At a Glimpse

The Generalate was a beehive of activity during the last two weeks of April. Here is a look of what was happening.
Over a period of three weeks, Brother Yvon Bèdard offered a course, highly appreciated by an international body of students, on the topic of financial manage-ment. Brother Yvon was Econome General during the Superior Generalship of Brother Benito Arbués. The course is a regular feature offered around the same time each year here at the Generalate. Brother Yvon makes his financial and accounting expertise available to religious who are responsible for financial administration in their religious congregations or in their Provinces.

This year?s group consisted of fifty persons working an intensive daily schedule that comprised morning and afternoon sessions. The Champagnat Room was a mosaic of countenances all giving close attention to the specialized terms being explained by Brother Yvon Bédard.

The nineteen Brothers making the Patrimony program (English language) left the Generalate heading off for ten days among the Marist sites in France. Because they are busy in their rooms or in the library working on their research projects, the Brothers are not often seen in the corridors or common rooms of the Generalate. Recently they went to France where they visited the Marist places hoping to better understand the origins of the Institute. Unable to lodge at the Hermitage because of the renovation works already under way, they stayed at Valpré from which they headed off to see La Valla, l?Hermitage, Marlhes, Cerdon, Le Puy, Ars, etc.

The Ad Gentes? advisory council also met. The council?s purpose is to reflect on the problems related to mission projects in Asia, offering their views to the Ad Gentes team. The Ad Gentes project itself goes forward day by day with hope and optimism in situations which are not always very easy.

In addition, the Generalate community had the pleasure of receiving Emilio Aranguren, Bishop of Holguín, Cuba, who was in Rome for his ad limina visit. His stop-over coincided with the presence of Brother Carlos Martínez Lavín who is stationed in Cuba, working in the community of Cienfuegos. Brother Carlos had come to Rome to offer presentations to Brothers in the Patrimony program. For the Generalate Brothers who were among those expelled from Cuba years ago, the presence of the Bishop and of Brother Carlos provided the chance to hear news of Cuba at first hand.

The most notable gathering to have occurred at the Generalate, however, was that of the Preparatory Committee for the General Chapter. The meeting was notable because, after a week of work, the Committee began to assign different jobs around the Marist world. In light of the important decisions which the Committee has made, we will provide a later report reserved solely for its work.