V General Conference

The 5th General Conference was held in Veranópolis (Brazil), which was the first time that such an event took place outside of Rome. It was also convoked with the novelty of a logo made up of the signature of Champagnat and the letters FMS in the form of flames rising from the signature. Brother Charles Howard convoked it from September 20 to October 15 1989.

The intention of the General Council was to organise the General Conference in Latin America, which was preparing to celebrate the fifth centennial of its evangelisation, the bicentennial of the Founder’s birth and the centennial of the arrival of the Brothers in Brazil.

Faced with a world that suffers enormous changes and dysfunctions and that oppresses a growing number of men and women under the unbearable weight of misery and injustice, the Superiors were called to take up the challenges of the times with audacity and they were encouraged to maintain their strength and the spirit of Father Champagnat. In t5thhis sense, the General Council proposed the central theme of this General Conference: The mission of the Marist Brother for the future.

A total of 69 people attended this Conference.