About 100 people gathered on Monday, October 12, at House Moriah and the Mount Moriah Shrine. During a solemn Mass, the Schoenstatt Institute of Diocesan Priests and the Schoenstatt League of Priests expressed their gratitude for the shrine’s golden jubilee.
Monsignor Ignacio Sanna, Archbishop Emeritus of Oristano (Italy) and a member of the Schoenstatt Institute of Diocesan Priests, presided over the Holy Mass. The Moriah Shrine, more than just a historic site, is a spiritual space where priests renew their dedication to God, their Covenant of Love with Mary, and their commitment to living the Schoenstatt spirituality in service to the diocesan Church.
Presentation of the “Regula Patris”
A significant moment of the jubilee was the solemn presentation of the “Regula Patris” at the start of the celebration. This document sets forth the community’s aspirations for life within the Institute, incorporating the amendments approved at the last General Congress and confirmed by the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. In addition to the Regula Patris, the documents from the Institute’s 7th General Congress were officially presented; all were placed before the altar and entrusted to Mary’s care. Together, both sets of documents mark an important milestone in the community’s journey and in the implementation of the Congress’s decisions.
At 4:00 p.m., an international round of congratulations was held via videoconference, with participation from the Institute’s six regions. The regional rectors delivered their messages, highlighting the community’s international dimension and the unity among brothers from different cultures.
The Publication of a New Biography
Dr. Peter Wolf presented his new book, a work on Hermann Gebert, the Institute’s first Rector General. The publication offers an opportunity to delve deeper into the community’s historical memory and to rediscover its origins.
The Jubilee as a Time of Gratitude and Commitment to the Future
As the Institute’s Rector General, Dr. Marcelo Cervi, notes, the jubilee is not only a grateful remembrance of the past but also an invitation to embrace, with renewed responsibility, the Institute’s mission in the present and the future.
The celebration highlighted the desire to move from a merely international community to a truly intercultural one, where the diversity of languages, experiences, and traditions enriches the expression of the same charism.
One of the most important spiritual elements of the celebration was the prayer for new vocations. By entrusting the community’s future to the Blessed Mother, the participants renewed their hope that new priests would embrace and carry on the Institute’s mission.
The procession of lights that closed the event made this close communion visible; after all, the Shrine was the first building on Mount Moriah, constructed and dedicated on October 17, 1976.
Learn more about Mount Moriah – bergmoriah.de
