Today we’d like to introduce you to Voces Verbi Texas
Hi Voces, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
We are a Catholic Young Adult Group that is based from the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE), a religious order founded in Argentina with the mission and charism to evangelize through the culture. Voces Verbi was first created 10 years ago in Italy by Fr. Andres Bonello after he realized that there was a need for young adult formation in the church. Voces Verbi was then created as a series of formation weeks and seasons where young adults had the opportunity to learn more about the faith to the apologetic level. As the years progessed, many of the mission where the IVE currently missions in adopted and formed their groups of Voces Verbi as a sect of the 3rd Order of the IVE.
Voces Verbi Texas was formed in November of 2020 coming out of the pandemic as Fr. Luis Prado, current Pastor of St. Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic Community, introduced the group to the parish after recently being assigned to Dallas as his mission. Going into Spring 2021, Fr. Luis, just like Fr. Bonello years before, saw the need for young adult formation and led the first series of formation talks based on the Theology of the Body (TOB), a series of teaching given to the church by St. John Paul II. A married couple by the name of Juan Gonzalez and Silvia Morales were the first ones to lead these series of talks of TOB alongisde Fr. Luis, teaching the youth about chastity, love defined, dating, and marriage. The purpose of these talks was not just to give the youth knowledge of the matter of chastity and purity, but to make it a lifestyle and practice to commit to. So around 20 individuals that summer on August 20, 2021, professed before the church on the feast of their patron saint, St. Bernard, a Promise of Chastity, committing themselves to living chastely until marriage, saving themselves for their future spouse.
Since then, over 100 young adults from our Community of Voces Verbi Texas have now professed a Promise of Chastity for 4 years in a row. We continue to form the young adult by giving formation talks every Tuesday regarding the 3 pillars of the Catholic Faith: Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium. We travel often, always making a big trip once a year with our group to learn more about the faith, the spirituality of the IVE, and to come to know God through other people. We have traveled to Washington DC, which is where the Seminary of the IVE resides, Argentina, the founding place of the Religious Family of the IVE, and to Italy, the original birthplace of Voces Verbi.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest struggle has been knowing how to maintain a growing group. When we first started, we were about 20-30 individuals that consistantly came on Tuesdays for our formation talks. 4 years later, we now approach 100+ on a weekly basis. So as the group kept on growing in size, we had to look for way to be more organized and have structure that could cater to all individuals coming new to our group. This is what led to the creation of our Council. The Council is a group of committed individuals of Voces Verbi Texas who take on leadership roles in order to facilitate the execution of our group. We have 4 teams in the council: Outreach, Recreation, Communications, and Financial. Each team has multiple council members that work on weekly tasks in order to help bring forth projects and events for the group as a whole.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
What we pride ourselves in the most is our annual series of talks on The Theology of the Body (TOB). We have taken the TOB and broken it down into talks that are given during the summer, split amongst 8-10 weeks, where each week we go over a theme of TOB to give knowledge and understanding to the youth on how to apply it to our daily lives. Each year, we conclude the series of the talks by having those members commit themselves to a life of chastity by making the Chastity Promise on the feast of St. Bernard. We have seen how each year, the group has grown larger and larger, which is encouraging to see young adults wanting to live a chaste life in order to have a better life and family down the road. We take pride in being counter-cultural, and standing strong in what God has placed for us as the Truth, and not shy away from it.
What matters most to you? Why?
The formation of young adults is the most important because the secular world is full of lies and empty promises that crush and kill the youth. The world says that happiness is having freedom and the liberty to chase one’s own desires and do as they please. But their soul ends up being damaged in the process and places them in a dangerous position for the life to come. We recognize that following a Christ-like path is hard, for it isn’t meant to be easy. But it is through suffering that we learn from Jesus that true love comes out. I can love God by offering my sufferings and desires and temptations. I love my future spouse by suffering and letting go of the fleshly desires and save myself for the one I will marry in the future.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://bio.site/vocesverbitx
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vocesverbitx?igsh=MTdraGVqbmhqZXQw&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/XC9MTGMNgoZnemDb/?mibextid=LQQJ4d
Image Credits
Janelle Miank
