Divine love is like fire …it is impossible to love God and not extend God’s honour.”
Mary Ward’s vision was one apostolic institute, with the same constitutions and charism as the Society of Jesus. On the 04 November 2025 in Loyola Spain the two branches of Mary Ward’s Institute CJ and IBVM officially became one.
The chosen date for this historic event was the anniversary of the foundation of Rathfarnham Abbey from the Bar Convent, York in 1821 and the chosen venue was Loyola in northern Spain, in recognition of Mary Ward’s desire to ‘take of the same’ as the Society of Jesus’ according to the grace of God.
As well as the two Generalate teams, provincial leadership and selected delegates from every province the Jesuit General Superior, the Rev Arturo Sosa, presided at the celebratory Mass in the Basilica of Loyola.
Sr Carmel Swords, outgoing General Superior of the IBVM, reads the decree of merger.
Ten days later, over the weekend of 14th-16th November the two Loreto provinces of Ireland and England were invited to the Bar Convent in York for a prayerful exchange of our common Mary Ward heritage, and to celebrate the merger. It had been from the Bar Convent that Teresa Ball from Dublin, who had been at school and formed as a novice of Mary Ward’s institute at the Bar Convent, retuned to Dublin to make ‘a foundation of our institute’ in Ireland in 1821. The reasons for the eventual emergence of a new, independent religious congregation in the Church known as the Loreto congregation is complicated, but understandable in the political and religious circumstances of the time. That is all history now and we met to celebrate the re-union.
Given the complexity of a merger, it was decided to leave the historical and canonical issues that were relevant in the competent hands of the three province archivists; from left to right:
Hannah Thomas, (CJ English Province); Áine McHugh, (Loreto Irish Province), and Clare Walsh, (Loreto English Province). Each in turn took a different approach. Hannah’s title was ‘Entreating Sisterly Affection to each other: Teresa Ball and the Bar Convent’; Áine’s title was: ‘The Same Desire to be United IBVM-CJ Journey to Union 1888-1968’, and Clare’s title was ‘Separately Inseparable, Voices from the Annals’.
On the Sunday Dermot Preston SJ lead us in a Lectio of sharing in table groups. This was followed by a slide show of the events in Loyola from those who had been present. After Mass in the Bar Convent chapel, we all walked down to Valentino’s, a local Italian restaurant which had kindly opened outside normal hours. As well as a delicious meal together, we were serenaded by a staff member, otherwise on waiter duty, who happened to have a remarkable and very loud voice for singing popular Italian hits. The celebrations ended with him selecting from among forty of us a sister prepared to dance with him as the rest of us applauded. Then it was a warm good-bye to all as participants made for the station and airport and home.
