Marist Youth 2007

During the recent Memorial Day weekend, 162 students from Marist schools in the United States, Mexico, and Canada gathered at Marist College for Marist Youth 2007. A highlight of this year?s Marist Youth was the presence of students and faculty from Collège Laval in Quèbec. Along with students and faculty from Instituto Marista in Aguascalientes, Mexico, they joined with US Marist Youth to form the first North American Marist Youth gathering. From the very beginning, all the participants were introduced to the wider Marist world!

Presentations focused on further understanding of what it means to be Marist and Catholic as well as ways they could incorporate the values and actions of Marcellin Champagnat in their lives.

Brad Farmer and Gene Monterastelli, comedians, jugglers, and youth ministers encouraged the students to know and experience their Catholic faith so that they could ?become the people they were created to be.?

A presentation on Solidarity helped students see that being Marist is larger than their own school community. Students and faculty from St. Joseph Academy in Brownsville, Texas explained their participation in the Marist Brothers? Bureau of Solidarity ?Rainbow Project.? All the schools were invited to participate in the Rainbow Project during the 2007-2008 school year in an effort to foster a sense of solidarity among North American Marist students with the aim of doing something significant for the larger Marist world.

For a number of young adult leaders and faculty members, returning to Marist College for Marist Youth 2007 made them feel like they were coming ?home.?