We are Christians, men and women that commit themselves to witnessing the Gospel values in ordinary life. We are young and old. We are men and women from different nations and cultures, called together to make Jesus present in today’s world.

We live the life of ordinary lay people. We care for friends and family and we make our profession the means of our apostolate –citizens of both this world and another.

We can be found in schools and universities, involved in pastoral work, the mass media, in health care and research.

Any educational endeavor concerns us. Any effort towards the total development of men and women deserves our support.
Our call is to show that learning and study do not separate us from God: It is through this dialogue of faith and culture that we are called to better society and to do away with injustice and ignorance.

We are the Teresian Association, conceived by St Pedro Poveda in Covadonga, in 1911, and today present in 30 countries.

The new lay vocation conceived by St. Pedro Poveda at the beginning of the XX century in Northern Spain, received diocesan and civil approval in Jaén, Southern Spain, in 1917 and, then pontifical perpetual approval from Pope Pius XI, in 1924. Four years later members established it in South America, (Chile, 1928) and Italy (1934).

It is now part of the Pontifical Council for the Laity as a private international association of the faithful and it is present in thirty countries on four continents. Projects and corporate enterprises run by the Association are financially supported and managed by their legal entities and by voluntary contributions of members.

The Association offers its members support and formation needed to live their faith and to help the Church in its mission to bring the Gospel to the world.

TO JOIN ONE MUST

• Discover a personal call to live the Christian baptismal promises under the inspiration and guidance of St Pedro Poveda’s charism.

• Follow a process of discernment and formation guided by the Teresian Association.

•Accept a commitment to Christian life and mission according to one’s individual calling within the Teresian Association. This may be, for some, a calling and commitment in celibacy with total availability to the mission and needs of the Association.

Besides registered members there is a wide movement of alumni, collaborators friends and youth organizations who follow the inspiration of Poveda’s charism, its mission and spirituality.

THE NAME:
It is to Teresa of Jesus (Avila) that St. Pedro Poveda looked to in his attempt to achieve the ideal of “contemplation in action” of “an open attractive spirit”, “difficult naturalness”, “fully human love filled with God.” It is in this that one must seek the underlying reasons that explain the name of Teresian Association.

INSPIRATION AND MODEL:
Poveda was inspired by the life of the early Christians, taking them as a paradigm for the quality of presence he envisioned for his collaborators. Living in a pagan society, the early Christians worked with everyone for the common good, yet without hiding their faith. They lived by the Word of God, celebrated the Eucharist and lived a life of solidarity and sharing.

POVEDA’S VISION:
Together and individually we draw our resources from the Gospel message and from St. Pedro Poveda’s vision for us:

He told us to be salt: a simple presence, quiet, hidden, unnoticed, but with its own distinct flavor: God’s own presence.

He told us to be light: a joyous presence. A search for truth, a contemplative vision of God’s glory-present to everything.

He told us we are but learners. And we are walking, striving, with each new day, to accept the challenge of letting our salt dissolve, to give way to his presence.

And he told us to be strong, like Mary, mother of sorrow and hope; to learn from her a firm but gentle presence, that accepts in Jesus’ Incarnation the joys, the pain, the laughter, the compassion, the fullness and emptiness of His own being human.

INFO-IT

Updates: 21/04/2007