Schreiter Institute will focus on justice, reconciliation and peacebuilding
Catholic Theological Union Announces a Unique Partnership with the Newly Established Precious Blood Spirituality Institute
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT: Colleen Kennedy, ckennedy@ctu.edu, 773.371.5417
CHICAGO, January 6, 2022 – Catholic Theological Union (CTU) announced this week a partnership with the newly established Precious Blood Spirituality Institute (PBSI) sponsored by three religious communities, the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, and the Sisters of the Precious Blood Sisters of Dayton, Ohio, who each draw their inspiration from devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus. The blood of Christ shed to give life to others is the spiritual foundation for the commitment of these Catholic religious communities to the work of justice and reconciliation. This unique Institute will collaborate with Catholic Theological Union to offer courses, workshops and support academic research that advance this distinct tradition in the church.
The decision to establish the work of the Institute at CTU is based particularly on the prominent role that the late Fr. Robert Schreiter, C.PP.S., himself a member of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, had at the school. A brilliant and internationally recognized scholar and teacher, Schreiter focused his research on the integration of Catholicism within local cultures and, particularly, on the urgent mission of reconciliation in our modern world—a direct expression of his Precious Blood Spirituality. In his honor, the new Institute will bear the official name: The Robert J. Schreiter, C.PP.S. Institute for Precious Blood Spirituality. The Schreiter Institute will become part of The Bernardin Center at CTU.
“We are thrilled to partner with the three Precious Blood communities to establish a new institute at CTU that promotes their charism of justice, reconciliation and peacebuilding,” said CTU president Sr. Barbara Reid, OP. “Named for our beloved colleague Robert J. Schreiter, of blessed memory, this institute will ensure that his groundbreaking work, and that of his brothers and sisters, will endure into perpetuity and imbue our students, and all who attend the PBSI programs, with his legacy of mission and ministry, most especially needed in the world today.”
“Somehow, we have to put this message out. Our spirituality is really needed in the world today,” said Fr. David Kelly, C.PP.S., a member of the working group that helped make the congregations’ vision of the Institute come alive and himself a key force for reconciliation on the southside of Chicago. “How do we promote our Precious Blood spirituality in and among our own membership, among the Missionaries, the Adorers, the Precious Blood sisters—and also in the world in which we serve and we live?”
Cardinal Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, thanked the three religious congregations and CTU for this bold step. “In honoring Father Robert Schreiter, C.PP.S., a gifted scholar and beloved priest, this new Institute will draw on the powerful social justice tradition of the Church as well as the unique charism of the Precious Blood communities to be a force for reconciliation in our city and beyond. This urgently needed and welcome pastoral resource will greatly assist the Church to bring healing to our society, sadly often marked by discord and polarization.”
The hope is that the spirituality, which has been nurtured and put into action by the sisters, brothers, priests and lay associates of the sponsoring congregations of the PBSI, will be carried out into the world and become a way of life for many others. Precious Blood spirituality is a living gift to a suffering world, much in need of its message of God’s boundless love, of hope and healing, of accompaniment and compassion.
About Catholic Theological Union
Catholic Theological Union is a Roman Catholic graduate school of theology and ministry sponsored by twenty-four religious communities and located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago; CTU shares alliances with DePaul University, Dominican University and the University of Chicago. Its mission is to prepare effective leaders for the Church, ready to witness to Christ’s good news of justice, love, and peace. More than 4,500 CTU alumni, vowed religious and lay women and men, have gone on to minister in sixty countries worldwide.
About Precious Blood Spirituality Institute (PBSI)
A newly formed venture, the Precious Blood Spirituality Institute, is a collaboration sponsored by the Missionaries of the Precious Blood (cpps-preciousblood.org and preciousbloodkc.org), the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, and the Sisters of the Precious Blood Sisters of Dayton, Ohio. The PBSI will offer academic courses, workshops, retreats and other ways to explore Precious Blood spirituality, as well as coordinate meaningful volunteer opportunities so that people can live it out.
