Rosa Carbonell rscj, province of Southern Spain

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First vows and profession.

I entered the Noviceship at Chamartín in 1962, and made my Vows there in 1965.

My first destination was the old Colegio del Valle, in Seville. I made my Profession in Rome, at the Mother House at Via Nomentana, in 1970.

At the University of Seville I took my Degree in Philosophy and Literature, specialising in Modern Philology (Spanish, English and French).

I then spent a year teaching Spanish in St Mary’s College of Education, Fenham, Newcastle (England), and another eight years in Seville, in two of our schools: two years in a poor area of Torreblanca, and six in Ciudad Aljarafe, a recent housing development where we had just opened a school, after closing the Colegio del Valle, which we had had for more than a hundred years in the centre of the city.

In 1984 I was sent to Santiago de Compostela (Galicia), in the north east of

Spain

, in charge of a University Hostel. I lived there for five very valuable years, during which I was also able to study for my Bachelor of Theology. Then the Provincial Archives needed to be re-organised, and I went to Madrid. I had the good fortune to take part in the meeting of Provincial Archivists in St Louis, USA, in March 1990. Knowing English and French had already given me the opportunity of being present at the General Chapters of 1982 and 1988, doing simultaneous translation.

I was in Madrid for three years, living once again in a poor area, organising the Archives, doing my Bachelor of Theology, specialising in Spiritual Theology, at the University of Comillas, giving classes to underprivileged boys and girls, and helping in the parish. I had lived in a University Hostel and knew Galician (the language spoken in Santiago de Compostela, something like Portuguese), which was why I was sent to a community we had then in Coimbra (Portugal), to direct the University Residence and the Secretarial School belonging to the Society.

From 1994 to 2007 I was back in Seville. I did a great deal of work in teacher-training, then for 12 years I taught Religion in a Training College. I gave classes in the School of Theology of the Laity, and directed many workshops on prayer and Spiritual Exercises, as well as accompanying groups of lay people, and being involved, as far as possible, in some inter-congregational activities.

At present I’m living in Madrid, in a community within the big complex of Chamartín; its work is to look after the various groups from both Spanish provinces which meet there, engaged in some activity or commission.

With my mother and my sisters (2008).

Working in the archives (2009).

My main work is the co-ordination of work in the Provincial Archives. Since 1999 I have been a member of the Commission for Ongoing Formation, which since 2005 has been bi-provincial. I also work with a group of parents and Religious Education teachers from the school, helping them to bring their theology up to date.

Rosa Carbonell, rscj
Province of Southern Spain

See Rosa's bibliography.

See one of Rosa's theological reflection: "How do we define our spirituality?"