This is a summary of the news published on the website of the Vedruna Province of Europe. It can be read in full here:
The teachers and administrative staff of more than 30 schools of the Vedruna Education Foundation are meeting, in several meetings scheduled by zones from October to November, to deepen the educational charism and celebrate the Bicentennial of the Vedruna Congregation, which is commemorated in February 2026.
Last Saturday, November 15, about 500 teachers and administrative personnel from fourteen Vedruna schools participated in three simultaneous meetings. The meeting in Leon was attended by some 200 people from schools in Cantabria, Asturias and Leon; in Seville, representatives from the capital and from Huelva, Badajoz and Jaen; and in San Fernando de Cadiz, staff from three local centers.
The initiative, promoted by the Sisters Educators Network, seeks to remedy a deficit: “online sessions are common, but it is necessary to be present, to share the Word, the table and the party,” explains Eva Mª Ceñal, coordinator of this network. The aim was for the young teachers to get to know their colleagues and sisters personally, and for them to perceive the Foundation as a group of colleagues from other schools, real people whom they can get to know. In total, 80 sisters were enrolled, along with others from educational, health and liberation fields, thus broadening the participants’ view of Vedruna life.
Although the Foundation already has an annual formation program, on the occasion of the Bicentenary we proposed something special and festive, in a congregational key, to invite every teacher and every staff member to feel part of the history begun by Joaquina. Under the motto “Joaquina embraces us”, the meetings combine reflection, prayer and intergenerational sharing, strengthening the feeling of an extended family:
“In the Foundation we meet a lot in online work sessions, in nodes, commissions…, but it was necessary to get together physically, to share the Word, the table and the feast. Because our charism is one of joy, of table, of meeting and of being connected with reality and its needs in order to respond faithfully and creatively. That is Joaquina, it is in our essence”, Eva Mª Ceñal.
The program includes two workshops: “The Attic”, to cultivate moments of silence and spiritual connection, and “The Kitchen”, to imagine transformative recipes for the world and share initiatives of the schools. In this way, the celebration of the Bicentennial is connected with the motto of this year for the schools, “Embracing the future”, and with the life experience of those who work in the Vedruna schools.
Eva Mª Ceñal summarizes the intention of this proposal:
“May these meetings remind us that our family charism is called to generate around us spaces of encounter full of life, and that we can continue to embrace and celebrate”.
