Champagnat Movement of the Marist Family
The city of Pereira, in Colombia, hosted from 1 to 3 November 75 of the persons who give life to the Champagnat Movement of the Marist Family in the north zone of Colombia. From Medellín, Armenia, Bogotá, Manizales and Pereira, they represented the fraternities Zamora, Padres en Marcha, Hermano Julio José, Renacer Marista, Familia de María, Laicos padres colegio Champagnat Bogotá y Laimar and the groups of laity from: La Pavona, Hijos de María y Jesmar.
The morning of Saturday, 2 November, was a time for the lay team to anímate us in working on the development of the skills of leadership, communication and team work. After this, each fraternity and group made use of billboards to share their community project. We finished with the intervention of Br Carlos Rojas who inspired and animated us to continue working on the Marist Mission Assembly Nairobi 2014 and on the preparation for the celebration of the 125 years of Marist presence in Colombia.
Saturday afternoon was dedicated to continuing the Bible study which our co-ordinators had received and passed on to us. The chosen topic for this session was Mary, making use of three questions.
For Saturday night, the Brothers of the Pereira Community, Raúl and Tiberio, organized a cultural evening. The boys and girls of the movement “Sembradores de paz” with great meticulousness and joy organized a series of songs, dramas and dances, with which we brought the evening to a close.
The following morning, Sunday 3 November, was devoted to analysing some documents: the management of daily volunteer service, the Provincial policy for the defence, promotion and guarantee of the rights of children, and the Marist ethics code, documents which we feel will contribute a lot to our journey, seeing that they allow us to better situate our apostolates and help us resolve various doubts.
Although each fraternity has been carrying out in its locality the development of the second stage of the Champagnat Movement of the Marist Family, in the afternoon we endeavoured to hold a joint exercise of this guide.
The night was given over to a cultural sharing in which each fraternity and group entertained us with its artistic talents and which gave evidence of the effort and devotion each had put into the preparation for our meeting.