Our History

Fundación Cristo Vive began to develop in 1968, with the arrival of Sister Karoline Mayer from Germany to Chile in her first assignment as a missionary. Living among the poor and work for them along with other clergy and lay people, she very quickly began to feel an urgency to improve the living conditions of the residents of the poor areas of Santiago. She didn’t think about founding an institution, however, the shortages of the 1975-76 crisis and the necessity of providing legal support to the services that emerged to attend to this pressing situation lead her conceive and create the Fundación Mission, over which Archbishop Jorge Hourton presided, as an institution of the Catholic Church of Santiago in 1977.

Beneath this eave, and in tight cooperation with community organizations, emerged nurseries, kindergartens, orphanages and health clinics, promotional and support programs for community organizations, as well as formational and training programs for women, youth, and the unemployed. Even the population Villa Mercedes, in Renca, was constructed to give living solutions to 174 homeless families.

With the advent of the democratic government that opened new doors of social development, Sister Karoline and her collaborators decided to establish a new institution. Thus, in mid 1990, the Fundación Cristo Vive was born.