CLC-Leunis


Christian Life Community History

Christian Life Community® traces its roots to St. Ignatius Loyola, who, as a courtier recovering from his battle wounds, was given an extraordinary grace of conversion. That mystical experience of God led to his total dedication to Christ and His mission. After his conversion, Ignatius sought to help others by speaking with them singly or in groups about God’s presence in their lives.

He guided many towards God by drawing on his own spiritual experiences and gradually formulated the Spiritual Exercises to help future guides lead others to God. The Exercises thus formed the foundation of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and many congregations of lay persons. These later developed into the Sodalities of Our Lady, from which the Christian Life Communities developed after Vatican II.

After the Society of Jesus was suppressed in the late1700s, the link with the Spiritual Exercises and the Sodalities faded until its rediscovery in the 20th century and especially after Vatican II.

In 1563 in Rome, a young Jesuit, John Leunis, S.J  founded the first CLC by gathering a group of young lay students at the Roman College to help them unite their lives — jobs, studies, families, relationships with Christian values.

The movement, originally called the Sodality of Our Lady, grew and was confirmed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1584. Over the years the movement spread dramatically. In 1920 there were 80,000 Sodalities worldwide. In the 1950s in the U.S., there were over two million teenage members and numerous adult members.

When Vatican II urged groups like the Sodality to rediscover their original roots, some sodalities continued as before, while others became Christian Life Communities. The Jesuits and the Spiritual Exercises have continued in a close relationship with the CLC.

Content: Metro New York CLC. http://www.fordham.edu/clc/who/history.htm


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