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The Diocese of Winona and Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church
Read Fr. Voelker's Homily of Apr 20 on the Parish Transition. |
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Our new priests will be Fr. Mariano Varela, pastor (left) and Fr. Samuel Leonard, pariochial vicar (right).
What is the Institute of the Incarnate Word?The Institute of the Incarnate Word, often referred to as "the IVE" (from the Spanish "Instituto del Verbo Encarnado") is a Catholic men's religious congregation founded in Argentina on March 25, 1984 by Fr. Carlos Miguel Buela.*
We bear the name "of the Incarnate Word" in recognition of the central mystery of our Faith, and indeed, the axis around which man's entire existence must be understood, the Incarnation of the Son of God. Our charism is broad based, we seek to inculturate the Gospel, to evangelize all cultures in order to bring Christ to the entirety of man and to all of mankind. We are, therefore, a missionary order, and we seek to cultivate an authentic and fervent missionary spirit whether we are working in the United States or Sudan or Pakistan, trying always to use those elements of culture which are noble and are in keeping with the spirit of the Gospel, and to reject those which are detrimental to the Catholic faith, and therefore, to the good of man. Thus we work in many different apostolates: as parish priests, running orphanages, teaching in seminaries and in various intellectual apostolates, seeking always to sow the Faith in absolute fidelity to the Church and Her magisterial teaching, and avoiding the false lures of relativism, synchretism, materialism, and the like. In all of these apostolates and in everything that we do, we want to live out the virtues of emptying oneself kenosis: humility, justice, sacrifice, poverty, long suffering, obedience, merciful love: simply put, to "take up the cross" in imitation of Christ.
We are a clerical institute, and therefore most of our members are priests, however, we also have a number of religious brothers. In addition, our congregation has two branches, one which is apostolic and one which is contemplative: about 10% of our members are monks. We currently have approximately 325 priests and 350 men in formation in our congregation worldwide.
The other parts of the Religious Family of the Incarnate Word are our religious sisters, who are called the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara (SSVM) and the Third Order, which is composed of lay men and women: married, single and consecrated.
What Characterizes the IVE?First, we are a young order, and growing very fast. This means that things are constantly changing: we are taking new parishes, beginning foundations in new countries, launching new apostolates, opening new seminaries, starting novitiates in new places, the list goes on and on. As a result, we are always trying to adapt to the circumstances, and things can be crazy sometimes: you could have your bags packed to go to an assignment in Italy and end up being sent at the last minute to Russia (it has happened!). Another important note here is that because we have so much going on, our members work very hard: they are really trying to spend themselves in the service of Christ. Related to this, and also to the broad-based nature of our charism, is the fact that we really make use of our members to their maximum potential. Whether it is artistic or musical talent, intellectual ability, languages, construction experience, or anything else, we challenge our men to utilize their gifts to the utmost in the service of our wide range of missionary endeavors. All of this makes for excitement, but it takes an intense prayer life and a real spirit of self-sacrifice to sustain such intense apostolic activity. Of course, we also depend enormously on the prayer and penance of our contemplatives!
We are a faithful order, deeply committed to the Church and Her Magisterium, and we recognize that this means our men need to be Catholic in every aspect of their lives. It means that we need to be fully in accord with the Church in our philosophical understanding and in our theological formation. It means that we desire to have a truly Catholic zeal in our missionary activity, and that we really believe in the necessity of bringing the Catholic Church to people and places who do not know Her, the missionary mandate. It likewise means that we have a deep desire to imitate Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, and so to be immolated, totally consumed for love of Him. It means that we have a profound devotion to his Real Presence in the Most Holy Eucharist, and that we have a deep filial devotion to Our Blessed Mother (indeed, we all consecrate ouselves to her according to the method of St. Louis de Montfort).
We are a joyful order. We know, too, that cultivating a spirit of joy and camaraderie sometimes takes work, and we are prepared to do that for love of our brothers and for love of our community life, but most of all because we know that our vocation is a gift from God, a gift we should always rejoice over having been given. The spirit of joy, or mirth, is a very important part of our charism, it is even in our Constitutions that we are to cultivate this virtue of eutrapalia, as St. Thomas Aquinas called it. We strive to do everything, from the smallest daily chores to the most important apostolates, with a light heart and a cheerful spirit. Indeed, people sometimes say they were surprised to see how quiet we are in church, given how loud we are at dinner!
At its foundation, our mission has a two fold characterization. On one hand, we seek the glory of God and the salvation of souls, our own and others, especially by practicing those virtues that make us participate more in the humbling of Christ himself. On the other hand, we commit all our strength to inculturate the Gospel, that is to say, to extend the Incarnation 'to all men, in the whole man, and in all of the manifestations of man,'* in accordance with the teachings of the Magisterium of the Church. In order to effect this, we want to be rooted in Jesus Christ who has come in the flesh, and only in Christ, and always in Christ, and Christ in everything, and Christ in all, and all of Christ, because the Rock is Christ, 'and no other foundation can any one lay.'** We want both to love and serve Jesus Christ; his Body (both His physical body in the Eucharist and His mystical body in the Church) as well as His Spirit, and to bring others to love and serve Him with us.
* IVE Constitutions
** 1 Cor 3:11
Questions and Answers
Q. Would you describe your order as conservative or liberal?A. We are just Catholic. That means we believe absolutely in the authority of the Pope and the Magisterium of the Church, and follow them without reservation and with great joy, knowing that in so doing we are humbly obedient to Christ's authority here on earth. Among other things, it also means that:
We don't think praying the Rosary every day is just for old ladies (although we thank God for those old ladies)!
We believe our apostolic efforts will be fruitless if they are not rooted in an intense prayer life, and so we spend an hour every day in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
We wear our religious habit.
We obey our superiors.
We don't monkey around with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Period.
Q. How long does it take to become a priest in your order?
A. Usually, 8 years, one year of novitiate, three years of philosophy and four years of theology. Sometimes guys enter who have already completed some of the necessary studies for the priesthood, in which case the period would likely be shorter (but this is not a given). It might seem like a long time, but since there's nothing more important than proper formation for a priest, its well-worth it.
Q. What kind of work does the IVE do in the United States?A. Here in the US, the majority of our priests are working in parishes. This is not only because there is a great need for parish priests given the overall decrease in the numbers of priests and seminarians, but also because there is a tremendous shortage of Spanish-speaking priests (and most of our priests speak Spanish) to minister to the large number of Latino immigrants in this country. We are always happy to work as pastors, because we recognize that the parish is the fundamental building block of the Catholic Church and a primary avenue for the evangelization of a culture. Of course, that does not mean that our apostolate is limited to parish work, we also have a number of priests who are seminary professors, for instance. In addition, all our priests preach Spiritual Exercises retreats every year, organize popular missions, etc.
Q. What countries does the IVE work in?
A. Right now the IVE is working in 33 countries: in some places there are only a couple of priests, and in others a much larger presence. In many of these countries (about two-thirds) our sisters also have foundations.
Here is a list:
Albania
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
Chile
China
Denmark
Ecuador
Egypt
France
Guyana
Holland
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Lithuania
Pakistan
Palestine
Papua New Guinea
Peru
Philippines
Russia
Spain
Sudan
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tunisia
Ukraine
United States
Q. Does your order only celebrate the Novus Ordo mass?
A. Generally speaking we celebrate the Novus Ordo, always taking great care to do so with the reverence and solemnity due to the Eucharist. However, some of our priests certainly celebrate the Tridentine mass, and more are interested in doing so after Pope Benedict released his motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum. Of course, it is also significant to note that we work in a number of countries where the liturgy is not in the Latin rite at all, and so in Egypt we celebrate the Coptic rite, in the Ukraine and in Russia we celebrate the Byzantine rite, etc.
Q. Do you all study Latin in the seminary?A. We do, usually everyone has 3 years of Latin. The goal is that our seminarians and priests can read St. Thomas Aquinas, the Western Church Fathers, etc. in the original Latin. FYI, we also study Greek, usually three years: so that we can read the New Testament and even the Eastern Church Fathers in the original. Obviously, this depends substantially on the abilities of the individual seminarian, but that's the goal.
Q. You guys have really nice vestments-where do you get them?A. The sisters! One of the beautiful things that the sisters in our religious family do for our priests and our parishes is to make vestments. Its one of their ways of adding to the dignity and beauty of the liturgy (one of the special focuses of our congregation)...
Q. How big is your religious family?
A. The Religious Family of the Incarnate Word has three parts:
The Institute of the Incarnate Word (the male branch), which has roughly 700 members: 325 priests, 350 men in formation, and a small number of lay brothers.
The Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara (the female branch), which has about 750 members, perpetually professed sisters and those still in formation
The Third Order of the IVE (the lay branch), which has about 2,000 members: married people, single people, and consecrated laypeople who want to share in the charism of our order.
So we're about 1,500 religious, and about 3,500 all together.
Much more information can be found at the IVE website.
