Mother of Life Center (MOL) is the fruit of the prophetic vision of the Blessed Father MARIE-EUGENE OF THE CHILD JESUS, OCD, founder of the Secular Institute Notre-Dame de Vie (NDV). When he came to the Philippines in 1954, the Blessed Carmelite Father became convinced that what our country and our people needed were contemplative apostles who proclaim and witness to the Word of God in their teaching and in their lives. In 1966, Blessed Fr. Marie-Eugène gave this directive to Miss MATHILDE BECKERS (1917-2004), founder of Mother of Life Center:
The Institute must form catechists for the dioceses and the parishes, giving to these catechists not only theoretical knowledge and pedagogical science, but also a deep sense of God, a true spiritual science which will enable them to transmit the sense of God and to form souls to the spiritual life.
Originally funded by Missio-Aachen (Germany), Mother of Life Center was thus established in July 1967, starting out as an inter-diocesan formation Center offering a government-recognized Post-college Specialized Course in Religion and in Guidance and Counseling. Full scholarships were given to applicants who want to be better formed in the catechetical and pastoral ministry, and who are committed to serve their local dioceses. Upon completion of the course program, its graduates obtained a “Certificate of Proficiency in Religion and in Guidance and Counselling.”
On October 29, 1991, Mother of Life Center was authorized by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) to offer a Graduate Course in Religious Education. On March 29, 1993, Mother of Life Center was granted the official Government Recognition (No. C-082, S. 1993) to offer a Graduate Course in Religious Education leading to the degree of Master of Arts in Religious Education with two tracks: a Thesis Track (Academic Degree) and a Non-Thesis Track (Professional Degree).
In the curriculum updating of 2009-2011 (conforming to CMO No. 12, S. 2007), the total number of academic units was increased to 45 units for the Professional Degree (Non-Thesis Track), and 51 units for the Academic Degree (Thesis Track).
The curriculum of 2009-2011 was revised in 2012. In this curriculum, the period of internship at the Center was extended to two (2) full years, comprising both academic and pastoral formation. Both Thesis and Non-Thesis tracks henceforth have a total of 51 academic units.
After three (3) years of implementation of the revised curriculum, the same academic units were retained but the period of internship during the first year was kept at the Center, and the second year of formation was the supervised pastoral year, with monthly returns to the Center for further professional development. One Summer Integration Program and comprehensive exams were conducted prior to the writing of the thesis or ministry project.
In 2021-2022 the curriculum has been revised conforming to CMO, No. 15 s, 2019 and to the Directory for Catechesis 2020: the whole formation has been centered on the Word of God and adapted to the Policies, Standards and Guidelines for an Outcome Based Education. Only the Academic track has been retained and the number of units were reduced from 51 to 36.