Rome (Italy). On 27 January 2024, through two webinars at different times, the Superior General of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Mother Chiara Cazzuola; Sister Runita Galve Borja, General Councillor for Youth Ministry; and Sister Ivone Goulart Lopes, ISS-FMA collaborator and head of ISS-FMA, inaugurated the website of the Institutions of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (ISS-FMA): www.iss-fma.com. The online meeting was attended by 35 Institutions, represented by more than 170 participants from 14 countries around the world.
The Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians currently has 42 Institutions of Higher Studies, administered directly or indirectly by the FMA in 4 continents (Africa, America, Asia, and Europe), distributed in 26 provinces, present in 16 nations and 8 interprovincial conferences.
Over the years the FMA, guided by the spirit of the ‘da mihi animas coetera tolle’ and ‘I entrust them to you’, to ‘take care’ of children, adolescents, and young adults through educating and evangelizing them, have given birth to cultural centers and schools of all kinds and levels, up to universities, while at the same time raising the cultural level of their members in order to significantly influence the education of the younger generations through a quality culture capable of educating attentive, aware, and proactive citizens in contemporary society.
“Today we share with you the realization of a dream,” said Sister Ivone Goulart welcoming the participants. ‘We managed to create a simple but meaningful web page. Emphasizing the internationalization and global presence of the Higher Studies Institutions of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, the creation of a website was conceived as a communication resource with the aim of offering visibility, vitality, identity, and to strengthen networking for an educational and cultural impact in various contexts, promoting synergy at all levels between the ISS-FMA, through the development of relations with other ecclesiastical, civil, and inter-congregational institutions”.
In her video-intervention, Mother Chiara Cazzuola highlighted the centrality of the person at the base of the educational processes. “The site is presented as an accessible and user-friendly tool to understand the identity of these places for the elaboration of knowledge and critical formation carried out by them with competence, at the service of the Church and society, through the quality of teaching and research in the cultural field. These “laboratories of knowledge” draw on the reference values of Christian humanism, which places the person at the center and makes them the protagonists of their own existence. In them, we can identify an ever-evolving process that ‘looks’ at each person in the light of faith, valuing the gift of intelligence, and promoting a personalised path of searching for God’s Plan for their life”. Videos with subtitles in English and Spanish
“Since this year we are celebrating the bicentenary of the Dream at Nine Years, this site is a sign of hope for all of us,” said Sister Runita Borja. “This stage is not the final goal. It is a significant stage that marks the continuity of working together, indeed of communion between our Institutions. In fact, this is the goal of the Global Educational Pact in which Pope Francis calls all humanity to collaborate. Because education is in everyone’s hands. Our Institutions are called to broaden their gaze, to join forces with more people, institutions, and groups.”
She then showed the participants the structure of the site and the categories:
– in the category Institutions, there are links to the different ISS-FMA, which is accessed via a sensitive map that leads to the breakdown by Continents, Countries, and Provinces.
– the category Identity reports the main information on the ISS-FMA Network: numbers, vision and mission, values, history, organization..
– the category Events allows the sharing of the news and events reported by the websites and facebook pages of different Institutions.
– the category Resources contains documents in the various languages and a photo agallery.
The site can be viewed in the five languages used by the Institute – Italian, Portuguese, French, English, and Spanish – by clicking on the worldmap at the top right.
Inviting to explore and publicize it, Sister Runita concluded by saying, “Browsing the site you understand that your Institution is part of a large network, a constellation of Institutions dedicated to the integral education of young people and young adults. It is beautiful to know that we contribute all over the world so that these young people may discover God’s beautiful and unique plan for their lives. In this sense, behind every photo and activity, there is a concrete proposal for young people to become honest citizens and professionals, capable of living solidarity, justice, peace, and the care of the common home. Enjoy browsing and happy feast of Don Bosco!”.
