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Community of consecrated laywomen gets new status from the Church
By Julie Filby
An international community of consecrated laywomen, with a Denver presence, recently received special recognition from the Church.
On Jan. 21 the Marian Community of Reconciliation, also called the fraternas, was approved as a society of apostolic life of diocesan right, according to canon law—a goal they have worked and prayed for.
“Our hearts are filled with gratitude and joy because on the memorial of St. Agnes, virgin and martyr, we received the news of being canonically approved as a society of apostolic life,” said Rossana Goñi, superior of the Denver community. “Every community that starts a concrete path to live consecrated lives needs the approval of Mother Church to be confirmed on their way to holiness.
“With God’s grace, and our founder’s guidance and work, we have received this confirmation!”
A society of apostolic life is one of the many forms of consecrated life existing officially in the Catholic Church, explained Goñi. Members of such societies profess their perpetual commitments or vows as a means to more fully participate in the apostolic mission of the Church.
Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, archbishop of Lima and primate of Peru, invited general superior Alejandra Keen von Wuthenau and two other members of the superior council to his home in Lima to give them the decree of erection. He also approved the constitutions of the community, which in keeping with Canon 731 of the Code of Canon Law, are the path by which the members of a society of apostolic life “strive for the perfection of charity.”
The week following the presentation, Goñi traveled to her native Peru, where she was officially received and incorporated into the society by Keen at a private Mass, along with 31 fraternas from different countries who were the only ones able to be present.
“We’re something new now canonically, so we all had to renew our promises again —and be incorporated officially into the Marian Community of Reconciliation as a society of apostolic life,” explained Goñi who has been assigned to receive and incorporate all of her sisters in the United States.
There are four communities of fraternas in the United States: Denver, Los Angeles, San Antonio and Bridgeport, Conn. In total, there are more than 170 fraternas worldwide, representing 19 dioceses. Each diocese will hold a private Mass to mark their new promises.
“Our goal is to receive all fraternas in the world before March 25, our 20th anniversary,” Goñi said.
The Marian Community of Reconciliation was established March 25, 1991, in Peru by Luis Fernando Figari, founder of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a society of apostolic life for consecrated laymen and priests; and founder of the international ecclesial Christian Life Movement.
All three communities emerged from the 40-year-old Sodalit spirituality, a spirituality approved by Pope John Paul II.
“Sodalit is a new spirituality,” Goñi said. “We’re a young community.”
Fraternas consecrate their lives to God, to be fully available for the apostolate. They make perpetual promises of obedience, celibacy and detachment from temporal goods. Responding to God’s call to evangelize the world, part of the fraternas apostolate in Denver includes leading programs, retreats and groups for youth, young adults, married women and families; organizing pilgrimages and mission trips; and serving the poor. They also serve in Hispanic ministry, the archdiocese’s Office of Evangelization and Catechesis, and produce El Pueblo Católico, the monthly Spanish-language newspaper of the archdiocese.
The first U.S. community arrived in Denver in 1998 from Latin America, at the invitation of Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. Today there are five fraternas in Denver, living in community in the residence of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church on the Auraria campus in downtown Denver.
Goñi expressed her appreciation for the support of Archbishop Chaput.
“(He) has been very supportive of our process to becoming a society of apostolic life,” she said. “We’re so grateful to him and to so many bishops we serve throughout the world.”
Archbishop Chaput will be the main celebrant at the community’s anniversary celebration set for 6 p.m. March 25 at Holy Name Parish at 3290 W. Milan Ave. in Englewood.
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