Vision
The Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious will be a collaborative body of life-bearing women religious committed to “the full flowering”* of religious life in the United States by placing our collective feminine genius** at the service of the Church and one another. CMSWR will be a wellspring of hope and a trusted resource for the ongoing revitalization of religious life and the new evangelization.
* Pope John Paul II, May 9, 2001
** Pope John Paul II, On the Dignity and Vocation of Women
Core Values
Fidelity: Ecclesial women faithful to the Magisterium
A life-giving spirit: Nurturing with Mary the Church’s life and holiness
Commitment: Ongoing revitalization of religious life
Spirituality of communion: Engaging the truth of and being enriched by the beauty, unity and goodness of each charism
Mission Statement
General Mission
- To establish an effective collaboration among major superiors
- To cooperate closely with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and with individual Bishops
- To nurture “a renewed appreciation of the deeper theological reasons for this special form of consecration”
Specific Mission
- To provide a clear, stable and official channel through which major superiors, assisted by an Episcopal Liaison appointed by the Holy See, can share the vision, principles and directives of the Magisterium with regard to religious life (VC 52)
- To provide a realistically viable and mutually helpful forum for participation, education and dialogue on the shared patrimony of the Church’s teaching on matters central to the mystery and reality of religious life as integral to the life and holiness of the Church (LG 44; VC 53)
- To promote a unity among major superiors that will give testimony of hearts grateful for their vocation in the Church, their union with the Magisterium of Peter and their filial love of Christ’s Vicar on earth (VC 85)
- To articulate the theology of religious life as a vocation nurturing the Church’s life and holiness
- To assist in the revitalization of institutes of religious life and their participation within each particular church
- To offer educational opportunities helpful to religious institutes