News from the Congregatio Jesu: NB: To those who visit this website:  The Congregatio Jesu (CJ) is our sister religious congregation. Both the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Congregatio Jesus are branches of the one worldwide Institute founded by Mary Ward. We thought you would like to know what they have been doing of late!

The first every CJ Social Conference took place in Allahabad, India, in early March. The 44 participants came from 14 CJ provinces and the Generalate. 

Sister Sabrina Edwards , IBVM, from our IBVM Indian province was also invited to participate.

The focus of the Conference was the call to live and work with those who are in any way deprived, especially women.  The group spent two busy days visiting new CJ ministries in rural villages to lay the foundations for a three-day workshop led by Fr. Louis Prakash,, SJ, from the Bihar Social Institute. The Conference underlined Mary Ward’s epitaph: ‘To love the poor …’  All ministries, in fact, have a social justice dimension, although the cultural context may differ. The group recognised that the ‘option for the poor’ demands flexibility, appropriate training, genuine insertion, evaluation and teamwork..