The Institute of Formation and
Religious Studies (IFRS) has been at the service of religious women for decades
and the Religious of the Good Shepherd has been part of this effort as one of
the founding members of the institute.
Photo: Sr. Corazon Demetillo RGS, (center) IFRS directress, with Good
Shepherd sisters from
Began in 1963 as Sisters Formation
Institute (SFI), the institute was founded by the Association of Major
Religious Superiors of Women in the Philippines (AMRSWP) to provide for the
need of young women religious for sound academic training and background in
spirituality.
According to the information
posted in IFRS website, www.ifrs.com.ph the “original formation plan was based on the Jesuit curriculum for seminarians
of the Ateneo de Manila University. This program has been enriched through the
years to equip young religious for their ministry, possessing through their
studies a broader outlook, a spirit of service, a solid foundation for prayer,
a greater spiritual maturity, and a deeper loyalty to community.”
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IFRS Vision |
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•The •It envisions graduates who are |
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STUDENTS/PARTICIPANTS No. of No. of Participants: 230-250 No. of Congregations: 110 - 130 No. of countries: 15-20 countries |
Through the years, the Institute
has developed. In the 70s, SFI opted for a more integrated approach that
included a critical understanding of contemporary societal condition as an
important element in theological education. In the 1980s, SFI pursued a more
holistic integration of the relationship among theological studies and formation,
the understanding of religious life, and the lives of the people that the
religious serve.
This prominence of religious formation and its relevance to responsive ministry
impelled the Institute to open its doors to religious brothers and lay Church workers,
and even to a greater number of Asian students. This move became the seed for
the change of name of SFI to IFRS. This change of name ushered in the 1990s a
lot of developments: the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) authorized the
Institute to grant degrees on the undergraduate and graduate levels in the area
of Scriptures, Theology, Women and Religion, and Spirituality; the
establishment of the IFRS Foundation, Inc. to become the new group responsible
for IFRS; and the transfer of SFI/IFRS from its original site at N. Domingo to
its new home at Acacia St., Cubao, Quezon City.
Today, IFRS offers religious formation and theological studies with the
following characteristics: Contextual,
Transformational, Integrated and Inclusive.
Sr. Corazon Demetillo RGS,
directress of IFRS since 2005, said that the institute currently offers
opportunities and provides programs for studies in Scriptures, Theology to Women religious. She and the IFRS staff have also succeeded in having the institute
accredited with PAASCU (Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges
and Universities). PAASCU recognizes schools that meet the standard of quality
education.
During the recent AMRSWP Assembly
in Tagaytay, Sr. Cora and her team reiterated the four pillars of the
institute: Contextualized, Transformational, Integrated and Inclusive. The institute is Rooted in Philippines, Asian and Third-world realities that enable students to gain a deeper understanding of the religious, cultural, social,
economic, political and environmental contexts so that the Gospel might be
brought to bear as a historical force for the transformational of society.
They shared during the assembly
that the IFRS philosophy of STUDENT-ENGAGED LEARNING has been very helpful to
the graduates.
IFRS offers the following Bachelor
of Arts in Religious Studies, Master of Arts in Religious Studies, Certificate and Other Programs, One Year
Certificate Programs on Theology, Women and Religious Studies, Scriptures,
Christian Spirituality, Ecology and Bio-Ethics, Sacred Dances and Creative
Liturgy.
One special feature of IFRS is its
Social and Community Involvement.
It has also Institutional
Partnerships and Affiliations with the Institute for Consecrated Life in Asia,
(ICLA), East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI), Loyola School of Theology (LST),
SVST,FONDACIO, Cenacle Formation Center and, AA English Language Center.
In a letter sent by Archbishop Gianfranco Gardin, OFM Conv. of the
Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
(CICLSAL) of the Vatican, to AMRSWP, he said:
“I would wish to appreciate you
for the pride you take in your
Religious Studies (IFRS) as a ‘legitimate daughter’ of the Association and for
the passion to make your formation programmes a deepening of prophetic
spirituality. I am happy that you are earnest about its progress and about
fine-tuning of its programmes in line with the prophetic nature of consecrated
life.”
Growth and Development
IFRS is moving towards being a
It aims 1) to
provide assistance to churches and religious in Asia-Pacific region
through contextualized, transformative, integrated and inclusive
formation and education in theology, scriptures, women and
cosmic studies 2 )to provide proper venue with living space for relevant
renewal, 3) or continuing formation and education to pastoral workers in
Asia-Pacific region, 4) to encourage and challenge church and
congregational leaders to send their members for formal studies, especially
women religious and church mission
partners
Sr. Cora also said that IFRS has done Outreach to
batch of MIRS (Myanmar Institute for Religious Studies) graduates were
recognized on June 5, 2010 and the second batch began the courses on June 14,
2010.
To better implement its programs
an MIRS Strategic Planning was conducted from June 1-5. It was attended by the
Catholic Religious Conference of Myanmar, Sr. Cora representing IFRS and Sr.
Ancille Elvena, SSpS. Sr. Ananita Borbon RGS was invited as resource person.
An important project that Sr.
Cora and the IFRS family dream is to have a land and building for
IFRS. They have started fund raising through various agencies local and
international, tapped congregations supportive of this mission, encouraged the
laity, local NGOs and foundations to participate in this project.
As a founding member of IFRS, the
Good Shepherd congregation continues it support to the congregational efforts
at collaborating with various institutes “to respond to the urgency to nurture
new life through holistic and relevant formation that prepares, renews and
sustains us for the challenges of today’s realities’ as articulated in the 2009
Congregational Chapter Direction Statement.
During SFI’s initial years, Sr.
Evelyn Coronel RGS also served as directress of the institute.
Good Shepherd Sisters in temporary
profession from the
developed now into IFRS.
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Like many They find that the subjects and the interaction with religious from various
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