Background of the CICM Congregation

 
Brief Historical Background of the Church
 
 
Sacrament: means channel, representative, visible sign of an invisible
reality.
 
God     ------------------>      Jesus     ------------------>      Church
 
           The Sacrament of God is Jesus and the Sacrament of Jesus is the Church
(John 20:21, Acts 1:8)
The Church started as a religious renewal “movement”/group in Jerusalem, Israel
by no other than Jesus Christ.  Jesus grounded the Church on the foundation of the
Apostles and it spread from Jerusalem to the Roman Empire world until throughout
all the earth.
 
       
   The first “name” of the Church was The Way  (Acts 9:2), The members of the
Church were called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11: 26). The Church was persecuted
by the Roman Empire (which was still pagan) until the Conversion of the Emperor
Constantine in 313 AD which paved the way for Christians to infiltrate Rome until
Christianity was declared as the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380 AD by
Emperor Theodosius.        
          
Way back in 45 AD, the first apostle who went to Rome and started the
Church there was no other than Peter. Later, reflecting on the mission of Jesus which
He passed on to the Church, the Church’s official “name” or title evolved
into:  One (John 17:21), Holy (Ephesians 1:4, 5:27, I Peter 2:9), Catholic (Matthew
28: 18-20, Acts 1:8, Gen 12: 3, John 3: 16-17) and Apostolic (Ephesians 
2:20 )           
 
            From the Church developed the Hierarchy (Bishops, priests, and deacons –
with the Pope as the overall head for the sake of division of work and maintaining the
unity of the Church while it spreads the Kingdom of God on earth. 
 
            From the Church comes the different “kinds” of priests according to
spirituality or mission area.
                a. Diocesan is a term use for priests serving their local places;
                b. Monks: started in the 3rd century AD in Egypt and in Syria with a life of
simplicity or asceticism.
         Monks who are composed of sisters (not priests) only came out later. Example of
few monks in Cagayan who are sisters are those at the St. Claire monastery in Iguig.
                c. Missionaries are group/community of priests who really want to go to
serve remote places not yet evangelize.
                      Examples of missionaries are the following:
                      c.1. The Dominicans who was founded by St. Dominic in Prouille,
France in 1216. (Dominic was a Spanish priest).
                      c.2. The Augustinians which started in 1244 in Italy (group or no
specific founder).
                      c.3. The Jesuits or called Society of Jesus who was founded in 1540 by
Ignatius of Loyola, formerly a Spanish soldier
                              who became priest.
                      c.4. The CICM and other missionary groups only came out later. 
                             The CICM was founded by the diocesan priest Theophile
Verbist in 1862 in Scheut, Anderlecht, Brussels, Belgium.
 
Background of the CICM Congregation
 
        So what is a CICM? It is just
one of the missionary groups which is
an arm of the Church for
evangelization.
 
                 One of the many strategies for
missionaries to evangelize people especially
the youth to prepare them to become also
evangelizers in their own ways in the future
is to establish schools. With this, obviously,
in the missionary schools and even schools
established by the local Church, the core of
the curriculum is the Christian Faith
Education of the young (children to
college). In a wider sense, the Christian
formation of the Community who are
running the school. The CICM established
schools for such purpose. Here at the
University of Saint Louis, our motto for us
to always remember this is “Mission and
Excellence” and among the core values of
our University’s Vision – Mission, the first
is Christian Living.

USL’s VISION, MISSION, AND CORE VALUES

To give light in doing the mission, let's be guided with CICM's Vision and Mission.
 
 CICM
-Philippines School Network: Vision-Mission
 
At the initiative of the Father,
Sent by the Son,
Guided by the Spirit,
 
Inspired by Theophile Verbist our founder,
Who heard the call of the Lord
And left his country
To proclaim the Good News in China,
 
Enlightened by those who preceded us
And who - like our founder-
Left their familiar surroundings
To follow Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word
By integrating themselves into a foreign culture,
And by living in solidarity with another people,
  
Enriched by those we serve,
Especially the poor who reveals to us
The sin of the world
And who help us discover the true meaning
Of God’s plan of love,
 
We CICM missionaries
Of different races and cultures
Live and work together as brothers
In order to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ
Wherever it is most needed.
 
We achieve our mission
When we facilitate
The encounter between Jesus Christ and the ‘nations’.
 
Our mission includes
Enabling people
To experience the coming of the Kingdom
-proclaimed by Jesus Christ-
In their own God-given context.
 
 
  
 
USL is a global learning community recognized for science and technology across
all disciplines, strong research, and responsive community engagement grounded on
the CICM mission and identity for a distinctive student experience.
 
 
  
USL sustains a Catholic academic community that nurtures persons
for community, church and society anchored on CICM’s Missio et
Excellentia..
 
 
          
  

 
The University of Saint Louis upholds the philosophy that education is for
building of self and persons for the Church and the Society. Wisdom builds.
To these ends, the following are University of Saint Louis’s core values
integral in the formation of every member of the Louisian community.
 
1. Christian Living. We are witnesses to the Gospel values as taught
and lived by Christ thus making God’s love known and experienced by all.
2. Excellence. We seek and maintain uncompromising standard of
quality in teaching, learning, service, and stewardship of school resources.
3. Professional Responsibility.  We are committed to efficiently and
responsibly apply the learned principles, values and skills in the chosen
field of discipline, taking initiative and command responsibility in one’s
professional advancement.
4. Social Awareness and Involvement.  We engage ourselves with
society by listening to the prevailing issues and concerns in the society,
thereby initiating and participating in constructive and relevant social
activities for the promotion of justice, peace and integrity of creation and for
people’s wellness and development consistent with the CICM charism.
5. Innovation, Creativity and Agility. We keep ourselves relevant and
responsive to the changing needs of our stakeholders by being flexible,
solution oriented, and having cutting-edge decisions and practices