Being a Brother: The biome of fraternity

The Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious held its fourth Seminary of Religious Brothers in Guatemala from Sept. 30 – Oct. 2. 

The topic was “Being a Brother: The biome of fraternity” and participants included Marist Brothers from Latin America (Brazil, Peru, Guatemala, Colombia, Argentina and Chile.

Below, the final message of the participants of the encounter.

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Convened by the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious (CLAR), we have gathered at Guatemala City from September 30 to October 2, 2016. With the aim of discovering the Being a Religious Brother with the vocation of cultivating and extending “the biome of fraternity” from realities that favour the grow of Christians among themselves and towards the others, with a perspective of autonomy and interdependency, in connection and with brotherhood towards creation. In this encounter, we lived in close communion with each other and we define our identity as Brothers implies:

• FRATERNITY as a sign of our vocation that allows us to humanise, joining forces to work together and take on challenges with dynamism to show hope to the world with a prophetic attitude. 
• CENTRALITY IN THE GOSPEL: Gift that brings forth joy and gives meaning to following Jesus, who is the heart of our spirituality.
• SHARED MISSION is the visible sign of an ecclesiology of communion that links us with the laity in the transformation of a more just and caring society.
• The CARE OF THE COMMON HOUSE is the cry of mother earth that demands the right to be respected, valued and loved.
• The INSPIRING STRENGTH OF OUR CHARISMS is the wealth received from our founders, has to be shared inter-congregationally and in the Church.
• THE PROCESS OF RECONFIGURATION AND REDEFINITION of our life has to be assumed from an evangelical perspective, open to accompaniment and to new forms of presence in our various fields.
• The FORMATION OF YOUTH is a conviction that unites us as brothers, since we have to see the new members of our communities as a sign of hope. 

With all these convictions, we invite Consecrated Life so that together we commit ourselves to helping the Church value the vocation of the Religious Brother, caring for our common home and going to geographical and existential borders, being a blessing for our neighbors. We need the visitation and the example of Mary, to rush to encounter life.

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Participant brothers