Madrid, Spain: On February 18, an encounter with the Claretian Family was held in Madrid at the Claret School. Claretian Missionary Sisters, Cordimarian Filiation, Lay Claretians and Claretian Missionaries gathered in a context of synodality, with the objective of feeling and thinking with the Church, sharing dreams, searches, hopes, life, and mission around the same charism.
After the opening prayer and the greeting of the major superior of the Claretian Missionaries of the Province of Santiago, María del Mar Álvarez, vice-director general of Cordimarian Filiation, made a brief presentation of the conclusions of the last world encounter of the Claretian Family, celebrated in Rome in December 2021. María del Mar deepened in the essential charismatic features of the Claretian Family and in the commitments and projects acquired in that encounter.
Among the commitments already acquired stand out the need to make known the Claretian Family with its rich common patrimony and what is proper to each institution, to promote pastoral projects, and to develop the mechanisms of communication as a family network. They also spoke of the urgency of appointing a liaison from each one of the branches to deepen mutual knowledge through the encounters, to create a coordinating team of the Claretian Family in Madrid, and to endow the organization with juridical personality.
In the information session, the Claretian Missionaries announced the forthcoming ordinations to the diaconate and the celebration of the General Chapter of the Claretian Missionary Sisters in Rocca di Papa (Italy) from July 6 to 31. The next General Assembly of the Lay Claretians in Bilbao was also informed and the 50th anniversary of pontifical approval of the institution Filiación Cordimariana was highlighted.
The encounter concluded with a Eucharist presided by Fr. Adolfo Lamata, in which he exhorted to transform the world through the power of love. Finally, there was a fraternal agape to share and give thanks for the meeting.
The Province of Santiago is the region of the Claretian Missionaries that groups communities in Spain, France, Russia and Switzerland.