Twenty religious sisters from seven different communities participated in the second, two-week summer course “Esposas de Cristo, Hijas de la Iglesia” (Spouses of Christ, Daughters of the Church). Among the participants was Pax Christi Sister Gloria Salinas from the Diocese of Corpus Christi.
This year’s program, made possible through the generous support of Our Sunday Visitor Institute and the Knights of Columbus, was held from June 27 through July 8, at the Pax Christi Liturgical Center, run by the Pax Christi Institute Sisters on the grounds of their Motherhouse in Corpus Christi. The course was taught by Sister Francisca Martinez Ruiz, MCMI, who serves in the Archdiocese of Denver, Colorado and Sister Maria Theotokos Adams, SSVM, who serves in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.
The academic focus of this year’s course was a study of the theology of mercy and the example of great women religious whose lives have been particularly radiant with God’s mercy. Begun in 2015 as an initiative of the Intercultural Subcommittee of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR) for the Year of Consecrated Life, the two-week course is designed to offer formative education for Spanish-speaking women religious serving the Church in the United States.
“This course provides a wonderful opportunity for Spanish-speaking sisters to study important Church documents in their native language,” said Mother Mary of Ephesus Baird, SSVM, event coordinator. “The small class also provides these sisters with a time of renewal, study and fraternal charity.”
“It is not just studying, it is also praying while you are studying,” said Sister Miriam Rivera Martinez of the Servants of Mary, Ministers of the Sick, a 2016 participant. “I think everybody should have the opportunity to experience the joy of being together in community life. It is the joy of sharing with other sisters that have a different charism, a different spirit, but we all have the same mission of loving Jesus and serving the Church.”
Located in Washington, D.C., the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious was founded in 1992 with the canonical approval of St. John Paul II. The sisters of the CMSWR members represent 120 communities nationwide with approximately 6,000 sisters. For more information, please visit
www.cmswr.org.