Stand up, speak up & act

A guide for the Participation of Children and Young People in the Marist Mission

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Development Process | Presentation | Launch

The document “Stand Up, Speak Up & Act“, published on March 20, 2024, stems from the call of the XXII General Chapter of the Institute to “develop initiatives for the participation and empowerment of children and young people in all the mission realities” where we are present.

It echoes the call of the XXI General Chapter (2009) invited us “to become experts and advocates for the rights of children and young people in a courageous and prophetic way in public forums”, and of the XXII General Chapter (2017) to “open the eyes of our hearts and listen to their cry; to promote, protect and defend them and empower them as agents of transformation”.

This document aligns with the recommendations of the First and Second Marist International Mission Assemblies (MIMA I and II), which urged us to “expand opportunities for Marist children and young people to participate in decision-making, strengthen their leadership and encourage them to act”, and to “be recognized as prophets with a voice for advocacy in political and social forums”.

The document aims to reinvigorate the collective commitment to guarantee, promote, protect and defend the rights of children and young people, placing at the center of our educational and pastoral practice their right to express “their views freely in all matters affecting them, and to have those views given due weight” (Art. 12, Convention on the Rights of the Child).

The document provides informative and formative resources to people who are beginning their journey in the defense of the rights of children and young people, empowering them as agents of change. Above all, it seeks to inspire and strengthen practices that promote the participation of children and young people in various contexts of the Marist mission. The Marist Institute hopes that this effort will serve as a source of hope and enthusiasm for developing better ways to support children and youth as individuals with rights.