Schoenstatt Sisters celebrate 100 years of being ‘a light of hope for many’

About 1,000 Catholics gathered in Mulgoa on September 13 to celebrate the centenary of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary. The celebration included a Mass concelebrated by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP alongside priests from the Archdiocese of Sydney and the Diocese of Parramatta.

The Schoenstatt movement was founded by Father Joseph Kentenich in Germany in 1914, while the Secular Institute of the Schoenstatt Sisters began in October 1926 with 18 sisters. The sisters now work in 32 countries, including Australia and the Philippines. During the Mass, Sister M. Isabel Naumann read a letter from the Superior General, Sister M. Joanna Buckley, who encouraged Catholics to celebrate the jubilee with the motto, Mary, light of our hope.

Archbishop Fisher noted that the sisters faced difficult circumstances during times of war and depression, lacking both resources and formal recognition in Church law for their specific form of consecration. At the end of the event, the sisters received a plaque for the shrine and a depiction of a rose bouquet to symbolize their milestones.