The Congregation of the Adorers, Handmaids of the Blessed Sacrament and of Charity, published the Annual Report of Activities for 2023 coinciding with the eve of the feast of our foundress, St. Maria Micaela, on June 15.
In this document the social and educational work that we carry out in 24 countries in Europe (Spain, France, United Kingdom, Italy and Portugal), Africa (Cape Verde, Morocco, Togo), Asia (Cambodia, Philippines, India, Japan, Nepal and Vietnam) and America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Dominican Republic, Venezuela) is collected.
The Sisters Adorers’ Social Action is structured into: Adorers’ Social Works, Foundations and Associations. Through it, we offer real alternatives and opportunities from the Adorers Pedagogy and with a focus on Human Rights, providing accompaniment programs for women who have suffered exploitation, prostitution, human trafficking, exclusion and other forms of violence.
Throughout 2023 there have been many risky and courageous women who have decided to initiate a process of accompaniment in the different projects that we develop, and that have enabled them an experience of “love, liberation and encounter”.
Data from the 2023 Annual Report – Adoratrices
Throughout 2023 a total of 9,235 women have been assisted by the Obra Social de Adoratrices. With respect to the year 2022 (8,410) this represents an increase of almost 10% of people.
Of the 9,235 women, 4,468 are from Europe and Africa, 3,242 from the Americas and 1,525 from Asia. Most of them, 7,760, are over 18 years of age.
Some of the main situations in which women access this care are those of prostitution (4,101), poverty and social exclusion (1,229), human trafficking (1,150), lack of protection (1,029), gender violence (903) or sexual abuse (334).
In order to offer these women alternatives for shelter, formation and promotion, we, Adorers own 86 Social Programs. In addition, we have 35 educational centers and 5 residences for young university students or working women.
In our schools we provide education and training in values to 14,507 girls, boys and adolescents, with priority given to those from the most vulnerable backgrounds. These schools, including teachers and staff, had 1,511 employees in 2023.
Our residences, which have had 194 residents last year, are spaces that provide training in solidarity values for young university students or workers.
All this work is carried out by the Adorer Family, composed of sisters, 596 employees and 453 volunteers.
In terms of resource allocation, the women have been welcomed in Community Social Care Centers; in Production Centers or Workshops; and in Residential Resources, Housing and Women’s Shelters. We also work to get closer to their environment, visiting the places where the women live or are placed.
Congregation of the Sisters Adorers
The Adorers are an international religious congregation founded by St. Maria Micaela in 1856 to respond to an urgent need of her time: to liberate women oppressed by prostitution.
Today we also attend to other realities that affect the dignity and freedom of women: human trafficking, contexts of prostitution, exclusion and other forms of violence.
Our charism is based on two pillars: Adoration and Liberation. From Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, from the Eucharistic experience, our Adorer mission within the Catholic Church to accompany and promote the Liberation of women germinates: “In adoration we learn to love our young women and to work and live for them” (Constitutions 13).