Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas
| Latin: Centrum Laicum ad Foyer Unitas | |
| Established | 1 October 1986 |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Catholic Christian |
| Rector | Professor Donna Orsuto, STD |
| Students | 24 |
| Location | Rome, Lazio, Italy |
| Campus | Caelian Hill (Passionist Retreat of Giovanni e Paolo) |
| Colors | blue and yellow |
| Affiliations | Roman Colleges |
| Website | www.laycentre.org |
The Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas is a Catholic educational institution providing an international community and formation for lay ecclesial ministers and other lay students at the Pontifical Universities, Athenae, and Institutes in Rome, Italy. It is international in character and composition, and welcomes ecumenical students from other Christian churches and ecclesial communities, as well as those from non-Christian religions.
The Lay Centre's mission is threefold:
The Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas was founded in 1986 by Prof. Donna Orsuto and Ms. Riekie van Velzen as a community for the lay students at the Pontifical Universities in Rome.
Orsuto completed her Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in 1990 with a dissertation entitled Saint Catherine of Siena : trinitarian experience and mission in the Church. She is Professor at the Institute of Spirituality of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy, and an Adjunct Professor of the Faculty of Theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum.
Recognizing a need for a resident college open to lay people who were not members of religious communities, and seeing an opportunity in the closing of the Casa Foyer Unitas, the Lay Centre opened on 1 October 1986 with a community of nine students.
Foyer Unitas, meaning “Hearth of Unity”, had itself started as an information centre for non-Catholic pilgrims and visitors to Rome during the Holy Year of 1950, directed by Charles Boyer, SJ, at the request of Monsignor Giovanni Battista Montini (later Pope Paul VI), who was then responsible for ordinary affairs at the Secretariat of State. Two years later, a Dutch religious institute with a charism for ecumenism and hospitality, the Ladies of Bethany, received an invitation from Pope Pius XII to expand their ministry to Rome and assist Fr. Boyer with the Foyer Unitas. In addition to the general information centre work, the Ladies of Bethany provided specialized tours around Rome and Vatican City, combining catechesis, theology, church history, art and architecture with an awareness of the particular interests of ecumenical pilgrims.
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