Lay Claretian Movement

OFFICIAL NAME

ACRONYM

MSC (Movimiento de Seglares Claretianos)

ALSO KNOWN AS

Lay Claretians

ESTABLISHED

1983

HISTORY

MSC was founded at Villa de Leiva, in Colombia, by the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Claretians). They decided during the course of their 19th General Chapter in 1979 to help the lay apostolate associations that they had promoted in the past as their own work to organise themselves autonomously as members of the Claretian Family. On 20 April 1988, the Pontifical Council for the Laity decreed recognition of the Movimiento de Seglares Claretianos as an international association of the faithful of Pontifical Right.

IDENTITY

The members of MSC set out to adopt the mission of Jesus in the world as their own, to live the demands of the Kingdom and provide a service of evangelisation to the Church, according to the charism and the spirit of St Anthony Mary Claret. Admission to the Movement is preceded by a period of instruction to provide a basic Christian education to candidates (in ecclesiology, Christology, theology, the Lay vocation and vocations in the Church) and to spread knowledge of the life and charism of the Founder of the Claretians. The ongoing formation of the members of MSC prepares them for the work of evangelisation and includes study of the Claretian identity and spirituality, study of the socio-economic situation of different countries, and professional training. The members of the Movement perform their mission both by Christian animation and by seeking to transform temporal realities (the family, work, economy, politics, trade unions, Art) and by cooperating in building up the local Church as a community of faith, hope and charity (missions, catechesis, biblical and theological education, participation on parish and diocesan pastoral councils).

ORGANISATION

MSC is organised at the local, regional and international levels. Membership of the movement takes place through admission to one of the local groups. All the groups of a given regional area constitute the region. The regions are coordinated by the Regional Assembly and by the Regional Council. The international coordination of the Movement is the responsibility of the General Assembly - to which the members of the General Council belong, together with the representatives of the Regional Councils and the delegates of the local groups - and the General Council, made up of the Ecclesiastical Assistant and members elected by the General Assembly.

MEMBERSHIP

MSC has 135 groups and is present in 23 countries as follows: Africa (3), Asia (2), Europe (2), North America (6) and South America (10).

PUBLICATIONS

Revista Seglares Claretianos, published quarterly.

WEB SITE

http://seglaresclaretianos.claret.org

HEADQUARTERS

Movimento dei Laici Claretiani

c/o Missionari Figli del Cuore Immacolato di Maria (Claretiani)

Via del Sacro Cuore di Maria, 5 - 00197 Roma - Italy

Tel. [+39]06-80910011 - Fax 06.80910047

Tel. [+34] 668819658