Thursday, July 28, 2005

Even More Ingrid

The sweetest comment appeared in the boxes this morning. A "CBM" writes:
By the way...I met Ingrid Stampa on 28 June on the Borgo Pio. She was very friendly and smiles broadly. She is NOT a member of Schoenstatt nor does she wear a veil. She was dressed in a SLEEVELESS white summer dress and sandals. God bless her, it was 100 degrees!
So Georg's wearing pants and Ingrid's wearing sandals. God Bless them both. To reprise what I said this morning, and we could make it a slogan: "Benedict XVI: Bringing the Papacy into Reality, One Less Mantilla at a Time."

We know Ingrid doesn't wear a veil, nor does she wear a habit -- even though her ensemble at the Installation bore a strong resemblance to some kind of cowl. Yet as she supervises the renovations of the papal apartments at the Apostolic Palace which are currently underway, it seems that the question of her affiliation with the Schoenstatt community is lingering.

After the election, the wire services reported that she was a "member of the Schoenstatt Sisters" -- an inaccuracy. My own sources have clarified that she is a lay affiliate. The Times of London went so far as to call her "Sister" in early May, and as recently as two weeks ago, Sandro Magister wrote the following:
Benedict XVI loves to write by hand, in German, in a miniscule script that is perfectly legible to his trusted secretaries, Ingrid Stampa and Birgit Wansing, both of whom are German and belong to the spiritual movement of Schönstatt, which was started in 1914 in a small Marian sanctuary in the Rhine valley and today is found in eighty countries throughout the world.
So, barring a first-hand statement to the contrary, I'm sticking with the "lay affiliate" line.

-30-

1 Comments:

Blogger asv said...

Hi, I don't know much about Ingrid Stampa, but I know for a fact that his private secretary, Birgit Wansing is a Sister of Schoenstatt. She uses lay dress because the sisters are allowed to use it depending on their work. In community they usually wear uniform. Schoenstatt members have different levels of commitment, some live in community, others don't, and although it may sound confusing, all are lay, (meaning that they sign a contract instead of vows).

15/9/05 16:15  

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