Governance, Management and Pastoral leadership of the Marist Province of Cruz del Sur

A meeting of the Executive team, legal officers and School leaders from Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay was held from 29 to 31 May in the Champagnat College of Buenos Aires, Argentina.  More than 80 people attended.

The purpose of the gathering was to reflect on ideas and decisions taken regarding Province governance, management and pastoral leadership; study the principles of innovation in education that is being adopted by Marist schools; and provide spaces for quiet time and group celebration to foster personal growth.

Also present were the Provincial, Br Raúl José Schönfeld Hergenreder, the Vice-Provincial Br Marcelo De Brito and other members of the Province leadership team.

On the first day, after the opening remarks from Br Raul, the new structure of the Province of Cruz del Sur was presented. Then time was given to studying the mandate and planning of the Province Schools Team. In the afternoon, the work was divided into workshops run by different teams: Evangelisation; Public advocacy; protection of the Rights of Children.

The second day was led by Xavier Aragay, director of the Re-imagine Education Lab in Barcelona, Spain; he has more than 25 years’ experience in leadership and the management of change and educational innovation in universities and school networks. The first session of the day was devoted to re-imagining education from our experience and charism, one that is centred on students and the world of tomorrow in which they will live. The process had many activities, of both a theoretical and practical nature, geared towards examining and redefining approaches to learning.

On the third day, the GRAM publishing company presented a new proposal for designing and using school and evangelisation texts in Marist schools. The program finished with a presentation about the Province administration and personnel.