On 23 November, the Teresian Association in Peru held a celebration to close the centenary year of the pontifical approval of the TA. It was an academic and cultural event and it took place in the Isabel Flores de Oliva School (CIFO) in Lima.
Around 220 people attended. They included family members, friends, co-workers and past pupils. They spoke about their dreams for their country, Peru, as they came together as a Teresian Association family.
The event started simply as people were warmly welcomed. While they were arriving, a video (you can see it here below) was projected that showed pictures taken of centenary celebrations in thirty countries all over the world where the Povedan charism is present. All of them form part of our one hundred years’ history.
Path of transformation
The gathering was an opportunity to gratefully recognise one hundred years of the TA and its mission in the world. Also mentioned was the fact that it was an opportunity to renew our engagement in society and the Church, to give recognition to the work and commitment of so many women and men who planted the seed of the TA good idea, and to invite everyone to join in this way of transforming and humanising.
There was a presentation of the Lines of Mission and Spirituality for 2023-2028 as they are expressed in the Peru Common Mission Project. All the TA members in Peru have been working on this in recent months.
The project proposes the following: meaningful education, further emphasis on the value of the human person and on human life, and to fill all with hope; attention to family diversity which entails redefining concepts and breaking stereotypes so that there may be better connections and communication with Peruvian families; today the TA in Peru says with Pedro Poveda, ‘let us accompany young people in a changing society’. This means being there for them and encouraging them to take leading roles.
Music and dance
There was contemporary dance performed by one of the students of the school. It expressed the fact of a divided country with many challenges and questions, and how unity could come about and efforts be made to transform the situation. The event came to a close with a performance by a group of past pupils called ‘Entremaderas’. They had written the songs themselves. The words spoke of the need to work for the country and its citizens, and to have respect for all human beings.
Before drinking a final toast, a letter by the TA president, Gregoria Ruiz, was read aloud. The letter brings the Centenary to a close and invites everyone to bring this history of commitment and mission forward in our times.
TA Perú.
TA Translation Team.
Published in News