INTRODUCING SCHOENSTATT (1)

THREE INTERVIEWS WITH MEMBERS OF SCHOENSTATT. FR LOUIS SCURTI MEETS AT THE WAYSIDE SHRINE IN CLEARWATER AS HE INTEVIEWS JENNY NOLASCO & TOM TYMPROWITZ. WHAT IS SCHOENSTATT? A PLACE, A SPIRITUALITY, A FAMILY Many people ask: What is Schoenstatt? To correctly understand a Work, it is necessary to understand its architect and the external circumstances in which it has taken place. Therefore, the historical moment of Schoenstatt’s origin is not irrelevant. It is in October of 1914. It is a key year which marks the beginning of an extraordinary change in history (“I was a witness – says Arnold Toynbee – to the first stages of the world revolution which began in 1914 and that, since then, continues gaining momentum”). In a letter dictated in September of 1968, a few days before his death, Father Kentenich underlined the importance of the fact that the history of Schoenstatt and the newest times “had become similar since the first stage and that since the beginning they had developed in a parallel form.” Schoenstatt is a place The German word “Schoenstatt” consists of two parts: “schoen” – which means lovely, beautiful – and “statt” which means “place.”