A New “Formation Guide” In Development
A little history of the process and the face-to-face meeting of the final drafting committee of the formation Guide
In this year of celebrating the centenary of the construction of the Hermitage, the Marists of Champagnat are also “in the process of developing…” a new “Formation Guide”. The one we currently have was published in 1993 and has been a very valuable tool for guiding Marist formation for many generations of brothers.
On initial and ongoing formation, the XXII General Chapter gave a mandate to the Institute: “For a new beginning we believe that we need new structures and processes that recognize and support our distinctive vocational paths as Marists. reform our processes of initial and ongoing formation and offer new paths at the level of the Institute and Administrative Units to care for our vocation as brothers: accompaniment, attention to each brother’s situation and stage in life.”
The General Administration, in its Strategic Plan, Project 3 (Beacons of Hope: Structures for Initial Formation), invited us to “review the current plans and structures for the initial formation of the brothers, and the Formation Guide.”
For this reason, he appointed an international commission to review the 1993 Formation Guide, which began its work in 2020 and ended this year 2024, offering us a valuable and excellent working tool. We sincerely appreciate the generous and innovative work carried out by this commission made up of the following brothers: Ataide de Lima (Brasil Centro-Norte, Permanent Formation Team of the Institute), César Rojas (Norandina), Fabien Bulaimu (PACE), Graham Neist (Star of the Sea), Paco García (MDA), Pere Ferre (L’Hermitage), João Carlos do Prado and Óscar Martín Vicario (General Councillors) and Lindley Sionosa and Ángel Medina (Secretariat of the Brothers Today).
With the expectation of continuing to advance in the “construction of a new formation guide”, the General Administration has appointed the final drafting committee to follow up on the process carried out, finalize the work and be able to present the new guiding document for the formation of Marist brothers in the Institute at the next General Chapter in 2025.
This team is made up of the brothers: Isidro Azpeleta (Santa María de los Andes), Francisco García (District of Asia) and Hipólito Pérez (Central America), together with the directors of the Brothers Today Secretariat (Ángel Medina and Lindley Sionosa) and they have held an extensive face-to-face session at the General House from August 19 to 31, with the aim of giving coherence to the text, with the appropriate theological and practical foundation.
After these days of work, the Brothers Today Secretariat will be able to present a first draft to the General Council at its plenary session in September and thus receive the first echoes, observations and contributions to continue building this new project of the Formation Guide.
Fraternally,
Br. Hipolito Perez, fms