On 31 January 2025, the Teresian Association will officially close the centenary of its pontifical approval in Rome. It has been a year full of events and meetings in which thanksgiving was the general theme.
The centenary will be officially closed with an academic event at the Gregorian University with the presence of Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life and the TA president Gregoria Ruiz. The undersecretary of the Secretariat of the Synod, Nathalie Becquart xmcj., will speak on the topic ‘The mission of the laity in a synodal Church’ and the theologian Elisa Estévez López will speak on ‘Itineraries of lay spirituality in Pedro Poveda.’
'Open'
The launch of the centenary of pontifical approval took place on 11 January 2023 with the presentation of a dedicated website ‘itweareopen.com’ and the logo. The word ‘open’ stands out in the logo because the celebration of the centenary is intended to be an ‘opening’. Our pontifical approval opened new horizons for the charism of Pedro Poveda and opened up new paths for the Catholic laity. In commemorating this event, the TA welcomes the challenge of continuing to open up the legacy we have received to more people -- faith-culture dialogue, lay spirituality, social transformation through education, the advancement of women and the equality of all people.
Centrality of the Eucharist
Indeed, the Eucharist was at the centre of this centenary commemoration. The official celebrations began on 12 January 2024 with Mass in the Cathedral of Santa María de la Almudena (Madrid, Spain) presided over by the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, José Cobo, and attended by TA president Gregoria Ruiz. Since then there has been a significant number of commemorative events in 28 countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe.
On more than seventy-five occasions, members of the TA, co-workers, family and friends gathered in cathedrals or parish churches with local bishops or priests and they celebrated the Christian community’s thanksgiving par excellence. These celebrations were opportunities to bear witness to faith and to share our joy. People were invited to live in hope and to work to bring about transformative change in the world and to be themselves salt and light.
TA President, Gregoria Ruiz, in a letter addressed to TA members, MIT, co-workers, family members and friends expressed:
To each and every one who forms part of this great Teresian Association family, let me say thank you.
Thank you for all that this celebration has meant in terms of grateful memory of our roots and the insights and ideals of St Pedro Poveda that crystallised into ‘the good idea’. Thank you for the example of so many people who have gone ahead of us, people who embodied, lived out and transmitted this precious legacy with enthusiasm and integrity. We are grateful because these roots are the foundation and support on which our lives today are built, as we look forward with hope and are open to the future for generations to come. Thank you because the charism is strong and, through the action of the Spirit, it continues to be renewed and to be attractive and it is constantly developing.
Bringing people together
During this year of celebrations, there have been many activities, initiatives and commemorative events in all corners of the world where the TA is present. Much of this has been recorded on the TA websites and social networks.
By way of summary, in addition to the many celebrations of thanksgiving Masses, we highlight the meetings of various kinds that brought people together and where there was joyful interaction and fruitful exchange.
We are aware of more than 30 meetings held by various groups:
- Former students of TA schools or university residences (they were the most numerous; one event with 300 participants was held online and had international scope);
- Meetings of TA associations from different places with people of different generations;
- Festive meetings of families in schools;
- Youth groups that follow the TA charism;
- Open days in cultural centre;
- Meetings on significant dates such as Pentecost and anniversaries.
In many places, especially in Spain, conferences, round tables and panel discussions with experts were held. More than fifteen conferences were given by TA members, sometimes gathering more than a hundred people, communicating aspects of the charism and history of the Association founded by Poveda. There were around fifteen discussion panels and round tables on education, lay spirituality and social issues, and occasions when testimonies were given by members and co-workers.
To these public events we can add dissemination in the media and social networks of articles reporting on the Centenary or highlighting aspects of the charism. There were also interviews with some of our high-profile members.
Several publications were presented. In Manila and Paris, translations of works on lay spirituality were published by Narcea, which also produced ‘Inspirations for a Centenary’, a creative interactive booklet to accompany the year.
In several places, as a complement to the celebrations, photographic exhibitions about the local TA were organised. In other places there were cultural evenings with concerts, dance and even a musical. No less important are the gestures of solidarity associated with the celebrations, with the participation of the NGDO InteRed.
Smaller groups, mainly from Europe, made pilgrimages to places such as Guadix, Jaen or Covadonga, and some followed the route of Pedro Poveda in Madrid. Virtual Routes’ were placed on the international website, and these provided a visual journey through places linked to the beginnings and unfolding of the TA charism.
In addition to these events there were functions in which recognition was given to the TA. These include the Bolivian Senate and the Catholic University of Valencia. Relics of Pedro Poveda or Victoria Díez were placed in some churches and mention was made to the celebration of the Centenary of the pontifical approval of the TA. One of the places in which a relic of Pedro Poveda was placed is a new church named after him in Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic.
The centenary will officially come to an end on 31 January with the above-mentioned academic event at the Gregorian University. All the energies mobilised during this special year, the bonds it has forged, the doors it has opened and the encounters it has brought about, now remain as the fruit and seed of a new ‘sending forth’, point that Gregoria Ruiz highlighted in her letter on November:
With the certainty that having celebrated one hundred years of life encourages us to open up new paths and new ways of embodying and transmitting the charism, we are prepared to continue to show that the TA is ‘a work of God and something good’.
TA Info.
TA Traslation Team.
Published in News