Schoenstatt celebrates 75th Jubilee of its Family Branch

The Schoenstatt shrine in Lamar.

Jessica Morrison for South Texas Catholic
 

On Sunday, July 16, the apostolic Schoenstatt movement will celebrate the 75th jubilee of the Schoenstatt Family Branch at its Shrine Center in Lamar. The commemoration will include family adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, a Jubilee Holy Mass, a picnic-style lunch with games and prizes and a family branch presentation, ceremony and blessing. 

Sister M. Mara Medina, ISSM said the jubilee celebration seeks to remember, renew, cultivate and preserve the family work, which is the foundation and crown of the whole Schoenstatt movement. On July 16, 1942, she said, the doors of Divine Providence opened for the founding of the most important branch of Schoenstatt: the family work. The family work occupies the fundamental position within Schoenstatt and functions as its foundation for all members of clergy and laity alike. 

With varying degrees of commitment, members belong to family institutes, leagues or federations within the family work. Married couples are connected within networks of like-minded families to mutually strengthen each other and make God visible to others. Schoenstatt bonds families in growth and stability, and fosters simple, life-affirming relationships while respecting the originality of each individual created by God, Sister Mara said. 

Couples groups, or other groups such as mothers, who live within the same area meet at regular intervals for enriching conversation and faith sharing. The Schoenstatt Lamar Center has several discussion programs and topics freely available to anyone interested in starting or joining a local group. 

Schoenstatt, meaning “beautiful place,” is a Marian shrine of grace. According to its website, Schoenstatt-Texas.org, a Marian shrine is “a place of pilgrimage, a movement, a family and a new way of life.” At its center, a Schoenstatt shrine offers “tranquility, peace and a home in the heart of the Mother of God for everyone who seeks answers in the uncertainty of life.” 

In 1930, Pope Pius XI’s encyclical Casti Connubii emphasized that the building of a new society is only possible with the renewal and salvation of the family as a response to the many problems facing humanity. The Schoenstatt fathers, Sister Mara said, soon began pastoral work aimed at the preparation of couples for matrimony and for a covenant of love with Mary. The goal was to form a movement of Catholic marriages, modeled after the Holy Family, capable of radiating within society the Christian witness of joy while answering the heresies and ideologies, which destroy the family. 

The Schoenstatt Family Branch hopes to continue to grow in number and depth and welcomes all men, women and children to attend the 75th jubilee celebration taking place on July 16 in Lamar. For more information and to RSVP call (361) 729-2019.