A working team prepares a document

As was published earlier, one of the objectives the General Council gave itself in the coming years was to: ?continue to develop the Marist mission, as a mark of our identity and nourishment for our spirituality, especially in the three aspects underlined by the General Chapter: a greater closeness to the poor (children and youth), evangelisation, and defence of the rights of children and young people ?.To take part in the promotion and the defence of the rights of children and young people, the General Council judged of capital importance the drafting of a document for the whole Institute, defining the institutional policy of prevention of possible cases of sexual abuse, as well as procedures to be followed when a situation of abuse has been uncovered. To draft this document, a working group was set up, consisting of Brothers Brendan Geary (West Central Europe), Jim Jolley (FMSI-Geneva), Gérard Bachand (Canada) and Nicolás García Martínez (Compostela), co-ordinated by Brother John Klein, Councillor General. Having completed the first stage of their work, the team met in Rome, in the General House, from 15 to 17 November 2010, to share their common findings. The document, which will be studied by the General Council in its plenary session in January 2011, will bring together the principal elements for defining local policies, recommandations for action, and an appendix with models of documentation.