Holy Spirit – become more our own as we grow closer to the “blessed among women” (Lk 1,28.42).
In educational conferences in 1950, Fr. Kentenich pointed out various reasons why Marian education is important. Primary among them is:
“Marian devotion is not merely to be used as a principle of form, but as an outstanding forming principle of all our education” (Grundriß einer neuzeitlichen Pädagogik, p. 250).
In other words, personal relationship with Mary gives education not only a form, but a soul, a person whose heart and soul reaches out to the heart and soul of those who love her. If this happens, it leads to a quantum leap in education. One is not only educating the person in a superficial, hit-and-miss way, but in a way that reaches the depths of the whole person.
As Fr. Kentenich moves from this thought, he points out three further benefits of an education based on a covenant with Mary:
“It gives us:
1. a personal openness for the divine and a receptivity, sensitivity and sense for the values of God,
2. a great objective ideal which answers the great difficulties our times have in understanding the human person and living in a fully human way,
3. the surety that we can live this ideal” (p. 251).
All in all, forming of the type of Christian needed on the “new shore of the times” is difficult, if not practically impossible in our depersonalized and
secularized age without a strong Marian education.
The aim of all Marian education is to reach the goals of Catholic education in a deeply personalized, heartfelt manner – completely forming disciples of Christ by the swiftest, shortest, surest way (è 17, 80). As Fr. Kentenich pointed out in 1950:
“Where Marian education is integrated into the organism of Catholic education, the goal [of Catholic education] is given an expanded form: The aim of Marian education is to enable and prepare the members of Christ and children of God to grow autonomously and by their own initiative from as perfect a Marian attachment as possible to as perfect a Marian attitude as possible, or, to as distinct a Marian style of living and working as possible” (p. 266).
In other words, its aim is not the creation of weak and dependent personalities, but of true disciples in the spirit of Mary and in attachment to Mary who learn from her how to shape their lives in the spirit of the Gospel.
The “pedagogy of trust” refers to the fundamental importance of trust in all education. Because Schoenstatt’s method of education seeks to form the whole person from within (as opposed to external “training” or a “cookie-cutter” education blind to the uniqueness of each person), the trust between educator and educated is crucial. Fear and lack of freedom in the educated will obstruct this process, as will educators who control too much or show little faith or interest in those they educate.
The foundation of this trust is God’s power, wisdom and love expressed in the Divine trust shown to us to educate ourselves and educate each other. Just as he trusts us, we must build on trust for one another. It also involves a deep trust in the inherent goodness of human nature, even when all else speaks against it, in the laws of organic growth (especially that my trust will, eventually, awaken trust in the other and aid their growth to inner freedom and maturity), and in the power of grace to heal and elevate, including those parts of nature wounded by sin and lack of love.
Two methods typical of a pedagogy of trust are
education through challenges and responsibility,
cultivation of childlikeness before God.
The accent on education through challenges and responsibility (German: Bewährungspädagogik) refers to a style of education which shows trust in the educated by giving them tasks and responsibilities which require them to reach more deeply within themselves to grow. It is the opposite of an education which opts to protect and shelter those being educated to a degree that their growth is stunted or parts of their personality never get a chance to blossom. Challenges and responsibility must be given wisely, aware of the limitations of the one being given the task and when they might break, but also unafraid to push someone “to the edge.” Here is where the experience of the educator is important: not only in knowing the right degree of challenge, but also in the value of failure and experiencing one’s limitations for the total growth of the person, including the experience of necessity of God and others.
Childlikeness before God (è 89) is also a typical ingredient in Schoenstatt’s pedagogy of trust. The ultimate source of trust is trust in God and God’s trust in us. The experiences of trust on the human level help open up the soul to trust in God, which in turn places human trust on firmer ground as a transparency of divine trust. To grow into the reality of God as a loving and caring Father is of great benefit to the total growth of the person, as does the gradual grasp of the purpose of crosses and suffering as challenges which God allows so that we grow beyond ourselves to the high ideal he has for us. Trust in God also gives flexibility to our human experiences of trust, for the transparency function which trusted persons have (reflecting God’s trust in us and our trust in God) is imperfect and the ways that they can eventually disappointment or even hurt us must be seen in the light of God’s total plan where disappointments keep us from forgetting that God is the ultimate anchor of our trust.
As already noted (è 97), freedom is one of the foundation stones of Schoenstatt’s pedagogy. Among the five guiding stars (è 99) it expresses itself especially in the pedagogy of trust and of ideals.
In a pedagogy of trust one cultivates a deep respect for the freedom of the other(s) entrusted to my care. This is all the more important because of Schoenstatt’s conviction that the ability to fully give oneself to God means one must be able to give oneself from the fullness of freedom. This shows in the cultivation of ideals (è 121-127), the work on embracing cross and suffering in the name of inner freedom (è Blank Check, 76, and Inscriptio, 77), overcoming the “mass man,” and fostering the ability to make and carry out one’s own decisions.
Freedom and trust are also seen in relationship to the cultivation of the spirit of generosity or magnanimity. Given freedom, a truly noble person will feel the desire to give more than he or she has received. Schoenstatt tries to give room for this experience by placing less on emphasis on what “must I do” and more on “what may I do.” This is in keeping with one of the famous principles underlying Schoenstatt’s spirituality and organization: “freedom as much as possible, obligations only as much as necessary, cultivation of the spirit as much as possible.”
Along with the themes of trust and freedom comes Schoenstatt’s accent on “education through attitudes.” This means that Schoenstatt tends to stress not so much the forms (important though they may be), but the spirit behind the forms. In other words, the cultivation of attitudes is very important, be it such basic virtues as faith, hope, love, patience, loyalty, purity and joy or special elements of Schoenstatt’s spirituality such as childlikeness before God, covenant love of Mary or love of the Church. Other attitudes serve as hallmarks of Schoenstatt’s style of education (even more than any one educational “program”): personal love and commitment to each student, seeking a living contact with the inner life of the other, selfless service, showing trust, leading to freedom and initiative, seeking God’s will, remembering that I am an instrument of God.
This preference for cultivating attitude over merely prescribing forms comes to light in the way Schoenstatt encourages its members to pray: not through a given slate of prayers (although we have favorites, è 91), but by encouraging them to find prayers and spiritual exercises best suited to their individual needs. Another example is Schoenstatt’s work with annual mottos. Mottos seek to motivate the year’s life in the movement with a reminder of some basic theme, attitude, or attachment (such as the Shrine). It is generally left to the freedom of each group or area to find ways to put it into practice. The benefit of this method is to engage a maximum of free initiative from the members and groups. At the same time, it helps create a very flexible kind of community centered around a common spirit.
In matters such as the liturgy, the pedagogy of attitudes stresses the importance of the underlying values of the liturgy. With regard to the forms of the liturgy, the proper authority of the Church is respected. Schoenstatt would not see its primary contribution in this area to be the reform of the outward liturgy, but rather the constant filling of those forms with the proper spirit.
See Lumen gentium 7-10; CCC 543, 2013 (Christian vocation).
The fifth “guiding star” of Schoenstatt’s pedagogy is the pedagogy of ideals. It applies the theology of Christian vocation to the specific identity and mission foreseen by God for each person and community. Fr. Kentenich liked to challenge his times with the calls:
“Become what you are!” and
“Let me know your great idea!”
Behind this is the twofold function of an ideal: It affirms the unique calling to singular greatness (ideal as mission) while underscoring dynamic growth from the present into the future (ideal as identity).
In Schoenstatt’s understanding, the ideal involves both an objective and a subjective side. For instance, there is an objective ideal of the married life or the priesthood, or of being a man or woman. The more one has command of this “ideal of state,” the more fruitfully one can live one’s state in life (“Become what you are!”). But there is also the unique subjectivity of who I am, what gifts and limitations God has given me and how he concretely inspires and leads me (“Let me know your great idea!”).
In our times it is especially important to elaborate the subjective side of the ideal. In life we face not only the usual times of apathy and lack of motivation which needs an ideal to urge it on, but modern mass society (è 30, 93) tends to stereotype and gloss over the deeply unique features of each person and community. In such a setting, the effort to find the “bedrock” of one’s ideal helps to live one’s life as the person I am and the person God made me to be – not hidden behind a mask or living as I suppose others want me to. This gives an invaluable inner compass for decision-making that is not based on exterior pressures or whims but on inner freedom and who I am in the eyes of God.
Cultivation of ideals is also of social benefit. Being aware of my ideal should help me realize that not everyone is like me, and that the different temperaments and talents of others are essential to the total building up of God’s kingdom (after all, no one person or community can realize the whole Gospel alone). Respect and appreciation for cultural and generational diversity will also benefit; I will not view those who differ from me as inferior or rivals, but as partners. In this area community ideals are especially valuable, for they shed light on the unique accents God allows to rise up in each generation, helping us grasp the immense creativity of God and the complementation of the generations needed for fulfilling God’s mighty plan for our times.
Ideals are, of course, “idealistic.” Without them we would lack the impetus needed to take on the dizzying heights of the Christian vocation. The heroism of the Gospel is beyond reach without a strong desire for the ideals of the Kingdom. But ideals must also relate to reality without becoming tyrannical or disillusioned. This requires trust in God and concrete deeds. In fact, every pedagogy of ideals must be linked with concrete efforts to realize the ideal in daily life, be it in family life, apostolate, work or prayer. Even if one seems to fail more often than succeed, one should not become discouraged. More greatness comes from the concrete striving for what God wants me to be and do than from many “successes” in meaningless or merely self-gratifying activity.
Special applications of the pedagogy of ideals in Schoenstatt include the “law of exemplary cases” (è 122) and, especially, the use of the “personal ideal” (è 123-126) and “community ideal” (è 127).
The “law of exemplary cases” (Latin: casus praeclarus) is a special application of the pedagogy of ideals. An exemplary case is a concrete person, community, place, event or project which embodies an ideal. It allows those who come in contact with the good example to experience first-hand aspects of the ideal in a real context. Although reality always falls short of the ideal, having such an embodiment makes it much easier to transmit to others both the ideal and ways in which it can be realized.
For instance, to teach someone about Schoenstatt merely through reading material will transmit something of what it is, but it is nearly impossible to truly grasp it without a living encounter with one of the Shrines, some part of the Schoenstatt Family, or some special event. But as soon as one has been in contact with some exemplary case of Schoenstatt, one intuitively grasp a great deal, certainly much more than through a book alone.
In the same way, Schoenstatt has ideals which is would like to share with the Church, including the aim of an Apostolic World Confederation (è 36). The best way to explain this to others and help realize it is to create a small-scale confederation with similar features. In this case, Schoenstatt essentially does this through its own confederative structure – not only through a theory or teaching, but by exemplifying a style, spirituality and structure which can make this ideal a real possibility for the Church.
The personal ideal, or “P.I.”, is the ideal or mission which God gives to each person. Every person has a personal ideal, even if one is not aware of it explicitly. In this sense it is nothing new. Today, however, when it is so much harder to define and assert one’s identity in the face of a much more complex society, it becomes very much an urgent matter to explicitly seek out and define the “guiding thought” of God’s plan for me.
Schoenstatt speaks of three definitions of personal ideal. The first is the philosophical definition: “God’s unique idea of me which he has carried from all eternity.” This definition is called philosophical because it looks at the metaphysical connection between me and God (independent of any declaration of faith). The second is the theological definition: “The way I am a unique manifestation of the perfections of Christ.” It is called theological because presupposes my belonging to Christ and my cooperation in the work of salvation. The third is the psychological definition: “the fundamental tenor and temper of my soul (which, if correctly cultivated, lead us to the full freedom of the children of God).” As a psychological definition it focuses on the intrinsic features of the soul; instead of looking at the ideal from “above”, it looks at it from “within” myself.
How do I discover my P.I.? There are many ways. One is to observe the working of Divine Providence in my life. By reflecting on the way God has led me and the interior direction that it indicates, I may detect a particular purpose which God has for me. Because God has a plan of love for each of us, we know that our personal history will contain clues from God about which mission he has in mind for me. After a certain amount of discernment I may then be able to formulate the great contours or most pronounced feature of this mission, hence putting in words my P.I.
Another way is to follow the more “psychological” path. This involves observing the fundamental nature (tenor and temper) of the soul and discovering its strengths and weaknesses. Such a process can be aided by the study of the four temperaments or some other personality analysis. Still, the main thing is not the discovery that I am a “choleric” or the like, but the ensuing dialog with God about his plan for me given the gifts and limitations and now more clearly see.
Still another way is more intuitive, beginning with a favorite prayer, perhaps, or a great saint or role model who seems to capture everything I long to accomplish. Or again, it can happen that a strong religious experience through a pilgrimage or encounter with a person God sends my way opens my eyes to the world and ideal which God has placed in me.
A personal ideal can take on one or several of many forms. It can be in the long form of a descriptive paragraph or prayer. It usually has some kind of a short form, something like a name or motto (e.g. “Tabernacle of Christ,” “Joyful Ambassador of Mary,” “Living Witness in the Service of Others”) which is easy to remember. It may be in the form of a daily renewal of a few lines. Or it may take the form of a symbol which I feel grasps my mission in life.
It is a common practice in Schoenstatt to renew one’s P.I. daily and allow it to gradually become “second nature” to us. In the first phase after finding one’s P.I. it can be especially fruitful to choose one’s Particular Examination (see below) to consciously cultivate certain elements of my ideal, making me more attuned to the unique mission God has for me.
Over the years, the P.I. will continue to grow. In particular stages of life it may even seem necessary to reformulate or adjust the ideal on the basis of how God has led me over the years. This can certainly be done, and it can help us appreciate how God guides us over the course of our lifetime.
In Schoenstatt there is also the practice of finding and living “community ideals.” These are ideals chosen by a group of people who are together for a time or for a lifetime, corresponding to the belief that God does not place any group together at random, but also with a particular mission in mind, even if it is only for a short time.
Some of the most common forms of the community ideal are group names (by Schoenstatt groups), home shrine names (by couples, families, etc.; although formally not a community ideal, the home shrine name often strikes so close to the identity of the family that it becomes, de facto, a community ideal), course ideals (by the permanent group structures of the federation and institutes) and branch ideals (such as the “Living Monstrance” ideal of the Schoenstatt Mothers League).
The ways of searching for a community ideal parallel the ways of searching for the personal ideal (è 124).
As a movement of renewal, Schoenstatt has always emphasized how essential self-education is to any renewal of Church and world. Without a personal effort to discover oneself and who one is in the eyes of God, to form this self and overcome my weaknesses, sins and failings, the action of grace will generally encounter too many obstacles to effectively change the person and, through the person, the Church and world.
Self-education is, of course, only part of the total package of renewal, which includes the work of other educators and the work of God, the Divine Educator. Nonetheless, because God has given us more freedom and opportunity to shape our lives than any other generation before us, it is clear that we must make a genuine effort to grow in the talents needed to use these gifts well.
Schoenstatt encourages the use of the many helps for self-education which the Church offers to us. These include the deep sources of grace found in regular participation in the Mass and in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and the support of one’s parish community. They also include the insight and vitality of the Church offered in her teaching and in the events and lifestreams of the local, national and universal Church.
Schoenstatt also offers practical pedagogical tools from its own experience to help promote spiritual life and growth. These include the personal and community ideal (è 123, 127), the particular examination (è 130), the spiritual daily order (è 131), the monthly report (è 132), spiritual reading (è 133), belonging to a Schoenstatt group, personal and group symbols, and other practices and customs (è 134).
One of the tools to help us give direction and form to our personal growth and striving for sanctity is the particular examination (or P.E.), sometimes called the special resolution. This is a method whose roots go back to St. Ignatius of Loyola, who encouraged not only a daily “general examination” of conscience, but a “particular examination” of one point of my choosing where I want to make progress in the spiritual life.
Schoenstatt picked up this practice early on. It was soon accompanied by the “written control,” namely the practice of taking a moment at the end of each day to ask “Did I do it?” and to briefly note “yes,” “no” or “incomplete.” This provided the needed backbone for the resolution to not just remain wishful thinking but to be actually carried out. Fr. Kentenich also gave lessons on the nature of these resolutions: they should be concrete, daily and controllable – not just “I want to be patient,” but as concrete as “I will be patient with my friends when they tease me about my red hair,” and one to which I can give a clear yes-or-no answer when I ask myself “Did I do it” at the end of the day.
This same form has proved to be so effective that it remains essentially unchanged until today. A frequent way of using it is to review one’s P.E. on a monthly basis, often in connection with a monthly confession. One then considers what a next step of spiritual growth would be and seeks a new P.E. (concrete, daily, controllable). Perhaps the old P.E. did not work well, or failed because it was not specific enough; then I may wish to try it again in a different, more concrete form. Or perhaps I noticed it worked very well and that it would benefit me to do it for a second month. All of these are possible scenarios. The main thing is that the P.E. helps keep us focused on spiritual and personal growth, not in generalities, but in real, concrete action.
Another pedagogical tool which Schoenstatt makes much use of is the spiritual daily order (or SDO), sometimes called the spiritual schedule. This tool also has roots in the broader tradition of the Church, but was used from the beginning in Schoenstatt to accentuate the need for each person to be so attuned to his own spiritual and personal growth that he would decide for himself which points needed to be on the SDO. The criterium for this selection is not “which religious practice is objectively most important,” but “which religious and other practices, if secured in my daily order, give me the necessary strength and flexibility to live my faith in my state in life.” For one person daily Mass may be so important that it keeps his spiritual life vibrant and supple; for him it belongs on the SDO. For another person the key may be the rosary, or spiritual reading, or 20 minutes of prayer in the quiet of the morning, or even a healthy breakfast. Whichever point or points are key belong on the SDO. My regular obligations, like the Sunday Mass, may belong on the SDO if I have trouble keeping certain ones, but on the whole the list should not be too long. The P.E. will also normally belong on the SDO.
Crucial to the practice of the spiritual daily order is the written control at the end of the day, for this gives it the “bite” needed to keep us aware of where we need to keep working. It is also a way to overcome forgetfulness. At the end of the month, a well-kept written control gives us a tool to evaluate our spiritual health, especially if the points on the SDO correspond to true lynchpins of my spiritual well-being. In all honesty we will then be able to judge where we need to improve, and the P.E. can be put to work on improving the most urgent items, one month at a time.
It is also a tradition in Schoenstatt to connect one’s striving in the SDO with the shrine and the capital of grace (è 74). Hence one often finds at the top of the SDO sheet: “My Contributions to the Capital of Grace of the MTA.”
The monthly report is another tool designed to help guarantee progress in the spiritual life and in the growth toward sanctity. It consists of a monthly report to a spiritual director or superior on selected points in one’s spiritual striving.
The form varies from community to community. The Institute and Federation members have persons within the community to whom they give their report. In the League, members who give the report normally do so by mentioning the following at one’s monthly confession or in a brief report to one’s spiritual director:
my Particular Examination and how it went,
one representative point from my Spiritual Daily Order.
The practice is designed to keep one’s striving from becoming formulaic and is a monthly reminder that sanctity is reached in concrete steps taken one month at a time.
Schoenstatt also encourages spiritual reading as a tool which can help one grow spiritually. This can be a daily habit or at other intervals such as during a time of adoration. All good Catholic authors are of value, and the love of Mary inspires many to read more about the Blessed Mother. Special merit has been found by many Schoenstatt members in the regular reading of Schoenstatt literature, especially the works of Fr. Kentenich.
In its way of working with lifestreams, Schoenstatt has gradually developed many practices and customs which help promote spiritual and personal growth. Some of these include:
• renewal of the covenant of love on the 18th of each month, on the anniversary of one’s own covenant, or in a time of special need,
• local traditions with contributions to the capital of grace, such as having a jar or basket to collect them in the local Shrine,
• individual, family, group or community crownings of the MTA, often with a special intention or as part of a special time of growth,
• being implanted in the Garden of Mary (or Mariengarten) as a way to discover a deeper sense of community or being a child of Fr. Kentenich (è 180),
• the home shrine and personal, family or group traditions which may develop there,
• the Schoenstatt Hour (the custom of many Schoenstatt couples to reserve one hour a week just for themselves as couple: to talk, to pray, to be in touch with each other).
The goal of Schoenstatt’s pedagogy is to shape life in fullest accord with God’s plan. Given the unique charisms and mission which God has given Schoenstatt, it also seeks to realize Schoenstatt’s three aims (è 28), including the formation of the new man and the new community.
Inherent to this pedagogy is the goal of promoting the all-around growth of the Christian individual and community. It seeks to help that growth take concrete from in a coherent and practical Christian lifestyle. Such a lifestyle can then increase the possibilities of persons, groups and families to reach the baptismal call to sanctity, even canonizable sanctity, in the midst of the world of today.
With regard to society, this pedagogy seeks to assist in forming a Christian culture and social order (è 136). Because culture has such a profound power to form and educate the members and groups of a society, it is the Church’s interest to shape it in the image of Christ. Such a process of growth and permeation could be greatly aided by applying the five guiding stars (è 99). Seen from this perspective, the ideal resulting culture would then integrate all the essential elements of the Christian social order, and still maintain an open and effective dialog with all the diverse persons and positions in our modern pluralistic society.
See Gaudium et spes 53-62; Paul VI, Evangelii nuntiandi 18-20; John Paul II: Audience with the Schoenstatt Movement 1985, 5.
Schoenstatt’s spirituality and pedagogy offer perspectives for forming a Christian culture. Its experience as a movement and a family of communities also gives it a feel for how values and identity can be fostered in the fluidity and pluralism of the modern world.
Here are contours of how the development of a genuine Christian culture can look (these steps will often overlap and take place simultaneously):
1. Culture is always rooted in concrete experiences – of individuals, communities, social groups and nations. One therefore takes note of the broad spectrum of experiences being made by groups and subgroups in society and also seeks to cultivate genuine Christian experiences.
2. From experience one must progress to concrete attachments, binding the individual and groups to persons, places, things, ideas and values (see attachment pedagogy, è 100-101). This creates a basis for shared identity, common growth and history. Working with lifestreams (see movement pedagogy, è 105) is another helpful method.
3. From these basic attachments one tries to foster a comprehensive organism of attachments (è 102). This gives both individuals and the various social groupings an overall way of relating to one another and to a larger identity and mission. A broader cultural appreciation for persons, places, things, ideas, values, etc. results.
4. As this nacient culture awakens to greater self-awareness, it actively cultivates a world of values, convictions and customs. In dialogue with God and nature, it seeks ways to express its inner identity through such forms as language and vocabulary, gestures and rituals, art and symbols. It enters the dialog of journalism, politics, media and fashion and should become more and more evident in literature, music, art, science, ethics, law and popular piety. The developing set of traditions and ideals creates a distinct mentality and lifestyle.
5. Finally, this world of values, convictions and customs matures to totally permeate all areas of life. Hence, mature culture is attained, with a distinct identity, dynamic and soul.
To attain the goal of a genuinely Christian culture, the process of experience, attachment, etc. must be in constant touch with vibrant faith and the life of the Church, integrating religious experience and attachments and Gospel values and ideals.
Chapter Four: About The Covenant of Love
Chapter Four: About The Covenant of Love
John Paul II, Audience with the Schoenstatt Movement 1985, 3 (Source and center of Schoenstatt’s life). Pius XII, Allocution to Marian Sodalities, January 21, 1945; John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater 45-46 (Marian consecration).
The covenant of love is:
1. Schoenstatt’s founding act of 1914, the moment when Fr. Kentenich and the founding generation offered their striving for sanctity and asked Mary to come to dwell in their chapel (the Schoenstatt Shrine), transforming it into a place of pilgrimage and their “cradle of sanctity.” It is from this original act that Schoenstatt’s life, identity and fruitfulness flow.
2. The act of consecration (as individual or community) to Mary as the Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt (also known as the “Schoenstatt consecration”). It instills a deeper relationship with Mary and gives one full participation in the stream of life and graces originating in the covenant of 1914 and flowing from the Shrine. Each new member or group also contributes in a unique way to the original covenant, enhancing and enriching it, even while the covenant enhances and enriches the life of each member and group.
3. A recognized form of Marian consecration in the Church. Like the consecration of the Marian Sodality, the De Montfort (Grignion) consecration and other forms of consecration to Mary, it consists of the total gift of self to Mary. Fr. Kentenich characterized Marian consecration as a total and mutual exchange of hearts, goods and interests. Through this exchange one grows in love, in one’s overall spiritual life and in the ability to fulfill one’s mission. In the Catholic experience, Mary has proven to be an outstanding consecration partner, leading persons and nations, communities and generations to a deeper fervor of love and commitment to Christ and the Triune God.
The Schoenstatt consecration was always understood as a mutual covenant between Mary and those who consecrated themselves to her in the Shrine. Theologically, it was understood as a specific way of fulfilling the injunction of Our Lord before He died: “Woman, behold your son... [Son,] behold your Mother” (Jn 19,26f). As a form of Marian consecration it was in continuity with the consecration of the Marian Sodality (Schoenstatt’s first community form), and until 1944 the Schoenstatt covenant was simply called the “consecration” or “MTA-consecration” (MTA-Weihe).
Inquiries from the Diocese of Trier in the mid-1930s forced Schoenstatt to come to a clearer grasp of what it meant by “consecration”: it is not a contractus bilateralis onerosus (a litigatious contract “forcing” Mary to honor our prayers and sacrifices), but rather as a contractus bilateralis gratuitus, namely a contract entered into by both parties (the MTA and Schoenstatt) freely and out of love.
In 1944, while in Dachau, Fr. Kentenich coined the precise term needed to express this – the covenant of love. “Covenant” was a better word than “contract” for it expresses a more generous spirit and a personal act of self-giving, and “love” made it clear that the foundation was not justice or a false self-righteousness, but truly love. The term “covenant of love” was quickly adopted by Schoenstatt as the official name for its Marian consecration and it has been used as a keyword in Schoenstatt vocabulary ever since.
Fr. Kentenich spoke of Schoenstatt as a movement of ideas, life and grace. The covenant of love relates to Schoenstatt on all three levels. On the level of ideas, it inspires a coherent world of thought and gives impetus to study God’s covenant, Marian consecration and categories for understanding a vibrant experience of faith. On the level of life, it forms the exterior and interior features of what Schoenstatt is and does. On the level of grace, it is the source from which graces flow, not only for its own members but also for the whole Church.
The relationship between the covenant of love and Schoenstatt’s life is like that between baptism and the Christian life. It is a life-process, a dynamic unfolding of vital forces initiated by the working of the Holy Spirit and carried by the cooperation of human instruments. Its origin is an inbreak of the divine that takes root and grows. As it unfolds, it develops a unique identity and touches all areas of life, both natural and supernatural. Ideas play a role in the unfolding of this life-process, but (unlike an ideology or philosophy) are not the primary source of vitality. It lies much deeper, at the core of the human person who is completely penetrated and animated by the action of God made manifest in his life.
The relationship between the covenant of love and Schoenstatt’s life as a movement is visible in its history, which is in essence the history of the unfolding covenant of love. It is also visible in the life of each member who makes the covenant of love; this personal covenant enriches both the individual and the community. It is also visible in the life of each group and community, each of which establishes a unique dialogue of love and life between the covenant of the movement as a whole and distinctive life of the given group of members.
The covenant of love shapes Schoenstatt in many ways. It forms its organization and structure, putting a strong accent on being a family of Mary around the Shrine, making it a confederative community, that is, a “family of families” seeking its unity in the covenant relationship with the MTA. It forms its spirituality and pedagogy, resulting in a covenant-centered approach to faith, hope and love, and to education.
The covenant even impacts the understanding and role of the Shrine as a place of grace, for it did not arise from an apparition or vision (leading to an accent on extraordinary phenomena), but from a mutual relationship between the earthly and heavenly partners (placing the accent on the ordinary ways to sanctity and on uniting God’s action with our cooperation).
The first part of the talk which Fr. Kentenich gave to the young men of the founding generation on October 18, 1914 is called Schoenstatt’s “Founding Document.” In it Fr. Kentenich proposed his plan to call on Mary to make their newly acquired Sodality Chapel a place of pilgrimage. Because the boys took it to heart and, by all indications, Mary accepted this invitation, this talk was later seen as the embodiment of Schoenstatt and its aims and spirituality, hence its “Founding Document.” (The second half of the talk, in which Fr. Kentenich discussed the purpose of the war in the light of Divine Providence, is of historical significance but is not part of the Founding Document.)
Because of two later significant moments, in 1939 and 1944, which gave rise to two further “Founding Documents,” they are given the names “First” (1914), “Second” (1939) and “Third” (1944) Founding Documents, with Fr. Kentenich’s original talk to the founding generation in 1912 designated the “Pre-founding Document.”
Here are the key passages in the Founding Document of October 18, 1914:
• (Title:) “Program: Acceleration of the development of our self-sanctification as a means of transforming our chapel into a place of pilgrimage.”
• “Each one of us must achieve the highest conceivable degree of perfection and sanctity according to his state of life. Not simply the great and greater, but the greatest heights ought to be the object of our increased efforts.”
• “When St. Peter saw the glory of God on Tabor, he called out with delight, "It is good for us to be here. Let us build three tents here" (Mt 17,4). These words come to my mind again and again. And I have often asked myself: Would it not be possible for our little sodality chapel to likewise become for us the Tabor on which the glory of Mary would be revealed? Undoubtedly, we could not accomplish a greater apostolic deed nor leave our successors a more precious legacy than to urge our Lady and Queen to erect her throne here in a special way, to distribute her treasures, and to work miracles of grace. You gather what I am aiming at: I would like to make this place a place of pilgrimage, a place of grace for our house and for the whole German province, and perhaps even further afield. All those who come here to pray shall experience the glory of Mary and confess: ‘It is good for us to be here. Here we will build our tents, here our favorite place’.”
• “A bold thought, nearly too bold for the public, but not too bold for you. How often in world history have not small and insignificant beginnings been the source of great and greatest accomplishments? Why could that not also hold true in our case? Whoever knows the history of our sodality will have no trouble believing that Divine Providence has something special in store for it.”
• “This sodality chapel will become for us the cradle of our sanctity, just as a chapel of Our Lady in Florence was for our second patron, St. Aloysius. And this sanctity will apply gentle force on our heavenly Mother and draw her down to us.”
• “To me it is as if at this moment, here in the old chapel of St. Michael, Our Lady were speaking to us through the mouth of the holy archangel:
Do not worry about the fulfillment of your desire. Ego diligentes me diligo. I love those who love me (Prv 8,17). Prove to me first that you really love me, that you take your resolution seriously.
Just now you have the best opportunity to do so. Do not think that in times like these, when momentous decisions are being made, that it is something extraordinary to increase your striving beyond that of previous generations, indeed to the highest degree. According to the plan of Divine Providence, this World War with its mighty incentives is meant to be an extraordinary help for you in the work of your self-sanctification.
This sanctification I demand of you. It is the armor that you shall put on, the sword with which you shall do battle for your desires. Diligently bring me contributions to the capital of grace. By fulfilling your duties faithfully and conscientiously, and through an ardent life of prayer, earn many merits and place them at my disposal. Then it will please me to dwell in your midst and dispense gifts and graces in abundance. Then from here I will draw youthful hearts to myself, and I will educate them to become useful instruments in my hand.”
The Founding Document has elements of a classical covenant: two parties coming to a mutual agreement, a solemn act of sealing the agreement, a listing of the terms of this agreement. In preparation for Schoenstatt’s 50th anniversary (1964), Fr. Kentenich gave a talk to couples (Milwaukee, October 1963) in which he summarized this covenant in the form of “Six Promises and the Six Demands” from the Founding Document. It serves as a concise rendering of the terms of the covenant.
On the one hand, Schoenstatt asks Mary to do certain things. These are the six notable things which Mary promises to us in Schoenstatt.
Mary’s 6 promises in Schoenstatt’s covenant of love:
1. “It will please me to dwell in your midst”
2. “And distribute gifts and graces in abundance.”
3. “From here I will draw youthful hearts to myself.”
4. “I will educate them”
5. “To become useful instruments”
6. “In my hands.”
On the other hand, Mary asks her covenant partners in Schoenstatt to make their contribution. These are the six main demands asked of us.
Mary’s 6 demands in Schoenstatt’s covenant of love:
1. “Prove first by your deeds that you really love me.”
2. “Increase your striving to the highest degree.”
3. “This sanctification I demand of you.”
4. “Diligently bring me contributions to the capital of grace.”
5. “Fulfill your duties faithfully.”
6. “Pray fervently.”
The saying “Nothing without you, MTA, nothing without us” is often found on the antependium (the decorative front to the altar cloth) in the Shrine. This tradition goes back to 1933, and is an expression of the covenant of love. The “nothing without you” indicates Schoenstatt’s dependence on the presence and activity of Mary in the Shrine. The “nothing without us” indicates the necessity of our cooperation and striving so that the terms by which Mary was persuaded to come to dwell in Schoenstatt are met.
See CCC 945-948 (communion of saints), 2634-36 (merits), 2006-2011 (intercessory prayer).
The Church’s teaching on merits and our possibility to cooperate in Christ’s work of salvation (see Col 1,24: “In my own flesh I make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body, the Church”) encourages us to actively strive for sanctity and make ourselves available for the building up of the Kingdom.
A special form for this in Schoenstatt is the “contributions to the capital of grace.” In the covenant of love with Mary, we actively bring our prayers, sacrifices and striving for sanctity and make the merits of these good works available to the MTA for her mission in the service of Christ.
The image of “capital” is taken from finance, where large sums need to be gathered for major undertakings such as establishing a business. From 1915 on, Schoenstatt has spoken of a different kind of capital: that which we bring to Mary in the Shrine comes together (like money from different investors) to assist the MTA in whatever major undertakings she has in mind from the Shrine, especially those relating to the moral and religious renewal of the world in Christ. Because this “capital” is not financial, but on the level of grace, it is called “capital of grace.”
The theological foundations for this are found in the Church’s teachings on the communion of saints (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 945-948), intercessory prayer (No. 2634-36) and merits (No. 2006-2011).
In the Third Founding Document (1944, è 184) Fr. Kentenich elaborated on the four dimensions (or “four-fold infinitism”) of the covenant of love. They are:
1. the covenant in the depths: into a more and more comprehensive gift of self corresponding to the different stages of growth into the covenant of love:
a. the Covenant of Love
b. the Blank Check dedication
c. the Inscriptio
d. the Joseph Engling act
2. the covenant in the heights: into the entire work of redemption, especially in the realization of growing into an ever deeper covenant of love with God the Father, Christ and the Holy Spirit.
3. the covenant in the breadth: the extension of the covenant to others, including those closest to me, the Church and world, all nations and social groups, etc. and with all creation; the covenant reality should help create a social order and relationship to all creation permeated by the love of Christ and Mary.
4. the covenant in the length: the covenant reality should extend to all times and into eternity, expressing our solidarity with those before us and those after us, with those who have died and those who are yet to come, and those with whom we shall spend eternity.
The Blank Check dedication is a further step of growth in the covenant of love. It expresses a fuller readiness to live one’s life in total surrender to God. The term has its origin in the difficult year of 1939. Schoenstatt’s 25th anniversary coincided with the beginning of World War II and an even greater persecution on the part of the Nazis in Germany. To express the willingness to totally entrust all things to Mary, the Schoenstatt Family made a “Blank Check” dedication with the MTA: they would “sign over” to Mary utterly everything, including the very uncertain future, and it would be up to her to lead her work through the darkness to whatever victory God had in store.
The expression “blank check” is taken from finances, where one can sign a check without specifying an amount, but it implies an absolute trust in the person given the check – that they will write in the correct amount and not defraud the account-holder or overdraw the account. In just this way, the Blank Check in Schoenstatt implies that one totally trusts the MTA with all decisions regarding the future and will not hold anything back.
The Blank Check consecration is closely related to the “holy indifference” of Ignatian spirituality and the Carmelite “abandonment to the will of God.” It is an essential foundation of sanctity – total conformity to the wishes and will of God. It presupposes the commitment to overcome sin and imperfections, and a high degree of generous self-giving.
See CCC 1742, 2015; Gaudium et spes 37-38.
A further step of growth in Schoenstatt’s covenant of love is the “Inscriptio” dedication. The word is taken from a definition of love by St. Augustine: love is an inscriptio cordis in cor, the inscribing of one heart into the heart of another. Fr. Kentenich first used this expression in 1941 and it soon came to be equated with a specific form of the covenant of love: the total gift of self through embracing all crosses and suffering that God as foreseen for me in my life. It is therefore a form of love of the cross.
The Inscriptio is closely related to the Blank Check, for both are concerned with totally surrendering all things to God. The unique feature of the Inscriptio is the explicit confrontation with our native resistance to cross and suffering. Because we are so predisposed to reject crosses (a natural defense, but disordered by original sin), and because God so often needs us to accept crosses and suffering to reach the heights of sanctity, the Inscriptio is about overcoming a basic obstacle to sanctity: that we “accept God’s will,” but only when it pleases us or only until it gets difficult.
However, Fr. Kentenich was also very clear that such an acceptance of cross and suffering is always conditional: if God has it in store for me. We do not seek crosses and suffering for their own sake, but only to the extent that it pleases God. And then! We wish to embrace them as loving gifts from our loving Father! Needless to say, this represents a very high level of growth, where the covenant of love is able to accept all things from the Divine covenant partner.
A final and ultimate stage of the covenant of love is the “Joseph Engling Act.” This consists of the offering of one’s life to God for the realization of his plans, especially through Schoenstatt and the Shrine. It must be a totally free gift and inspired by a unique prompting of the Holy Spirit, and is always respected as a very high act of generous giving to God and the MTA.
This act is named after Joseph Engling (1898-1918) of the founding generation who offered his life to the MTA for the purposes of Schoenstatt on May 31, 1918 in World War I. It is Schoenstatt’s conviction that his death on the battlefield on October 4, 1918 was related to this offer and that his life was accepted by God in the spirit of his life-offering.
Schoenstatt’s covenant of love with Mary has its theological foundation in the history of salvation. From the very beginning, this history of salvation is the history of God’s covenant of love with Man. The word “covenant” accompanies the history of salvation, capturing its most characteristic feature in both the Old and New Testament. Hence we find God establishing his covenant with chosen representatives such as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Moses and David. The covenant culminates in the “new and eternal covenant” sealed by Christ and in Christ. Christ sealed the final covenant between God and man, opening the way to salvation for all mankind.
Even the incorporation of the individual Christian into the Church at baptism is considered an incorporation into the covenant of Christ. By belonging to the Church we belong to the People of the Covenant, the Family of God. As the Church grew into its experience of this covenant, it began to realize more and more the privileged place of Mary in unfolding the covenant life of each Christian and of the whole Church. Her presence at the Incarnation is essential to Christ’s coming as Man; her presence at Christ’s death falls under Christ’s words “Behold your Mother, behold your son” indicating his desire that she is part of his covenant; her presence in the Upper Room leading up to Pentecost indicates an indispensable role for Mary in the evangelization of the New Covenant.
Like all Marian consecrations, Schoenstatt’s covenant of love can be understood as the renewal of one’s baptismal covenant under the especially effective sign of Mary’s presence in the Church and in our lives. In Schoenstatt it takes on the further meaning of uniting us with a place of grace that reflects the community character of the covenant of Christ with the whole Church. Through practical faith in the Divine Providence one then seeks to connect one’s life totally with the Covenant with God, as is expressed in Schoenstatt’s striving for everyday sanctity, instrumentality and covenant spirituality.
