Province and Global Mission
Who We Are
Inspired by our founder Mary Ward, Loreto Sisters and their colleagues form a wide circle of friends. They continue to bring her mission of justice, equality and truth to the world, particularly through the education of women and ‘other means congruous to the times’.
Based on the Ignatian spiritual tradition, the ministries of the Loreto Sisters and their colleagues aim to support growth into freedom with a generosity and confidence to seek truth and do justice.
Our Mission:
To transform the Church and the world, particularly by empowering women to seek truth and do justice.
Our Values:
Freedom, Justice, Sincerity, Felicity, Verity
“With real strength and courage do what is seen to be good in all circumstances in which we are placed, not letting ourselves be deterred from this good by any opposition.”
– Mary Ward –
We acknowledge and pay respect to the first Australian people as the original and ongoing owners and custodians of this land. We commit ourselves to actively working alongside Indigenous people for reconciliation and justice.
Ours is an apostolic community whose focus is mission. We are a community for dispersion, inserted in the local culture, ready to go wherever we are sent.
– IBVM Constitutions Vol ii 3.18 –
Global Mission
Mary Ward was a visionary. Over 400 years her followers continue to be captured by this vision and her legacy is spread across the globe. Today the two congregations, which look to Mary Ward as founder, are the Congregation of Jesus (CJ) and the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM) – Loreto Sisters.
Australia and South East Asia
The shared mission of Loreto involves thousands of people including Sisters, friends, colleagues and volunteers who work in Australia, the Philippines, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.
So many engaged in our shared mission carry the responsibility for continuing the legacy of the founder Mary Ward – educating young people and responding to the needs of our time in the spirit of Freedom, Justice and Sincerity.
Loreto Around the World
Feature Image: The Leadership Teams of Mary Ward’s Institute, the IBVM and CJ Sisters, met in Rome to pray and plan, share hopes and celebrate a meal | June 2020