Sr. Evanne Hunter, IBVM is a St. Michael’s alumna and a member of St. Michael’s Collegium. She has served as a member of the Leadership Team of the Loretto Sisters in Canada and for the IBVM as General Consultor, Regional and Provincial Superior, and liaison with the Loretto/ El Salvador twinned community project, and she established the IBVM UN NGO Office at the United Nations in New York. Her numerous awards include a Degree of Sacred Letters Honoris Causa from Regis College.
Within a couple of years, the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Congregatio Jesu will end centuries of ‘historic fragmentation” and complete a long road toward “becoming one” Institute through a canonical process known as “fusion” or “merger”.
What does merger mean? It means that one Institute becomes part of another. It is actually absorbed into the other. The joining Institute accepts the name and Constitutions of the receiving Institute; members and temporal goods pass to the receiving Institute; existing vows are transferred to the receiving Institute. It is a result of a joint petition to the Vatican requesting a “merger”.
Why is this happening? An important motivation is to realize the dream of our common founder, Mary Ward, who wanted the Congregation that she founded in 1609 to be called by the name of Jesus. The charism of both IBVM and CJ is rooted in the vision and mission of Mary Ward and we share a thirst for service and synodal collaboration. The envisioned future will honour both Congregations and we believe that it will enable our charism to flourish more strongly, allow us to be more effective in the mission entrusted to us and bring renewed spiritual energy to both groups.
Christopher Lamb writing in the Tablet says that “this move shines a spotlight on the enduring legacy of Mary Ward, a pioneering, courageous, prophetic figure who established a new form of female religious life” modelled on the Ignatian ideal of contemplation in action. Lamb describes how, after a few successful years establishing Communities and schools across Europe, Mary Ward attracted severe criticism from diocesan clergy, Jesuits and civil authorities because she promoted educating girls, not observing cloister or wearing a habit and self-governance by a women.
This prompted Pope Urban VIII to issue a severely worded Bull of Suppression in 1631 ordering the closing of schools and disbanding of communities. The “heretic” Mary Ward herself was imprisoned in a Poor Clare convent in Munich. Seemingly. a “poisonous growth in the Church of God”: was “torn up by the roots” and eliminated. On her release Mary Ward returned to England and died in York in 1645 thinking her dream was dead.
This was not the end, though! Faithful followers found ways to stay to stay together in England and in Bavaria throughout the 17th century. In 1831 the Institute was established in Ireland and the Superior, Teresa Ball, sent Sisters far afield including to North America in 1847. By the 20th century the Institute had evolved into three separate Generalates; Irish, North American, and Roman (including England). In 2002 the
Roman Branch officially changed its name to Congregatio Jesu. In 2003 the Irish and North American Branches reunited to become the Loreto Branch.
Over time, Mary Ward herself gained recognition as a “holy woman” and in 1919 could finally be recognized as the founder of the IBVM congregation. In 2009 Pope Benedict made her “Venerable” setting her on the path to sainthood.
For Loretto in Canada, the 2003 Reunion with the Irish Branch opened up the richness of the broader world of Mary Ward women. We saw clearly its different expressions in the diversity of cultures on all seven continents. For me, the opening of the IBVM NGO Office at the United Nations in New York was a sign of this global outreach and gave us an opportunity to work together to minister to the whole world. The new “merged” CJ Congregation will enhance this experience even more as we become one Institute with about 1600 Sisters ministering in about 42 countries across the globe.
This has been a long process of transformation of mind and heart which began formally in 2019. It included personal and communal reflection, deep sharing of realities and concerns, recognizing fears, considering what we want/need to hold onto and what we need to let go. It has not been driven by the challenges all Congregations are facing … declining numbers, diminishing resources and capacity for leadership. Rather, it has been driven by passion for the Gospel, love of the Church, common identity and vision and desire to meet the needs of the world today as Mary Ward women in one Institute.
By 2022, after two years of the spiritual journey, votes were taken in IBVM and CJ indicating almost unanimous support for petitioning the Vatican for approval of a merger. Now, Commissions have been set up to deal with the juridical, canonical and civil requirements as well as technical issues like finance, governance structures, legal matters and adaptation of Constitutions. It will still take a couple of years for all of the bureaucratic details to be dealt with and for IBVM and CJ to truly become the one Institute that Mary Ward envisioned in 1609.
What difference will this make here in Canada? Basically, IBVM will indeed become CJ and the name IBVM will no longer be used. However, we know full well that we will likely continue to be known as “Loretto” as has always been the case in North America.
The cause for the Canonization of the Venerable Mary Ward is very active. The search for the miracle required for the preliminary step of Beatification goes on around the world but most of us are convinced that the survival of Mary Ward’s Congregation for over 400 years is a miracle!
So, as we wait for the completion of these two significant processes, we ask you to pray for us and we remind ourselves of Mary Ward’s own words:
“Work in great tranquility and magnanimity
for what is not done in one year
can be done in another.”
Sr. Evanne Hunter, IBVM is a St. Michael’s alumna and a member of St. Michael’s Collegium. She has served as a member of the Leadership Team of the Loretto Sisters
in Canada. She has also served the IBVM as General Consultor, Regional and Provincial Superior, and liaison with the Loretto/ El Salvador twinned community project, and she established the IBVM UN NGO Office at the United Nations in New York. Her numerous awards include a Degree of Sacred Letters Honoris Causa from Regis College.
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