MARCHA WAY 2024 Meeting
According to those who have been able to participate in the MARCHA WAY 2024 meeting of the Marist Region of Europe, it is difficult to capture in words what they experienced at this meeting. However, with what the young people have shared with us, we try to reflect their experience.
A total of sixty-two people participated in the meeting, including seven chaperones and the rest who were young adults from various Marist Youth Ministry youth movements. The participants came from various parts of Marist Europe: Greece, Germany, Portugal, Italy, and Spain. This event, organized and carried out by the young people of the MYM team (Marist European Youth Team), included activities at the Marist house in Llinars del VallĂ©s, Barcelona, and on the Costa Brava, in San Feliu de GuĂxols, and the city of Girona, known for hosting the first Marist school in Spain.
The main objective of the meeting is to generate synergies between young Marists who function as agents of mission, such as monitors, animators and catechists. Through dynamics, games, sunrises, optical illusions, prayers, deserts, marches in pairs, concerts and testimonies, the young people were able to reflect on their personal journey (WAY) and the accompaniment in their following of Jesus (OUR WAY). A highlight was the videoconference with the Fratelli Project in Lebanon, facilitated by Brother Juan Carlos Fuerte, who shared the harsh reality faced by the children and young people served by the project and encouraged participants to reflect on the importance of supporting those most in need in their Marist life.
At the meeting, the motto “You are at home” became a reality thanks to the coordinated work of the EJEM team, together with the European Ministry Team, and the Monitoring and Coordination Team (FCE) of MRE. The Marist house in Llinars del Vallès became a home for all the Marist youth of Europe, creating a space of genuine fraternity. On the final day, a Mass was celebrated with Father Jaume, a Comboni priest, and there was also a concert by the Marist group UBUNTU.
In the life of each one of these young people, this experience of feeling AT HOME has been a way of telling Jesus, reaffirming: ‘COUNT ON ME.’ The EJEM continues its work with the goal of organizing a gathering in August 2025 that will provide an encounter with God for more young people in Europe, through service in our youth movements to many children and young people, as well as Marist youth of Champagnat.”