International Apostolic Schoenstatt Family Federation

Living and sharing faith as a family

Our community

Being an image of the Family of Nazareth

We are a community of families integrated into society, in all fields of activity and professions. We live Catholic marriage as taught by the Magisterium of the Church and strive for the highest possible degree of holiness, taking the Holy Family of Nazareth as our model.

20+

COUNTRIES

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Ecuador, Mexico, Costa Rica, Italy, United States, South Africa, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Puerto Rico, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, Germany.

1950

FOUNDING

Twenty-five families made their first consecration through the hands of the Founder in the Original Shrine on Holy Trinity Sunday (06/04/50).

Life’s vocation

A community in Covenant

We are a community of life. We are apostolic and faithful to the teachings of the Founder and the Church.

Family Movement

The International Apostolic Schoenstatt Family Federation is one of the central communities and, together with the Family League and the Institute of Families, is at the service of the Schoenstatt Movement for the renewal and strengthening of the family and society.

Community

In a time of diverse world views, values, and lifestyles, members desire to strengthen one another. They offer support and help each other grow spiritually as individuals and as married couples. The community also supports efforts to pass on the faith to children. In the Family Federation, children experience a community where God and faith are a natural part of life.

On a mission

Faith, life and commitment

Sanctification

Members are united by the joy of the vocation to marriage and family and by the commitment to apostolic service. They seek to form their lives through the power of the sacrament of marriage, following Christ. They are inspired by the pedagogy and spirituality of the Schoenstatt Movement, based on the teachings of Father Joseph Kentenich. The focus is on a personal, living relationship with God as a loving Father. Devotion to the Blessed Mother, who is venerated as Mother and Educator and with whom a Covenant of Love is sealed, has a special meaning.

Apostolate

The goal of our community is to educate and form Christian personalities in the sense of the Catholic lay apostolate, who assume responsibility in the Church and in society and who are committed to serving others. It urges us to pass on to others our faith, the Good News of Jesus Christ, from which we ourselves live. We want to work in our society for the strengthening and renewal of marriage and family. But we also want to participate in and shape the world of work, public life and parishes according to our abilities and possibilities. In all our efforts and our commitment to others, our children are our primary concern.

Happiness

On the way to heaven

The Family Federation is inspired by the fundamental conviction of Father Joseph Kentenich: a sustainable and supportive society is built on solid marriages and healthy families, open to the future and guarantors of life. At the heart of its mission is the renewal of the family, so that its value may shine more brightly in the Church and in the life of society.

Foundation

In the footsteps of the Father

Father Joseph Kentenich (1885-1968), together with a group of young families, founded the Family Federation in 1950 as an independent community within the International Schoenstatt Movement, which he had founded in 1914. For him, the family is the nucleus of every healthy order in the Church and in society.