Jubilee Year Pilgrimages a Visible Sign of Hope at Schoenstatt Shrine
Over the past 12 months, thousands have set out on pilgrimage to walk through the doors of the Schoenstatt Shrine in Mulgoa; one of three designated pilgrimage sites within the Diocese of Parramatta. With just under a month to go before Pope Leo XIV officially closes the Jubilee Year of Hope on 6th January, 2026, the Schoenstatt Shrine has offered countless people an experience of hope and spiritual renewal as they encountered God’s mercy and Mary’s transforming power of grace from the Shrine.
To date, a total of 40 registered pilgrimage groups coming from various parishes, communities, and education institutions within the Parramatta, Sydney and Broken Bay Dioceses, intentionally journeyed to Mount Schoenstatt as part of the Jubilee Year. Many of these groups, be it large or small, included Holy Mass in the Shrine and the Sacrament of Reconciliation in order to fulfill the criteria necessary to obtain a plenary indulgence as part of their visit to the Shrine.
Within these groups alone, an estimated 3,000 people walked through the iconic wooden arch door of the “little white chapel”, as it is so often referred to by visitors. This number excludes, of course, the thousands of individual pilgrims who may have come alone, or with their family and friends as part of a personal visit. Parishes as far as Woy Woy on the Central Coast of New South Wales, communities from various ethnic groups such as Nigeria, Tonga, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and China, (just to name a few), and young people from various youth groups and college’s, all came in great number to pray and be filled with God’s hope in their lives.
Spreading the mission of Schoenstatt
Throughout this Jubilee Year, I was assigned with the task of organising and accompanying each pilgrimage booking. I have been truly amazed at the number of people who have walked through the doors of the Shrine this year, and what has amazed me even more, is that so many of these pilgrims were first-time visitors to the Shrine. Each time a group arrived, I would ask how many people were visiting for the first time. On every occasion, at least 50% of hands would go up. I found this aspect so encouraging to think that our dear Blessed Mother still has so many lives to touch in Sydney and beyond, as we continue to spread her mission from Schoenstatt.
The shrine – a place of grace
As part of their pilgrimage schedule, many groups took up my offer of having a talk given to their pilgrims, introducing them to the Schoenstatt spirituality and the uniqueness of the Shrine. The most important thing I wanted people to know is that the Schoenstatt Shrine is a tremendous place of grace, not only in this great Jubilee Year, but always. Mary is the closest person to God, and her entire mission from the Shrine is to bring people closer to all members of the Holy Trinity. She does this by cooperating with Jesus and distributing the graces He merited us from the Cross, to all those who implore her Motherly intercession from the Shrine.
The second most important element that I wanted to share with the pilgrims were the three pilgrimage graces – that Mary accepts and loves each person just as they are, that she educates us to be disciples of Christ by transforming us from within, and that this is what enables us to go out into the world as apostles and instruments in God’s hands. As a community in Sydney, we pray that the Jubilee Year of Hope will indeed be a great source of spiritual renewal for the Church, and for every person that walked through the doors of the Schoenstatt Shrine in Mulgoa.