Schoenstatt Family Institute

Father Kentenich regarded these encounters as a message from God, and he came to the conviction that the Catholic Church also needs such families. His response to this message from God was the foundation of our community as a type of secular institute for Catholic couples with the aim that, in the course of time, they would also equally become a supportive and inspiring core of the entire Family Movement. He envisioned a community dedicated to safeguard the ideal of Catholic marriage and family and to live this ideal in our contemporary world.

The Institute of Families is guided in this objective by the evangelical councils. The lifestyle of marriage and family is naturally different from the celibate lifestyle of the religious. The goal, however, is the same: to live one’s calling in a purposeful way and resolutely follow Christ.

“For this reason the Institute of Schoenstatt Families, faithful to the founder’s vision, sees itself as a community of dedicated life for married couples with juridical ties. It endeavors through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, and by virtue of the covenant of love with Mary, to embody the ideal of the Holy Family of Nazareth in a modern way and to live it as perfectly as possible according to the evangelical councils.

It is its task to contribute to the formation of a new order of society by the Christian renewal of marriage and family. Together with the other Schoenstatt institutes it assumes the responsibility as defender and inspiring core of the entire movement.” ( Being and Mission – Definition of the General Chapter 2018)  

Europe: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Belgium, Spain and Portugal
The Americas: USA, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, México, Ecuador, Perú, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil