The Basilica of Covadonga (Asturias, Spain) has once again been the setting where a group of people representing the entire Teresian Association give testimony of their mission activities.
Nine representatives from America, Africa, Asia and Europe came to make the votive offering. They spoke about different projects and activities in many parts of the world being carried out by the TA, and they expressed their gratitude to the Santina (Our Lady of Covadonga) for the fruits received.
On Sunday 29 September, the sun peeked out timidly in the early morning between the mountains surrounding the Basilica of Covadonga. The temperature was clearly autumnal. The second day of the Pilgrimage to Covadonga 2024 began in an atmosphere of shared festivity that could be felt in every corner of the church. Around nine o'clock in the morning, the representatives who came to make the votive offering told us about the mission of the TA back home.
Welcome
María del Carmen Aragonés Guarro, Director of the Sector of Spain, Our Lady of Covadonga, welcomed the representatives and all those present. She also referred to the centenary celebration.
Then, María Rita Martín Artacho, vice-president of the Teresian Association, read the speech of the TA president, Gregoria Ruiz, who could not attend the event in person. Despite this, her words made us feel that she was there.
Gregoria Ruiz also mentioned how 2024 is a special year for the Association. After thanking Our Lady of Covadonga, it was the turn of the representatives.
Education
The speakers were introduced by Inés Carbajal, director of Area 1 of the PA in the North of Spain.
The first speakers were Inmaculada Peinado Millán and Álvaro Mestre Linares. Both have belonged to the Youth for Education movement since it began in 2020. They are also former students of the TA and leaders of ACIT Joven. In their message they explained what this youth organisation consists of and what Pedro Poveda brings to them in their role as educators.
They said that “the meetings of Youth for Education remind us that Pedro Poveda also lived in difficult times, different from ours, but that made him dream and believe in education for all.”
Ecological challenges
Josephine T. Estopil, representing Asia, is a PA member from the Philippines. She spoke in English. She described the work of the ‘Josefa Segovia Indigenous Peoples Academy’ with indigenous communities in this region of the world. The Academy undertakes ecosystem conservation projects and campaigns on behalf of those communities.
Contributing to life
Casilda Villarrubia Elibiyo, a PA member from Equatorial Guinea (Africa), is a qualified nurse and has a degree in clinical analysis. She spoke about the efforts being made for the TA to grow in her country. Through her words, she showed how much effort is being made to make the charism of the Association known through the projects being undertaken in the area: the Our Lady of Africa Educational Centre and the Castroverde Laboratory.
She expressed her feelings about what it means to share the charism: “I am one of those people who believe and say that we must share everything that brings us life, enthusiasm, joy and the desire to get involved. Whatever we consider to be essential for us should be shared so that others can enjoy those same graces.”
To carry on the work
The president of the ACIT Bolivia Association, the first ACIT association in America, Patty L. Severich, presented the projects and initiatives that are being implemented in her country. She shared the feelings of the ACIT members about the mission they have taken on: “to carry on the work”.
She said, ‘since I got to know the Teresian Association, I have felt that the episodes of my life are written with a special consistent ink’.
Identity and personal development
Then, the ACIT couple Emanuela Savio and Giorgio Luppina spoke about life as a family. They live in Palermo in Italy and work in the field of education. “The TA is an integral part of our lives and is a constituent of our identity as individuals and as a family”, stressed Emanuela in her presentation in Italian.
The next speaker was Andrea Valeska Sanhueza Hernández, from the region of Cunco in Chile, the first country to receive the TA after the pontifical approval. A PA member in fundamental training, she is a social worker with a wealth of experience in pastoral work. She currently resides in Argentina.
Working together with heartfelt commitment
The last speaker was Maite Sevillanos Rubio. She has been working for eighteen years in Santa María de Los Negrales in Spain as a receptionist. She is a former student of the state school that once operated in Los Negrales and where members of the TA carried out their mission.
She expressed her feelings in this way: “With you, I learned to listen in the silences; I learned that we are all important, that each day has its own purpose, that we should go forward on our journey without making much noise, and many other things.”
After these presentations had concluded, the next appointment was Mass at midday.
Click here to see the video of the event recorded in the Basilica.
TA Info.
TA Translation Team.
Published in News