OFFICIAL NAME
Unión Apostólica Femenina de Schönstatt
ESTABLISHED
1920
HISTORY
The Schönstatt Women’s Apostolic Union has its roots in the Schönstatt Apostolic Movement, founded by Fr Josef Kentenich (see page 22) and in the Apostolic Union, and was the first association generated by the Movement, for the formation of Catholic apostolate leaders. Following the admission of the first women into the Union, Gertraud von Bullion and María Christmann sealed the covenant of love with the Mater ter admirabilis - the act of consecration to our Lady taken by all the members of the Schönstatt Apostolic Movement - and started the Women’s Apostolic Union (Schönstatt -Frauenbund). Legally independent of the Movement, the Union gave shape to the ideal of the imitation of Christ in a life lived according to the Evangelical counsels of virginity, poverty and obedience, without vows but in freedom and as an interior bond. On 15 September 1996, the Pontifical Council for the Laity decreed recognition of the Unión Apostólica Femenina de Schönstatt as an international association of the faithful.
IDENTITY
The Union sets out to provide formation for Christian women who responsibly perform the mission modelled on Mary. It is made up of unmarried lay women who live a life of virginity within the world, animating temporal realities through the free giving of self, generous readiness and detachment from worldly goods. The association participates in the apostolate of the Church by cooperating with other Schönstatt communities and other apostolic forces, and requires its members, after receiving sufficient formation, to perform permanent apostolic activities according to the needs of the place, time and nation. The formation pathway preceding final incorporation into the Union lasts for nine years, with a Precandidature and a Candidature period. Great importance is given in the life of the members to caring for the spirit by observing a rule, respecting community uses and customs, setting up groups to deepen specific dimensions (for example, adoration groups).
ORGANISATION
Ultimate responsibility for the Union is vested in the International Directorate elected by the Chapter, which is the assembly of the delegates of the Union, chaired by a Director assisted by a Spiritual Adviser. The Union is structured into official communities (regions) and into free communities (courses). The regions are made up of members belonging to one or more dioceses, divided into groups and under the guidance of a Regional Director. Members of the Union belong not only to their respective regions but also to the so-called "courses", an essential element in the structure of the association, made up of people who have begun the period of candidature together, and remain united throughout the whole of their lives. They are defined as "free communities" because they are free in terms of both the choice of the ideal that will be cultivated and developed by each member individually and as a community throughout their lives, and of the election of the leader, the Mother of the course. As places for the formation of the members’ personality, the courses aim to combine external freedom with an interior bond. In the Union the leaders do not have any right to order the members, who practise obedience by sharing responsibility for the service they perform. Leaders exercise their own moral authority in the manner of a family, aiming above all to guide the community and its members to the highest possible level of interior freedom and generosity.
PUBLICATIONS
Informaciones del Segretariado Gertaud von Bullion, magazine published every two months.
WEB SITE
HEADQUARTERS
Schönstatt-Frauenbund
Haus Mariengart
Am Marienberg, 3
D-56179 Vallendar - Germany
Tel. [+49]261.650030 or 65000
Fax 261.650029
E-mail: sekretariat@s-fb.org
