He has been a member of the Jesuit Order since 1963. The Catholic priest is professor of epistemology and the history of philosophy. He is currently deputy rector of the University of Philosophy in Munich. Born in Bavaria, Schöndorf is a guest lecturer in Frankfurt am Main, Innsbruck and also in Latin America.

He has been active for many years in and for companies and associations involved in ecological farming as well as in business advisory services for quality, environment and team development. The enthusiastic sports climber is currently head of the ecological control board of the association for testing of processing (Öko-Kontrollstelle Prüfverein Verarbeitung e.V.) and he is on the scientific council of the Federal Association of Natural Foods and Goods (Bundesverband Naturkost und Naturwaren (BNN)).

Following his studies, he was project leader at the Ecological Institute (Öko-Institut e.V.) for years before founding a travel company which, right from the beginning, specialised in socially acceptable and environmental-friendly trips to Latin America. He has been the manager of "forum anders reisen e.V." (forum for trips of a different kind) for five years now. This is the only German association in the branch whose members commit themselves to establishing sustainable standards in the tourism industry.

Following her degree as a garment engineer, she began to establish an international control and certification system for ecological textiles at the IMO Institut für Marktökologie (Institute for Marketecology) in Switzerland. She was head of the specialist team "Innovation and Ecology" at Heuss Natur-Textilien GmbH. In 2001, Schaus founded it fits-Organic Development Support, an international consulting company for the textile and garment industry. The goal is to include the ecological, qualitative and economic demands as equally valued parameters in the company strategies