A Lay Ecclesial Movement: The Christian Life Movement

Change Agents in a Struggling World

The story behind the CLM lies in their dynamic witness to Jesus Christ. This movement centralizes much of its effort on teaching the Christian call to intersect living faith in Jesus Christ with their extraordinary mission work.  The CLM's apostolate is focused in four categories, all of which are cornerstones of their founder's life work: the youth, culture, family, and caring for the needy.

WASHINGTON DC (Catholic Online) - Every Catholic has heard of the parish sending people to a foreign country to feed starving children or to provide medical aid to the sick and dying; but how many Sunday regulars have even heard of a lay ecclesial movement?  With the immeasurable gift these movements offer the Church and those whom  they serve, more should be done to educate one another about these powerful movements. They are growing in numbers and bearing good fruit in this new missionary age.

This is the case with the Christian Life Movement (CLM).  Perhaps the limited exposure of the Christian Life Movement to most American Catholics is because the CLM did not begin in America, but instead was founded in Peru in 1985.  This South American initiative arose from members of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, which is now a Society of Apostolic Life for laymen and priests. 

From Peru, the CLM quickly expanded throughout Latin America and have made a home in the United States as well.  In fact, the CLM is the fastest growing ecclesial movement in America.  With official work going on in Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Texas, and Virginia, the CLM is hoping to spread their message throughout the United States just as they have in Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. 

In 1994, the CLM received official recognition as an International Association of Christian Faithful of Pontifical Right from the Holy See.  Recognition was granted on the feast day of Saint Toribio of Mogrovejo, Archbishop of Lima and Primate in Latin America in the late 16th-century to early-17th century.  Recognition of the Apostolic See came by way of a Decree of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

The Founder

Like many movements, the CLM began with the vision of a passionate leader.  Luis Fernando Figari was born in Lima, Peru in 1947.  After being raised in Catholic schools and graduating from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, he founded Sodalitium Christianae Vitae.  He later founded the Association of Mary Immaculate, an association for single and married women.

Pope John Paul II named Figari Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity by, and an Auditor to the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist by Pope Benedict XVI. 

Figari is a prolific writer of articles and books.  He centralizes much of his effort on teaching the Christian call to intersect faith in Christ with mission work.  Figari proclaims that the path to fulfilling the Gospel mandate is through exercising faith, evangelizing the nations, and making disciples.  As such, the movements Figari stared have a similar apostolate.

The CLM's apostolate comprises of four categories, all of which are cornerstones of Figari's life work: the youth, culture, family, and needy.

With the youth

The youth, as the CLM recognizes, are the future of not only the world, but of the Church as well. She is, after all, the new world. Through personal, interactive studies, programs, and retreats the youth are given the chance to share in a relationship with Jesus Christ in Holy Mass mass and in dynamic, living prayer.  This relationship grows stronger through the support received amongst the men and women who serve as lay leaders in this movement.

With the culture

With a yearning to evangelize and build disciples, the CLM trains its members in how to engage, uplift, and empower human culture through the One every culture needs most: Jesus Christ.  Following the invitation from bishops and the Holy Father, the CLM looks to the root cause of every human failing, and fills every void with Hope in the Lord. 

As it says on the CLM USA website: "'Together with benefits for humanity, we find the aggressive signs of a 'culture of death,'' as Pope John Paul II calls it. At the side of that obvious manifestation of the most serious attempt against the life and dignity of the human being, is subtly present the functional agnosticism 'brewing broth' in which the 'culture of death' grows and develops."  Just as Figari has spent his life, the CLM works adamantly against this functional agnosticism by offering the enrichment and fulfillment found in the fullness of the Catholic Church.

With the family

Never has the family been more troubled and more in need of the Church than now, both here in America and abroad.  The CLM, with the rest of the Church, has seen the desperate state of the family as a sign of what we should expect to see within the culture. 

The family is a child's first school, church, and hospital.  As such, it is also where theology is first learned.  The CLM offers spiritual exercises, retreats, and Holy Land pilgrimages to help strengthen families and bring them in unity with the Church.  This powerful witness serves as a flagship for other movements and for families who hope to live counter-culturally to the post-modernistic norms we see today.

With the needy

In keeping with the Gospel call to help the poor and sick, the CLM has an extensive international mission.  Bringing food, medicine, education, and Catholic fellowship around the globe, the CLM works constantly to raise funds necessary to meet the most basic needs of those who they visit. 

According to the CLM USA, the CLM is "vitally linked to the commitment out of solidarity with anyone that discovers in any way threatened his dignity as a human being and his life affected. This is why the Movement is committed out of solidarity with the most needy, the sick, the marginalized, the abandoned, the poor, the illiterate and everyone in which we see the face of Christ suffering.  The apostolic commitment shows that there are very close ties between evangelization and human advancement, putting in front of the horizon of the Christian life the reality of a brotherly commitment out of solidarity."

On the calendar for CLM USA this year are medical mission trips to Avaviri, Peru, Silent Retreats, Rosary group meetings, marriage retreats, spiritual exercises, a Holy Land Pilgrimage, Young Adult Advent Retreat, Family Retreat, and others.  From their calendar, it is clear that their actions coincide with their adamant desire to serve the youth, culture, family, and the needy.

What it means

The story behind the CLM lies in their living witness to Jesus Christ.  The missions, retreats, spiritual exercises, rosary groups, and other activities are wonderful expressions of Christ living within ordinary people who aspire to an extraordinary calling.  This lay movement is a gift of the Holy Spirit for the mission of the Church.  They fulfill not only the spiritual and intellectual needs of the person, family, and culture, butalso help to provide the basic necessities of food, water, medicine, etc, through their international missions.  May God bless them for their ecclesial work and dynamic dedication to the Lord.

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Billy Atwell contributes to Catholic Online, and blogs for The Point and the Manhattan Declaration. From the perspective of a two-time cancer survivor he encourages those afflicted with pain and struggling with faith. You can find all of his writings at For the Greater Glory.

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