“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens” — Ephesians 1:3
Dear Friends,
We, the Apostles of the Interior Life, would like to share with you an important update about our Community.
One of the tasks entrusted to our current leadership has involved finding concrete ways to improve the quality of our community life by ensuring, among other things, a larger number of members in each local house. This vision provides several advantages such as a better witness to the beauty of Consecrated life, a greater support for life in community, a more organized apostolate and greater flexibility in facing unexpected challenges.
After much prayerful discernment, our General Council and Superior have decided to consolidate the presence of our Community in the United States to one location which will be the St. Mary’s Catholic Center in College Station, Diocese of Austin, TX, where we have been serving the Texas A&M college students since 2008.
This decision comes with great peace but also with deep sadness at the thought of leaving Kansas. We are so grateful to have been ministering at the St. Lawrence Catholic Center which has been a home more than a work place for us since 2003. We consider all these years of evangelization and spiritual direction with the KU students an incredible source of blessing for each one of us. We have the greatest esteem for Fr. Mitchel Zimmerman and thank him for his fatherly care and leadership skills, and we will truly miss ministering with him and all the other staff members at St. Lawrence.
Our effective departure will be at the end of the school year, May 2022, and meanwhile we are grateful to continue our ministry with the students at the Center.
We are also grateful for all the opportunities of apostolate that we have had in these 18 years throughout the Archdiocese of Kansas City, KS and for all the people that we have met and those with whom we have walked together in spiritual direction, and especially for all the dear friends that are part of the AVI Family. It is our heart-felt desire to continue the beautiful relationships formed with them in the years. We feel enriched and blessed by each one of you and we look forward to meeting again in person. One of the good fruits of the consolidation is that there will be at least one or two Sisters who will not be directly involved in campus ministry and so as to be free to maintain the relational ministry so vital for our charism.
Last but not least we are deeply grateful to Emeritus Archbishop James Keleher for generously and trustingly welcoming us in the Archdiocese in 2003, and to Archbishop Joseph Naumann for his support, friendship and care throughout all these years. We do not have words to express how much we owe to him personally and for his generosity towards us.
As we prepare to leave the St. Lawrence Catholic Center at the end of the Spring, we ask for your prayers in this time of transition as we assure ours with deep affection and gratitude for each and every one of you.
In Christ, through whom we receive every blessing,
Sr. Michela Brugnoli, AVI
Superior of the Apostles of the Interior Life
