Secular institutes are communities of people who live ordinary secular lives, individually or together, working professionally and participating in the affairs of the laity. At the same time, through their vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, they are totally dedicated to God in order to transform the world from within by His power and to penetrate it by the spirit of the Gospel.
The Institute of the Immaculate Mother of the Church (Polish name: Instytut Niepokalanej Matki Kościoła – INMK) is a female lay institute under diocesan law, founded in 1958 by Fr Francis Blachnicki. Currently, efforts have begun to seek approval under papal law.
At present, the Institute has nearly 100 members who live in different parts of Poland, as well as in Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine.
The Institute belongs to the National Conference of Secular Institutes and to the World Conference of Secular Institutes.
The aims of the Institute are:
- to realise the vocation to holiness by leading a consecrated life in the world,
- diakonia/ministry for the realisation of the Church-community in local Churches, especially through the work of the Light-Life Movement.
The deepest content of the life of the members of the INMK is evangelical counsels – chastity, poverty and obedience. They are the foundation of the community life of the whole Institute, both for members practising community of residence and those living individually. In the INMK, temporary and perpetual vows are made.
A fundamental feature of the Institute’s spirituality is the servant’s (diaconal) attitude of imitating Christ the Servant and Mary the Handmaid of the Lord, in order to find herself in the selfless gift of self (cf. LG 24c). Through their consecration, the members of the Institute wish to imitate Mary Immaculate in her boundless dedication through faith and love to Christ the Bridegroom, so as to participate in her spiritual motherhood towards the Church. The spirituality of the Institute is also expressed in its consistent approach to the liturgy as the summit and source of the entire Christian life.
The members of the INMK deepen their spirituality through, among other things, the practices of the interior life: among these, a special role is played by:
- the personal encounter with Christ in prayer,
- Eucharist,
- Liturgy of the Hours,
- rosary.
The apostolate of the members of the Institute consists in the witness of their consecrated life, enlivened by prayer and metanoia, i.e. a constant convertion of life. The Institute carries out its apostolic ministry primarily through the charism of the Light-Life Movement.