The Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR) will continue the celebration of the Year of Consecrated Life with a two-week course of study for religious from July 6-17 entitled “Spouses of Christ, Daughters of the Church.” It will take place at the Pax Christi Retreat Center in Corpus Christi.
Space is available for approximately 80 Spanish-speaking women religious to attend the course of study.
The CMSWR is holding this summer course as a response to the Church’s call to evangelization and communion between religious congregations. An opportunity for women religious who serve the immigrant population in the United States, the two-week course was developed in Spanish to allow Spanish-speaking women religious to enrich their knowledge of the historical context and holy lives of the Fathers of the Church.
The event coordinator Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará sister Mother M. Ephesus, has realized that the lives of the Early Fathers, and their service to the consecrated virgins of their times exemplify a spirituality of communion.
“I am so excited about this summer course, because it is a response to the Holy Father’s challenge to become ‘experts in communion.’ I hope that we can be the example of communion, the ‘vigorous and joyful witnesses’ that Pope Francis is calling for,” Mother Ephesus said.
Women religious of various congregations will be serving as instructors for the course, providing introductory talks and facilitating discussions on the lives and writings of the Fathers of the Church in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Liturgy of the Hours and the main documents of the Second Vatican Council.
This course will be a communal experience of ongoing intellectual, theological and spiritual formation, as promoted by Perfectae Caritatis, the Vatican II Decree on the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life: “Religious should strive during the whole course of their lives to perfect the culture they have received in matters spiritual and in arts and sciences.”
Sister Theotokos, SSVM, a course instructor, emphasized the purpose of the event, “St. John Paul II highlights the importance of developing a sense of ecclesial communion as exemplified in the ‘the joyful profession of faith made by Saint Teresa of Avila: “I am a daughter of the Church’ (Vita Consecrata, 46).”
The “Spouses of Christ, Daughters of the Church” course registration is open to all Spanish-speaking women religious from across the country. Located in Washington, D.C., the CMSWR was founded in 1992 with the canonical approval of St. John Paul II. The sisters of the CMSWR communities represent 125 communities nationwide with approximately 6,000 sisters. For more information visit
www.cmswr.org.