Cannot be grouped with ecclesiastical apostolates

It is clear, then, that the corporate apostolates of the Work can never be considered official or semi-official ecclesiastical apostolates. They can never be grouped together with such apostolates, or classified under the same heading as them, under any pretext whatever. In the same way, the representatives or teachers of our corporate apostolates will never form part of organisations, associations or federations which are grouped together with ecclesiastical or religious centres, nor will they attend meetings, congresses, etc., organised by such centres.

Reasons

This way of acting, my daughters and sons, is a basic requirement of our spirit, because our apostolate is a pre-eminently lay apostolate, and we cannot undertake any activity which would imply giving way on that point. What’s more, this is a pre-requisite for the effectiveness of our apostolic work in the service of the Church and all souls, because it is the spirit God has given us.

Therefore our educational centres will never involve the Church hierarchy, although we provide solid Christian formation in them and take the greatest care to follow the guidance of the Magisterium in all that refers to teaching. We work as responsible secular Catholics, exercising all our rights as ordinary citizens in the service of God, and feeling in our hearts the urgency of the apostolic mission which belongs to all the Christian faithful as members of the Body of Christ.