Apostolates Of The Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Inspired by Christ’s love for humanity, especially for the poor and faithful to the spirit of our foundation, our IHM sisters take as our their model the gentle and compassionate Christ who went about preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity” (Mt. 9:35).
Love is the motivating factor in this apostolic witness, and what love is, we learn from Jesus, a man for others. The Immaculate Heart of Mary also teaches us how her most pure heart reaches out to the weak and the needy. Our sisters seek to activate in our lives an empathic personal love and concern for the people we serve.
In our world today, our sisters, in communion with and imitation of the two hearts of Jesus and Mary, strive to joyfully serve in humility and compassion, the people God has entrusted to us through: Education, Health Care, Social Service, Pastoral Ministry, Farming and other works of charity in keeping with the spirit of our foundation.
We undertake these works believing that any legitimate participation in the transformation of the world is an essential aspect of the preaching of the gospel. Some of our sisters especially those in the nursing home in a unique way share in the apostolate of suffering and prayer. In all our apostolates, we dedicate ourselves to the service of Compassion – always seeking to do so after the example of our Blessed Mother Mary.
We seek to cultivate in our lives a compassionate personal love and concern for the people with whom we work, people who have a special claim to our love and service and who should be treated with kindness, understanding and sympathy characteristic of the Immaculate Heart of Mary who opens her heart to all.
Education
Faithful to the teaching ministry of the Church and in keeping with the mind of our Founder to raise the status of women and the less privileged, the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary engage in education of children from preschool to tertiary institute.
Through our education apostolate, we give witness to Christ by our lives and teaching. We see our students as individuals with special claim to our love and service.
We bring to our work a passionate desire to serve, commitment to empower people to transform their lives, and dedication to the highest standards of learning and authentic Catholic formation.
Healthcare
Our Founder’s apostolic aim for us is the special care of the sick including maternity care in hospitals, care of children in orphanages and care of people in leprosy settlements.
We engage in medical work after the example of Christ who cured every kind of diseases and infirmity. Our institute cares for the sick in hospitals, clinics and maternities.
We provide pastoral ministry to the sick and their families, health education, nursing and medical laboratory training programs.
We strive daily to bring God’s compassionate healing presence and hope to those we serve.
Social Services
Our sisters serve the elderly men and women, single expectant mothers and their babies at our compassionate homes, have boarding homes for working women and students, provide social assistance to the poor, refugees and the marginalized.
The motivation and creativity of our services flow from our charism of compassion in the spirit of humility, love of God and in imitation of Mary, our mother and model.
Pastoral Ministry
Following our Lord’s command to “Go, teach all nations,” (Matt. 28:19) Our sisters participate in the evangelization activities of the church through faith formation, catechist formation, youth ministry and vocation promotion.
We also participate in priestly formation in seminaries, provide spiritual direction, moderate retreats, engage in youth ministries, work in diocesan offices and commissions, sew ecclesiastical vestments and altar clothes, and baking of altar bread among others. Devoutly, we imitate our Blessed Mother Mary in her singular role to present Christ to our world.
Farm Projects
“Even Farming is not to be beneath them” said our Founder in his letter of July 16, 1943.
Our sisters make a tremendous effort to live up to the exhortations of our founder. Our sisters engage in small and large scale farming.