?Children need us? says Lay Marist
A lay woman said that children “need the Marists” during a meeting held by the International Mission Commission in Rome.
Sylvia Pérez Vega, a lay Marist of Bolivia, stressed that “one can hear their cry of pain, hunger and sadness,” especially in Latin America.
“They have no education, health, family, recreational or fun moments because they have to work,” she told the press office of the General House on April 23.
Sylvia is a member of the Commission, which met from April 20-24 to discuss new ways of evangelizing and helping the youth.
It met to come up with new strategies to carry out during the next three years in different parts of the world.
The director of the Secretariat of Mission and member of the Commission, Brother João Carlos do Prado noted that “during these days a global vision of the Marist mission has been built.”
“It invites us to continue moving to the new territories where we feel called to go to as mystics and prophets in communion,” he told the General House on April 30.
Sylvia underscored that “children need to be advocates for their own rights” and that “they need to participate and be protagonists of the defence of the rights of children and adolescents everywhere in the world.”
She noted that the Marists have “a big commitment” in working for the rights of children in a special way.
“Especially children who live in the peripheries, streets and adits, selling newspapers and inhaling glue and drugs to not go hungry,” she remarked.
Brother Valdicer Facchi of Porto Alegre, Brazil, another member of the Commission, stated that Marists are mainly called to be with poor children and youth involved in drug trafficking, who live in extreme conditions.
“They are exploited in their agricultural work, they suffer in their family, they have no opportunities to suffer nor do they have the dignity due to them,” said Br Valdicer.
But according to a Lay Marist of Granada, Spain, the youth that he encounters are those who “are lost, feel lonely and abandoned in some way.”
“They do not find meaning in life in today’s society of relativism and consumerism,” said Luis Gutiérrez González.
The International Mission Commission will meet in Sydney, Australia from March 15-20 in 2016.
Members of the Commission includeBr Kevin Wanden (Pacific District), Cate Sydes (Australia), Br Willy Lubrico (East Asia), Br John Kusi-Mensah (West Africa District), Br Fortune Chakasara (África Austral), Br Valdicer Fachi (Rio Grande do Sul), Sylvia Pérez (Santa María de los Andes), Br Gabriel Villa-Real (L’Hermitage), Luis Gutiérrez (Mediterránea), Br Chris Wills (Secretariat of Collaboration for Mission, International – Cmi), Br Josep María Soteras (General Council), Br Miguel Ángel Espinosa (Secretariat of Mission), Br João Carlos do Prado (Secretariat of Mission).