Currently our community has more than 270 members worldwide, thus being a medium-sized congregation. Besides in The Netherlands and Belgium, where our congregation got started about one and a half century ago, we currently also have Brothers CMM in Indonesia, Timor Leste, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, Zambia, and Brazil.
The General Board of the Brothers CMM is located in Tilburg, the town where our congregation was founded. The home of the Board holds at the same time an international community.
Read more about the Generalate and the general board in Tilburg
Apart from the Generalate there are five communities in the Netherlands and Belgium. There are far less communities than before, but we want to keep working at the future of religious life here.
Most brothers are now coming from Indonesia. The congregation has been present there since 1923. Most brothers work in education, but they are also in charge of two health dispensaries.
In 1958 the first Dutch brothers went to Kenya. They started with two schools, but are now also active in health care and agricultural development. Since 2005 our congregation is also present in Tanzania.
In 1959 a group of Dutch and Belgian Brothers went to, what was then called South West Africa, the present Namibia. They have contributed substantially to the education of the country. In 2022, the Brothers CMM extended their mission to Zambia.
Since 1960 the brothers have been present in Brazil. There is a great gap there between the rich and the poor. Through projects in the area of education, care and pastoral work, the brothers try to change something about these conditions.
In 1988 the brothers settled in this area. Since 2010 Timor Leste became an independent CMM region, with four communities. It is one of the poorest countries in the world.
Bishop Joannes Zwijsen wanted his Congregation of Brothers CMM to have a Vincentian spirituality. At the end of the 20th century, an intensive process of re-sourcing brought a new boost to this spirituality, which has produced rich fruits since then.
