History

On 1 September 1977, the "Unio of Atoning Love" is founded for priests and lay people. For Mother Marie Therese, this first foundation forms the basis for the founding of Communio in Christo on 8 December 1984.

On 1 September 1979, the "Unio für Kranke u. Leidende" (Union for the Sick and Suffering) is founded.

On 13 August 1980, the "Unio zur Hilfe für in Not befindliche Menschen in der Gesellschaft gemeinnützige GmbH" is founded with its headquarters in Jünkerath/Feusdorf.

On 13 September 1981, Mother Marie Therese founded the collective community "Effata" in the lower church in Steyl / Netherlands, again in a Eucharistic celebration.

On January 6, 1982, at the request of Mother Marie Therese, the Bishop of Aachen, Dr. Klaus Hemmerle, gives permission to the priests of the Unio to move to the Unio Center to live together.

In 1984, the motherhouse of Communio in Christo is built and completed in Mechernich.

On May 17, 1988, "Unio e.V." and "Unio GmbH" merge to form "Communio in Christo e.V.".

On March 20, 1990, a branch is opened in Czestochowa/Poland in the form of a non-profit "Communio in Christo e.V." to promote close cooperation with Polish parishes and monasteries.

After just over a year, the "Stella Maris" hospice has already become too small due to constant requests to take on seriously ill patients who are difficult to place. Therefore, on December 8, 1991, the members of the community move to make room for another 27 seriously ill patients.

On the occasion of the 10th Founding Commemoration on December 8, 1994, Bishop Dr. Edward Materski blesses the Memorial Room of Mother Marie Therese.

Im November 1995 startet das erste Projekt zur Unterstützung der Aidskranken in Lusaka/Sambia durch Medikamentensendungen über „action medeor“. Ansprechpartner in Lusaka ist zu jener Zeit Pfarrer Romuald Szczodrowski, der im Jahr 2006 die erste Doktorarbeit über die missionarische Dimension des Lebens und Wirkens von Mutter Marie Therese schreiben wird.

In October 1996, another Communio delegation travels to Poland. During this visit, Bishop Materski consecrates the "Hall of Thanks to Mother Marie Therese" in the seminary in Radom on 7 October.

Father Jozef Zielonka publishes the first book with texts by Mother Marie Therese in Polish in June 1997. The title: "On the Threshold of Love - My Encounters with Adversity in the Church and the World".

On 1 September 1999, a centre for children in need was opened by the Communio Group in the parish of St. Michael in Skarszewy, northern Poland. The centre receives support from the "non-profit Communio in Christo e.V." in Czestochowa.

In June 2000, Communio Spiritual Father Hermann Walch travels to Zambia with a delegation from Communio in Christo. There, the parish priests Thomas Banda and Romuald Szczodrowski take the vows of Communio in Christo into his hands.

On 19 March 2001, the hospice "Mother Marie Therese" in Mpanshya/Sambia, run by Borromean Sisters, is inaugurated by Communio priest Romuald Szczodrowski.

In July 2001, a delegation from the Diocese of Innsbruck visited Communio in Christo at the invitation of Bishop Kothgasser.

In 2002, the new ward for coma patients in the Swiatlo Hospice in Torun/Poland is blessed by the Communio priest Romuald Szczodrowski on behalf of Superior General Karl-Heinz Haus.

In January 2003, the previous association was renamed "Sozialwerk Communio in Christo e.V." and registered as a non-profit association at the Euskirchen District Court under VR No. 536. It is the supporting association of the three facilities "Communio in Christo", "Stella Maris Hospice" and "Haus Effata".

On 12 April 2003, the new hospice "Stella Maris" in Mechernich is opened and blessed by Bishop Dr Edward Materski from Radom.

On 10 August 2003, after one year of renovation and refurbishment, the reopening of "Haus Effata" in Blankenheim is celebrated.

On 19 April 2004, Bishop Geevarghese Mar Divannasios of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church from the diocese of Bathery in India arrives for a visit to the Communio in Christo in Mechernich. This was followed by a joint Eucharistic celebration and the inauguration of the organ in the house chapel, a gift from Father Van den Hoven from Oud Valkenburg.

On July 3, 2004, the first benefit concert by star tenor Johannes Kalpers for the Communio Hospice "Stella Maris" takes place. Kalpers takes over the patronage of the hospice in the same year.

On December 4, 2004, Bishop Aleksander Kaszkiewicz from the Diocese of Grodno in Belarus visits Communio in Christo. The bishop is the main celebrant on the occasion of the 20th Founding Commemoration Day. On the evening before, three international Communio priests will visit the diocesan bishop of Aachen, Dr. Heinrich Mussinghoff. At the Founding Commemoration Day itself, Professor Dr. Hermann-Josef Pottmeyer will give a lecture on the "Pastoral Guiding Idea for the Realization of the Second Vatican Council".

In May 2006, the visitation of Bishop Dr. Heinrich Mussinghoff takes place in the motherhouse and the care facilities of Communio in Christo in Mechernich.

A delegation of Communio in Christo attends the episcopal ordination of Waclaw Depo, former rector of Radom Seminary, at Zamosc Cathedral in Poland on September 9, 2006.

In October 2006, Archbishop Medardo Mazombwe from Lusaka/Zambia visits Communio in Christo and participates in a Eucharistic celebration and a Communio meeting.

The Social Work of Communio in Christo in Mechernich and the Hospice Swiatlo in Torun/Poland conclude a cooperation agreement in 2007.

Major Archbishop Moran Mor Baselios Cardinal Cleemis, Catholicos, head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in India, visits Mechernich in June 2007 together with Father Thomas Naickamparambil. The Catholicos comes directly from his inaugural visit to Pope Benedict and, accompanied by Superior General Karl-Heinz Haus and Spiritual Director Father Hermann Walch in Aachen, participates in the shrine pilgrimage together with Bishop Heinrich Mussinghoff.

In 2008, Father Gregor Stepkes moved into Haus Effata in Blankenheim and initially served the surrounding communities and Haus Effata as pastor from there.

Father Jaison Thazhathil from Kerala/India will be exempted by his bishop for the Communio in Christo on October 4, 2008 and will come to the motherhouse in Mechernich.

A Communio delegation with Father Hermann Walch and Father Jaison visited the Communio priest Dr. Romuald Szczodrowski in his new field of activity in Coventry/England on June 19, 2009.

Superior General Karl-Heinz Haus attends the opening of the African Synod of Bishops by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome on October 4, 2009.

On September 07, 2010, a Decretum Laudis is issued by Bishop Dr. Heinrich Mussinghoff, Aachen.

On May 23, 2011, the Superior General traveled to the Holy See in preparation for a Congress for the New Evangelization. On October 15-16, 2011, a large delegation of Communio in Christo made a trip to Rome for this purpose. On October 16, 2011, the Superior General, together with Br. Jaison and Msgr. Van der Hoven, con-celebrated at the Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI.

On January 6, 2015, Padre Rudolf Ammann, Schoenstatt Father and member of the Chapter of Communio in Christo, moved into the Centro Communio in Blankenheim.

On November 28, 2015, the chapel for people in need of care and their relatives, located in the garden of the care facilities in Mechernich, was inaugurated. The chapel is financed entirely from donations.

In June 2016, the Devotional Chapel of Communio in Christo opened as a place of peace and prayer. As a symbol of this, the artist Maria J. Fernandez from Engelsdorf designed a Pietà, a bronze sculpture of the Blessed Mother with the dead Jesus.

In October 2018, the Communio in Christo was recognized as a "Consociatio privata" (ecclesiastical association under ecclesiastical law) under the name "Ordo Communionis in Christo" or established under diocesan law by Bishop Dr. Helmut Dieser, Aachen.