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Supporting the Priestly Ministry
VATICAN CITY, 29 JUNE 2006 (ZENIT) Here is the description of the
School of the Cross which appears in the Directory of International
Associations of the Faithful, published by the Pontifical Council for
the Laity.
Official name: School of the Cross
Established: 1965
History: School of the Cross was founded in the rural parish of St.
Isidro Labrador, in the Diocese of Villarhermosa, Mexico, by Father
Francisco Javier Asencio Dávalos, a professed brother of the
Congregation of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit.
After spreading to about a thousand parishes and virtually all the
dioceses of Mexico, in 1987 it was established by the Church authorities
as a national association of the faithful, and within a few years it
reached the United States of America.
On May 22, 1994, the Pontifical Council for the Laity decreed Escuela de
la Cruz to be an international association of the faithful of Pontifical
right.
Identity: School of the Cross participates in the Church's mission by
creating communities of apostles to bear witness to the spirituality of
the cross in the spiritual order and the temporal order.
The members of the association undertake to live in intimate union with
the crucified heart of Jesus Christ, priest-victim-altar, to "be priests
with their priest," and in particular to support their own parish priest
in the performance of his ministry. They are united by the realization
that they are sons of God, chosen by Jesus to take part in his mission
by helping one another to live the Gospel and the spirituality of the
cross, to the heroism of love.
Organization: Only men may join School of the Cross, both laymen
(indigenous, small farmers and workers living in the most deprived
parishes) and priests, responsible for the pastoral care of a parish.
The association is structured into small groups of 5-9 people.
Membership: School of the Cross has about 200,000 lay members and almost
200 parish priests, and is present in two North American countries.
Headquarters:
Escuela de la Cruz
Mirador s/n, Esq. Andador Cocos
Col. El Rosal
10600 M. Contreras
D.F. —
Mexico
Tel. (52) 56-683943
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Fax 55-953583
© Copyright 2006
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Libreria Editrice Vaticana [adapted]
ZE06062929
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