Last year, the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary opened their home in Madison to single women.
On August 15, the Feast of the Assumption, Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison celebrated Mass and blessed the initiative on the Schoenstatt Heights property, located on Madison’s east side.
Later that month, three women moved in.
Schoenstatt Sisters María José Sousa and Mariela De la Rosa live in community with them there, and in the first few months, the Sisters have experienced “much, much joy,” Sister María said.
The household is aimed towards providing community during the transitory years of a young woman’s life, while she is a young professional or postgraduate student living and working in the Madison area, Sister María explained.
Its name is the “Magnificat Household.”
Deciding on a name
Sister María explained why the home was opened to non-Religious women and how the name “Magnificat” was chosen.
Sister María started more generally, saying, “Our spirituality, our Schoenstatt spirituality, is very much based on forming healthy attachments.
“The ability to relate [to God] here on earth makes us long for Heaven.
“That’s why we have our shrines; they help us find a home here on earth, a tangible home, and then long for Heaven.
“The point of every one of our houses is to help people find a home,” she continued.
Knowing the difficulties that single life after high school or college can pose, the Sisters wanted to help young women in their 20s and 30s, especially.
Sister María said, “We could have used [the house] as a means for vocations.
“That would have given the young women the opportunity to kind of ‘jump’ into our lives and discern.
“But we see it the other way around. We ‘jump’ into their lives. We are here, basically, at their service,” Sister María explained.
The Magnificat house is aimed at the young professional age, an age that Sister María said “is transitory,” because “nobody remains a young professional forever.”
The hope is that a young woman who chooses to live in the Magnificat house can “find a community where she can not only just survive but actually sink her roots, so she can thrive,” Sister María continued.
As Sister María and Sister Mariela were considering names for the house, the first to come to mind was “Nazareth,” they said.
“As we were discerning the name for the house, we wanted it to be something Marian because she’s very much at the center of who we are, as a community and as a movement,” Sister María said.
“Our first option was ‘Nazareth,’ the Nazareth House, where the Blessed Mother lived and worked.
“But, then we thought, [Nazareth] fits into our apostolate with families. With young women, the aspect of the ‘Magnificat’ fit better.
“It gives us a mirror to look into when defining our own identity,” Sister María continued.
What stood out about the name “Magnificat,” the Sister said, was the deep spiritual meaning of Mary’s words.
“The Blessed Mother was coming from the deepest encounter ever with God, where God actually became flesh in her, and the words that came from her soul were the Magnificat,” Sister María said.
In the Magnificat, Mary “praises the greatness of God but also in the same breath, says, ‘I am also great,’ not because of who I am but because of who He makes me,” Sister María explained.
“We thought that encompasses our longing for this house, that whoever comes here can experience herself as a child of God, but then, also, in deep joy acknowledge that she is nothing and, at the same time, everything.”
For women working or pursuing a postgraduate degree while living at the house, Sister María wants the women “to learn to find joy in something else than their achievements.
“We see that in that moment, [the Magnificat,] when the Blessed Mother says, ‘This is what life is all about,’” Sister María said.
“That’s the spirit that we want. In our house, if [Mary] lives here, that she may sing in us the Magnificat and make our lives the Magnificat, then Christ can encounter others through us, through the little that we do,” Sister María explained.
Life so far
Three single women live in the Magnificat Household this year.
Those three are Claudia Marquez, Clara Paloucek, and Molly Sterns.
Clara Paloucek, a teacher at St. Ambrose Academy in Madison, said that she’s “incredibly grateful that the Schoenstatt Sisters opened their home,” and added that one of her favorite parts of the household is the option for an hour of Adoration each evening.
“Living under the same roof as the Blessed Sacrament is a rare grace so often reserved for Religious,” Paloucek said, and continued, “This is a blessing none of us take for granted.”
Molly Sterns, a guide at Divine Mercy Academy in Ashton, said, “It has been a blessing to live at the Magnificat house this year.”
She called the house “a place of such peace,” and said that “it is a gift to come home to at the end of a long day”.
Sterns said the community has been the “greatest treasure” for her.
The Sisters echoed Sterns, saying that investing in the home’s community has been part of what has made it so special.
Sister Mariela said her favorite part of living with the young women has been their weekly community nights.
Alongside a meal, “we get together and can share how the week was for us and what was new,” she said.
“Sometimes, if they went home for the weekend, they will come and share with us what they did with their family,” she continued.
Another favorite of Sister Mariela’s has been the spontaneous encounters around the house, in the kitchen, where they share life in the day-to-day.
More details
The Magnificat Household has capacity to house eight women.
Signed in August, leases extend for a year.
In the house, bedrooms are private with shared bathrooms.
A kitchen, living room, dining room, and laundry room are also shared among residents.
Monthly rent, with utilities included, begins at $475 for a standard room and increases to $550 for a larger one.
Parking, in the lot behind the house, is free.
There are four garage stalls available for a small, monthly rate.
Currently, the Magnificat Household is accepting applications for August 2025.
For questions or to access the application form, contact Sister María at [email protected] or 262-683-1168.
In addition to the Magnificat Household, the Founder Shrine on the Schoenstatt Heights property is one of six diocesan pilgrimage sites for the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope. Visiting the Founder Shrine, located at 5901 Cottage Grove Rd. in Madison, during the Jubilee Year is an opportunity for a plenary indulgence. To learn more visit madisondiocese.org/jubilee