Great Britain

The beginnings

The Schoenstatt Family in England evolved through the Family Branch, on the initiative of a Diocesan Priest and then the regular contact with a Schoenstatt Father, Fr Franz Brügger.

Due to development and the purchase of our “Home” on Chamber Road, Oldham, where the Shrine altar resided and the picture of our Lady was crowned in 1985, Fr Duncan McVicar came to continue the work begun.

The development of the movement in Scotland and the Scottish vocations that came to live in England come through the Sisters of Mary and there work at Ardmorry in Glasgow and the subsequent building of the Shrine in Campsie Glenn, Lennoxtown.

Your Shrine, Our Home

A significant step for the Schoenstatt Fathers in the UK came as we took on Mount Carmel Parish in Blackley, Manchester: a new home where more than one of us could stay and a new beginning in collaboration with the local church.

Our Shrine, “Your Shrine, Our Home” was a gift for the New Millennium and consecrated on 5th October 2000. A new focus for our work as we grew with the gift of the Shrine.

As Schoenstatt Fathers we are resident at the Shrine and in the Parish of St. Ethelbert’s, Bolton and serve the Schoenstatt Family throughout the UK.