The Schoenstatt Family Branch

 

The Family Branch is one of the key branches within the International Schoenstatt for every person is born into a Family. Ideally it is in the family where we experience love in all its forms – the love of man and wife, of parents and children, of children for one another and the love of friendship. The family is then the refuge of all that is human and Christian. 

However, today the family is in a state of siege. There is no longer a single definition or description of the family and the ‘traditional’ Christian family structure is in the minority and seems to be fast disappearing. It cannot be denied that much that was good has been destroyed. 

We Christians have every reason to see the Spirit of God at work in these signs of our times. If we have understood him correctly, he is urging us powerfully to re-fashion the home and family life as the basic cell of society. 

If the family becomes more human, society will become more human. We have to take up all that is positive in the trends of our times and use them to create a ‘new’ Christian world. 

We cannot do this on our own. We need to live in solidarity with other couples and families striving for the same values and goals. As such, the Schoenstatt Family branch offers weekends, events and family groups to foster formation, fellowship and support to families looking to journey together in faith and life.

The Founder, Father Joseph Kentenich advocated that “Married couples are actually the most perfect image and likeness of the Triune God.” To assist married couples in attaining this high goal, he developed a specific spirituality for marriage and family, an educational system of love and for love. All forms of love, sexual, erotic, spiritual and supernatural, should be united in the mutual affection and surrender of the marriage partners.

Family Branch Contacts

Bernard & Jane Toutounji – families@schoenstatt.org.au

Sr. M. Elizabeth Foley – efoley@schoenstatt.org.au  Ph.0408 738 349