At present the FMA have 4 Provinces in Spain: Santa Teresa (Madrid), Our Lady of Pilar (Barcelona), Mary Help of Christians (Seville) and the Virgin of the Way (Leon).
In communicating the decision of the General Council Mother General emphasized: "Mary Help of Christians sowed the Salesian charism and has accompanied the development of the Institute in Spain in these 130 years of history. She will guide us and accompany us to live in the church and in Spanish society a new phase of vocational and missionary fruitfulness.”
The new Provincial, Sr María del Rosario García Ribas was born in Seville on 22 January 1961. She is the youngest in a family of four and is a past pupil of the FMA schools of Seville. She holds a degree in History from the University of Seville. She made his religious profession at the age of 25 years.
In 1993-1994 she studied at the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome and from 1994-2000 she served as Provincial Coordinator for Youth Ministry. She was Superior of the Mary Help of Christians Province in Seville from 2003 to 2009. Among other important assignments she was also a member of the FMA Commission for Reflection on Europe and the Middle East.
This new step towards a single province in Spain has its antecedents in the "Ave" project, launched in 2013, which gives its name to the lines which the FMA would like to take to reorganize and revitalize their presence in Spain. In recent years, the FMA in Spain, following the guidelines established by the 23rd General Chapter in 2014, have been working to discern how to plan the future of their presence in the country.
Sources: www.europapress.es; www.salesianas.com
https://www.infoans.org/en/sections/news/item/2434-spain-unification-of-the-four-provinces-of-the-fma-in-spain-and-appointment-of-the-new-superior#sigProIdb13b193ca7
