OFFICIAL NAME
Fraternidad de Agrupaciones Santo Tomás de Aquino
ACRONYM
FASTA
ESTABLISHED
1962
HISTORY
FASTA was founded on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary in 1962 in the city of Leones, Argentina, by Brother Dr. Aníbal E. Fosbery O.P. The aim was to have a Dominican youth organisation that would build up Christian values in society. In 1971 it was recognised by the Master General of the Order as a Lay Fraternity of the Dominican Order.
In 1993, it obtained its first diocesan recognition from the Archbishop of Buenos Aires as an association of the faithful. On 29 May 1997, the Holy See, through the Pontifical Council for the Laity, decreed recognition of FASTA as an international association of the faithful.
In 2005, the Apostolic Fraternity of St. Catherine of Siena was founded for women who practise the evangelical counsels through personal and private commitment. In 2008 they formulated their first commitments to become an integral part of FASTA, and the corresponding statutory reform was approved in 2012.
One of the offshoots of FASTA is the Priestly Fraternity of St Thomas Aquinas, a response to a group of young men who wished to give their lives completely to the Lord. It took its first steps in 1985 and was finally recognised in 2014 as a public clerical association of diocesan right in the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires.
IDENTITY
FASTA has the apostolic objective of contributing to the construction of the City of God in the cities of humankind by seeking the personal perfection of its members through the evangelisation of culture, families and youth.
FASTA aims to “embrace temporal structures so as to order them according to the spirit of the Gospel”, thus responding to the appeal of the Second Vatican Council to seek a healthy conciliatory balance in tensions between the Church and the world.
With the specific dynamics of FASTA, its members aspire to a high ideal of love for God and country. They are receptive to the changing circumstances of our times as they seek to infuse society with the light of Gospel truths. With a forward-looking perspective on history, they aim to transmit the values of Catholic culture that enlighten the social and political community.
ORGANISATION
The highest governing body of FASTA is the Plenary Council which is made up of representatives of the various organisations and regions. It is presided over by a priest as President and a lay person as Executive Vice-President who is assisted by a Board of Directors in matters relating to the communities and apostolic areas.
The various entities of the Lay Fraternity are organised territorially in jurisdictions within the corresponding archdioceses and dioceses. There is also a transversal structure according to age for youth and adult organisations.
The Youth Organisation is composed of the Rucas, which in the Araucanian language means “house” (for 8 to 17-year-olds) and the Milicianos Group (18 to 24-year-olds). In the Major Organisation, the adults participate in the Convivios which are communities of faith, fellowship and learning. They also take part in Apostolic Communities, spaces where they undertake apostolic tasks assumed as a community. They carry out apostolic activities or participate in one of FASTA’s works, thus serving the universal and diocesan Church.
WORKS
Since the foundation of its first school in 1978, FASTA has been projecting its apostolic mission from the pastoral care of learning and culture to formal education by founding and taking over schools and institutes of higher education. This is how the FASTA Educational Network was formed. Currently there are 23 schools and two institutes dedicated to the education of children and young people with learning disabilities in Argentina and Spain. In addition, there are four institutes of higher education and the FASTA University in Mar del Plata and its more than 100 academic support centres.
The mission of the Aquinas Institute of Humanistic-Christian Education is to improve and advance Christian studies in FASTA and in the Church and so reflect the doctrinal charism of the institution. It is formally an academic unit of FASTA University that designs plans and programmes for the instruction of children, young people and adults, as well as for religious education.
WEBSITE
HEADQUARTERS
Av. Rivadavia 1823, 9º A
C1033AAI - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Tel.: +54 11 4951 8129
Email: secretariageneral@fasta.org.ar
