Coming Together in Mission – CORI and IMU join together to create a new force

in Church Life and Ministry

 

Two of the largest existing religious membership organisations, the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI) and the Irish Missionary Union (IMU) are amalgamating to become the Association of Missionaries and Religious of Ireland (AMRI), in response to a desire to energise and support the life and ministry of the Church, both in Ireland and overseas. In an official statement, the President of CORI, and the President of the IMU, Fr. Gregory Carroll OP and Sr. Kathleen McGarvey OLA, stated,“We believe that a new national entity would facilitate renewal and a more effective mission outreach”.

 

CORI was first established under the title Conference of Major Religious Superiors of Ireland (CMRS) in November 1960 and has a combined membership of approximately 9,000 from 138 religious congregations. The IMU was set up in 1970 for the broad purpose of providing a collaborative network of missionary groups, with 1,500 Irish Missionaries currently engaged in 84 developing countries.

 

The purpose of AMRI will be to represent and promote active collaboration between Religious Institutes, Societies of Apostolic Life and Missionary Organisations, so as to respond to existing and emerging realities both in Ireland and overseas by supporting and energising the life and ministries of their members and of the wider Church with a renewed sense of hope and relevance. Among other objectives, it will seek to develop and promote religious, apostolic and missionary life as a vibrant, prophetic, organic and integral feature of the life of the church.An interim Secretary General is currently being appointed. AMRI will have its new officesin Cypress Grove, Templeogue, Dublin 6W, the Provincialate of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) and will begin operations within the next two weeks.