The Schoenstatt Movement was founded in 1914 by Father Joseph Kentenich as a means of spiritual renewal in the Catholic Church. The movement is not—even though this is often claimed—named after the German words for "beautiful place", but simply after a small village close to the town of Vallendar near Koblenz in Germany.

Quotes

Schoenstatt "wishes to be understood as a universal vision, comprising time and eternity, this world and the next, the economic, social, ethical, political and religious needs of all people, including the dispossessed, the millions of masses… It wants to help redeem the world world not only from its earthly sufferings, but also from sin and from its alienation from God. It tries to do this under the guidance and in the school of Our Lady by applying the original principles of Christianity in a new way to restore the disturbed relationship between the individual person and society, the person and business, the person and technology, and the person and social advancement." - Father Joseph Kentenich [1]

Presence Today

The Schoenstatt Movement is today present in many coutries, besides Germany especially in South America, India. Many groups have been formed within the movement where people can join loose groups of with sparse meetings up to religious orders. Counting everyone that belongs to any group of the Schoenstatt Movement, there are today more than one million people involved.

Main Focus

Central issues are the ideas based on which Josef Kentenich founded the movement in 1914: christian personality development, orientation after ideals, community.

External links

     these sites are not encyclopedic

• Schönstatt Movement Belgium
• Schoenstatt Australia
• Schoenstatt Movement