The Schoenstatt movement celebrated its willingness to bring Christ to every kind of environment last Sunday with a mass celebrating 20 years since their shrine was blessed in Armadale.
Visible from the busy South Western Highway, it’s a world away from the lush green surrounds of the original Schoenstatt shrine, along the Rhine River in Germany but shares the same universal call to holiness with over 200 Schoenstatt centres worldwide.
Several hundred members, friends and supporters descended on the shrine on Sunday 20 November to join the Schoenstatt sisters in marking the milestone.
Main celebrant, Mgr Brian O’Loughlin VG, said the centre had and would continue to be a sign of Christ’s presence in WA.
“It can be a statement of faith to the people passing by … this little shrine which seems so discordant here in the Australian bush.
“It can lead people to ask “why is it there? What purpose does it serve? Who gathers there? And from those questions they will be attracted to the truths of faith enunciated by [Schoenstatt founder] Fr Kentenich and which members of the Schoenstatt movement continue to reflect on,” he said.
The Schoenstatt movement has been present in Australian since 1951, when four sisters of their secular institute arrived in Fremantle.
Originally based at the small mid-west town of Tardun, 427km north of Perth, the movement was also present at Wandering and Riverton before operating exclusively out of Armadale.
House superior, Sr Georgina Heger, prayed thanks through the intercession of our Mother Thrice Admirable, the name given to the image of Our Lady used by the movement and symbolising Mary’s role as the Mother of God, the Mother of the Saviour and Mother of the redeemed.
She said Fr Joseph Kentenich prefigured the Second Vatican Council in founding a movement for lay people which promoted the universal call to holiness.