Collaboration and connections in Europe

From the 10th to the 12th of June a meeting took place  in Barcelona, consisting  of the members of the European Council of the Marist Mission (MEC).Following  the meetings in Dublin, las Avellanas and Athens, the final meeting  this year was a fertile time planning and sharing. 

During the meeting,  there were exchanges concerning the work achieved by each of the teams responsible for the Mission: the European Team for Vocations , the European Team for Solidarity, the European Team for the Protection of Minors. 

On occasion, work was done on the preparation for the Formation Weeks on Leadership whose 3rd edition began in March with an initial week of formation in Notre-Dame de l'Hermitage. This will be followed, next year, by one week in a Marist social work project in Europe and one week in the University of Alcala de Henares and will end in 2020-21  with one week's visit to the Marist Province of Europe and one week in the Generalate in Rome.   

During the meeting, we reflected on a set of themes: the Directory of Marist Europe, the Calendar of Marist Europe, the Theme of a shared year in all the Provinces, the MEC budget, the ties and collaboration with the team of European Brothers-Laymen Communion sharing with the other European teams.  

Before closing the meeting, and after some time for dialogue, reflection and exchange of ideas, we specified the objectives for next year as well as developing the action plans. A set of propositions aiming to define the future of the Region of Europe has been recorded, working in the domains of identity and leadership communication, formation, evangelisation and vocation, collaboration and the connection of good practices to be shared. All of these initiatives are to define and to develop ways to help to live life more intensely in our Marist Europe, as a global body.