Schoenstatt Shrine in Lawaan III, Talisay City (CDN PHOTO/ TONEE DESPOJO)
One hundred years of keeping a “covenant of love” with the Blessed Virgin Mary will be celebrated by the Schoenstatt family all over the world this October.
“Schoenstatt” is a German word which means “a beautiful place” and refers to a small village of green, rolling hills close to the town of Vallendar in Germany, where the apostolic Marian movement started before World War I.
In Cebu, the Schoenstatt shrine is a replica of the original shrine in Germany with its distinctive steeple and bell, resting atop a hill in Lawaan III in Talisay City overlooking the Cebu harbor and eastern seaboard of the metropolis.
It is one of over 200 identical “daughter shrines” found around the world.
To mark the centennial, the Schoenstatt Family in the Philippines will hold its 2nd National Convention in Cebu from May 2 to 4 with the theme, “Your Covenant, Our Mission.”
Some 250 delegates nationwide are expected to gather at the Schoenstatt Spirituality Center built next to the shrine in Lawaan III, Talisay City.
The highlight will be a Holy Mass celebrated by Archbishop Emeritus Cardinal Vidal on Saturday, May 3 at 4 p.m., followed by a festive Jubilee celebration.
At the heart of the jubilee is a renewal of the Covenant of Love with Mary who is honored as “Mother Thrice Admirable, Queen and Victress of Schoenstatt”.
According to Father Joseph Kentenich, Schoenstatt’s founder, the Covenant of Love relies on God’s activity and human cooperation.
In the small shrine, Mary mediates for the faithful as an “expression, medium and safeguard of our Baptismal Covenant with the Divine Triune God.”
The life and times of Fr. Kentenich who founded the apostolic movement in in 1914 will also be highlighted in the convention sessions and workshops.
The Philippine’s only “daughter shrine” was declared a Cebu Archdiocesan Shrine in 2008.
For this centenary year, Pope Francis has granted a plenary indulgence to all who visit the Shrine as part of a jubilee celebration and fulfill the normal requirements for the indulgence.
A pilgrimage to the original shrine in Germany with Filipino delegates is scheduled in the second week of October to join the International Schoenstatt Jubilee Celebrations in Schoenstatt, Germany on Oct. 18, 2014 followed by celebrations in Rome.
Pilgrims from different countries are expected to have an audience with the Pope on October 25.