B. Emili Turú, Superior General – Br. Joseph Mc Kee, Vicar General

The 21st General Chapter of the Marist Brothers, meeting in Rome from 8 September to 10 October 2009, elected today, 26 September, as Superior General Brother Emili Turú, and as his Vicar, Brother Joseph Mc Kee, for a period of eight years.

The calling of this 21st Chapter has brought together 83 capitulants representing more than 3,700 Brothers, and some 43,000 lay collaborators spread through 79 countries educating more than 660,000 children and young people. The Marist work makes the charism of Champagnat present in centres of social care, schools at various levels, and in university centres.

For two years, the Marist Institute has been engaged in an intense process of preparation involving lay people as much as Brothers. With the dynamic proposal of creating ?new hearts for a new world?, it sounded the feeling of the different regions of the Marist world by means of ?letters? composed in each region. The chapter has begun discerning and responding to the fundamental call which God is making to the Institute for the next eight years. This call includes the value of the Brother?s consecration in a world of confrontation and division, the service to children and young people, the journeying together of Brothers and lay people in the manner of Mary. Following from this fundamental call is the study of various themes relating to the life and mission of the Marist Institute, in order to bring them into harmony with the demands this call sets forth for the world of today.

The General Chapter has paid special attention to the Marist laity. Nine lay people, coming from different parts of the world, and invited by Brother Superior General and his Council, participated in the reflections of the Chapter for the first fortnight. They have left the Brother capitulants a message destined for the whole Institute, in which they manifest their expectations for the future and their commitment to collaborating in the spread of the Marist charism.