Logo and Motto for the Canonization
In a letter of October 12, 1998, we asked that you submit designs for a logo that would help us to prepare for the Canonization.
Examining all the ones that we’ve received, we have chosen one designed by Josep Surroca, a teacher at our high school in Badalona, Spain. Badalona is a suburb of Barcelona.
Josep shared with us the three elements that led him to come up with this winning entry:
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an M for Mary, Marcellin, and Marist
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the World because our Marist mission transcends national boundaries
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a Circle (actually a halo, the sign of sanctity) because by means of the Canonization, the Church is pointing to Marcellin as a role model for Christians everywhere.
We’d like to provide you with a few ideas that surfaced as our Team reflected on the logo. We hope this might enrich your own particular thoughts on the subject.
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Marcellin, Mary, Marists, Mission
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Mary is asking us to continue Marcellin’s Mission in the World
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Together with Marcellin, we’re on a Mission for the World
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To live like Marcellin implies scanning the horizon with a commitment to the whole World
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All the dioceses in the World fall within the scope of our vision
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Marcellin, building a World attuned to the Gospel
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Marcellin, seed of the Gospel sown throughout the World
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With Marcellin, we bring joy to the World, just as Mary did
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Marists: like Mary and Marcellin, planting seeds of the Gospel
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Our Mission: to bring the Father’s tenderness into the World
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Marist: one with a heart that beats for the life of the World
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Marist: one whose model and guide is Marcellin
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Marist: one whose Mission encompasses the World
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“Every time I see children, I want so much to tell them how greatly God loves them.”
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Marcellin: making a commitment to the World as seen through Mary’s eyes
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Bringing the Gospel to the World: a Marist Mission
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At 27 years of age: having a dream the size of the World
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Why not dream great things?
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What’s the use of a dream if it doesn’t take in and go beyond the World?
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Marcellin: possessed of a heart forever opening up to the World
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A plan embracing the World
An M has a V at its center, which in some languages can bring to mind the idea of life (Vitality), Gospel (eVangelization) and Vocation.
We share our musings with you in all simplicity. Our only purpose is to help you get started, for we’re sure that you will discover many other interpretations more in keeping with your own culture and ways of seeing our World.
Slogan
Our slogan is related to the logo and serves as the key to its meaning.
This is what we’ve chosen:
A heart that knows no bounds.
Herewith are our thoughts on these words.
Marcellin is a man deeply rooted in his time and place. With his feet firmly planted on the ground and both eyes open, he sees what’s going on around him and the things that need to be done. He doesn’t stand pat and put up with things as they are. For Marcellin, cries of pain in the world become calls to action and opportunities to respond to the signs of the times. He takes up the challenge of these signs and searches for meaningful solutions to problems. In doing so, he finds himself being drawn closer and closer to the future God has in store for him: from being a shepherd of sheep to becoming a pastor for the Brothers; from Rosey to La Valla and the missions in Oceania… Marcellin’s initiatives make established beliefs and conventional wisdom crumble. He’s truly a man of daring, running across borders and broadening horizons.
Today we too are being called to break through barriers – not only geographical borders, but those of obstinacy and inertia, of ignorance, of greed and selfishness, of racism… We’re being called to be fired-up witnesses to the Good News and to live in solidarity, making whatever changes are necessary in order to succeed. Doesn’t all of this seem to demand from us a commitment to the process of refounding? To embody Champagnat in today’s World, doesn’t it mean to address the problems of our time rather than shutting ourselves up in a self-imposed ghetto? Doesn’t it demand of each of us the act of placing ourselves at the disposition and service of people most in need? Mary is clearly our model in all of this – she who “ went in haste” through the hill country to be with her cousin Elizabeth, helping and taking care of her for as long as was necessary.
A heart that knows no bounds touches all these ideas, and reminds us of the calls of the XIXth General Chapter.
The stuff of dreams? Utopian? Absolutely. We need a preferred future in order to move ahead with all deliberate speed, either that or face the death penalty.
As we have already mentioned to you, both the Logo and the Slogan can be used by all our Provinces, Districts, and Sectors, since the authors’ rights are the property of the Institute.