Increasing the space within the tent

On September 26th, 2007, the General Council approved an enlargement of the Bureau of the Laity. Up to now the Bureau, a new feature of the Institute and a sub-unit of the General Administration?s Mission Commission, has been working under the direction of Brother Pau Fornells alone.

The decision for enlargement is a consequence of requests found in recent documents and reported at meetings about shared mission. The requests ask for greater involve-ment and greater co-responsibility on the part of lay colleagues, at the local and Province levels as well as at the international level. As a consequence, the General Council, has set up an ?Enlarged Bureau of the Laity,? nominating the following to work with the Bureau?s director: Miss Anna Sarrate (Spain), Mrs. Linda Corbeil (Canada), Mr. Tony Clarke (Australia), Brother Afonso Murad (North Central Brazil). The term of nomination is three years.

The goals which the new structure hopes to meet are:
1. Intensifying lay Marists? participation within the Bureau of Laity at the level of discussion as well as that of coordination, thus allowing for a deeper and wider Institute vision of Marist laity.
2. Helping to create improved coordination between the Bureau of the Laity and each of the regions and administrative units of the Institute; and vice versa.

The work of the Enlarged Bureau of the Laity will be of the ?distance? type via on-line coordination. A one-week meeting will also take place each year. The principal project will be:
? to conduct ongoing reflection on themes judged to be relevant to the laity,
? to set up for the Bureau a yearly action-plan to be submitted to the General Council for approval,
? to give assistance to the planning and, in certain cases, the carrying out of actions which are to take place,
? to be a permanent link on behalf of the Bureau with the regions and administrative units parceled out to the members; thus assuring unified reflection and coordination with the regions and administrative units and with the other members of the Enlarged Bureau of the Laity.

The first meeting of the Enlarged Bureau of the Laity will take place from January 21 to 27, 2007 in Rome.

In the near future, in order to support and help the process of restructuring of the administrative units undertaken in Africa and Asia, as well as the development of our shared mission, we will need to enlarge this new structure of the Bureau with a representative from each of these two regions of the Institute.

Below, you may see photos of the members of the new team. We wish them success in their work. May they continue to work hard at the building of a ?new Marist tent,? with space for Brothers and lay people who share life and apostolate.