Bogota, Colombia. The Board of Directors and Management Council of Instituto Teológico de Vida Consagrada de América (ITVCA) held a virtual meeting on June 12, 2020, to see up to what extent has been reached and done so far regarding the establishment of ITVCA. This meeting is a follow-up to the one held last January 24, 2020, during the Claretian Spiritual Congress in Chile, wherein the adaptation of the ITVCA offices at the Provincial Curia in Bogotá, the 2019 Annual Management Report, the 2020 – 2021 Program, the 2019 Economic Report, and the 2020 Budget were approved.
During this second meeting, held online due to the present pandemic, the following were present: Fr. Henry Omonisaye, CMF (General Consultor and in-charge of the animation of the Institutes for Consecrated Life in the Congregation); Fr. Ismael Montero Togo, CMF (Provincial Superior of Centroamérica / MICLA President / President of the Board of ITVCA); the members of the Board, Frs. Luis Armando Valencia, CMF (Colombia – Venezuela Provincial Superior), Josué González Jaramillo, CMF (Colombia Oriental – Ecuador Provincial Superior), Marcos Aurelio Loro, CMF (Brasil Provincial Superior), Mario Gutiérrez Medina, CMF (San José del Sur Provincial Superior); the members of the Coordinating Team, Frs. Antonio Santillán, Carlos Julio Rozo, Alfredo Plaza Mora, CMFF.
Fr. Ismael invited all of them to unite themselves to the Holy Spirit, so that the Spirit may enlighten the discernment of the meeting, placing the meeting in the hands of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. Anthony Mary Claret.
Moreover, Father General, Mathew Vattamattam, CMF, also joined and greeted them.
“We are in a time of change, and a future awaits us that we have to create. The new reality of Pandemic and post-pandemic poses serious challenges to the Church and, of course, to Consecrated Life. It is a convenient time for healthy conversations, deep reflection, and a creative spirit.”
He wished them to have a very fruitful meeting for the development of the ITVCA project.
The presentation of activities for the first semester of the current year then took place. Then the academic proposal was discerned around a possible Master’s Degree in Theology of Consecrated Life and the Bible with the Uniclaretian and a project of virtual courses, in the American context. Other presentations followed: the Communication Plan, the organization of the Institute’s multi-office, and the 2020 Budget with the support of the Organisms of MICLA.
The third meeting will take place in November.
“We are happy to support this initiative, and we continue the challenge: intercultural, inter-congregational, inter-institutional, and missionary,” says the ITVCA Team.
