Ordo Communionis in Christo
The "Communio in Christo" was founded by Mother Marie Therese as the "Order of the Second Vatican Council". Thereby "order" is not to be understood in the canonical sense of the word. Mother Marie Therese had given the term "order" a further, new meaning: "What I have founded," said Mother Marie Therese "is the confirmation of the imitation of Christ today".
What was to be understood by imitation of Christ she further defined in the motto of the Communio in Christo: „Caritas est Vivere in Deo“ (Love of neighbor is living in God). Or, to use Pope Francis’ words: “The religion of this council is love of neighbor.”
In her „Rule of the order” the foundress writes: “Love is laid into a founder’s hand to be distributed by her.” And further: “She has found her mission in the Second Vatican Council… She wants to breathe life into this Council.” The Council had not been implemented, because it remained to be a lip service instead of turning it into concrete deeds.
A way for all
Mother Marie Therese presents her spiritual and Spirit-induced legacy in the densest form and to the letter in accordance with the Council Decree for the contemporary renewal of religious life: In her extraordinary founding charism, following a “divine request", she has the mission “to bear witness to the Second Vatican Council as a religious order."
Thus on 8 December 1984 she founded the „Communio in Christo (communion in Christ) as a „way for all“, also comprising the already existing orders, communities and movements within the Church: “In the ‘Communio in Christo’ all movements as a whole should have their place and in the unity of love they should realize a great council which expounds to the Church a new way of thinking and acting.” (Taken from: Mutter Marie Therese, Geleitworte (foreword), Paderborn 2004, p. 80f)
Mother Marie Therese summed up the three images of the Church symbolizing the unity of the Church, “People of God”, “Body of Christ” and “Temple of the Holy Spirit” in the term “Communio in Christo”. According to the General Superior Karl-Heinz Haus this was "the decisive breakthrough, the intervention of God". It should be noted that Mother Marie Therese founded the "Communion in Christ" (Communio in Christo) on 8 December 1984, which was long before the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops in Rome in 1985 found the term "Communio-Theology" for the Second Vatican Council.
According to Mother Marie Therese all human beings are invited by God to join the Church called into being by Christ which in the sense of the Council includes also members of different denominations and religions. Such kind unity could not be realized by laws and regulations, but only through practically lived love of God and love of neighbor.
The Communio in Christo is the great sign of our times: „It is the renewal of the Church. We live in the end time, where God’s love fervently desires to press His children close to His heart. Its mission – Communion in Christ – is the proclamation of His kingdom that we will enter if we follow his will and help build up the kingdom of His peace” (Mother Marie Therese, Geleitworte (forewords), Paderborn 2004, p 82)
Official Name
The official name is "Ordo Communionis in Christo". In the canonical sense it is a "consociatio privata" based on CIC can. 321ff. Recognition as a new form of consecrated life remains the goal. From a civil law point of view the Communio in Christo exists in the form of associations and societies (ref. "Structure of the Communio in Christ"). It strives for its recognition as help for the Pope and the universal Church according to the mission and extraordinary founding charism of Mother Marie Therese.