FMS_Mensaje40_EN

Year XXIV - n° 40 - March 2010

Table of ContentsGeneral government page 2

On the track of information about the General Councils page 8B. AMEstaún

The Marial face of the Church page 11B. Emili Turú

INAUGURATION

■ Seán’s words Through the eyes of a child page 16

■ From the “Initial Consultation” to the “Letters from the Regions” page 20B. Maurice Berquet

■ A renewed sense page 22B. Ben Consigli

CHAPTER WORKS

■ Method of work: dialogue, consensus and communion page 28

■ Arrival of the regional letters page 30

■ Personal letter page 31

■ Letter of the dreams page 33

Selection of texts from the letters drawn up at the tables page 34

■ Our table is round page 43B. Javier Espinosa

Year XXII - n° 40 - March 2010

Editor-in-Chief:Brother AMEstaún

Publications Commission:Brothers Emili Turú, AMEstaún, Onorino Rota and Luiz Da Rosa.

Translators Coordination:Brother Josep Roura

Translators:

SpanishB. Francisco CastellanosB. Neftalí GonzálezB. Moisés PuenteGabriela Scanavino

FrenchB. Aimé MailletB. Jean RoussonB. Josep Roura

EnglishB. Edward ClisbyB. George FontanaB. John AllenDavid Harrison

PortugueseB. Aloisio KuhnP. Eduardo Campagnani-Ferreira

Photography:AMEstaún, Archives of the General House

Formatting and Photolithography:TIPOCROM, s.r.l.Via A. Meucci 28, 00012 Guidonia,Roma (Italia)

Production and Administrative Center:Piazzale Marcellino Champagnat, 2C.P. 10250 - 00144 ROMATel. (39) 06 54 51 71Fax (39) 06 54 517 217E-mail: [email protected]: www.champagnat.org

Publisher:Institute of the Marist BrotherGeneral House - Roma

Printing:C.S.C. GRAFICA, s.r.l.Via A. Meucci 28, 00012 Guidonia,Roma (Italia)

March 2010

■ Message of the invited lay Marists page 45

■ The fundamental call and the future horizons. page 50B. Jeffrey CroweWith Mary, go in haste to a new land! page 52

■ Elections page 56

■ Legislation page 58

■ Animation and government page 64

■ Administration of goods page 66

EVENTS

■ Marist family page 70

■ Relays page 72

■ Papal audience page 74

■ Liturgical experience page 76

■ Closing: Words of Brother Emili page 78

TECHNOLOGY

■ The house which hosted the XXI General Chapter page 86

■ Technology at the service of the Chapter page 88

■ Visits to the website during the XXI General Chapter page 92

ALBUM

Participants page 94

2 • FMS Message 40

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

1839

L’Hermitage

185218531854

1860

18621863

18671868

18731876

1880

L’Hermitage

Saint-Genis-Laval

Saint-Genis-Laval

Saint-Genis-Laval

Saint-Genis-Laval

Saint-Genis-Laval

92 capitulants

Government1839-1852

3333 capitulants33

Government1852-1860

François D.G.

1a section

1a section

2a section

1a section

2a section

1a section

2a section

2a section

3a section

Louis-Marie A. Jean-Baptiste A.

François D.G. Louis-Marie A. Jean-Baptiste A. Pascal A.

Pascal A.François D.G. Louis-Marie V. Jean-Baptiste A. Théophane A. Philogone A.

Pascal A.(✝1867)Louis-Marie S.G. Jean-Baptiste A.

Louis-Marie S.G.

Louis-Marie S.G.

Jean-Baptiste A.

Théophane A. Philogone A. Eubert A.A. Proc.G. 1863

Théophane A. Philogone A.

Théophane A.

Théophane A.

Philogone A.

Eubert A. Euthyme A.

Euthyme A. Félicité A.

Philogone A. Euthyme A. Félicité A.

Nestor A.

Nestor S.G. Procope A.

March 2010 • 3

General government

36 capitulants

Government1860-1862

3840 capitulants

Government1862-1867

40 capitulants

Government1873-1880

3941 capitulants

Government1867-1873

47 capitulants

Government1880-1883

Euthyme Sec.G. Epaphras Proc.G.Chrysogone

Chrysogone A. 1863

Euthyme Sec.G.

Félicité A.

Procope A. NorbertA. 1876

Norbert A.

AvitA. 1876

Gérald A. Nicet A.

Juste Sec.G. (1868)

Eubert Sec.G.


Théophane S.G. Philogone A. Euthyme A. Procope A. Norbert A. Gérald A. Bérillus A.

Théophane S.G. Philogone A.1895

Procope A.1900

Norbert A.1899

Gérald A. Bérillus A. Adon A.

Liboire A.

Augustalis A. John A.

Théophane S.G. Gérald A.1905 Sec.G.

Gérald A.

Bérillus A.

Bérillus A.

Adon A. Stratonique A.

Stratonique S.G.

Diogène S.G.

Diogène S.G.

Léonida S.G.

Angélicus A. Flamien A.

Flamien A.1940

Michaëlis A.

Michaëlis A.

Columbanus A. Elie-Marie A.

Elie-Marie A.1938

Jean-Emile A. Sixto A.1954

Désiré-Alphonse A. Paul-Stratonic A.1948

Sebastiani A. Régis-Aimé 1948 A.1955 Sec.G.

Augustin-Joseph A.

Augustin-Joseph A.1941

Marie-Odulphe A.

Marie-Odulphe A.1949

Euphrosin A.

Euphrosin A.1951

Clément A.(✝1951)

Climaque A.

Liboire A.Climaque A.1908

1883

Saint-Genis-Laval

1893

Saint-Genis-Laval

1903

Saint-Genis-Laval

1907

1920

1932

1946

Grugliasco (Italy)

Grugliasco (Italy)

Grugliasco (Italy)

Grugliasco (Italy)

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

March 2010 • 5

Adon A. Stratonique A.

45 capitulants

Government1883-1893

Stratonique A. Climaque A. Liboire A.1895

Augustalis A.1899

Augustalis A.

John A.1900

John A.

Paulin A. Angélicus A. Pierre-Joseph Econ.G.

Pierre-JosephSec.G.

Césaire 1905 Econ.G.

Dalmace Sec.G.

Pierre-Joseph Sec.G.1905 Econ.G.

47 capitulants

Government1893-1903

Diogène Sec.G.1908

Léonida A.1941

Charles Raphäel A.1949

Leoncio Martin A.1951

Mary Justinian A.1951

Thomas Austin A.1953

Joannès-Eugène A.1953

Luis Gonzaga A.1954

Marie Basilide A. y Sec.G.1957

Simon-Henry Econ.G. 1957

Louis-Maríe Econ.G. 1957

Avit Sec.G.1957

Marie-Odulphe A. Euphrosin A.

Clément A. Sixto A.1940

Paul-Stratonic A.1942

Emery Proc.G.

Emery Proc.G.1949

Alessandro Di PietroProc.G.SS Post G. 1949

Emery Proc. G.

Louis-MarieEcon. G.

Jean-Emile Sec.G.A. 1938

Avit Sec.G.1938

Désiré-Alphonse A.1941

Jean-Emile Sec.G.1929

François de Borgia A. 1942

Pierre-JosephEcon.G.

Dalmace Sec.G.(✝1929)

51 capitulants

Government1893-1903

52 capitulants

Government1907-1920

61 capitulants

Government1920-1932

74 capitulants

Government1932-1946

101 capitulants

Government1946-1958

General government


Charles Raphäel S.G.

Basilio Rueda S.G.

Basilio Rueda S.G.

Charles Howard S.G. Benito Arbués V.G.

Benito Arbués S.G. Seán Sammon V.G.

Seán Sammon S.G. Luis García Sobrado V.G. Maurice Berquet C. Pedro Herreros C. Antonio Ramalho C. Peter Rodney C. Emili Turú C.

Emili Turú S.G. Joseph Mc Kee V.G. Antonio Ramalho C. Ernesto Sánchez C. Eugène Kabanguka C. John Klein C. Josep Maria Soteras C.

Claudino Falchetto C. Jeffrey Crowe C. Gaston Robert C. Henri Vignau C. Pedro Marcos San Esteban C.

Alain Delorme C. Richard Dunleavy C. Marcelino Ganzaraín C. Claudio Girardi C. Pedro Huidobro C.

Quentin Duffy V.G.

Quentin Duffy V.G.1982 PROC.G.

Jean Thoullieux C. Alexis Paquet C. Charles Howard C. Stephen Urban C. Luiz Silveira C.

Paul Ambrose C. Louis Martin C.1971

Hilary Mary C. Roland Bourassa C. Alfonso Wimer C.

Leoncio Martín V.G. Louis-Martin A. Marie Basilide A.1960

Hilary Mary A. Roque María A. Lucinio María A.

1958

Saint-Genis-Laval

19671a section

19682a section

Rome

1976

Rome

1985

1993

2001

2009

Rome

Rome

Rome

Rome

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16.

17.

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19.

20.

21.

March 2010 • 7

Michael De Waas C. Víctor Preciado Econ.G.C. 2009

Víctor Preciado2008 Econ.G.

Jean Ronzon 2010 Sec. G.

Pedro Sánchez2010 Sec. G.

Théoneste Kalisa C. Jean Ronzon2003 Sec.G.

Juan Miguel Anaya 2002 PROC.G.

Giovanni M. Bigotto2001 POST.G.

Giovanni M. Bigotto2010 POST.G.

Juan Miguel Anaya P.G. A. S.S.

Antonio Martínez Fernández2002 Econ.G.

Chris Mannion C.(✝1994)

Luis García Sobrado C. Marcelino Ganzaraín C. José Luis Grande1999 Sec. G.

Richard Dunleavy1999 Sec. G.

Richard Dunleavy2003 Sec. G.

Brian John Sweeney1999 Proc. G.

Pietro Sto1999 Proc. G.

Yvon Bedard Econ. G.

Yvon Bedard Econ. G.2002

Gabriele Andreucci1989 P.G. a S.S.

Eugenio Magdaleno C. Philip Ouellette C. Powell Prieur C. Renato Cruz C. Ezequiel Vaquerín E.G. Yves Thénoz Sec.G. Brian John Sweeney1989 PROC.G.

Agustín CarazoPOST. G.

Arturo Chavez C. Javier G. Terradillos C. Ezequiel Vaquerín C. Paul Sester C. y Sec.G. Olivier SentenneECON.G.

Leonard Voegtle C. 1982 P.G. A. S.S.

Powell Prieur C.1982

Agustín Carazo1982 POST. G.

Teófilo Martínez C. José María Iragui C. Gonçalves Xavier C. Gabriel Rodríguez C. FORMACIÓN

Olivier Sentenne C. APOSTOLATO Y MISÍON 1971 ECON.G.

Gabriel Michel C. Y SEC.G.

René Gilbert Joss C. Y ECON.G. 1971 APOSTOLATO

Alessandro di Pietro C. Y P.G. A S.S.

Paul Sester C.1971

Lorenzo A. Paul Ambrose A. Luis Gonzaga A. Mary Justinian A. Simon-Henri Econ.G. Joannes-Eugene Sec.G.

Alessandro Di Pietro A. P.G. a. S.S.

Gildo Cotta A.1960

108 capitulants

Government1958-1967

155 capitulants

Government1967-1976

145 capitulants

Government1976-1985

133 capitulants

Government1985-1993

126 capitulants

Government1993-2001

117 capitulants

Government2001-2009

83 capitulants

Government2009- ...

General government

On the track of information

about the General Councils

P R E S E N T A T I O N B. AMEstaún

T raditionally, the convoca-tion and the report on theactivities and decisions of

the General Chapters have beencommunicated to the Instituteby means of a Circular of theBrother Superior General. The meeting of all the Brothersduring the retreat to elect Broth-er François as Director General isconsidered the I General Chapter(1839) of the Institute. The ac-count of this event was recordedby Brother Jean-Baptiste Furetin his Life of Marcellin.

Starting with the II GeneralChapter, presided over byBrother François, there beganthe practice of providing infor-mation about the happeningsat each Chapter, which wasrecorded in the collection ofthe Circulars of the Superiors.The Superior General convokedthe Chapter, organized the elec-tions, presided over the workingsessions and communicated theresults to the Brothers. With the appearance of theBulletin de l’Institut, which

began life in 1909, in accor-dance with the wish of the XIGeneral Chapter (1907), infor-mation about the General Chap-ters, published in the Circulars,was complemented by reportsand graphic information provid-ed by this news organ of theInstitute. The first historical ac-count of the General Chapters,filed in its volumes, is that ofthe XII General Chapter(1920), meeting in Grugliasco.The narrative was illustratedwith a photograph of the


XII General Chapter (1920). First photograph of members of a Chapter

March 2010 • 9

Brothers gathered in the chap-ter hall and a diagram of theseating arrangements. In July 1932, in the Bulletin del’Institut appeared a full anddetailed report of the XIII Gen-eral Chapter, drawn up byBrother Jean-Emile, SecretaryGeneral, of 30 pages, illustratedwith fifteen photographs inblack and white, with a verymeticulous account of thepreparations made in the house,the arrival of the capitulants,the retreat, the system of vot-ing used, the election of theSuperior General, the celebra-tions, the work of the capitu-lants, and finally the repercus-sions the assembly had abroad.This work provided evidence ofthe interest aroused by a Gen-eral Chapter. The editors of theBulletin, faithful to the objec-tives proposed by its founders,commenced in this way to col-lect data which would serve asreference for the history of theInstitute.The XIV General Chapter(1946), held at Grugliasco, atwhich Brother Leonida waselected Superior General, wasreported in 22 pages of theBulletin, which included 7 illus-trations.The preparation for the XV Gen-eral Chapter (1958) was en-riched by Brother Jules Vic-torin, who published in theBulletin, in three successivenumbers, a panoramic synthesisof the Chapters held in the In-stitute up to that date. Theseaccounts, together with thosedrawn up by Brother Jean-Emile, mentioned above, consti-tuted a first global survey ofthe history of the General Chap-

ters. The account of the eventoccupied 27 pages and included10 photographs.The XVI General Chapter(1967), called as a “SpecialChapter, elected Brother BasilioRueda as Superior General. TheBulletin presented, in prepara-tion for this important chaptermeeting, a fresh historical sum-mary of the preceding Chapters.There is no agreement on itsauthor. The chapter met inRome for the first time. Two

sessions were held. This assem-bly was written up in the Bul-letin with greater detail thanthat given to previous Chapters.The format of the Bulletin waschanged, a larger size beingused than originally. The textcontinued to be published inFrench, but there were briefsummaries of the contents pro-vided in little paragraphs in themargin in English, Spanish, andPortuguese. In sum, the pagesdevoted to reporting on thetwo sessions amounted to a to-tal of 67, with 48 photographsincluded. The write-up of thisChapter concluded the series of

reports on the General Chaptersappearing in the Bulletin.The XVII General Chapter wasconvoked in 1976. It was antic-ipated that preparation for theChapter would take two years.Brother Quentin Duffy, VicarGeneral, published in the Bul-letin, starting in May 1975, twoarticles aimed at “drawing at-tention to the next GeneralChapter”, “arousing interest forcollaboration in the prepara-tion”, “understanding the ne-

cessity of the Chapter, its aimsand objectives, and taking partin the preparation of the sug-gestions”. Particularly instruc-tive and enriching is the articlewhich describes the phases of aChapter. It also published thebiographies of the members byright, first, and then of thoseelected. In total it filled 165pages, to which must be addedanother 52 of the statistics ofthe Institute and a synoptictable summarizing the most im-portant data of the 17 GeneralChapters. For the first time, theexecution of the preparatorywork for a General Chapter was

XIV General Chapter (1946). Grugliasco

entrusted to a Pre-Capitular Commission charged with “organizing thepreparatory work” (Directory, 122). In the Bulletin de l’Institut there is no information on the developmentof the XVII Chapter or what happened after it. At this period, the Bul-letin had no fixed direction with regard to what should be included in itspages. The year 1975 appears to mark the high point of the drift of itspages. No number was published in 1977. And Volume 31, which collect-ed the publications from 1978 to 1984, filled its pages fundamentallywith three themes for articles: Catechesis, Constitutions, and the state ofthe Institute. The life of the Bulletin came to a close with the last num-ber of Volume 31. The XVIII General Chapter (1985) elected Brother Charles Howard as Su-perior General. The information transmitted to the Institute of what hap-pened at this assembly was recorded in printed works which do not formpart of a collection, provide no references, dates, or series numbers.In February 1987 appeared the first issue of the FMS Message. BrotherCharles Howard, in presenting the new publication, stated in the pro-logue: this “new organ of communication for the whole Institute” wasthe “first edition of the new bulletin of the Institute”. Hereafter, the Gen-eral Chapters would leave in its pages the most detailed outlines ofMarist capitular history.In January 1988 appeared the little review “FMS ECHO”, in four lan-guages. “FMS ECHO” did not replace the FMS-MESSAGE.The XIX General Chapter (1993), the first in the history of the Instituteto use a slogan (“Daring and Hope”) and a logo, and the XX (2001), bothheld in Rome, were the main features in the pages of the FMS Message,with a special number on each of the two assemblies. The present numberof FMS Message is situated in continuation with those two Chapters.


B. AMEstaúnpresentation

XVI General Chapter (1967). The largestChapter in Marist history up to the present.

First poster announcing a GeneralChapter. XIX General Chapter (1993)

The Marial face of the Church

B. Emili Turú, S.G.

With this expression, com-mon in the Latin lan-guages, there was an at-tempt to say that Mary hadreturned to herhouse in thebest and mostvisible way. I

do not remember very well the context or the circum-stances, but I remember perfectly the almost palpablesense of certainty of Mary’s presence among us.Weeks before the beginning of the XXI General Chapter, Br.Sean presented us with his last Circular, “In her arms or inher heart”. From the moment I took this Circular intomy hands, I was impressed with Sean’s convictionthat Mary was, and has to keep on being, “oursource of renewal”: “She was there for Marcellinduring the early days of our Marist life; she wasthere for our brothers during the crisis of 1903;and, if we but ask her, she will be there for ustoday, serving as a companion and guide forthe work that lies ahead”. So why should we besurprised if Mary should make her presencepowerfully felt among us, at the beginning ofthe XXI General Chapter? Wasn’t she remindingus where to go in order to achieve the arduoustask of continuing to renew the Institute?

I remember very well themoment when someone in

the Chapter assembly saidthat Mary “has entered theChapter hall through themain door”. There was an al-most electric atmosphere inthe hall, and a recognitionthat this summed up the fee-ling of all present.

March 2010 • 11

The Marial dialogueThe most obvious innovation of the recent General Chapter was, with-out doubt, the change of methodology. The Preparatory Commissiondared to propose to the capitulants that they abandon the parliamen-tary method to adopt a methodology called “by consensus”. And themembers of the General Chapter were bold enough to abandon theknown and proven road to adventure into “new lands”, without know-ing too well what they were getting into, but trusting in their broth-ers and in the possibilities of the group. The round tables, which al-tered the geography of the chapter hall, became a symbol of this

change of methodology. The new methodology, also called “fraternaldialogue” by the Provisional Committee,was, moreover, qualified at some time as“Marial dialogue”. I consider this last ex-pression as a very happy one, for nothingbetter than Mary of the Annunciation couldrepresent for us the most suitable attitudesfor a dialogue capable of generating life. Perhaps we could say that this was theChapter of dialogue. In fact, it was precededby conversations at different levels, the fruitof which was harvested in the form of let-ters. The members of the Chapter used theregional letters as a point of departure fortheir dialogues around the tables and theythemselves responded with another letter tothe entire Institute at the end of the Chapter.Thanks to the technology, the chapter hallfelt itself in touch with many persons who, inwhatever part of the world, not only followedthe Chapter day by day, but also sent mes-sages of support and encouragement. And, ofcourse, the entire Chapter process became amagnificent lesson in what dialogue in depthmeant. Since the Chapter ended, it has been comingback to me, each time more forcefully, theconviction that behind the experience of “Mar-ial dialogue” lived as Institute for a period oftime, there is something much more importantthan a simple change of methodology. I feelthat a strong call is urging us to live in thespirit of this dialogue on all the levels of the

Institute: personal and interpersonal; community; provincial; inter-provincial; intercongregational… The more I know of the Institute,the more convinced I am of this necessity, seeing that, although a


B. Emili TurúTHE MARIAL FACE OF THE CHURCH

March 2010 • 13

great feeling of institutional relevancy is percep-tible, we run the risk that subtle prejudices(coming especially from our social and politicalmilieu) end up becoming established among us,obstructing our dialogue and preventing us fromtasting the richness of diversity.

Prophecy in the Church and in society

Pope John Paul II, addressing the capitulants ofthe four branches of the Marist Family in 2001,said: “It’s your responsibility today to manifestin an original and specific way the presence ofMary in the life of the Church and of mankind”.With that he invited us to turn back to our ori-gins and, honoring our name, become activebuilders of a “Marian Church”, following the ex-pression the same Pope used repeatedly. In many of our societies the Church is perceivedas authoritarian, clerical, masculine. For this rea-son, the icon of the Marian Church, which isnone other than that of Pentecost, appears tome to have real prophetic power. The disciples,united around a woman, Mary, the Mother of Je-sus, are a beautiful expression of a fraternalcommunity, of dialogue and service, open andloving diversity. It is a matter of a “MarianChurch” which offers a concrete and attractiveresponse to the extraordinary thirst for unitywhich is evident in all parts of the world.

The XXI General Chapter offers us directions for ourcontribution to this “Marial face of the Church”:– The call to “a new way of being Brother”:

“The Spirit has called us to welcome a ‘newway of being Brother’. We need to recover theoriginality of the name that Marcellin gave us– Little Brothers of Mary”

– “A new relationship between Brothers andLay Marists, based on communion, searchingtogether for a greater vitality of the Maristcharism for our world”

– “A highly significant presence among poorchildren and young people”.

Don’t these three proposed lines of action, at theheart of the Church and of society, appear to youhighly prophetic? Perhaps we may complainabout a lack of energy to commit ourselves, butwe can certainly not complain about a lack ofclarity as to the way we are being called. Marists, building the Marial face of the Church.An excellent waybill, on the route towards the200 years since the founding of the Institute.Mary of the Visitation, who carries Jesus in herwomb and in her heart, lead us on our way. Bon voyage to the new land!

B. Emili Turú, Superior general

14

INAUGURATION

This morning at theoutset of our 21st Gene-ral Chapter, I invite allof us to take for oursel-ves the eyes of a poorchild. For we must as-sess, as best as possibleand as fully as we can,to what degree the lifeand mission of Marce-llin Champagnat’s LittleBrothers of Mary are

being lived out today with zeal and passion,in keeping with the calls of the Church andthe signs of our times. Yes, we must ask our-selves whether or not, like our Founder, we areabove all else in love with Jesus Christ andcredibly visible among the poor children andyoung people who so captured Marcellin’s he-art? A Chapter, though, is so much more than a ti-me set aside for assessment, for measuringwhether or not we are living up to one idealor another. Like those that have come beforeit, this 21st General Chapter is a time of ex-traordinary grace for our Institute and all whoare part of its life and mission. So, let us situp and take notice, for we have at hand theopportunity we need to initiate the fundamen-tal change of heart that we claim to seek.


Do you remember what itwas like to see the world

through the eyes of a child?If you have forgotten, permit meto refresh your memory. Chil-dren focus on the obvious, onwhat we adults see clearly butagree to ignore. More oftenthan not, the news they bringus is plain spoken, simply put,and honest.

Throughthe eyes

of a child

Extract from the Adress at the XXI General Chapter

B.Seán D.Sammon, FMS

When capitulants gathered in this space in1967, two years after the close of Vatican II,for our extraordinary Chapter of renewal, theyhad little idea of what lay ahead. However, themessage of an Ecumenical Council, the first in100 years, had stirred their hearts and raisedtheir hopes. And so, they set out with faith,with courage, and with a love for our Instituteto remake Marist life and mission for a new age. As they began that journey of renewal, however,those brothers of ours knew full well that at so-me time in the future there would be a day ofreckoning, a time when others like themselveswould gather once again. Fellow pilgrims whocarried in their hearts the dream of MarcellinChampagnat and had lived the experience of re-newal long enough that they could not help butspeak the truth simply and without hesitation,and make decisions that were daring, courage-ous, even unexpected. Here, eight years shy ofour 200th anniversary as an Institute, we mustaccept the fact that we are those fellow pil-grims and that now is that time of decision making.

A general context

That has transpired during the last half centuryor so has been reflected within the Institutethrough the experience of three different anddistinct generations. The oldest, which growsever smaller with each passing year, rememberswhat our way of life looked like prior to VaticanII. They can recall the LatinMass, as well as the day whenthe priest turned from facingthe wall and began to slowlyintroduce the vernacular intothe celebration of the Eucha-rist. A second group came to matu-rity as John XXIII was callingfor the Council to take place.Many of them were quickly immersed in what isknown as modernity. Putting aside certain privi-leges and casting off the symbols and ways of

living that had separated us from the People ofGod, these brothers challenged you and me toface the same questions about life and meaningthat everyone else had to address.This generation had the task of leading our Ins-titute through a time of loss, an important pe-riod wherein we questioned the meaning andpurpose of our way of life. Privileged to havebeen present at the death of one era of Churchhistory, they are blessed today with the oppor-tunity to help facilitate the birth of another. The renewal questions of 2009 and 2010, howe-ver, are not those of the 1960s or the 1980s.Today, a new generation is looking at our wayof life and mission through eyes shaped by aworld that is foreign to many of us over the ageof 50. More than a few of them lack a strongCatholic identity as defined by the practices ofthe past. Those who are coming to our Marist way of lifein many parts of our world at this moment in ti-me have lived with questions since childhood.They are now looking for some answers and in-sist on having clear signs that mark them as re-ligious men. Speak with them and you will dis-cover quickly that Vatican II is someone else’shistory. As an Institute, then, we have passed through adifficult half century. The Council was a seismicevent: when the first dust had settled we allfound ourselves standing in a different place.During the years since, we have become increa-singly aware of the massive social justice pro-blems spawned by modernity as well as the cri-

17

sis of faith that exists and that has its origin in the theologicalchallenges of post-modernity being played out within the contextof a highly polarized Church. Many blessings have also been ours during this period. First of all,the living presence and protection of Mary, the mother of Jesus, hasbeen evident throughout. We have also been blessed with exceptio-nal leaders who kept hope alive as we made our way across an, attimes, arid desert. Leaders such as Basilio, Charles, Benito, andtheir Councils. A word of thanks to each of them. The growth of a deeper spirit of fraternity also got underway duringthis period, as did our Marist lay partnership movement. These in-itiatives added an air of expectation about what the future mighthold for us all. Like our brothers in 1967, we stand at a crossroad. Building the fu-ture of Marist life and mission will require us to make decisions thatwill allow us to be who we were meant to be: men in love with God,brothers visibly evangelizing poor children and young people, reli-gious building communities marked by a spirit of hospitality andwelcome, and, like the Founder, disciples of the Lord with the heartof a missionary. Those who made up the membership of our 16th General Chapter,conscious of their responsibilities, gave themselves the time theyneeded and gathered together the resources necessary to do thejob. Though they may have been unaware of the fact at the time,their challenge was to initiate a period during which much of whatwas familiar to at least one generation of brothers would simply

pass away They helped move us to a place where we had to relyon God more than on ourselves.

Consecrated life and formation

Consecrated life is a permanent, stable, and public way oflife within the Church. Unfortunately, when Vatican IIclarified the fact that men and women religious were notan intermediate state or class of people situated some-where between clergy and laity, some of us concluded—by the process of elimination—that since we were notclergy, we must be laity. This outcome was neither the in-

tention of the Council nor is it compatible with experience,it is, however, the cause of some of our questions aboutidentity today. Those who made up the Council body did us a service by re-minding us all that religious life was meant to be part ofthe charismatic and not the hierarchical structure of theChurch, but that does not mean it is not a state of life.Both Lumen Gentium and Perfectae Caritatis recognize it as


B. Seán SammonEXTRACT FROM THE SPEECH AT THE XXI GENERAL CHAPTER

March 2010 • 19

such distinct from both those who are ordainedand the laity. As men religious who are non-ordained we havea special obligation to be the conscience of theChurch. By living our way of life well, placingourselves in those situations and locations whe-re it is difficult for others to go, and working tomeet needs that are just beginning to be iden-tified and for which institutional resources donot exist, we remind the Church about its truenature. Yes, by our sense of hospitality, thecompassion we show to others, our concern forthose whom no one else will serve, our presenceat the margins, we make the Risen Lord knownand loved in our world today and remind theChurch about what it is meant to be, what itlongs to be, what it must be. As we approach this Chapter, then, we mustcommit ourselves to doing the work necessaryto clarify the place and purpose of our way oflife within our Church. We may not accomplishthat task fully during the time provided, but wemust set in place the means to do it eventually. More importantly, we must take on ourselvesthe spirit of those who made up the 1967 Chap-ter and like our Founder, set our sights on thefuture. As the delegates of 1967 had responsibi-lity for initiating a period of transformation,ours is to begin to build the future. And so, during these days together we must ma-ke decisions about our way of life that will helpus take some initial steps toward that future re-alizing all the while that to build it fully willtake the lifetime of many of us here. However,though we know full well that that future willoutlast us all, we can be equally sure that wewill live on in the future that we create.

Internationality

In recent years one of the few General Chapteroutcomes that caught the attention of many wasthe recommendation of those who made up our1993 Chapter that some restructuring take placewithin the Institute, especially in those placeswhose future vitality and viability was in question.

I would dare say, however, that most Chaptercapitulants left Rome with the belief that res-tructuring would happen somewhere within theInstitute but would have little impact uponthem and their lives.The new world about which we speak is beco-ming increasingly international and multicultu-ral. As an Institute, we have taken some initialsteps in this direction. Our efforts, however, ha-ve failed to bear the fruit we expected.

Government and animation

At all levels of the Institute, we must decidewhat it is that we want from government, andthen we must provide the resources to makethat possible.

Marist laity

Next year marks the 25th years since the idea ofthe Champagnat Movement of the Marist Familywas conceived. During the years Marist lay part-nership has developed rapidly to the point whe-re we are today. Since those early days we have come to unders-tand more fully that a spirituality that is trulylay and genuinely Marist can only emerge fromlay Marist experience and nowhere else. Develo-ped by Marist lay leadership, it will aim at pro-mote a type of personal practice and involve-ment in ministry that is in keeping with andtruly transformative of lay Marist life in theChurch.

* * *

Looking back on this Chapter years from now,others will make an assessment. Let us therefo-re make bold decisions that will move the Insti-tute and its mission into the future. Let us ma-ke the type of decisions that will cause othersto say that it numbered among the Institute’sfinest.

First of all a largeconsultation not onlywith Brothers, but al-so with the laity andyoung Marists by us-ing a process ofgroup discernment. An initial document developed the process: Onthe road to the XXIst General Chapter. It was accompanied by audio-visual means of animation and by an agenda Guide to the Marist Pil-


When the preparatory commis-sion began its work in No-

vember 2007, the question arose:how to realise the consultation ofthe Brothers of the Institute whichwas required by the statutes of theGeneral Chapter1? The commis-sion opted for a discussion in twostages.

From the“Initial Consultation”

to the“Letters from

the Regions”B. Maurice Berquet

1 Statutes of the Chapter - Art. 2.2 Letter of the XXIst

General Chapter

grim. 464 communities representing 2483Brothers sent in their contribution; likewise162 groups of lay people (2072 persons), 71commissions or provincial councils (556 per-sons) and 62 groups of youth (816 persons).The contributions received by the preparatorycommission brought to light four major themes(identity of the Brother, the lay Marist, the mis-sion, and the spirituality) and six other com-

plementary themes which were presented in asecond document: Guidelines for reflexion.The second stage included all the capitulantswho met the communities of Brothers, thegroups of lay people and the young regardingthe themes retained. Then they echoed whatthey had received by means of an open letter totheir Province…Then there were the regionalmeetings, whose aim was to ensure there waswritten a regional letter which would be ad-

dressed to the Chapter to express the particularvoice of the region in the face of the suggestedthemes. It was these regional letters with thereport of the General Council which became thepoint of departure for the reflexion of the XXIstGeneral Chapter.In this process of preparation the use of the In-ternet played a considerable role, by enlargingthe dialogue to all involved in the Marist way of

life, mainly by way of forums of discussion.In my opinion, two aspects characterise thepreparation of XXIst General Chapter. First ofall putting into operation a process of discern-ment of the group. Next the important partici-pation of the lay Marists and young Marists, asign of this new relation between Brothers andthe laity, based on communion, seeking togethera greater vitality of the Marist charism in theworld.2

21Marzo 2010 • 21


We will need to re-spond to new calls ofliving our vows, ofpraying, and of livingin community in aworld that is constantly in flux. I believe that at the heart of all thisis a foundational question: Do we believe that by our consecrationwe are claimed by God? Our response to this question could be thegift we have to offer each other, the young for whom we minister,

and the world. To respondappropriately, we are calledto a stance of discern-ment — a way of beingrooted in an explicit at-mosphere of FAITH — tocelebrate and live our livesthrough God… But keep inmind: this way of being,living, and acting can be avery dangerous undertak-ing. It demands sacrifice. Iwant to share with you astory as told by the Rev-erend Billy Graham:

If by our vocation as Bro-thers we are called to a

consecration firmly rootedin the Gospel, to be vowedmen of prayer, living incommunity, what are thenew calls today for our lifeas Brothers?

A renewed sense

of consecration firmly rooted in the Gospel urges us

to new ways of being human

B. Ben Consigli, USA

March 2010 • 23

A little child was playing one day with a veryvaluable vase. He put his hand into it andcould not withdraw it. His father too, triedhis best, but all in vain. They were thinkingof breaking the vase when the father said,“Now, my son, make one more try. Openyour hand and hold your fingers out straightas you see me doing, and then pull.” To their astonishment the little fellow said,“O no, father. I couldn’t put my fingers outlike that, because if I did I would drop mypenny.”

Smile, if you will — but thousands of usare like that little boy, so busy holding onto the world’s worthless penny that wecannot accept liberation. I beg you todrop the trifle in your heart. Surrender! Letgo, and let God have His way in your life.

If we wish to live freely in Christ, we will need tolet go of our pre-conceived view of the world, ofthe Brothers, our lay colleagues, and even ofourselves. We may be called to identify withAbraham, who by faith obeyed when he was

XXI GENERAL CHAPTER

called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance;and Abraham set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith hereceived the power of procreation, even though he was too old —

and Sarah herself was barren — be-cause he considered God faithful. Wemay be called to identify with Maryof the Visitation. Everything in thevisitation scene is motion and excite-ment: Mary’s haste, her greeting toElizabeth, John’s leaping for joy, Eliz-abeth’s exclaiming with a loud cryand Mary’s thanksgiving. All of theseactions and reactions are so manyshowings of the Spirit’s manifestationat the dawn of our salvation. TheVisitation is not only a scene of tran-sition, of letting go; it reveals Maryas a believer, a woman who has givenher total “yes” to God’s Word. It isthis faith that Elizabeth proclaims:“Blest is she who trusted that theLord’s words to her would be ful-filled.” Or we may be called to identi-fy with Marcellin who had freedom inhis willingness to let the whole pro-ject of the Little Brothers of Mary go— something he worked for hiswhole life — if it were notGod’s/Mary’s will that it continue.

Brothers, discernment of God’s willand our own personal conversions arecalls to faith and to courage. AsSéan said, “As men religious who arenon-ordained we have a special oblig-ation to be the conscience of theChurch. By living our life well, placingourselves in those situations and loca-tions where it is difficult for others togo, and working to meet needs thatare just beginning to be identified, weremind the Church about its true na-ture… we must commit ourselves todoing the work necessary to clarify theplace and purpose of our way of lifewithin our Church.”


What does this GeneralChapter mean for theprogress of the Institute?

The methodology based on consensus willenrich –will change- the processes ofdiscernment in the Provinces. Unity andstrength around Mary and the decisiveopening to the Marist laity will make sure thatit does not remain on the level of documents.One concern: slowness; opportunities are being missed and we feel far from the “dreams” of Marcellin and of the capitulants of 1967-68.

Br. Benito Arbués, L’Hermitage

This Chapter will go down in history as a differentChapter, for its preparation

and for the methodology employed, but aboveall for the call it formulated, the absence ofdocuments and the emphasis it put on the post-capitular stage. If the administrativeunits seriously present what the chapter callmeans in their particular context, the resultwill no doubt be a turning point in the historyof our charism.

Mariano Varona, Santa María de los Andes

B. Ben ConsigliA RENEWED SENSE OF CONSECRATION

March 2010 • 25

Chapter Reflection on the XXI General ChapterI see our XXI General Chapter as a graced moment in the life and mission of our Institute today. By the opening day of the Chapter we were already blessed

through the thorough preparations initiated by Br Seán and his Council,the fruit of the reflections expressed in the regional letters, and the daring initiative to move towards a consensus model of reflectionand discernment during the Chapter itself.As we moved through the initial stages of the Chapter we experienced a period of painstaking waiting and searching for the fundamental call of the Spirit for us in these times.We felt the weight of the responsibility lying upon us as capitulants as weface the many critical issues facing our Institute, the church, and the world of poor children and young people in these times.But in the midst of much uncertainty one of the most profound experiencesof the XXI General Chapter was the “visitation” we received from Mary!Her presence and spirit was very tangibly felt among us. It was echoed in our prayer, in Br Tony Leon’s graphic artisticrepresentations of her and Champagnat, and it was she who inspired the fundamental call we were eventually able to name: “go with Mary in haste to a new land”.We began to recognize more deeply how God has been leading us throughour wilderness experiences since Vatican II. Despite our losses and uncertainties, God is offering us great potential in new gifts and realities. The emergence of Champagnat lay Marists opensnew possibilities before us, our growing appreciation of our internationalityoffers us a way forward in a globalizing world, and we increasinglyrecognise our Marist spirituality is a timely gift in creating a much neededMarian face of the church today.We realized pressures of time did not allow us to produce ‘perfect’ Chapter Documents: but we already have many fine documents. The heart of this Chapter lies in the challenge of the fundamental call. The radical conversion we all long for will happen only on the journey of letting go and setting out for a ‘new land’.

B. Barry Burns, New Zealand

26

CHAPTERWORKS

The parliamentary methodused in previous Chapters hasvery important limitations forbrothers who wish to put intopractice ecclesial communionas well as use this instrumentof work. The option of amethod different from the one

used in parliaments had a precedent in the customary praxis of theGeneral Council in its regular meetings and in its method of teamwork. The Preparatory Commission, guided by this idea, determinedthe work of arranging the spaces in the General House and eliminatedsteps and platforms in the chapter hall to place all the participants onthe same level. This decision also served as orientation for placing theparticipants in turn around round tables where they could dialogue in

small groups. In addition, the whole electronic infrastructure wasthought out to favour this methodology. In this way, from a methodof sociological and administrative inspiration, it became a methodderived from a theological and ecclesiological concept.The Chapter gave this initiative a favourable reception. The pro-posal approving it was expressed in these terms: “The Chapter rec-ommends to the Central Commission that the methodology of cre-

ating consensus be used for the work of the Chapter and that vot-ing be used to show the degree of consensus achieved”.

The round tables which accommodated a group of ten personswere a suitable space because all were able to express

themselves, listen, and be heard. The interchange withthe other tables was conducted through the table

secretaries who summarized for the assembly whathad been exposed at the table. Progress towards

consensus was made visible in the assembly byusing three cards of different colours. Each

The choice of workingmethod for the 21st

General Chapter was notmade spontaneously butarrived in the chapterhall after long considera-tion and discernment.

Method of work:

dialogue, consensusand communion

B. Joseph Mc Kee, Vicar general

March 2010 • 29

A third group formation with different persons wasmade to respond to the unpostponable tasks theassembly defined. These groups did not work withthe dynamic of a “commission” which presents itsconclusions to the assembly for voting on, butwere responsible for starting and directing a dy-namic of dialogue in the assembly for reachingconclusions by consensus. In the first session ofthe morning, work on the fundamental call” con-tinued at the tables. The remaining three worksessions alternated between the preparation ofthe dynamic and its application in the assembly.In this way, work was done on changes and cor-rections of the Constitutions, animation and gov-ernment, the administration of goods and rules forthe elections.The method’s reliability and acceptance were obvi-ous by the end of the process, but there weretimes when it was perceived as inconvenient bythe slowness of progress, with a tendency to re-vert to more analytical procedures. For takingrapid decisions a pyramidal system is more effi-cient, but it does not take account of minorityfeeling. If you want to go rapidly, travel alone. Ifyou want to go far, travel with others.A sign of satisfaction was the declaration of someBrothers that they would use the method for simi-lar meetings on their return to their provinces.Brother Emili Turú, Superior General, in hiswords of closure, in a gloss on the title of thenovel “Cold changes the course the fish run”wanted to indicate that the change of tempera-ture in the methodology of the Chapter was pro-pitious for dialogue, consensus, and the openingto internationality.

one displayed his card: Green = agree, yellow =continue dialogue, red = disagree.The group involved in dialogue around the sametable experienced three changes in group member-ship. The first among the initial contacts to be-come used to the digital technology, to initiateinterpersonal relationships and get to know oneanother. During this time they shared the ques-tions raised by the Chapter, searched for commonobjectives and decided on the working method ofthe Chapter. The whole process was realized underthe guidance of the Provisional Committee. The second period of exercising the method beganwith the search for the “fundamental call” whichGod was directing to the Institute and discerningits implications. The areas of performance and theunpostponable tasks the Chapter had to carry outwere made clear. For this work, a new group ofpersons was formed at each table organized bythe Central Commission to balance regional repre-sentation and the possibilities of communicationaccording to language. This group of participantscomposed the table for work on the fundamentalcall every day until finishing its work during thefirst session of the morning. In this way wereelaborated the prayer of the Chapter, the contentsof the Chapter document, and the letter sent bythe capitulants to the Brothers, laity, and youth.

There was a burning desire to work for God from all the chapter delegates.

An experience of unity of mind and thoughtwhere you see your inherent opinion beingechoed by a Brother or a lay.Brothers welcomed the lay participants withopen arms. They listened to their challenges and proffered solutions on how to strengthen their sharing in the mission of Marist Brothers.

Ozoh Rufus Chimezie - Nigeria

XXI GENERAL CHAPTER

30

ARRIVALOF THEREGIONALCHARTS TOTHE CHAPTERHOUSE

“What is the letter from my region saying to me,in the context of the other regional letters, andthe General Council report, about the Institute asa whole?” The personal reactions expressed by the capitu-lants pointed to what is essential, viz. newness of

heart. What is needed is to leave be-hind the old hearts for an old worldand make way for new hearts for anew world. This is what the SuperiorGeneral meant in his circulars whenhe spoke of a revolution of the heart.

Write a personal letter

The dynamic proposed to bring to the surfacewhat was in the heart consisted in writing a per-sonal letter, placing before the Lord the feelingsand attitudes moving within.

The letters written by each Marist re-gion took centre stage in the chapter

hall starting on September 10th and con-tinuing for several days. The aim of thiswork was to listen the Word of God in-carnate in the reality of the Marist regionsthroughout the world, as expressed in theregional letters.

From the “Letters of the Regions”to the “Personal Letter”

of each capitulant

March 2010 • 31


The mass continued in the main chapel with the solemn offeringprepared during the day. In the centre of the chapel, a lotus blos-som slowly opened its petals, sign of opening to the life and lightof the new sun, in oriental thinking. On the inside of the petalswas visible the Marist logo used for the beatification of the broth-er martyrs of Spain, and in the centre of the flower the logo of theChapter. The extended petals formed a large tray on which the ca-pitulants placed the letters written during the day. Marist sanctity,represented by the blood of the martyrs, has watered the seeds ofnew life in the Institute sown in the hearts of brothers and laity.

FROM THE “LETTERS OF THE REGIONS” TO THE “PERSONAL LETTER”OF EACH CAPITULANT

From the “Personal letter”to the “Letter of dreams”

The Central Commis-sion suggested a fewdifferent dynamicsthat could be used toresolve the logjam.The first was thateach table secretaryshare with others at the table what had beenheard at the just-ended secretaries’ meeting.In the second session, however, the Commissionswitched its tactics and methodology. It pre-sented to the assembly a hypothetical formula-tion that could serve as written expression ofthe fundamental call that everyone was desiringto express.

A journey towards the second century of the foundation of the InstituteThe afternoon session began with a show ofconsensus on six elements which had appearedin all the dialogues: conversion; new hearts,new earth; urgency and call to move; mission topoor children and youth; brothers and laity to-gether, and the Marian aspect. On receiving thehall’s confirmation on these elements, the Cen-tral Commission provided the following motiva-tion: “We are beginning an imaginary journeytowards 2016. It is the year for the next GeneralChapter. The Institute has been through aprocess of renewal, of transformation. It haslived the values proposed by the 21st GeneralChapter. As many brothers as lay people have re-

sponded to the calls to go and meetpoor children and young people.Working together, praying together,the Congregation has expanded. Jesusis the centre of our lives. Mary is inti-mately present among us. You havereceived a message from the Prepara-

tory Commission of the 22nd General Chapter.They want to know how you have lived the chal-lenges laid down by the 21st Chapter. Not onlyhow you have faced them, but how you havecarried them out and what means you haveused. It is 6 June. The years have passed. Elections tothe chapter have been held and you come backto meet at the same tables as at the 21st Chap-ter. Each table is asked to compose a letter tothe Central Commission indicating the more im-portant achievements of the Province and whatwas done to make them a reality”. This “Letter to the Central Commission” becameknown as the “Letter of Hope.”

By September 18, theconsensus process

had revealed many com-mon elements. Neverthe-less, a formulation of whatthe Chapter was feeling,what it desired, had notfound expression.

March 2010 • 33


“Letter of the Dreams”Selection of texts from

■ TABLE NUMBER 1A project of common road

In the light of the call emerging from the 21st General Chapter toforge ahead with Mary of the Visitation, and reborn with her in a FI-AT, let’s begin a pilgrimage of discernment and conversion both per-sonally and institutionally throughout the Institute. The previous Chapter provided us with a map for our journey of con-version, Brothers and laypersons together, in all our Provinces. Maryhas been our light and companion all the way.Despite aging and diminishment of numbers, the Brothers in oursmall communities have undertaken to work at the guidelines pro-posed by the Chapter. This process has been done at Province leveltoo. We have been guided by an international commission appointedto animate communities, Provinces and regions of the Institute.In taking a reading of our way as an Institute, we perceive these

signs of hope: Brothers and laity in aprocess of conversion.Ways of conversion have been promotedwhich allow revival of the passion for whatwe are and what we have.Processes for deepening of faith have beenset in operation, together with a spiritualityof life.

■ TABLE NUMBER 2Awarenessof social realities, in the need for prophets

In the AUs of the Institute there is a sig-nificant number of laymen and laywomenwho have undergone vocational accompani-

“No man or a woman ever steps into the same river twice,for it’s not the same river

and he or she is not the same person.” I can better understand the changes which areinevitable with a passage of time. Long & narrow tables were converted into 10 numbers of round tables where livelyreflections & sharing took place. Short & powerful fundamental call with two familiar Marist images communicatedthe essence of the great experience of the Chapter.

Sunanda Alwis, Sri Lanka

March 2010 • 35

ment and live out their Lay Marist charism in laycommunities. Communities of the ChampagnatMovement of the Marist Family have grown innumber and are better accompanied.There are groups of Brothers and laypersons thatare jointly sharing a journey of growth in livingout the charismWe even have a few communities combiningBrothers and laypersons.Most of the Province’s communities are willing toaccept and accompany young Brothers just out ofregional post-novitiate formationWe have grown in awareness of social realities, inthe need for prophets, and in reading the signsof the times.Most of our communities are located in simpleand poor milieus, with houses and budgets simi-lar to those of their neighbours. They are wel-coming communities, open to their neighbours,to lay Marists and youngsters – for sharing oflife, prayer, meals and celebrations. The simple, fraternal and neighbourly lifestyle ofour Brothers and communities have helped moreyoungsters to consider the vocation of a MaristBrother The Provincial Council has reorganised the man-agement of our works so that most Brothers canbe directly involved with youngsters.Most of the Brothers are working with poor chil-dren and youngsters, in formal education, or insocial projects.A significant number of laypersons also work di-

rectly with youngsters.Our young Brothers have been formed as mentorsand animators of young peopleA number of communities and Brothers are in-volved in advocacy work concerning the rights ofchildren and youth

■ TABLE NUMBER 3New projects among poor people

There is greater variety of presence among ourcommunities – whether by place of residence orministry – resulting in a greater sense of broth-erhood and a recognition by others that theyare indeed brothers.A goodly number of elderly Brothers are in-volved in voluntary social work in line with the21st General Chapter. They also support the communities that workamongst the poor. We have three new projectsanimated by Brothers and laypersons workingamong poor people. Some of our traditional schools have laid greateremphasis on education for life, peace & justice,ecology and local problems.

the letters drawn up at the tables

XXI GENERAL CHAPTER

It’s been a gradual process of seed-sowing, e.g.: – Developing curricula in line with the 21st General Chapter;– For three years we’ve organised an ecumenical celebration for jus-

tice, peace and fraternity

■ TABLE NUMBER 4Simplicity and vitality spiritual

The 2009 Chapter urged us to come closer to poor children and youngpeople. This has result in a change of heart for us and has moreoverhelped us take our consecrated life more seriously. Our presence amongthe poor has injected simplicity and vitality into the spiritual life of theBrothers, particularly the younger ones. More people are following theMarist vocation whether as Brothers or laypersons. All Provinces haveimplemented processes bringing us closer to the poor.Significant steps have been taken with regard to Brothers and layper-sons sharing life and mission according to the Marist charism. We areunited but respect our different identities. Many Brothers and layper-sons share a common life and mission. As a result of joint formationprogrammes and other strategies, a number of Provinces have communi-ties whose members include both Brothers and laypersons. The dele-gates to the 22nd General Chapter elected by and from the lay Marist

movement are happy at the prospect of sharing injoint discernment on the vitality of ourcharism and spirituality. The two groups lis-ten to one another as they evaluate thejoint communities involved in evangelisingpoor youngsters.

SELECTION OF TEXTS FROMTHE LETTERS DRAWN UP AT THE TABLES

36

March 2010 • 37

The establishment of four international post-novi-tiate centres in different regions has fostered asense of belonging to the Institute as a whole.Solidarity among regions has flowered, and thereare fewer objections raised to Brothers being post-ed to Provinces other than those of their origin.All the Provinces are now much more financiallytransparent and accountable. An increase in thepractical aspects of solidarity is gradually enablingall our Provinces to become financially viable.We’ve developed a model of animation and govern-ment involving subsidiarity and solidarity that hasfostered a greater sense of belonging to an inter-national Institute.

■ TABLE NUMBER 5Brothers

Some Brothers have become spiritual masters.The very term Brother has been revisited.We have been living as Brothers, brothers ofChrist, among brothers, each of us, and withyoungsters. We have become signs of fraternityin the Church (‘Vita Consecrata n° 60)The Ad Gentes mission has greatly increased,both in Asia and elsewhere. Not only do we havemore Marist communities but they are involvedin worthwhile ministries among poor youngsters.Regions have established their own projectsWe’ve been able to set up more international for-mation housesWe’ve set up solidarity networks among youth inour schools resulting in greater bonding amongMaristsWe’ve had greater sharing of personnel and mate-rial resources within regions.All our communities are involved in a new pro-ject linked to a networkFMSI has received recognition from ONU and hasplayed a significant role in the promotion ofchildren’s rights in the world – especially be-cause of its links with the entire Marist world aswell as other organisations.

An increasing number of marginalised youngstersare being cared by Champagnat Marists who’vebecome well known for their pastoral workamong children at risk to be found among immi-grants and indigenous peoples.

■ TABLE NUMBER 6Marian heart

There has been significant growth of communityrelationships. This example has encouragedlarge numbers of the Brothers and Laity to ac-cept and be involved in most of the news stepsthat the GC promulgated. This conversion really expressed the new heartthat was needed. It is most encouraging to seethat this heart is very clearly a Marian heartformed in the spirit of the Visitation and Mary’sMagnificat. The formation is the fruit of re-search and the sharing of a timely Mariology.We decided to dialogue with the Society of Maryin our efforts to promote a much needed MarianChurch and so develop a church of communion. The XXI GC stressed that action was needed ur-gently in many areas. Within a year of the GC


finishing there were joint for-mation programmes establishedfor Brothers and Lay Marists ineach AU. Brothers and Laity liv-ing in community in one build-ing or in the same area haveenabled many GC issues to beimplemented in a way which ex-pressed the new communion. These communities have devel-oped very clear orientation fortheir living, their faith-sharingand prayer life; some have madeprophetic commitments for mis-sion to poor young people inzones of risk and in refugeecamps. These communities havewitnessed to a very simple butcompelling presence of a MarianChurch at parish level.Marist youth movements such asREMAR have seen the empower-ment of young lay members whoprovide inspirational leadership. Some of these groups have be-come sources of vocations. Ourschools have become more trulyMarist in their evangelization ofthe poor with many teachersmaking commitments to providefree education after normalschool hours to poor children. It is clear that the teachershave been evangelized in turn. The financing of new efforts forthe poor has been achieved byrearranging priorities to servethese new needs that are cryingfor justice and support. This has happened within provincesand internationally.


In recent times, the Marist charism hasbecome richer as a result of the dynamicand joyful involvement of a large number of

laywomen and laymen. They have made their own themessage and patrimony handed down by our Founder andby many Brothers across the years. The XXI GeneralChapter has once again made clear that all activities - be itat the Institute, Province or local level - take on fresh lifewhen lay people are present. Irma, Angela, Dilma, Linda,Erica, Rufus, Fernando, Arturo and Chema participated asfellow-pilgrims along the pathways of the General Chapter.Their involvement demonstrated how important it is thatthey be “around our table,” that they sense that they aremembers of the same family; that they experience not onlyour joy, sadness, and worries, but also the challenges thattoday’s world brings to Marist life and apostolate; that theyshare the joy of community, the depth of our faith. The General Chapter invites us to go in haste with Mary toa new land; that is, to a genuine renewal of the Institute anda true conversion of heart. The renewed relation betweenBrothers and Lay People takes its origin in communion.Together we seek a greater vitality for the Marist charism.Such a challenging and appealing goal obliges us to makeevident in our communities, fraternities, and lay groups, thehappiness which the charism generates within us, and toexperience together the new mission- lands to which we feelcalled among today’s children and young people. Across the length and breadth of our Institute may thepresence of laymen and laywomen continue to be like a yeastthat adds a special savor to the bread which we sharetogether around the same table.

B. César Augusto Rojas Carvajal, Norandina

March 2010 • 39

■ TABLE NUMBER 7International Bureau of laity

We have used technology well so that, for exam-ple, programs at the Hermitage are readily avail-able online across the world. This has added tothe universalisation and general networking ofour Institute.Our international communities have enriched ourcommunity lives and our ministries.A feature of this development has been the rich-er quality of local Marist community life for eachtype of Marist community. Some communitieshave Brothers, some Lay Marists and others LayMarists and Brothers together. In all these com-munities though, real life is shared both person-ally and in faith. The appointment of our Lay Director of the Inter-national Office of Lay Marists has proved mostbeneficial. This has been enhanced by the Inter-national Year of the Lay Marist in 2010, whichcoincided with both the 25th Anniversary of thelaunch of the Champagnat Movement of theMarist Family and the presentation of the newdocument ‘Around the Same Table’. Since then,there has been an increase in the number andtype of Marist fraternities and other Marist Asso-ciations around the world and a lay Marist Officein each region.

■ TABLE NUMBER 8Sharing resources and personnel internationally

We have reached this point after following aseven year plan where each province and regionfollowed the General Chapter first by holding as-semblies of those who felt that they belonged toour Marist family. In these gatherings, the calls ofthe XXI Chapter were addressed. Then all regions or-

ganised retreats and forums along these themes,reviewed the plans for community life, restruc-tured formation programmes, re-evaluated howeach work was an authentic expression of ourmission, and looked at new ways of sharing re-sources and personnel internationally.Our goal now is to move towards the stagewhere, in each of our educational and pastoralministries, there is a group of Marists who seethemselves as a community of faith and mission,inspired by the ever challenging life of Mary.

The presence of the ten lay peopleat the 21st General Chapter was a blessing, a special grace

that allowed the capitulants to look at the various themes considered during the firsttwo weeks with a greater sense of reality. They helped us look at the future of Maristmission with a clearer vision and to set out in that direction. During those days we experienced more clearly the deep value of the lay Marist vocation that, together with the consecrated vocation of the Brother, encourages us to share: mission, spirituality and life.

B. Horacio Bustos, Cruz del Sur

Among us are those living the consecratedlife in religious communities, not only thebrothers but also a growing number of reli-gious sisters. There is also a small number ofpriests who value our spirituality and aretelling us that they feel attracted to devotetheir ordained ministry to our mission. Ourmain constituent group is lay people. Amongthese lay people are single people, marriedpeople, and young people who are often do-ing voluntary work in places of special need. Among the religious brothers and sisters, es-pecially, there is now considerable movementinternationally in an attempt to generate avital presence of consecrated Marist life in asmany countries as possible. The formation ofthese religious is mostly undertaken in inter-national and multicultural communities.These young religious, along with their olderconfreres, have a stronger sense of theirconsecration than they did seven years ago,and an appreciation of their distinctive roleas religious. By and large they are freed fromadministrative roles. They provide a spiritualleaven to the Marist movement and play arole in calling the broader movement to allthat it longs to be. They see themselves pri-


I found it a real privilege to be able to participate at the General Chapter with

lay women and men. As married or single people,they demonstrated a passion for the ongoingwork of Marcellin Champagnat in today’s world.They brought a willingness to confront issuesdirectly and urgently. They expressed the wish to share Marist life, Marist spirituality andMarist mission. They showed a readiness to establish Marist lay structures, preferablyalongside the Brothers, structures that will contribute to the development of our globalworld in creative and relevant Marist ways.Through their desire for ongoing formation,they showed their commitment to taking the long-term view. We were blessed by their presence.

B. John McMahon, Melbourne


March 2010 • 41

marily as Marist apostles to youth. They place aspecial emphasis on their life in common and ontheir community prayer, so that they provide aprophetic sign of community. We are pleased tosee the ever increasing number of young peoplewho frequent our communities to share in our lifeof prayer than it used to be seven years ago.

■ TABLE NUMBER 9Brothers and lay peopleamong the poor

Greater presence of Marist Brothers and laityamong the poorGreater presence among youngstersOrganising of the Second Assembly on MaristMission and the precapitular document on mis-sionA formal commitment to advocacy on the rightsof children and young peopleInvolvement in formulating legislation concern-ing young peopleMore Brothers and laypersons involved in Missionad GentesEvery Province has a special project among thepoor Evangelisation and catechesis is done in a rele-vant and attractive mannerMore Christian life-and-mission groups for young-sters of a Marist character in our Provinces

■ TABLE NUMBER 10Internationality

The International Spirituality Institute, now wellestablished at l’Hermitage, and the one recentlyinaugurated in Asia, have been a significantblessing for all of us. These centres have re-sponded to the thirst for spirituality that we see

all around us. Among many developments in ourspirituality we wish to single out most especiallythe re-discovery of our relationship with Mary.The Year of Mary that was conducted across theInstitute was especially fruitful. We note alsothat there has been some progress in living aspirituality more embedded in all that we are andall that we do. Our spirituality is more genuinelyapostolic; it enlivens us and energies our mis-sion. We note that many more Marists, especiallythe Brothers, are giving time to personal prayer.For the Brothers there has been a stronger, joy-ful, ownership of their identity due to theprocess which prepared and disseminated thetext: The Marist Brother in the New World as Con-secrated Religious. While much could be saidabout the fruits of this document it has madesimplicity the mind-style (style of mind) of the


Brothers. For us all, we are grateful that we have been able to let goof our securities in order to achieve what has occurred in the pasteight years. We wish to acknowledge some success in keeping our Se-nior Brothers connected to the mission of the Institute, most espe-cially through their understanding and appreciation of its contempo-rary expressions. About our internationality, significant activities have strengthenedthis blest feature of our Institute. Mission ad gentes in Asia is thriv-ing. Because it invited personal conversion and the letting go of thecomfortable and known, many Provinces have now in place a jointformation program for Lay Marists and Brothers, modelled on thatwhich was used in Davao to prepare the first Marists for Mission adgentes. These programs have moved us not only to a new mindset –open out to the world - but more importantly to commit ourselves tobe missionary wherever we minister. Now well established are structures which enable leaders to meet: re-gional leaders, and the General Council with Provincials and Superi-ors. These structures have enabled joint forward-planning, and a flex-ible and agile response to emerging issues. Attention is given to co-ordinating the most suitable processes to achieve our vision for theInstitute and our Provinces. Most importantly, these processes arecollegial, attentive to the Spirit, and demonstrate Marial characteris-tics. In summary, we have learnt much about how to be an interna-tional Institute for a global world. We have seriously tried to learnfrom each other.

Our table facilitates anamicable dialogue ofthought, prayer, planning,shared work. The large,round table of our charismis a family table where thespirit of communion ismolded: sharing the breadof the Gospel, the spirit ofMarcellin, the same chal-

lenges, the same heart; sharing one’s feelings, plans, experiences,dreams. Our circular tables made evident the universality of ourcommunion in one and the same charism. The Chapter experiencewas an invitation to build a spacious community, a place whicheveryone could call home, a community in which there is placefor the problems of our world, the cultural differences, the voca-tional differences, the children with eyes opened wide. Indeed, atthe center of the community is the table of our charism that inte-grates and promotes communion.

The tables in the Chapter Hallwere round, a striking symbol

of the large “table of our cha-rism” that the Chapter desired toset. At that table, space is provi-ded for everyone. The table re-presents the sense of equality thatputs us at the service of all: lay-men, laywomen, Brothers.

Our table is round

Laity and Brothers in a Church of communion

B. Javier Espinosa, Central America

March 2010 • 43

The Chapter’s work and - still more - the overall experiencearound the same table, helped us think of - and even

sense how - our Church is more a circle than a pyramid.The goal which John Paul II used to propose for the

Church found an echo within us: “If we desire to befaithful to God’s plan, if we wish also to respond tothe deep aspirations of the world, we should makethe Church both a home and a school of communion.”Our Church has need of the round table as “prophecy,”the prophetic message of community and communion:laywomen and laymen and Brothers, all sharing the

same Marist vocation. The Chapter reaffirmed thatour distinct vocational choices hold something incommon, that despite their differences, they com-plement one another. When the complementari-

ness results in communion, “we reveal”, as BrotherEmili said, “the Marian countenance of the Church

that we desire to create.” A fascinating message is certainly the one sent by ourMarist Lay People: “We are living a kairos, a key moment in

which to share the Marist charism and deepen it. Together we form aprophetic image of the Church as communion.” The image challengesus to build a new Church made richer by the charism. The richness inspires us to pay heed to the voices of young people, thevoices of poor children, and to unite our forces in searching out the vi-

tal energies which the charism contains.The richness of the charism encourages usto promote the dialogue of cultures and todefend human life and the natural environ-ment; to find a new understanding of what“brother” means; to take our spiritual jour-ney to a deeper level; to work for a bound-ary-free world; to be men and women ofGod. What does that all add up to if not“a new era for the Marist charism.” Our circular table symbolizes both a mysticalreality and a prophetic one, one of encounter,one of “journey,” of silence and of protest, ofhope and urgency, of contemplation and dust-covered feet, of a Gospel adventure lived outfervently. Our round table holds abundantjoy, affection, thankfulness, and an unremark-able presence like the one at Nazareth wherea serene and joyous Mary lived. Such is thewondrous table of our charism which we sharewith the Church and with the men and womenof the world in which we live.


Javier EspinosaOUR TABLE IS ROUND

We can state with certainty thatthere is vitality in shared mission.To imagine and to take risks

in order to live with new hearts. It is possible, it is certain, it is the path we are following. To take on tensions, to overcome difficulties, to let go of heavy loads in order to GO with boldness, in haste and contemplation.May the tenderness and the dreams of poorchildren and youth set our hearts afire to set out toward the New Land with a thirstfor brotherhood, justice and abundant life.Marcellin is awaiting us.

Fernando Larrambebere, Cruz del Sur

The fact that we arebreathing new life intoChampagnat’s charism,a dynamic and trea-sured charism, has notescaped us. We are al-so conscious that wehave participated inprivileged, sacred mo-ments when the Broth-

ers have opened their lives, hopes and dreams to us. This Chapter has made us feel more strongly commit-ted to the three dimensions of our work – morecommitted to the mission, to our own vocationand to our responsibility to other Lay Marists, notonly in our own region but in other regions as well. We have an unwavering sense of the need to em-brace each other: first, in our humanness with allour faults and failings, all our gifts and talents;secondly, as people of God in search of a betterplace for our young people, especially thosewho are poor.

On pilgrimage to a new heart for a new world

We, the lay men and womenwho were invited to the

XXI General Chapter, wouldlike to express our apprecia-tion for the opportunity to behere amongst our Brothers.All of us wish to offer our per-sonal thanks for this opportu-nity to discover God in ourmidst, to share community lifeand to travel a unique spiritualjourney together.

March 2010 • 45

Message to the XXI General Chapter

From the Maristlay people invited

to the ChapterRome, September 19, 2009

We recognise our place in the history ofthe development of our charism and theInstitute and take with us the conver-sations and sentiments we have shared,unique to this time and this place.

Our concerns

We are united in the feeling of greatexpectation placed upon all the Capit-ulates of this Chapter and like you, wedo not want to fall short of the idealsand hopes so expressed in our timehere. However, we carry with us someconcerns of both a personal nature andfor the institute that we would like toshare with you:

• That in our everyday realities we will not give priority to God’sWill that has come from the Chapter.

• That in our actions and deeds we will not always honour thedream of the founder and fall short of keeping children and thepoor at the centre of our work. Our financial and human resourcesneed to work for the good of the children and young people.

• That despite the spirit stirring within us, the fear of loss, grief andchange will block our progress to response with audacity and resolve.

• That in some communities and by some individuals that thespirit of good will in this vocational journey will be discouragedby a lack of understanding and acceptance of the laity as equalpartners, co-responsible in mission and vocation.

Our hopes

We would also like to share our hopes with you:

• We are greatly encouraged by the spirit of communion we senseamong ourselves and with the Brothers. Hope arises as well be-cause of the ever-deepening dialogue that we increasingly share.

• We have been heartened in recent years by the common efforts thatBrothers and laypersons have made in the areas of life, mission andspirituality. Such efforts have been carried out with enthusiasm,


MESSAGE FROM THE MARISTS LAY PEOPLEINVITED TO THE CHAPTER

March 2010 • 47

generosity and joy, confirming our awarenessthat the Lay Marist vocation is a reality thatcannot be denied.

• We are also given hope by the Chapter’s open-ness to the power of the Spirit, by the Chap-ter’s concern for the needs of poor childrenand poor young people. Moreover, we sensean eagerness to give the Marist charism a freshimpetus towards the future, so that it can bet-ter respond to the invitations which God is ex-tending. We are certain that something boldand inspiring is arising, something capable ofbringing new life.

• We are strengthened too by the call to greaterinternationality within our Institute – creatinga unity out of diverse elements, encounteringdifferent cultures, living together as one family.

Our recommendationsWith these concerns and hopes in mind, and inthe spirit of family and as brothers and sisterswith you, we make the following proposals. Theyare offered in a spirit of collaboration in order torenew the vitality of the Marist charism:

Give definitive recognition to the LayMarist vocation and subsequently see thatit is promoted by:

a) Distributing the document “Gathered Aroundthe Same Table,” and encouraging reflectionupon it.

b) Supporting processes that will help lay per-sons who show interest in Marist life to dis-cern their vocation.

c) Promoting and supporting the ChampagnatMovement of the Marist Family and other groupsand communities of Lay Marists and deepeningtheir bonds with the Brothers, particularly inplaces where the lay movement is weak.

d) Helping us to spread the vocation of the LayMarist, something essential to ensure growth.

e) Determining and promoting in each Province dif-ferent levels of lay commitment to the charism.

f) Exploring the possibility of creating pro-grammes that would enable Lay Marists tofulfil their eagerness to go on mission to thepoor, e.g. joining the Ad Gentes programme.

Promoting meetings between Brothers andLay Marists throughout the Institute toenable us to share our lives more deeply

a) Increasing the number of formation programmesfor lay people and Brothers; continuing to de-velop proposals for programmes in which bothlaity and Brothers are together, always allowingfor the complementary nature of our vocations.

a) Creating opportunities for sharing our commonspirituality; extending such helpful opportuni-ties to young people, the Church and the world.

Strengthening structures which foster co-responsibility for the charism

a) Continuing to create, in the Provinces and in the Institute, structuresof co-responsibility for mission and spirituality. The structures shouldpromote the creation of a genuine Marist spirit in the management of

our works.

b) Organising a new International Assemblyfor Mission with a message that could betaken into account at the General Chapter.

c) Broadening the structure of the Bureau ofthe Laity, as well as the various laity com-missions existing in the Institute’sProvinces and Regions.

d) Jointly supporting the work of FMSI(Marist International Solidarity Founda-tion) at Institute level and in the Re-gions, as well as promoting existing soli-darity networks.

For our part, we laypersons commit ourselvesto collaborate with you in fostering these pro-jects. We believe that we are living in a kairos: aspecial time for sharing and living out theMarist Charism with audacity, forming togeth-er a prophetic image of what ecclesial com-munion is meant to be. As long as the voicesof poor children and poor young people reachour ears, the charism of Marcellin remainsdeeply contemporary. The eyes of such needychildren touch our hearts, and we desire to goforth to encounter such young people. May our Good Mother and Saint Marcellinguide our steps and be at our side, helping usto see the world as a poor child does.

Amen.

Agnes, Angela, Arturo, Chema, Dilma, Erica, Feno,

Irma, Linda and Rufus


Inviting all Marists to Start a JourneyThe General Chapter was an

invitation, urging us to do three things. First, weare to discover new lands and to explore them.Secondly we are invited to personal conversion.Third, we are asked - individually andcorporately - to be people who initiate changesfor the better, who nurture hope, people whoinspire love of young people and devotedness tothem. The Chapter issued a fundamental invitation:“With Mary, go in haste to a new land!” As aresult, we are conscious that we must allowourselves to be inspired by Mary’s example ineverything that we do. Of course, the Chapter isonly the beginning of a process through whichour hearts are to be changed. The Chapter is the staging point for a new Marist adventure thatis to be undertaken by all Marists, both Brothersand Lay People. And the Chapter? What will it be for us, for you, for me? We have a new Maristgarden to cultivate. If we cultivate the land in atruly unified effort of mutual love, we will becomeinstruments in God’s work. We will bear witnessto his love for all: men, women, children. Only in relationships is life created.

Linda Corbeil, Canada

MESSAGE FROM THE MARISTS LAY PEOPLEINVITED TO THE CHAPTER

March 2010 • 49March 2010 • 49

What intuitions are found in the new horizons forseenby the 21st General Chapter? The Message from the General Chapter begins by saying that theInstitute has been ‘on the move’. While it was describing the

preparatory process leading up to the Chapter, this has been our reality for manyyears. Brothers in solidarity (1993 General Chapter) – A heart that knows nobounds (1998 Canonisation) – Choose life (2001 General Chapter) – To all thedioceses of the world (Mission ad gentes) – One heart-one mission (2007 Mendes) –New hearts for a new world (2009 General Chapter) – With Mary, go in haste to anew land! Isn’t there a striking consistency?! For me, a key intuition in the ‘newhorizons’ of the General Chapter is that these horizons are now visible because wehave been on the move. ‘Landmarks’ on the horizon are becoming distinct. The closerwe get the clearer they become. In the journey since 1817 we arrived at a placewhere the Champagnat Movement of the Marist Family became clear to us. And wekept journeying. On the horizon we glimpsed partnership with Lay Marists. Thatlandmark is now taking clearer shape as joint responsibility for the vitality of theMarist Charism. We are on the move. Since 1817 there has always been compassionfor and commitment to poor young people – as the identity and energy of ourministries. At this point in the journey we are being asked to lift our heads and to restour gaze on the horizon of our ministries. Look to what we see ahead of us, and askourselves: how do our ministries look to poor young people? What do their eyes see?Invitation? Inclusion ? Relevance? Hope? Ministries that extend a preference to them?If not, maybe we need to be moving in a different direction. If so, then let’s be on themove in that direction. The situation of poor young people is such that we need to beon the move – in haste! Horizons invite us to lift our heads and look around. Theinternationality of our Institute does that for us. Another wonderful thing – thechallenging, ever-new thing about horizons is that they always move. We never arriveat the end of the horizon. This is certainly true of personal conversion. It is a processalways on the move. As we journey – both through the experiences that we choose,those that arise from life, and simply through aging - new horizons open up for us.Isn’t it remarkable how often we see Mary on the move. Visiting Elizabeth. Journeyingto Bethlehem. Fleeing into Egypt. On pilgrimage to the Temple with heradolescent son. Following the way to the foot of his cross. With Mary, we go inhaste to a new land – we are on the move!

B. Peter Rodney, Sydney


Deep down, we know thatwe struggle and fail. Weknow that God still lovesus but the list is long!The many ways I hurt oth-ers; preoccupation withmyself; my wavering faithin God in the face of suf-fering and evil; lack of fi-delity to personal prayer;the strength of my preju-

dices; my uncritical aping of western culture; my lack of forgiveness;the shallowness of my companionship; the shame, anger and fears re-lated to public scandals; all manner of inconsistencies between whatI say and vow and what I do; nesting; avoidance; complicated rela-tionships … Yes, I desire to change! No Chapter edict or impressive spiritualwords will move me to this point. Like the alcoholic, I have to reachthe pits. When I reached this point early in the Chapter, I wasdeeply disturbed. I looked again at Mary. I took heart. The MaristInstitute’s next step begins with mine and of those with me.That’s only the picture from within! I find social change ambiguous:welcome but unsettling; I am often uncomfortable in the Church to-day; I am a long way from the materially poor and kids at risk forwhom I chose to be a Brother; I am astounded by the quality ofMarist education today but confused about whether this “makes Je-sus Christ known and loved”.

In the middle of the pra-yer addressed to Mary

in the Fundamental Call,there is a simple statement,“We desire to change”.Desire is a strong word,an emotion. There are mo-ments when each of uscan be overwhelmed bythe gap between who weare and who we are calledto be.

The fundamental call and the future horizons

“We want to change”

B. Jeffrey Crowe, Sidney

March 2010 • 51

I know that others feel the same way. So how dowe move beyond where we are now? What arethe signposts? How will we be ‘converted’?Through seeing ourselves and living as:

■ “Marists of Champagnat, Lay and Brothers …gather and unite”

■ “One international community bearing yourname”

“Good News for the poor children and young peo-ple of our world today, in ‘new lands’”

There is direction here! There is adventure! Thereis room for passion and creativity, for sacrificeand commitment! It is contemporary, very con-temporary. It is also compelling and a call to ac-tion.No narrow asceticism but a rallying cry of “Don’thold back! Engage! Relate!” Will we be the sameafter eight years of such ‘engaging’? I hope not. The Chapter framed our next steps as a pilgrim-age. We did not do this lightly. There is an out-er journey and a corresponding inner journey.Now is the time to set off together.

XXI GENERAL CHAPTER

WITH MARY, GO IN HASTE TO A NEW LAND!

LITTLE BROTHERS OF MARY

March 2010 • 53

foundation, and a greater consciousness ofour internationality urge us to:

• A new consecrated life, with a strong Gos-pel identity, that will promote a new wayof being Brothers.

• A new relationship between Brothers andLay people, based on communion, for thesake of greater vitality of the Marist cha-rism for our world today.

• A highly significant presence among poorchildren and young people.

We feel impelled by God to go out into a newland, to facilitate the birth of a new epochfor the Marist charism. We know that thispresupposes a willingness to move on, to letgo of the familiar, and to embark on a jour-ney of institutional and personal conversionover the next eight years. We go on our waywith Mary as guide and companion. Her faithand openness to the will of God inspire us toundertake this pilgrimage. The “new land” of an authentic renewal ofthe Institute invites each of us to a genuinechange of heart. The spirit of this XXI Chap-ter, the approach of the bicentenary of our

Fundamental CallWith Mary, go in haste to a “new land”


Document of the

XXI GeneralChapter With Mary, new Marists

ary, you are our companion along the way and the main inspiration for our pilgrimagetowards our Marist Bicentenary.

Welcome into our hearts and homes today.Your openness, faith and spontaneity touch our heartsto be open in our turn to the Spirit,the gift of your Son Jesus.

As Marists of Champagnat, Lay and Brothers,we desire to change.

We look to you as model and companionin living our vocation of following Christ,with the joy, sensitivity, love and energyyou brought to educating Jesus.

March 2010 • 55

You gather us all and unite usacross the worldinto one international communitybearing your name,a sign of communion to our Churchand world.

When we contemplate you as woman filled with faith,your spirit of intuition and initiativeimpels us, as it did Marcellin, to be Good News for the poor children and young people of our world today, in “new lands”.

In trust we pray, like Champagnat,“If the Lord does not build the house…”and we say, “You have done everything for us”.Magnificat!

With you, Mary, we go to the Father,in union with Jesus and in the Spirit of Love.

Amen

towards a “new land”

Their mandate extendsto the convocation of anew General Chapterafter eight years.The morning of 26 September 2009 was the time chosen by Provi-dence for the election of Brother Emili Turú as thirteenth successor

of Saint Marcellin Champagnat. On the afternoon ofthe same day, Brother Joseph McKee was electedas Vicar General.

Elections

The General Council ofthe Marist Brothers is

made up of the Vicar Gene-ral and the Councillor Ge-nerals, elected by the Gene-ral Chapter. They are theimmediate collaborators ofthe Superior General in thegovernment of the Institute.

56 • FMS Mensaje 40

Two elements have particularlyaffected me during this firstGeneral Chapter experience:

on the one hand, the great spirit of internationalbrotherhood which has united us, Brothers andlay Marists, in our effort to respond to the callGod is addressing today to our Institute, and onthe other, the election process which promptsmy « yes » in the footsteps of Mary andChampagnat on our journey of Visitation.

B. Robert Thunus, West Central Europe

March 2010 • 57

The 21st General Chapter chose as General Coun-cillors Brothers Antonio Carlos Ramalho de Azeve-do (1) - (Brasil Centro-Norte); Ernesto SánchezBarba (2) - (México Occidental); Eugène Kabangu-ka (3) - (Central East Africa); John Klein (4) -(United States of America); Josep Maria SoterasPons (5) - (L’Hermitage); Michael De Wass (6) -(South Asia).

XXI GENERAL CHAPTER

21

3 4

5 6

1. Commission forthe Revision ofChapter 4 of the Constitutionsand Statutes

The XX General Chapter estab-lished the following mandate:«The General Chapter requests

the General Council to begin a process of revision of Chapter 4 ofour Constitutions (Our Life of Prayer) that will enable the nextChapter to take account of the journey made by the institute regard-ing Marist apostolic spirituality. This revision could apply to thewhole text of the Constitutions» (Choose life 48, 4).

A - THE WORK ACHIEVED BYTHE XXI GENERAL CHAPTER

The work achievedby the XXI General

Chapter was prece-ded by studies andproposals made by va-rious groups of Bro-thers, among them thefollowing:

Legislationupdated

Some retouching of the Constitutions and Statutes

B. Juan Miguel AnayaProcurator General

March 2010 • 59

The General Council appointed a commission tocarry out the revision of Chapter 4 of the Consti-tutions, composed of Brothers Antonio Ramalho,Pedro Herreros, Pere Ferré, Antoine Kazindu, TonyClark and Maurice Goutagny. The commissionworked in Rome from 4 to 9 August 2008. The proposals of this commission appraised theactual text of Chapter 4 and preserved it in itsbasic structure, introducing some changes re-flecting the evolution of our Marist spirituality inrecent years and some contemporary echos. Themodifications proposed maintain the homogene-ity and internal coherence of Chapter 4 and ofthis with the other chapters of our Constitutions.There were modifications to some articles to in-troduce the spirit of «Water from the Rock» andother recent documents. Some modificationswere also proposed to the statutes, to adapt thelanguage or to take into account new situationsor new practices.

2.Contributions from various Brothers

A work group made up of some members of theGeneral Administration presented various sugges-tions for changing different articles or statutes.The changes proposed sought to put into effectnew legislation about new life situations in ourcommunities, works and administrative units,clarifying some situations which often cause con-fusion. They also sought to resolve certain as-pects of practical order.

A further five proposals were received on differ-ent aspects, which dealt with:

– The elimination of perpetual vows in our In-stitute, adopting the system of some Soci-eties of Apostolic Life which continue mak-ing temporary profession each year.

– Some modifications to the text of statute164.4 to update the profile of the Champag-nat Movement of the Marist Family.

– The modification of statute 143.6 to referexplicitly to the Provincial Secretary (propo-

sed by Br. Secretary General and the provin-cial secretaries).

– A collection of various suggestions on themanagement of works and apostolates (pro-posed by the participants at a meeting inGuatemala on « Management at the Serviceof Mission»).

– A contribution on Chapter 4 which estab-lished some principles for completely re-working the chapter, proposing alternativesfor the title and presenting a projectedscheme for a new draft.

3. Precapitular Commission for the Revision of the Constitutions and Statutes

This pre-chapter commission received the followingmandate: «To revise all the changes suggested tothe Constitutions and Statutes at the individual orgroup level. This is the case of the work of thecommission for revision of Chapter 4 of the Consti-tutions. The Commission will make recommenda-tions to the Chapter on the modifications proposed.It will draw up a document on these changes forsubmission to the capitulants». (Letter No. 7 of thePreparatory Commission)The commission was composed of Brothers An-toine Kazindu, Antonio Ramalho, Eduardo Navar-ro, Juan Miguel Anaya and Robert Teoh. They metfrom 24 to 29 August 2009. I would consider ascriteria and basic understandings for this workthe following:

XXI GENERAL CHAPTER


B. Juan Miguel AnayaLEGISLATION UPDATED

1. The Institute has only recently producedimportant documents which require ti-me to be assimilated by the Brothers.

2. The precapitular commission has receivedfew suggestions from the Brothers andthe Capitulants. This may be a sign thatthe revision of our Constitutions is not anurgent need for this General Chapter.

3. The precapitular commission thinks thatthis is not the time to produce a newedition of the complete text of the newConstitutions, seeing that the text isvery coherent and continues to inspireour Marist life. A more thorough studyand revision of the Constitutions requiresmore time and wider consultation. Never-theless, some changes are necessary,while respecting the totality of our cur-rent Constitutions.

4. The changes in the Statutes introducedby the General Chapters of 1993 and2001 were not thought out systemati-cally in terms of the whole and, in so-me cases, lack coherency.

5. Without questioning the richness of theConstitutions, the precapitular commis-sion finds that the text of the Statutes,in particular, contains some errors, rai-ses some canonical problems and needsto be adapted to some new realities.

The commission presented the following rec-ommendations to the XXI General Chapter:

1. That the XXI General Chapter study thereport of the Precapitular Commission,in order to discuss and vote on thechanges proposed in the Constitutionsand Statutes, which endeavour to:

• avoid contradictions,• correct problems of a canonical order,• facilitate the service of government,• assign a number (in Constitutions or Statutes) to some texts

I feel that my experience of the XXI General Chapter did notcome to an end when the Chapter

concluded. As the last days of the Chapter rolledaround, the delegates were wondering what sortof Chapter document would be issued to theentire Institute. I was greatly struck by acomment made by one of the delegates: “The bestdocument? That would be each Chapter delegateback in his Province.” The Chapter experiencehelped me to understand that “the new land” is, in fact, an invitation to move forward, trying to find the path which is most appropriate for meto reach the John the Baptists of Aïn Karim orthe Jean-Baptistes of Bessat. The fundamentalinvitation of the Chapter is to allow ourselves tobe inconvenienced. I have been warned: Godsends me on “visitation,” like Mary to Elizabethand Marcellin to the Montagne home. Godappears on the countenance of the poor childrenand the poor young people whom I encounteralong my path of life. Such young people willcome to experience God by means ofthe “living document” of the Marist Gospel which I live out. Such are my feelings, and I sensed similar feelings among all the Chapter participants.

Bernard Beaudin, Canada

March 2010 • 61

which do not possess one,• include some new realities,• harmonize the text in the interest of co-

herency,• update the language.

2. That the XXI General Chapter ask the nextgeneral government to designate a “draftingteam” responsable for assuring the harmonyof the text and the coherence of numberingand references.

3. That the XXI General Chapter pronounces onthe necessity of a revision in depth of thewhole of the Constitutions and Statutes, andasks the new General Council to name a Com-mission to work on it during the course of thenext few years, and with a wider participationof the Brothers, with the aim of proposing arenewed text to the XXII General Chapter.

B - THE WORK OF THEXXI GENERAL CHAPTER

The Chapter dynamic during the last three weekscentred on the election of our new Superiors andthe concrete formulation of 7 tasks, among themthe revision, correction and updating of somepoints of the constitutions and statutes. For

each of the tasks a work group was designated,which was responsible for facilitating the dynam-ic through which the Chapter would take the cor-responding decisions, maintaining the dynamicand methodology of consensus and fraternal dia-logue used up to that time. The work group responsible for the revision of theconstitutions and statutes was composed of Broth-ers Antonio Ramalho (co-ordinator), César Rojas(secretary), Juan Miguel Anaya, Julian Casey, BenConsigli, Afonso Levis, Robert Teoh, Robert Thunusand Mariano Varona. Normally Brother TeodoroGrageda assisted us with the work of simultaneoustranslation.By very ample majorities, the chapter adoptedthe following decisions:

1. To give a mandate to the Superior General andhis Council: «The XXI General Chapter manda-tes the General Government to appoint a Pu-blication Team, which will integrate in a sin-gle text the various changes effected in theConstitutions and Statutes by this and pre-vious Chapters. This text will be consistent instyle, language, numbering and references».

2. To make a recommendation to Br. SuperiorGeneral and his Council: «The XXI GeneralChapter believes that for a new world, weneed a conversion of heart. A thorough revi-sion of the Constitutions and Statutes, withthe full participation of the Brothers, can helpto revitalize our vocation. To facilitate this,the XXI General Chapter recommends that theGeneral Government appoint a commission tocarry out this revision and that the new textbe presented at the XXII General Chapter».

3. To request from the Holy See the approbationof the following changes in the Constitutions:• To change in article 1 the expression «On

January 2nd 1817, Marcellin Champagnatfounded the lay religious Institute of theLittle Brothers of Mary… » for « On January2nd 1817, Marcellin Champagnat founded areligious Institute of Brothers with the nameof Little Brothers of Mary… ».


• Eliminate from article 161 the neces-sity that the Provincial Administratorbe a perpetually professed Brother.

• Add at the end of article 161 a refer-ence that the Provincial Administratormay give guidelines for the unifiedgovernment of the province not onlyto the Brother administrators, but al-so to those administrators who arenot Brothers (for example, those ofapostolic works or enterprises whichbelong to the Province).

4. Modify 41 corresponding statutes: 1 inthe chapter on community life, 1 in thechapter on apostolic life, 4 in the chap-ter on formation, 2 in the chapter onadmission to and profession in the In-stitute, 27 in the chapter on govern-ment, 5 in the chapter on the adminis-tration of goods, and 1 in the chapteron the vitality of the Institute.

5. To decide that the statutes which speakof the General Conference, the ProvincialAssembly, and those in charge of works,which currently carry no proper numbersin the edition of the Constitutions andStatutes, be assigned a number by thePublication Team, of which mention wasmade in decision number 1, cited above.

6. To remember that all the editions of theConstitutions and Statutes producedshould contain the two explanatorynotes in the appendix of the Constitu-tions, which explain certain aspects ofour legislation and proper law.

C - THE POST-CHAPTER WORK

The Holy See responded to the proposal of modifying the articles ofthe Constitutions on 16 November 2009, by deciding to accept thefollowing new draftings of articles 1 and 161 of our Constitutions:

This letter is like a call to action:to go out to the poorest childrenand young people; to deepen in

community the roots of my being Marist andhow to express that today; to offer new formsof relationship between Brothers and laity,members of the same family. I discover thediscernment which leads to this call and whichgives me hope for our common future.

Arturo Morales, Mediterránea

The letter from the Chapter was very poignantly written,refreshingly frank and

inspirational. The letter offers hope for all of us who share in and work for the Marist mission but more importantly for the underprivileged children in our everyday lives. If we are able to release the dreams expressedin this letter we will indeed, not be able to recognise ourselves in eight years time-so differentwill we be in our new international world.

Erica Pegorer, Sydney

B. Juan Miguel AnayaLEGISLATION UPDATED

March 2010 • 63

«1 The Origin of the InstituteOn January 2nd, 1817, Marcellin Champag-nat founded a lay religious Institute, or reli-gious Institute of Brothers, with the nameof Little Brothers of Mary. He saw it as form-ing a branch of the Society of Mary.In 1863 the Holy See approved it as an au-tonomous Institute of pontifical right. Whilerespecting our original name, it gave us thetitle of Marist Brothers of the Schools(F.M.S.: Fratres Maristae a Scholis)».

«161 The Provincial AdministratorThe Brother Provincial Administrator is ap-pointed by the Brother Provincial for a setterm. He must be perpetually professed. Headministers the assets of the Province andcarries out his role under the authority ofthe Brother Provincial and his Council. Hegives directives to the local Brother Admin-istrators, and the other administrators, sothat there may be a co-ordinated manage-ment throughout the Province».

Therefore, the Holy See has not approved ourproposal to eliminate the necessity for theProvincial Administrator to be a perpetuallyprofessed Brother. At present, the Holy Seedoes not consider it opportune to grant achange of this nature, although there are noreasons of a canonical order to prevent it.

In the near future, we will be proceeding to:

• the publication of the Acts of the Chapter,which contain a first version of all thechanges approved in the Constitutions andStatutes, and

• the appointment of the PublicationsTeam which is intended to integrate thedifferent changes effected in the Consti-tutions and Statutes by Chapters XIX, XXand XXI, in a text which is consistentwith regard to style, language, numberingand references.

The 21st General Chapter has been a revitalizing experiencein the life of our institute

and a powerful force inviting us to live this experience. The journey with Mary, a call for genuine change of heart, a new relationship between Brothers and lay Marists, our presence among the pooryouth, our internationality leading us to new responsibilities, are the some of areas,this letter tries to share with the wider institute.

B. Kristobuge Nicolas Francis Fernando, South Asia

Almost everyone agrees that themajority of the topics formulatedin the regional letters during

the animation phase have been taken intoconsideration in this letter. Speaking about theheart of the message, a large number of Brothershave been able to observe that the Chapterinsists on the importance of « conversion ortransformation ». These two expressions orother similar terms appear many times in the text.The Brothers are, therefore, convinced thatconversion of heart is an absolute necessity in all aspects of our life if we really wish to put into effect the message of the chapter.

B. Thomas Randriantenaina, Madagascar

The 21st General Chapterapproached the subjectAnimation and Govern-ment from an aspect bothretrospective and forward-looking. The historicalanalysis permitted the ca-pitulants to perceive theoscillation of tendenciesand the options demandedby the times. The look to-wards the future made ussee an institutional frame-work capable of allowingthe Brother Superior Gen-

eral and his Council to foresee and to govern in accordance with thespirit and the decisions taken in the chapter hall.Three subjects polarized the attention of the capitulants. The firsttouched on regionalisation. The 21st Chapter showed itself favorableto the model of the liaison Councillor. The second referred to theadequate number of Councillors and the adoption of a style of com-munity life responding to the principle of government. The third,relative to the number of Councillors, referred to the possibility ofthe General Council nominating one or two extra Councillors. Thehypothesis was even put forward that the Econome General and theSecretary General be these two Councillors.As the fruit of these proposals and of the consensus obtained in theassembly, the following propositions have been approved: The Gen-eral Council is a community, residing in Rome; the first priority ofthe Government must be animation and, to do this, the accompani-ment of the Superiors of the Administrative Units is primordial; the

The subject « Animationand government », unders-

tood as exercise of authorityon the part of the GeneralCouncil, an authority delega-ted by the General Chapter,has always been an object ofdiscernment and concern forthe different general govern-ments. The Pre-Chapter Com-mission proved this in a longdocument retracing the his-tory of the last 40 years ofgovernment.


The exerciseof authority

Animation and government

B. Claudino Falchetto,Brasil Centro-Norte

March 2010 • 65

Chapter will elect 6 General Councillors, and theSuperior General with his Council will be able toappoint, if they wish, up to two new Councillors.The Chapter also showed favour to maintainingand giving importance to the Enlarged Councils,when the full General Council meets with Provin-cial and District Councils at the end of a regionalvisit. The mechanism serves especially to pro-mote unity and to perfect reflection and lan-guage about subjects of common interest. It isalso a way for the regional leaders to come clos-er to the general government and its dynamics ofanimating the Institute. At the Chapter, the word Animation was pre-ferred to the term Government. If it is true thatthe General Council also has the responsibility ofgoverning, of maintaining good principles of or-der and communion, according to our proper lawthe function of animation is certainly more suit-ed to the role of promoting life, mission andcharism.The General Chapter was certainly not able tolegislate on all the aspects deriving from thefunction exercised by the Brother Superior Gen-

“The Letter of the Chapter goes “right to my heart“: it invites us to take our heart in our hands, to examine it,

listen to it, sound it… and to set ourselves en route towards the new and unexpected (the “Real Life” which, like Mary who lived it, is always a surprise and a celebration). It is a message for travelling and for living , not forreading. And in inviting us to move, it pushes usto grow (from the roots of our being) and tocreate: with open hands, a passionate heart, andswift feet, to recreate Marist life here and now“.

B. Óscar Martín Vicario, Compostela

eral and the members of his Council, but it hasleft them the pertinent recommendations whichallow them to perform with legitimacy and effi-cacy their role as pastors and brothers.

They are subsidizedthrough the General Ad-ministration’s SolidarityFund (Ad Intra) or bytheir mother Provinces.The General Administra-tion’s responsibility in-cludes the Generalate’soperating costs which aresupported by theProvinces’ per capita con-tributions. The question

is: How long can the Institute support the operating costs of theGeneral Administration while helping the Administrative Units carryout their mission in a sustainable and vital way?

One of the functions ofa General Chapter is

to examine how the Insti-tute’s financial resourcesare used for mission. MostProvinces are self-sustai-nable in carrying out theirmission. Some Provincesand Districts, however,are not financially autono-mous.


Administration of goods

for the missionB. Manuel V. de León,

East Asia

March 2010 • 67

To face the challenges, I suggest that all Broth-ers consider the following nine points. Simplicity of life and love of work are the twoMarist characteristics that we need to live faith-fully. Constant awareness of our role as stewardsof creation will make us re-think our practices oflife individually, in communities, as Provinces, asan Institute.The per capita contribution should be based on apercentage of the average annual cost per Broth-er in a Province or District. Establishment of a trust fund for Solidarity sup-ported by the Administrative Units and basednot upon surplus but upon the “total encome” ofthe annual budget. Increase the General Administration Fund to acertain ceiling when the Administrative Unitscannot support the necessary General Adminis-tration expenses. Let all other activities (e.g., property and invest-ment income) that generate income for the Ad-ministrative Units be subjected to certain levy ortax in the form of “Mission Support” to the In-stitute. Maximize the earning potential of the GeneralHouse. Establish sound investment policies; avoid highrisk exposure.Strengthen bonds with funding agencies, donors,philanthropic organizations, former students,parents, etc. to get them interested in the Broth-ers’ mission. Lastly, the Institute should seriously considercreating a SAVELINK Membership Card to promoteCARE FOR THE EARTH; CARE FOR THE CHILDREN. At the closing of the 21st Gen-eral Chapter, Bro. Emiliquoted Pope Benedict XVI:“Creative minorities deter-mine the future.” Definitely,we need to harness our creativepowers in order to survive in the fu-ture.

Mary of the Visitation. One opens oneself to the calls of God, one feels called, to setout in haste. To be solid.

If the Lord does not build the house… This is a biblical and Marist expression. If spirituality is not the foundation of what weundertake, everything will finish badly. And it is this that could happen!See the world through the eyes of a poor child.Meet again the Berne, the Montagne and so many others, it is a constant challenge.Denounce social, economic, cultural andreligious policies which oppress (cf. C 34).

B. Sebastião Ferrarini, District of Amazonia

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EVENTS

Marist

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March 2010 • 71

The Letter emphasizes rather strongly the notion of “belonging,” a quality, a sentiment that should be found among

Brothers, Lay People and young people. The theme is “to go in haste with Mary of the Visitation.” She is theone who is inviting us to begin a journey of conversion, a conversion that is both individual and institutional. One point that strikes me is the clarity with which“recognition and support is given to the vocation of the Lay Marist,” a gift of God to the Institute and a fundamental structure of the Institute. I would like to express my gratitude for everything that is contained inthe Letter because it encourages me in my own commitment.

Irma Zamarripa Valdez, México Occidental

I feel that the great work of the preparatory commission hasbeen of fundamental importance

in preparing the mind and the new heart throughreflection, listening, commitment and with a senseof unity and communion among so many brothersand lay people who are following the same pathin the Institute. The materials, the dynamics, the reflections have contributed to a deeperconsideration of the proposed themes and to living more intensely the process and the pilgrimage, with hearts open to the concerns, expectations and hopes which have been shared in the search for directionsand new, renewed responses by the Marist charism for a new world.

B. Ambrosio Alonso, Ibérica

family

72 • FMS

Preparations for the XXIGeneral Chapter, 2009. Phase one: What will be the

difference? The participation was good thoughmany Brothers thought that survey was useless.Despite the pessimism Brothers collaboratedvery well and gave their opinions by answeringthe questionnaire. Phase two: Assessment

B. Lawrence Lucius Ndawala, Africa Austral

In the beginning, understandinghow to prepare for the Chapterwas a matter of feeling one’s way.

Soon I found a truly spiritual developmenttaking place in me. The Spirit inspired my journey and I took it seriously. It was easy then to witness that one was able to enter onthis road to change « our hearts ». I believethat this preparation was a blessing for our Institute, for hearts were touched andminds changed in order to bring to birth « a new era ».

B. André Déculty, L’Hermitage

Relays

March 2010 • 75

We have finished with something new.We have broken ideas and patterns.We have transcended our fears. We

have dared to place confidence in a proposal from theChapter for the world of our time. The contributionsand the involvement of thousands of people haveallowed, even before the Chapter, for a « new heartfor a new world ». The process of preparation wasthe key to the success of the Chapter.

B. João Carlos do Prado, Brasil Centro-Sul

The invitation that we have receivedfrom God through the XXI GeneralChapter, summons us to live like

Abraham: on a journey, in a covenant, under apromise. “Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk”(Gen. 12:1). God leads us beyond the logical. The future comes before us as a kind of pilgrimage, a pilgrimage which implies “paying the price” of personal and institutional conversion. “I will maintain my covenant with you” (Gen. 17:7).How is such a conversion possible at this moment of our history? We place our trust in God who is faithful to his promise, “knowing the One in whom we have placed our trust.” “Just so will your descendants be” (Gen. 15:5): Our manner of being Brothers; communion amongstBrothers and Lay People; and, among poor childrenand young people, a way of being present that is prophetic, that makes a positive impact.

Hipólito Pérez Gómez, Central America

audience

How do you perceive thefuture of the Institute afterthe 21st General Chapter ?

Very beautiful but very difficult, for our evangelisingmission is an exciting one… We are sent to childrenand young people living in a confusing world whichoffers them freedoms but limits their chances, aworld which creates its own gods and is avid formeaning… where there is life despite everything.To face up to a future so uncertain demands confidencein God, despite the growing gap between rich andpoor and despite the agony of our earth, and that isnot easy ! Our Institute will live if it becomes moreecclesial and more ecumenical, less « pious » butprofoundly spiritual, if it shares the bread andthe word with the forgotten of this world and inharmony with nature.

Ricardo Reynozo, México Central


Liturgical experien

77

XXI GENERAL CHAPTER

Recognition ofand thanks

to the CentralCommission

ce

1. The cold modifiesthe fishes path

This phrase is inspired by a no-vel I read some weeks beforethe beginning of the GeneralChapter and which had this verytitle. The author is Pierre Sza-

lowski, of Quebec. It is a beautiful work, full of tenderness and opti-mism. Basically, the novel looks at reality through the eyes of achild, and tells how the circumstances of a terrible freeze –some-thing that happens frequently in Quebec- causes a whole series ofencounters which radically change the types of relationship bet-ween many people in the same district. This reading made me see a parallel with what we have lived in

this chapter hall. Doesn’t this have something incommon with what we have experienced among

ourselves? I have heard many times howthe configuration of the hall: the

round tables, the system, themethod… has led us toestablish a type of rela-tionship and dynamic verydifferent from other Gene-ral Chapters. At the end ofthe Chapter, it appears tome very beautiful to statethat we agreed to enter adynamic, with which wewere not familiar and ofwhich we did not knowvery well how it wasgoing to end. We decided

Good morning, Brothers. At the end ofthis Chapter, rather than a speech, I

would simply like to offer some reflections- some understandings about what it hasbeen like to take part as a member of thisXXI General Chapter. And I am going todwell on it under four aspects.

The answer is in your hands

Words of Br. Emili Turú, Superior General, at the close of the XXI General Chapter

March 2010 • 79

to opt for audacity and to journey in haste withconfidence. And now that we have finished, I be-lieve without a shadow of doubt that many of usrecognize that the method of brotherly dialogue,which we chose, corresponds very well with ourexperience and life as Brothers. One day a journalist came to interview me. Oneof his comments drew my attention. He said: “Ihave been following the Chapter on the web pa-ge, I have read the chronicles, and I have beenvery impressed by the type of methodology, inclu-ding the attitude they have in the hall”. And heasked: “Do you think that this fraternal dialoguecould also be adapted to other ecclesial circles?”Then, when we were speaking personally, hecommented: “I am putting this question in verydelicate terms, because these days the Synod ofAfrica is being held and it would not appreciatecomparisons being made”. In fact, they werebeing made.It seems to me that, at times, without being awa-re of it, simply by our manner of acting, our choi-ces, our ways of relating, we are showing the Ma-rian face of the Church for which we are reallylooking. In an ecclesial context, someone pro-nounced these words: “Today the Church has tur-ned itself for many into the main obstacle to faith;in it can be seen only the struggle for human po-wer, the wretched theatre of those who, from theirobservation, want to absolutize official Christianityand paralyze the true spirit of Christianity”. Thatis what was written, in the 70s, by a theologiannamed Ratzinger. Today the Church has, for many, been turned intothe main obstacle to faith. The dream of theChurch which we share is that of Vatican II; JohnXXIII reflects it in a very beautiful image when hesaid: “the Christian community is meant to be li-ke a fountain in the middle of the square”. In theMediterranean context, the fountain in the middleof the square is the place where everyone congre-gates. And not only to drink; it is a place formeeting, sharing, sitting down, feeling at home:adults, children, old people… It is an image ofthe Marian face of the Church. What can we learn from this Chapter experience?Have we some tasks to take home? I would sayyes.

a) Creativity First, creativity. It seems to me that the experien-ce we have lived is an invitation to break withinertia and to make use of the most appropriateof our strengths. Someone commented to me atthe beginning of the Chapter, that more than on-ce he had thought that at Provincial Chapters so-mething did not work because of the type of me-thodology; but that no one thought they could doit any other way. We need creativity.

b) Patience Second, patience: we are learning. I believe thatall of us were happy with the experience of themethodology adopted at the Chapter, but at thesame time, we recognize that we can improve. Ithink it is necessary to carefully evaluate the de-velopment of the Chapter and pass on this eva-luation to whoever prepares the next GeneralChapter; although I am sure that we will have towait long. I imagine that, in a short time, throu-ghout the Institute, we will be starting to seerooms with round tables…

c) Dialogue Third, although we are still apprentices at it – atleast, I am - is dialogue, dialogue, dialogue… Iremember that a few years ago there was an in-ternational event in which young people from allover the world were connected by Internet andheld dialogues with some world famous person.When it came to Stephen Hawking, he had a verypessimistic view of the future of humanity. Du-ring the conversation, one youth asked him:“Then, what future is there?” The scientist’s re-sponse was: “Keep talking”… That was what theyoung people were already doing. I believe that this is an invitation to build onour differences, not evading them, because weare really different. Remember the questions weused to ask ourselves: How can one who thinksdifferently from me be right? What part of truthdoes someone possess if he has a different wayof thinking from mine? Dialogue, therefore, is aninvitation to learn to resolve conflict –which willalways be there, since any human group alwayshas conflicts- from sincere and brotherly dialo-gue and not from avoidance. You will remember

XXI GENERAL CHAPTER

that in the Report coming from the Council, on one occasion we re-cognized that, more than once, in the presence of conflict, we hadchosen to avoid it, instead of facing up to it in a sincere dialogue.Therefore: apprenticeship in dialogue.

d) The resources are in the group Let us not forget, moreover, that the resources are in the group; it isnecessary to believe in it. At the beginning of the Chapter, we hadour doubts about whether it was going to work… All the possibilitieswere there. What happened is that we took the opportunity to openthe door and let these possibilities operate. It is an invitation todayto draw out the best that each person and each group has withinthem.

e) Internationality And, lastly, the apprenticeship in internationality. I believe that welive, as never before, this factor of internationality in an open andprofound manner. I believe that it is a prophetic sign that anotherform of globalization is possible. We are also taking home this task ofinternationality. The question is if you are ready to pay the price, sothat our Institute may become each day more global, more internallygiven to solidarity, with greater interaction among all. This is the first point, and the five aspects which come to me astasks.

2. Seeing the world through the eyes of a poor child

I come back to the point where Seán began, at the start of thisChapter. It appears to me that it was very inspiring. It has been agreat motivation for our Chapter, and we have repeated it more thanonce: “seeing the world from below”. I remember something which happened more than twenty years ago.It was an initiative in Madrid in which people were invited for a dayto live like beggars, as poor people asking for alms. Various Brotherscholastics took part in the experience of making a home in a passa-ge of the Metro and begging. It was very interesting to analyze thereactions of people, some approaching, others saying a word… For aday, they were able to see the world from below. In the General Council Report, you will recall that we spoke about thevictims of globalization and how children are the first victims. Andthe present Pope, in his homily for Christmas Eve, made mention ofthese children denied their parents’ love; he spoke of the street chil-dren, the child soldiers, the child victims of pornography and otherabominable forms of abuse. And he said literally: “The Child of Beth-lehem summons us once again to do everything in our power to putan end to the sufferings of these children, to do everything possible


B. Emili TurúTHE ANSWER IS IN YOUR HANDS

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to make the light of Bethlehem touch the heartof every man and woman”. What new ideas, what tasks can we take home? a) To respond to this invitation from the Pope

to do everything possible. To do everythingpossible to keep on advancing along the roadof putting the Institute, first and visibly, atthe service of poor children and young peo-ple, whatever type of poverty they sufferfrom. In our current works, in the newones… to do everything possible. And whenwe look at the world through the eyes ofpoor children, we also recognize the echo ofthe question I encountered in the famousbook “Who moved my cheese?” –a book forbusinessmen, very famous in its time-. Whatwould you do if you were not afraid? That is,probably, a good start for doing everythingpossible.

b) Experts in evangelization and defending therights of children and youth It appears to me that there are two closelylinked aspects to these options for the futu-re. Br. Seán, in his Circular on apostolic life,says that he hopes we will be able to be re-cognized in the future as experts in theevangelization of children and young people.In Marist Youth Ministry, but also in our newcentres, let us be models of what we are: beexperts in evangelization. And I would alsoadd: be experts in the defence of the rightsof children and the young. Let us hope thatin eight year’s time, when we look back, wewill be able to say that the Institute has ta-ken very significant steps in that direction.

We are encouraged in this by Janus Kostka, a ce-lebrated Polish child psychiatrist, writer, teacher,defender of the cause of children, who died inthe extermination camp of Treblinka, where shehad been deported with the children from her or-phanage, whom she refused to abandon. Shewrote: “You say that working with children is ti-ring; and you are right. And add that it is tiringbecause we have to get down to their level: wehave to stoop down, bend, bend over, make our-selves smaller… But there is something in whichyou are mistaken: What is most tiring is not this,

but being obliged to lift ourselves to the heightof their feelings, to lift our spirits, to stretchourselves, to place ourselves on tiptoes, to ap-proach them without hurting them”.

3. Like Mary of the visitation

The experience of Mary of the Visitation has alsobeen a reference point in our Chapter. We couldunderline various aspects of this image, but Iwant to dwell on the figure of Mary herself. Andat once, I would emphasize the fact that she iscarrying Jesus with her. It appears to me thatthis has also been an important theme: Mary ispregnant, Mary carries Jesus in her womb. Thereis a personal, intimate relationship between thetwo; the relationship only a mother can havewith the child she bears inside her. It is a rela-tionship of silence, of listening, of astonishmentbefore the Mystery. It is, perhaps, the mysticaldimension of our life. We have talked during the Chapter about pro-phecy as one axis of our life; I believe that theother should be mysticism. An Abbot General ofthe Cistercians said: “With the armour of the holyRule, the helmet of holy obedience and the swordof holy tradition, I can hardly succeed in defen-ding myself… from Jesus!” Beyond an externalfulfillment of superficial practices, then, there isa personal encounter with Jesus. At the XIX General Chapter I had the good fortu-ne to be in a discussion group which included Br.Basilio Rueda. I remember that, on more thanone occasion, when we were speaking about Ma-rist apostolic spirituality, he said: “True, true:apostolic… Marist… but spirituality, spiritua-lity!” When we say that our spirituality is notmonastic, some people seem to interpret this as

meaning it is easier, more “light”. To me, it appears that to say ourspirituality is apostolic means that it is more demanding. How can Ikeep my life centred in the middle of so much activity, so many rela-tionships? It seems to me that, like Champagnat, like Mary, we areinvited to be contemplatives in action. We asked ourselves in the Report of the Council “Why does living indepth this mystical dimension of our life cost us so much?” ThomasMerton wrote in his only novel: “If you want to know who I am, youdon’t ask me where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb myhair… You ask me for what do I live and you ask me if I think of de-voting myself to living in full the thing for which I want to live. Fromthe responses to these two questions, you can determine a person’sidentity”. That is to say, ask me what do I want in my life and thenask me if I’m ready to pay the price to have it. Relating the answersto these two questions, you will discover this person’s values. Tasks I am taking home It seems to me, then, that the only lesson or task that I am takinghome is that I have to pay a price; and I do not get a reduction, the-re is 0% discount. To make progress on the mystical journey, thejourney of identifying with Christ, is not automatic; it is a journey,and I have to make it: step by step and stage by stage. I have to paya price. In this case, it seems to me that the price is calculated inthe currency of “time”. I think that if we calculate the space my per-sonal prayer occupies, the time I devote to cultivating my interiorlife, we would be able to estimate the importance we give to spiri-tuality in our lives.

4. We are all one

The image with which we started the Chap-ter was a beautiful one: a heart, which is asign of life, with our desires, our dreams…and, uniting them all together, the names ofeach of us, the names of each person at theChapter. We are part of a living body. And this meansthat we are members dependent on one ano-ther. “Just as a human body, though it is ma-de up of many parts, is a single unit becauseall these parts, though many, make one body,so it is with Christ. Nor is the body to beidentified with any one of its many parts.Now you together are Christ’s body; but eachof you is a different part of it” (1 Cor). We are dependent upon one another. I citeMerton once again, in this case his autobio-


B. Emili TurúTHE ANSWER IS IN YOUR HANDS

March 2010 • 83

graphy, entitled “The Seven Storey Mountain”:“Because no man can or could ever live for him-self or by himself alone, the destinies of thou-sands of other beings are seen to be affected,some remotely, but others more directly and atclose quarters, by my own choices and decisions.In the same way, my own life is seen to be res-haped and modified by those of others”. In otherwords, what happens to one member affects thewhole body. The decisions each of us makes willhave consequences, for good or bad, for manyother people. Some days ago, Benedict XVI, on his visit to theCzech Republic, made a statement that I findvery important: “Normally, creative minoritiesdetermine the future”. He was speaking to Ca-tholics in the Czech Republic, where they are aminority. Normally, it is the creative minoritieswhich determine the future. Tasks I am taking home. Someone in this hall stated that “to changehearts is more than to change the Constitutions;and we need to know how to change hearts”. Itseems to me that, in one way or another, we ha-ve already stated how it is necessary to changehearts. When we stated that the best message ofthe Chapter is ourselves, we were saying thatthere was no question of changing others, un-less we started with ourselves. The Pope recalled this: creative minorities deter-mine the future. Let us be convinced that whathappens with me, with my life, with the deci-sions I take, will affect my surroundings, mycommunity, my Province, the Institute and theChurch. We are part of a body, and what happensin one member affects the whole body. Brothers, are we able to begin the change withourselves? Are we able to announce today tothe Institute not only decisions referring tostructures, boundaries or organizations, but allthe decisions that affect us personally? Are weable to say that there is a group of 84 Brothers-or more- who decided to take seriously the callof God received at the Chapter? Once more,what we decide ourselves to do with our own li-fe will have consequences for the life of the In-stitute.

Conclusión

And so I finish. I began by saying that the coldmodifies the fishes path, remembering the expe-rience we have lived during these five weeks ofChapter. I recorded Seán’s invitation to see theworld through the eyes of poor children and tocommit ourselves accordingly. I referred to Mary ofthe Visitation, as an invitation to deepen themystical aspect of our life. And, finally, I repeatedwhat many have already said in this hall: that weourselves are the first message that we have totransmit to the Institute. To continue the tradition of my immediate prede-cessor, Br. Seán Sammon, I end with a story ElieWiesel tells in one of his books. You know that hewas a survivor of the Nazi extermination campsand winner of the Nobel Peace Prize: “A king heard that in his kingdom there was a wiseman, one who knew all the languages of the world;who understood the songs of birds; who knew howto interpret the appearance of the clouds and un-derstand their meaning. He also knew how to readthe thoughts of other people. The king ordered himto be brought to the palace. And here the wiseman was presented to the king. So the king said to the sage: “Is it true that youknow all languages?“ “Yes, Your Majesty“. “Is ittrue that you know how to listen to the birds andunderstand their song?“ “Yes, Your Majesty“. “Andis it true that you understand the language of theclouds?“ “Yes, Your majesty“. “Is it also true thatyou can read the thoughts of other people?““Yes, Your Majesty“. Then the king said to him: “Inmy hands I am holding a little bird; tell me, is italive or is it dead?“ The wise man was afraid, forhe took into account that, whatever he said, theking could kill the bird. He remained a long time insilence, then looked fixedly at the king and finallyreplied: “The answer, Your Majesty, is in yourhands“. It appears to me that there can be no better wayto end this Chapter: the answer, Brother, is inyour hands. Thank you.

85

TECHNOLOGY


In the Chapter Hallthere was need for aredistribution of thespace in accordancewith the methodolo-gy of work in smallgroups to allow dia-logue, promote thespirit of discernment,and arrive at a maximal consensus. That meant a different arrange-ment from previous Chapters held in the same room. There had to aflat surface, without rostrum, with round tables for 10 persons. It

had been decided to use thecomputer as means of communi-cation. So each table had tohave an electric outlet for eachcapitulant and, by means of ca-ble, an Internet connection. Thesoft green painting of the wallsprovided the hall with a tone ofwelcome and baffles from theceiling allowed for good sound.The service of s imultaneoustranslation in the four officiallanguages was situated in theremodelled booths, air-condi-tioned and with a technical in-

The 21st General Chapter to-ok place in the General

House in Rome which had tomake some adaptations in orderto provide the necessary servi-ces. The directives of the Pre-paratory Commission served asa rule for organizing the houseand adapting the different in-frastructures necessary.

The house which hosted

the XXI General Chapter

B. Antoni Salat,Director of

the General House

frastructure adapted to maintain the connectionwith the technical co-ordination centre and thetable of the Central Commission. The Secretariateremained installed on the old dais of the hall,with the technical equipment needed for tran-scribing in the different languages everythingneeded for the proceedings of the Chapter. Thetechnical control booth: telephone, audio, video,Internet and lighting, was situated near thetranslators.The main chapel was another space requiringspecial attention to help provide meaningful cel-ebrations for the assembly. The seats werearranged in an oval form around the altar andthe lectern to encourage the participation of thewhole Chapter. The lighting, totally redone, al-lowed a new vision of the decorations of thechapel and a better perspective for following theceremonies. The new sound system much im-proved hearing during the celebrations. The maindoors, after a good adjustment, shone like newfor the great event. The Champagnat Room was set up as a meetingplace and a lounge. Its vast space and a goodarrangement allowed interaction among theBrothers on birthdays and other family celebra-tions; it was also the place for coffee and otherdrinks during breaks.

Various rooms were set up for meetings, prayer,and work, with the equipment and technical re-sources necessary for the different activities pro-grammed. The room destined for the animationand decoration team received special attention.The Brothers were accomodated in the rooms ofthe House and in part of the Villa Eur. Thus itwas necessary each day to look for solutions tothe problems which arose, such as setting up acybercafé for the Brothers who had difficultyconnecting to the Internet in their rooms.The display of the different provinces, set up inthe corridor of the Superiors, was a meetingplace for discovering the activities of the Maristworld.The Brothers of the community and others whocame to help in preparing for the Chapter madepossible the adaptation of all the infrastructurenecessary. Thanks to the collaboration of manypeople, the General House was able to be adapt-ed to an event of such magnitude. Many thanksfor the collaboration, participation and dedica-tion of all.

XXI GENERAL CHAPTER

March 2010 • 87


The Preparatory Com-mission wanted a Chap-ter characterized by abrotherly method of in-teraction. It desiredthat all the brothers andlay people participateactively in the treat-ment of the topics, andthat the conclusionsand decisions should bearrived at by consensus.This arrangement signi-fied a great innovation.It implied a change of paradigm: to move from the parliamentary

system to a new way of working.From these premises one can imagine a scenario ofwork: to work at round tables in groups of ten ortwelve participants of different cultures and languages,who could communicate easily, to promote dialogueand the participation of all. To distribute ten tables ona flat surface with comfortable seating appeared themost satisfactory. Setting up the room in this wayposed a new challenge: How to help all the capitulantsto conveniently see who would be speaking? How toallow the translators to see each speaker and at thesame time read the support equipment which would beused (powerpoints, etc)? This would have to be resol-ved.

Technology is more than amatter of computers and

cables. It is the art of arran-ging a collection of resour-ces to effectively solve aproblem, to arrive at an ob-jective, to produce a pro-duct. Before deciding whattechnology to apply to aparticular case, it is funda-mental to know clearly whatneeds to be achieved orconstructed and why.

Technology at the service

of the ChapterB. Marcelo De Brito,

Cruz del Sur

It was anticipated, likewise, that much informa-tion coming and going could circulate rapidly,almost in real time, among the participants ofthe different groups. The use of photocopierswould complicate the panorama, the organiza-tion, and lead to waste of time and money. Inaddition, to create consensus on complex reali-ties is much more laborious than reacting witha vote (favorable or not) to a proposal. Forthis, it was calculated that it would be neces-sary to dedicate much time for dialogue and

this time would have to be achieved in someway. It would be necessary to have access to alot of information in a rapid and accurate form:documents, proposals, the work of the precapit-ular commissions, different versions of a docu-ment. It seemed important that all the membersof the Chapter could follow day by day the workon the different topics, because everyone wasinvolved in each topic.Once the scenario was defined, it was necessaryto work out a satisfactory solution. To carry itout, working in teams was indispensable. The

structure of the chapter hall was altered by re-moving the tiers and reducing the floor to asingle level with only a dais for the CentralCommission. Ten oval tables with ten seats foreach were disposed around the room. Four pow-erful projectors, two for each side, were placedaround the walls. By means of these, the sup-port material for the speakers, in the differentlanguages, could be projected simultaneously,as well as the face of the speaker. In this way,wherever they were sitting at the table, all

could see and read in comfort. Two TV cameras,one fixed and a robot directed by remote con-trol, captured images from every angle of theroom. This was complemented by audio live orthrough the simultaneous translation system. Atthe same time, everything was recorded digital-ly on audio and on video. A related kit of elec-tronic tools and four computers completed theequipment. Each capitulant had to work with his ownportable computer, and so each place wasequipped with an electrical outlet and a cable

XXI GENERAL CHAPTER

March 2010 • 89

for connecting the computer to the network. The choice was for acable network. A wireless network might have seemed the one indi-cated, but in this case, without a doubt, the results would havebeen inefficient because of the great number of technical parame-ters. The network had to fill two functions: connect the computersto the internet to allow, above all, the circulation of e-mails, andto provide a series of services adapted to the needs of the Chapter. The connection to the internet was channeled through an ADSL 7Mb link independent of the connection dedicated to the General Ad-ministration. In this way, an open network was available which didnot place at risk either security or the traffic of the General Admin-istration network.The electronic services available to the Chapter were the following:A tree-structure system of document management to give access inan orderly and controlled way to archives of various sorts includingthe official documents of the Institute in the different languages,the documents of previous Chapters, the work of the precapitularcommissions, multimedia documents and the acts and working pa-pers produced during the Chapter itself.A youtube style system, but only at intranet level, to share thevideos produced during the Chapter and other multimedia materialcontributed by the Provinces.A system for sharing the photographs placed daily at the disposi-tion of all by the communications office.A system of blogs to socialize the work of the secretary in charge oforganizing each topic.A system to perform the secret formal votes, which presented eachresult in numeric and graphic form and at the same time allowedautomatic transfer of this to the acts.A system for allowing the Chapter Secretary to record the participa-tion of those having speaking rights, synchronizing the digitalrecording of the audio and the video which is taking place simul-taneously.Allowance was made for the additional difficulties which would oc-cur in a chapter hall marked by internationalism and intercultural-ism. Many of those who came to the Chapter regularly used com-puters, others did not. Some were enthusiastic about the proposal,but others had many doubts about it. We knew that the capitulantswould bring computers with very different characteristics, with dif-ferent operating systems (windows XP, Vista, Mac, Linux). This re-quired designing the system in such a way that it would not benecessary to install any software in the capitulants’ equipment,which would be intuitive, with a pleasant interface and easy to useso that learning would be simple, and that, at the same time, itwould fulfill all the requirements of security and privacy. A furtherdifficulty was that the functioning of the system with a hundredpeople working at the same time could not be verified until the day


B. Marcelo De BritoTECHNOLOGY AT THE SERVICE OF THE CHAPTER

before the beginning of the Chapter, and thework anticipated for this had to be sufficientlyreliable as to guarantee that any difficultieswhich surfaced on that day could be rapidly re-solved. To all this, we must add that it hadbeen specified that it be economical.To respond to all these requirements and condi-tions, we constructed the system in this way: ALinux server was configured with a HP Pentium4 system with 768 Mb of RAM which had been afew months previously the central server of theGeneral House. The programs would be writtenin PHP using as data base motor MySQL on thesame server. For the management of the docu-mentation and multimedia, use was made ofPHP – MySQL programs with GPL license. In thisway, the server carried out the work indepen-dently of the computer of each capitulant,which needed no other software except an inter-net explorer such as Firefox, Chrome or Safari.The day prior to the beginning of the Chaptereverything was ready. A team had also revisedand adjusted some of the configuration detailsof the 100 personal computers which had comefrom all parts of the world. The presentation to

the capitulants was a lesson in an internationalclassroom given in four languages by Maristteachers who had prepared their class well. Itwas, as well, the first full trial of the system.The problems which surfaced were within thelimits anticipated and could be solved in time.The documentation was up to date, readily ac-cessible. The e-mails came and went with fluen-cy. The voting was carried out without majorsetbacks; only a virus threatened to throw ajack into the system, but luck and the back-upequipment allowed us to quickly avoid the ob-stacle. Many kilos of paper were saved and morethan one tree would be grateful for that. Manylearned some useful things about the use ofcomputers. But above all there was plenty of di-alogue, a fraternal atmosphere, the opportunityto listen and take part; there were doubts andsuccesses. In short, a very Marist process of dis-cernment and listening to the voice of the Lord.

Daily average 5.851Total Visitors 187.232

Daily average page views 22.852Combined page views 730.241

Each visitor has madean average of 3,9 consultations

Each visitor has remainedan average of 5:55 minutes Log

to page


Visits to during the

from 8

814 MESSAGES SENT TO THE CHAPTER

BRAZIL 259SPAIN 88EL SALVADOR 49UNITED STATES 46MEXICO 36CHILE 35COLOMBIA 27SRI LANKA 25ARGENTINA 24AUSTRALIA 21BELGIUM 19FRANCE 16GHANA 11PERÚ 11BOLIVIA 10NIGERIA 10GUATEMALA 8ITALY 8PORTUGAL 8SCOTLAND 8KENYA 7R.D. CONGO 6CANADA 5IRELAND 5ZAMBIA 5COSTA RICA 4FIJI 4NETHERLANDS 4RWANDA 4VENEZUELA 4ANGOLA 3ECUADOR 3GERMANY 3GREAT BRITAIN 3MALAWI 3PARAGUAY 2PHILIPPINES 2PUERTO RICO 2SWITZERLAND 2SYRIA 2THAILAND 2URUGUAY 2BANGLADESH 1CAMEROON 1CHAD 1IVORY COAST 1GREECE 1HUNGARY 1INDIA 1KOREA 1LEBANON 1NEW ZEALAND 1NEW CALEDONIA 1PAKISTAN 1SENEGAL 1VANUATU 1ZIMBABWE 1N

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the website XXI General ChapterSeptember to 10 October 2009

XXI GENERAL CHAPTER

March 2010 • 93

1.■ Spain.......................... 17,28%

2.■ Brazil.......................... 15,92%

3.■ Mexico....................... 10,37%

4.■ Italy............................... 9,75%

5.■ France........................... 5,24%

6.■ United States .......... 3,37%

7.■ Argentina................... 3,07%

8.■ Colombia .................... 2,96%

9.■ Chile .............................. 2,73%

10.■ Australia..................... 2,59%

11.■ Peru ............................... 2,32%

12.■ Canada......................... 2,20%

13.■ Belgium ...................... 1,82%

14.■ El Salvador................ 1,68%

15.■ Portugal...................... 1,46%

16.■ Guatemala ................. 1,46%

17.■ Venezuela .................. 1,20%

18.■ Kenya............................ 1,00%

19.■ Philippines ............... 0,91%

20.■ Germany ..................... 0,72%

21.■ Puerto Rico............... 0,71%

22.■ United Kingdom.... 0,68%

23.■ New Zealand ............ 0,66%

24.■ Hungary ...................... 0,54%

25.■ Greece.......................... 0,54%

COUNTRY IN DESCENDING ORDER

The web at the service of the Chapter

One of the reasons for this Chapter being a historicone for Marists has been the use of new communica-tion technologies as working instruments. The web-site www.champagnat.org served as a platform ofcommunication for the capitulants, during thepreparatory phase as well as during the work of theChapter. The capitulants had available a reserved areaof the web in order to exchange information, opinionsand documents. The area provided electronic mail forthose taking part in the Chapter. Co-ordinating thisspace of exchange and communication was the re-

sponsibility of the Secretary of the Preparatory Com-mission. One of the services that the capitulants weremost satisfied with was communication through theweb because of the speed and facility of access tothis instrument in almost all the countries of theworld.During the chapter assembly itself, other spaces ofinformation and interaction were created. Informationwas basically covered through a daily chronicle ofwhat was happening in the chapter hall, accompaniedby abundant related photos and videos. Interactivity,in its turn, allowed numerous people all over theMarist world to send messages to the capitulants.

Their content referred tothemes treated by theChapter and to life atthe Chapter. The accom-panying statistics showthe interest aroused bythe Chapter in theMarist world.

ALBUM

95

Veterans ofthe General Chapters From left to right:Javier Espinosa, Antonio Ramalho, Claudino Falchetto, Jeffrey Crowe, Primitivo Mendoza, Eugenio Magdaleno,Julian Casey, Benito Arbués, Seán Sammon, Demetrio Espinosa.


RECOGNITION AND THANKS

Secretary of the Preparatory Commission and Co-ordinator of ServicesTeodoro Grageda

Animation Team Anthony Leon, Balbino Juárez, Marcondes Bachmann, Albert Nzabonaliba

Written translation Francisco Castellanos, Manuel Gonçalves da Silva, Mario Colussi

Simultaneous translation Etienne Balma, Fernando Santamaría, Ivo Clemente Juliatto, John Allen, José María Ferre, José Machado, Mateo González, Teófilo Minga

Chaplains Mauro Filippucci, Pedro Jesús Alarcón

Video production Feliu Martín, Toni Torrelles

Facilitator Bruce Irvine

Members of the General House communityAgustín Acevedo, Daniel Martín de Paz, John Jairo Franco, Juan Carlos Villarreal, George Fontana (Auxiliary Services); Antonio Martínez Estaún (Communications); Marcelo De Brito (Technology); Giovanni Bigotto (Infirmary); Guy Palandre (Accountant); Jean Ronzon (Secretary general); Edward Clisby, Josep Roura, Aloisio Kuhn (Translators); Juan Jesús Moral (Archives); Onorino Rota, (Community Superior); Toni Salat (Generalate Administrator); Francisco Javier Ocaranza (Generalate Treasurer); Don Neary (Superior General’s Private Secretary); Pau Fornells, Dominick Pujia, Richard Carey (in charge of Generalate Desks).

March 2010 • 97

Yao Kouassi Kan SylvainAfrica del Oeste


AFRICA

Randrianantenaina

Jean Albert ThomasMadagascar

Kabanguka EugèneAfrique Centre Est

Kalisa Ruhando ThéonesteAfrique Centre Est

Rakotomalala AlexandreMadagascar

Ndawala Lawrence LuciusSouthern Africa

García Sobrado LuisSouthern Africa

PARTICIPANTS XXI GENERAL CHAPTER

Banda Nicholas MatthewsSouthern Africa

Onwujuru Boniface ChimaNigeria

Mbam Christian NdubisiNigeria

Mbolipasiko Dikala RémiAfrique Centre Est


ARCONORTE

Sammon Seán DominicUnited States of America

Sauvageau RéalCanada

McNamara PatrickUnited States of America

Sánchez Barba ErnestoMéxico Occidental

Consigli BenUnited States of America

Robert GastonCanada


Klein John United States of America

Preciado Ramirez Víctor M.

México OccidentalNavarro de la Torre

EduardoMéxico Occidental

Pérez Gómez HipólitoAmérica Central

Buenfil Guillermo IvánMéxico Occidental

Mejía Pérez FernandoMéxico Central

Beaudin BernardCanada

Garzón Duque J. LibardoNorandina

Espinosa Marticorena Javier

América Central

Rojas Carvajal César Augusto

Norandina

Reynozo RamírezRicardo UrielMéxico Central

Albalá Medina LaurentinoNorandina


ASIA

Fernando Kristobuge Nicholas Francis

South Asia

De Leon y Valencia ManuelEast Asia

De Waas MichaelSouth Asia

Theo Thong KhiangRobert

East Asia

Alwis Sunanda South Asia


Marzo 2010 • 103


BRAZIL

Falchetto Claudino Brasil Centro-Norte

Etges Inácio NestorRio Grande do Sul

Do Prado João Carlos

Brasil Centro-Sul Hochsheidt Lauro Francisco Rio Grande do Sul

Ost Pedro VilmarRio Grande do SulMedeiros Wellington

Brasil Centro-Norte


Marzo 2010 • 105

Sevegnani Tercilio Brasil Centro-Sul

Levis AfonsoBrasil Centro-Sul

Ramalho de AvezedoAntonio Carlos

Brasil Centro-Norte

Ferrarini Sebastião AntonioAmazônia (Dist.)


CONOSUR

Medina Bermúdez ÁngelParaguay (Dist.) Peralta Porcel Antonio

Santa María de los Andes

Espinosa Demetrio

Cruz del Sur Magdaleno Prieto EugenioCruz del Sur


Herreros Valenzuela Juan Pedro

Santa María de los Andes

Varona Gregorio MarianoSanta María de los Andes

March 2010 • 107

Bustos Kessler HoracioJosé MaríaCruz del Sur


Berquet MauriceL’Hermitage

Mendoza Gonzáles Primitivo

Compostela

Jorques Bru ManuelMediterránea

Turú EmiliL’Hermitage

Mc Kee JosephWest Central Europe

Holguín Díez SamuelIbérica

Arbués Rubiol Benito

L’Hermitage

Barceló Maset XavierL’Hermitage

EUROPE


March 2010 • 109

Déculty AndréL’Hermitage

Taildeman MauriceWest Central Europe

Thunus RobertWest Central Europe

Martín Vicario ÓscarCompostela

Leal das Neves Jorge António

CompostelaGarcía Martínez Nicolás

Compostela

Munóz Gutiérrez AbelIbérica

Soteras Pons Joseph MariaL’Hermitage

Penna PaoloMediterránea

Giménez de Bagüés

Gaudó AntonioMediterránea

Ferré Jodra PereL’Hermitage

Destombes Jean-PierreL’Hermitage

Anaya Torres Juan MiguelMediterránea

Alonso Díez AmbrosioIbérica

Alonso Pérez MoisésIbérica

Christe Jean-ClaudeL’Hermitage

Cubeles Bielsa MiquelL’Hermitage


OCEANÍA

Rodney PeterSydney

Tapp CarlNew-Zealand

Burns Barry Michael

New-Zealand Green MichaelSydney

Crowe JeffreySydney

Casey JulianMelbourne


McDonald KenMelanesia (Dist.)

Neist Graham JohnSydney

McMahon JohnMelbourne


INVITEDPARTICIPANTS

Corbeil LindaCanada

Zamarripa Valdez IrmaMéxico Occidental

Alves Rodriguez DilmaBrasil Centro Norte

Sestrini AngelaL’Hermitage

De Waas MichaelSouth Asia

Morales Pérez ArturoMediterránea

Preciado Ramírez Victor M.México Occidental


Chimezie Ozoh RufusNigeria

Pérez-Soba Díez del CorralJosé María

Ibérica

March 2010 • 113

Larrambebere FernandoCruz del Sur

Pegorer EricaMelbourne

2009



March 2010 • 115

FMS_Mensaje40_EN

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