In 2025, the Schoenstatt Apostolic Family Federation will celebrate its 75th anniversary. To mark this time of grace, an international meeting will be held in Schoenstatt, and couples worldwide will celebrate the jubilee.
The Family Federation was founded on Holy Trinity Sunday, June 4, 1950, with the acceptance of the families of the First Course from Germany to the first consecration by the Father and Founder, Father Joseph Kentenich, in the Original Shrine.
That event, which will soon be 75 years old, marked the beginning of a new community “pars motrix” belonging to the Family Work of the Movement. Decades later, in different countries of Africa, America and Europe, new foundations would be added, until reaching the number of 20 territories that currently make up the Family Federation.
An International Meeting
For this reason, and to satisfy a common desire expressed at the last General Chapter of 2022, we will hold an International Encounter in Schoenstatt from June 13 to 15 under the motto “Pilgrims of Joy, we go as a Family.”
Within the framework of the Jubilee Year of Hope, to which the Church is calling us, and based on the celebration of a historical event that marks our identity, we hope that this Meeting will allow us to achieve a triple objective:
- to remember and thank our Father and Founder and the founding generation for their dedication and daring,
- stimulate knowledge and links between the different territories, and
- to rekindle each other’s mission consciousness and to reflect on the call to our apostolic vocation to the service of the Church amid the challenges of society and the world.
The German Family Federation, in its capacity as host, formed an Organizing Team that, in close contact with the International Direction, has been preparing a varied and attractive program of activities, taking into account all the logistical arrangements that a meeting of this magnitude entails.
More than 400 people, coming from different territories, will gather in Schoenstatt for three days. They will stay in the different houses of the valley and visit the Pilgrim’s Church, the Original Shrine, the Covenant House, and other facilities, where the different activities will take place.
The program was conceived with a common thread: the “Past, present, and future” of our Family Federation’s life. In its development, there will be liturgical celebrations, thematic spaces with testimonies, videos, interviews, exhibitions, workshops, and an evening bonfire with musical entertainment.
One of the highlights will be the renewal of the Consecration as federated families, in front of the Original Shrine on Saturday afternoon, June 14th.
Sending Mass
On Sunday the 15th, we will visit the “Joseph Kentenich Farm” in Hillscheid (headquarters of the German Family Federation), a short distance from Schoenstatt. We will then attend the “Sending Holy Mass ” in front of the International Shrine of the Family Federation, which will be presided over by Monsignor Michael Gerber, Bishop of Fulda and member of the Schoenstatt Institute of Diocesan Priests.
With the participation of all the families who have already pledged their attendance and thanks to the hard work of the Organizing Team, we are confident that we will have a very rewarding and inspiring fraternal experience.
As in every pilgrimage, the spiritual preparation and the attitude with which we leave will be very important. For this reason, it seems appropriate to recall one of the phrases of the preparatory prayer for this Jubilee:
… “through Mary we implore the Holy Spirit to renew us in this time of grace, that we may know how to interpret correctly the signs of the times, to set out courageously with the pilgrim’s staff in our hands and to commit ourselves with a ‘burning heart’, wherever you need us as your instruments”.
That’s the way it is; we remain loyal!
Translation: Sr. M. Lourdes Macías
