After one hundred years of work, Champagnat’s dream is still alive
On Sunday 9 June, the celebration of the centenary of the presence of the Marist Brothers in the city of León, Spain (the Marist Province of Compostela) officially came to an end with a Mass celebrated in the cathedral of the city and presided over by the bishop, attended by Marist Brothers, teachers, former teachers and Brothers, students, ex-students and families linked to the Marist schools in León.
After Mass, more than 1500 people went to St. Joseph's College, where a musical was presented – by the primary school pupils – to commemorate these 100 years of Marist life in León. The day continued with a celebration and ended with a prayer to Mary, our good Mother.
The Marist presence in the city of León dates back to September 12, 1918 when four French Marist Brothers came to the city.
At the moment there are three communities of brothers: two of them are in school and the third, which is a community welcoming vocations, is in a house in the city.
There are two Marist schools, the oldest being St. Joseph's College, which has 1155 students in nursery, primary, compulsory secondary and high school. There are 70 teachers and 23 others who work in the kitchen, act as monitors and administrators and various other services.
Champagnat College is modern and was initially a juniorate as well. In this school there are currently about 200 students in three stages: infant, primary and compulsory secondary education. There are twenty teachers here. It is also the residence of the elderly, retired and sick brothers of the Province.
It is important to highlight the growing presence of the MarCha youth group which, in its initial stages, works in each of the two colleges and as soon as the youngsters are older (university students), they have a joint dynamic.
And it should be remembered that there is a Marist spirituality group of lay people (teachers and some parents) and some brothers who try to share the charism of the institution.
Likewise, the social work promoted by the Montagne Foundation of the Marist Province of Compostela is also taking its first steps – still in its early form – which will work by giving school support to boys and girls of the gypsy community.
After one hundred years of Marist presence, we can say that Champagnat's dream is still very much alive in León.
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