IV Regional Assembly of the South American Region
On Thursday 16th April, the IV Regional Assembly of the South American Region was held by videoconference, bringing together more than forty representatives of the five Marist Provinces in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Special participants were the Vicar General, Brother Luis Carlos Gutiérrez, and General Councillors, Brothers Óscar Martín Vicario and Sylvain Ramandimbiarisoa.
Because of the context of the coronavirus, the meeting, originally planned for the 15th to the 18th April in Cochabamba, Bolivia, concentrated its deliberations to the afternoon of the 16th.
The meeting opened with a moment of reflection led by the Provincial of Reference, Br. Inacio Etges, who addressed the need to understand the new scenarios from a regional perspective. “At present, we are living in an extremely important situation, of decisions that demand courage to respond to the questions that all of humanity is asking,” he said. “We are experiencing a new beginning.” For the Executive Secretary of the Region, Br. Alberto Aparicio, such an Assembly is the new look of the Region: “This Assembly opens the door to a new way of working together, of unity, of dreaming and sharing our hopes together,” he said.
The urgency of being a global family
The Vicar General, Brother Luis Carlos Gutiérrez, began the Assembly by referring to the calls of the XXII General Chapter, reminding us of our need to act as a global family.
He also recalled that steps in the process of regionalization are a response to this increasingly urgent need. With emphasis on the crisis scenario posed by the pandemic, Br. Luis Carlos prodded the participants to think about sustainable models of administration and emerging collaboration.
“In this pandemic, we need to be witnesses of unity and hope,” he said. “Alone, we will not be able to face the challenges of the Institute and the world. We need to walk in communion.”
The General Councillors also participated in the first block of presentations. Brother Óscar spoke of the importance of taking care of our institutional mission beginning with the care of the people involved: “Regionalization has to be at the service of life,” he stated. “Right now, we are invited to build a society of service and care”.
Along the same lines, Brother Sylvain contributed the perspective of care starting from the stages of formation of the Brothers, emphasising that our approach needs to be sensitive to the needs and capacities of the Brothers, and so in this sense from the inside out.
Training and Covid-19
The second block of the Assembly, led by Javier Peralta Larraín, a specialist in communication strategies and public affairs at Nexus Communications, and professor and journalist at the Catholic University of Chile, dealt with risk and crisis management.
This presentation, even though it was included in the pre-existing program, added a valuable and unexpected focus by reframing the current world scenario and action possibilities during times of crisis.
For Brother Alberto, the contribution offered by Larraín was essential: “Surprised by an unplanned turn of events, there is a feeling that nothing will be quite the same,” he said. “The training in crisis management allowed us to feel united as a single body, an instance in which we were able to deepen two fundamental themes for the Region”.