Being more familiar with the personality of Champagnat

In 2001, the brothers of Catalonia offered the other Spanish Marist Provinces an activity that had been developed in their schools; its name: ?Marcellin. And the story continues?. They sought to make the teachers of the schools more familiar with the personality, the history, the charism? of Father Champagnat. Soon they started to apply this initiative in other places of Spain, where they fixed the following objectives: A) to deepen the understanding of the personality of Marcellin in today?s setting; B) to celebrate with other educators who feel invited to be disciples of Marcellin Champagnat; C) to have some time for sharing and reflection; D) to be renewed as educators in a Marist pedagogical style; E) to be faithful to the intuitions that his charism asks of us today.

In the Province of Mediterránea, the invitation to participate was also extended to animators and catechists.
On the 24th and 25th November, one of these meetings took place in Guardamar (Alicante) for the teachers of the Levante zone; twenty-six took part. Up till now, two hundred people, in seven groups, have participated in these Marist formation meetings in the Province of Mediterránea alone. The number per group is limited to thirty participants.
The modules last for fifteen hours. There is time for meeting, sharing and pondering? and all in family atmosphere. The methodology is dynamic, group centred, creative, active, participative and respectful of the ambiance of silence.
The development of this activity has been entrusted to a team of three brothers, experts in the life and charism of Marcellin, and some laypeople who are very familiar with Marist life. The feedback at the end of each session has been positive and satisfactory.
In this session at Guardamar, an Italian brother took part with the idea of taking this initiative to Italy.