Our Story

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1980 - 1990


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1980's This is a time of great collaboration with the laity and of concern for the continuity of the mission within congregationally owned institutions. It is a time of return to the foundations of our Congregation to recapture the spirit of our founders and to search for more effective ways to meet the critical needs of society. The Congregation continues expanding its health care ministry, primarily by assuming responsibility for hospitals facing closure in poor rural areas of Texas. ▪ Many efforts are made to implement our option for the poor in all the countries we currently serve and in Central America where we begin service. ▪ The process of forming a single province in the United States begins, allowing Sisters to move from one region to another and respond more readily to needs wherever they occur.
1981 Incarnate Word Health Services is created to organize our seven health care facilities in Texas and Missouri into a multi-hospital system.
1983 The lay Association of the Incarnate Word is established, followed just a few years later by the lay missionary program, Incarnate Word Missionaries. ▪ Fire causes extensive damage to the Brackenridge Villa, the Sisters’ first Motherhouse.
1984 The Congregation takes a stand at General Chapter regarding situations of injustice and oppression, and accepts as its direction for the future “a preferential option for the economically poor.” Many take up the challenge by ministering in non-traditional ways to poor and marginalized persons. Others in traditional ministries examine their work through new lenses.
1985
August 15

The Congregation complies with the Vatican’s requirement that all religious institutes re-submit their Constitutions post Vatican Council II. We receive approbation (approval) of our Constitution.

1985
December 12		 Visitation House, a temporary shelter for homeless women and children, opens in San Antonio, Texas, as a tangible response to the preferential option for the economically poor.
1986 Missions in Peru are formally organized into the Region of Peru. A regional center and novitiate is established in Lima. ▪ Ground is broken in San Antonio, Texas for Incarnate Word Retirement Center (now Village at Incarnate Word) to replace the 1899 Motherhouse and to better minister to the needs of increasing numbers of retired Sisters as well as other retired men and women in the area.
1987 The first woman from Peru enters the Congregation. A number of others follow.
1989 The Sisters in Peru celebrate their silver anniversary.