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EspañolFrom December 28, 2025, to January 29, 2026, the International Leadership School of the Schoenstatt Boys’ Youth took place in Germany, where 26 young university students from six Latin American countries (Argentina, Costa Rica, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, and the Dominican Republic), accompanied by two Schoenstatt Fathers, shared a month living in the shadow of the Original Shrine in Schoenstatt.
The ILS (International Leadership School), as we colloquially call it, was a wonderful community experience of being immersed in the world of Schoenstatt, getting to know the “holy places” that gave rise to our charism, and making vital contact with the communities and people who make it present in their lives today. Getting to know Schoenstatt is not only about visiting the Original Shrine and the tomb of the Founder; there are many places around which the origin and history of the Movement are relived. From this, one can better understand the richness of the charism and its fundamental strengths. To name one example: we had the gift of living the entire month in the “Bundesheim” (Covenant House), where, in the 1920s and 1930s, Fr. Joseph Kentenich preached numerous retreats and conferences for laypeople and priests of the movement. We had our daily formation meetings in the “Artusrunde,” that is, the Arthur’s Table room, which evokes the mystique of the Knights of the Round Table, where Father Kentenich met with his first collaborators in the formation of the nascent Schoenstatt Movement.
Not as tourists, but as pilgrims
But it is not a matter of visiting places as “tourists,” but of making a vital and spiritual pilgrimage to form ourselves as leaders and to bond together as an international fraternal community that vibrates with the same ideals and dreams of a great apostolic horizon. That is why the ILS has a program for the entire month where we share a common life of prayer, formation with different special guests, visits to many places that speak to us about the development of the charism (Gymnich, Dachau, Ingolstadt, Munich, or Koblenz), and encounters with different communities and ways of living the Covenant of Love (Brothers of Mary, Ladies of Schoenstatt, Sisters of Mary, Diocesan Priests, Schoenstatt Fathers, Institute of Families, Women’s Federation).
A fundamental aspect of the ILS was living the fraternal spirit of the international Boys youth. We were able to share our life stories, those of our places of origin and branches, learning about the different ways of living the Covenant in the apostolates, songs, rites, and prayers. We enjoyed sports and, of course, the typical foods of each country, as each country served the School’s participants dishes from their place of origin. We united spiritually in community prayer, in special celebrations, and in the contributions to the Capital of Grace that we offered together to the Blessed Mother. Each moment became an anecdote that evokes smiles, a bond that unites us, an experience that impacts us, and that is sealed with deeply meaningful experiences, such as the Holy Masses and blessings in the evening in the Original Shrine, or the pilgrimage to Koblenz or the Shrine of Sion, or the visit to Fr. Agustín Álvarez, who is a hermit monk, or the experience of the Dachau Concentration Camp, to mention just a few.
A time of profound spiritual and community experience
It becomes clear how this experience of community, which immerses us in the charism, bears much fruit in each of us and is expressed in many ways. Just to mention the experience of sealing the Covenant of Love in the Original Shrine, the Blank Check and Childlike Covenant at Fr. Kentenich’s tomb, or the discovery of the Personal Ideal and the development of a School Ideal, shows how the charism becomes an inspiration for each person’s life.
