30 September 2025 · 2025-09 newsletter
On Thursday, 21st August, Sr M. Elizabeth and Sr M. Olivia embarked on an apostolic venture to Sr M. Olivia’s hometown of Adelaide. Upon invitation from the priests in the Hectorville Catholic Parish, Fr. Jeevan Gabriel, SMM and Fr. Anthony Beltrame, and in gratitude to Archbishop Patrick O’Regan for his acceptance of their invitation, the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary were able to bring Mother Mary to full focus in Hectorville’s Annunciation Church.
The Marian retreat weekend, which was open to men and women of all ages, began with a Holy Hour on Friday, 22nd August, which fittingly fell on the Memorial of Our Lady, Mother and Queen. Fr. Anthony exposed the Blessed Sacrament in front of around 50 faithfuls. Time in Adoration began with Vespers, followed by the Gospel reading of the Memorial: The Annunciation account. Fr. Anthony then made himself available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation whilst Sr M. Olivia gave two separate reflections based on the Gospel reading and the Memorial. In between the reflections there was time for silent Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, with Holy Hour concluding with Benediction.
Following the time of prayerful Adoration, the youth and young adults that were present were invited to the Parish Hall to share in fellowship over supper, giving them a chance to meet the sisters in a relaxed and informal environment. Many expressed their gratitude in having the chance to speak to the sisters, ask them questions and hear parts of their vocation story.
The following day, Saturday 23rd August, saw around 100 people arrive for a Marian retreat day led by the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary. The day began at 9am with Holy Mass celebrated in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
All the retreatants then made their way to the Parish Hall where the first talk, given by Sr M. Olivia, began at 10am. Sr M. Olivia shared insights into some of Mary’s most exceptional virtues, namely her faithfulness and self-giving love, as well as sharing her personal testimony on how she had experienced Mary as Mother in her own life.
Morning tea then followed, with a smorgasbord of plates of food to share provided by many of the parishioners, offering a wonderful opportunity for fellowship and conversation. Refuelled and replenished, retreatants took to their seats once more to listen to Sr M. Olivia’s second input for the morning – a talk on the role of Mary as our Mother and Educator. This talk was followed by time for questions where a variety of answers were given from each of the two sisters, as well as Fr. Anthony, providing a beautiful complementarity from both the masculine and feminine perspective.
A catered buffet-style lunch was then enjoyed by all, again providing the retreatants with a great opportunity to spend time in fellowship and joyful conversation. Following lunch was a time of prayerful meditation and reflection back in the Church in front of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament. Sr M. Elizabeth first led everyone in praying the rosary, meditating upon the joyful mysteries and including prayers from Fr. Joseph Kentenich’s Rosary of God’s Instruments taken from Heavenwards.
A time of silent Adoration and reflection followed based on the theme of the day: Mary. All the while, three priests made themselves available to hear confessions.
To round out the Marian retreat day, participants were randomly allocated into small groups where they were given the opportunity to discuss moments in Mary’s life that taught them most about being disciples of Christ. This gave a wonderful opportunity for sharing and exchanging of insights into the many extraordinary moments of Mary’s life such as the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Wedding Feast at Cana and Mary at the Foot of the Cross, among others.
Retreatants came to the end of the day genuinely grateful and overjoyed to have learned more about the person of Mary and how she can form and educate us in our everyday lives in order to bring us closer to God. To finish, I share a couple of echoes that have been received since the weekend.
One young woman said this:
“The retreat on the weekend was really beautiful. It was such a gift to have you [Sr M. Olivia] and Sr Elizabeth with us, and to gather as a community journeying deeper together.
I am working in Palliative Care at the moment and am bringing this very tender place of being with many elderly parents caring for their very sick adult children quite often to the Lord (and personally finding it very difficult emotionally just to be with them and offer their suffering to the Lord).
Our Blessed Mother knows more than any of us, the experience of suffering with her Child, and I am really grateful to have been brought closer to Her over the weekend and to share that pain with Her. She knows how to carry such deep pain in perfect love. And we are so lucky to have her as our educator.”
Another retreatant had this to say:
“It was definitely a spiritually uplifting retreat for me, and I have heard many other attendees shared that it was a very good experience for them too – what a gift!!”
The gift was very much ours too! May our dear Mother Thrice Admirable, Queen & Victress of Schoenstatt continue to touch the lives of many and spread her mission far and wide for the moral and religious renewal of the world in Christ!
Written by Sr M. Olivia
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