To bring about change

The Teresian Association feels the call to live in hope and to transmit this gift born of the Spirit. It is shared by creating spaces of fellowship based on dialogue and communion.

We seek to leave our comfort zone and to look at the world around us with new eyes. We aim to behave as Poveda did with new ways of thinking and doing things, through dialogue between faith and science, and by having a view of the world that comes from compassion and knowing that we are all equal as children of God, our Father and Mother.

This compels us to undertake the following:

  • - To weave networks of fellowship in the world, based on diversity and aimed at inclusion, dialogue and equality.
  • - To commit ourselves to families, for they are the true agents of social transformation.
  • - To journey with young people living in a society and world undergoing accelerated change.

It draws us together

The Association attaches great importance to the development of its members. It provides resources and opportunities for personal and spiritual growth and for the involvement of each person in the mission.

The ‘Teresian’ character of the people associated with this ecclesial work is forged in prayer and study, true pillars of the charism from the very beginning.
Prayer and study are understood in terms of the incarnation and the call to be like leaven and salt immersed in everyday life.

Jesus Christ at the centre

In the words of Pedro Poveda:

—“The Work is Jesus Christ. He is the inspiration, the support, the life, the standard, the theory, the practice, the system, the method... in short, everything”. (1917).

—“We can all imitate Christ, whatever our temperament may be or our age, sex or career. As we emulate him, we do not destroy our special God-given way of being, but we raise it up and sanctify it”. (1918)

Mary is an anchor in our lives, a continuous and maternal presence. It is to her, the first disciple, that we turn individually and as a people to seek help and strength in following Jesus.

Lines of action for the six-year period

To intertwine networks of fellowship in the world

The TA wishes to be inclusive and to show hospitality where there is diversity in ideas, cultures and people... and to oppose and denounce all forms of discrimination, prejudice and intolerance.

To encourage approaches and practices that uphold human rights and promote peace, justice, equality and care for creation.

Committed engagement with families

As an Association, we support educational and social projects and other activities with families, especially with those on the peripheries of our world.

We acknowledge diversity in family realities and we denounce situations of poverty, discrimination, human rights violations, violence in all its forms and the negative consequences of migration.

We must also continue to work for the equality of women and for their dignity and rights.

To journey with young people

To accompany young people as they wander and search for meaning, and to offer them an unconditional welcome where they can experience alternative ways of living, relating, challenging and processing what they experience.

We emphasize the educating of young people to have a sense of ethics and solidarity and to be prepared to embrace the interior life and find the God of Jesus.

These are young people who are moved by suffering, poverty and exclusion and who work against those evils.