Called to be and promote communities committed to their vitality
From Sept. 27 – 30, more than 30 brothers and laity from Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay participated in the provincial chapter of Cruz del Sur in Montevideo, Uruguay, with superior general Brother Ernesto Sánchez and Brothers Sylvain Ramandimbiarisoa and Óscar Martín, general councillors.
Brother Ernesto initiated the chapter by proclaiming Brother Raúl Schönfeld as the new provincial, succeeding Brother Alberto Aparicio, and the commission that would lead the chapter was then elected.
The call of the Cruz del Sur province for the next three years is “As Marists of Champagnat, we feel called to be and to promote communities – in all their expressions – committed to their vitality”.
The following brothers were elected as the new provincial council: Brothers Horacio Magaldi, Marcelo De Brito, Guillermo Mautino, provincial superior Raúl Schönfeld Hergenreder, Ruben Velázquez and Demetrio Espinosa.
During the Mass that closed the Chapter, Brother Ernesto thanked Brother Alberto for his service as former Provincial and Brother Raúl for accepting his new mission.
He also emphasized the dream of Saint Marcellin Champagnat and used the letters of the Marist acronym – fms – to speak of three words that start with the same letters: family (global), Mary and service.
“I would like to invite you, with the leadership of Brother Raúl, of his Council and of so many teams (…) to imagine that in this province of Cruz del Sur, if we add all these 200 that are here to the 30 who participated in the three days of the chapter and we say ‘yes, I commit myself to this call during these three years and to do everything possible so that it becomes alive where I am’, tell me that this part of the world will not change for the better,” he affirmed.
The new provincial, Brother Raul, stated during the mass that “I find the equipment I need for this trip specifically in my history – there are values, ways of proceeding that demand faithfulness”.