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 6 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 Mt 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.
Pilgrims of the Vietnamese Catholic Community participating in Holy Mass in the Shrine during their pilgrimage to Mount Schoenstatt. Image: Supplied
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 NSW, 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 colleges, all came in great number to pray and be filled with God’s hope in their lives.
Mt Schoenstatt Shrine, Mulgoa is a Jubilee pilgrimage site. Image: Alphonsus Fok/ Diocese of Parramatta
Sr M. Olivia Lukaszewicz, one of the newest members of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary, was responsible for the organisation and accompaniment of each pilgrimage booking. “I have been amazed at the number of people who have walked through the doors of the Shrine this year,” Sr M. Olivia said. “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”, she recalls, “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.”
Sr M. Olivia welcoming and talking to pilgrims about the spirituality of Schoenstatt as part of their pilgrimage to the Shrine in Mulgoa. Image: Supplied
As part of their pilgrimage schedule, many groups took up Sr M. Olivia’s 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,” says Sr M. Olivia, “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 three graces of pilgrimage are the most common graces received by any pilgrim visiting the Schoenstatt Shrine. They are the grace of a home, the grace of inner transformation, and the grace of apostolic fruitfulness.
Pilgrims pray and reflect at Mt Schoenstatt Shrine, Mulgoa. Image: Alphonsus Fok/Diocese of Parramatta.
“This was the second most important thing that I wanted to share with the pilgrims”, said Sr M. Olivia, “that Mary accepts and loves each one of us just as we 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.”
May this Jubilee Year of Hope 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.
With thanks to the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary.
