2nd Marist Education Congress in Santiago: Evangelizing through education
More than 600 Marist educators from Chile attended the 2nd Marist Education Congress, held December 19-20, 2019 in Santiago. The theme was “For an innovation committed to Marist Evangelizing Education”. From the General House, via video, Brother Luis Carlos, Vicar General, encouraged the educators: “We are at a time when educational change, innovation and cooperaion are fundamental elements of the development of our Marist works and of education in general. For me, it is something very beautiful to describe education as a passion. It is a passion full of dreams, full of human feeling and full of intelligent discussion. I invite you during these days to explore these concepts: the passion for education, the ability to transform dreams into reality in the lives of children and young people, and in society, the Church, and the world”.
The goal of the conference was to reflect on the challenges for Marist education in the 21st century, in pedagogical, cultural, ecclesial and social transformational contexts. During the Congress, teachers from the twelve Marist schools of Chile held workshops on best practices, shared the projects they are implementing in their schools and addressed the following topics:
Evangelizing Education: To analyze the Marist Educational Mission from the point of view of commitment to the Gospel, in the context of a diverse society sensitive to inclusion, full participation and with emphasis on individual rights.
Educational Innovation: To advance the updating of the educational process and to integrating, as a substantial element, educational innovation, in harmony with changes emerging in contemporary society.
Coordination within and among the schools: To recognize school cooperation as a key element to improve learning and a healthy and fraternal life, from a perspective of an inclusive and collaborative community.
On the first day of the meeting the speakers, Mónica Rincón and Daniel Halpern, spoke respectively on the topics “Keys for the future of an inclusive school” and “Interpretation of youth’s circumstances”. On the second day, there was a presentation on the theme “Evangelizing through education”. The topics discussed were: “Keys to the future of the school”, directed by Harald Beyer; “The mission of the laity in the face of the crisis in the Church” with the speakers Claudio Alvarado, Joaquín García and Josefina Araos; and “Challenges for leadership in the 21st century”, presented by Rodrigo Jordan Fuchs.