Meeting of the International Commission for the Revision of the Formation Guide
The International Commission for the Revision of the Formation Guide met face-to-face for the first time since its creation two years ago on November 1 – 6 at the Residencia Marista Santa Maria del Mar in Guardamar del Seguro, Spain. Present were Br. Joao Carlos do Prado, Br. Angel Medina, Br. Lindley Sionosa, Br. Fabien Bulaimo, Br. Pere Fere and Br. Francisco “Paco” Garcia. Meanwhile, Br. Oscar Martin, Br. Cesar Rojas and Br. Graham Neist connected online.
The meeting was focused mainly on gathering the fruits of the process of listening and participation done in the regions from August to October 2021, wherein groups of formators, formands and a mixed of brothers and lay men and women were invited to reflect on Marist life today and the kind of Marist formation we wish to offer considering the different realities of our time.
Three online meetings were therefore organized to listen to the reports from the Americas (Arco Norte and America Sur), Asia-Oceania and Africa-Europe. The teams that were formed for this inter-regional groups shared with the Commission highlights of the answers received from the identified respondents through written survey, online dialogs, and one-on-one conversations.
Having listened to the different views from across the Marist world, the commission worked on naming the discoveries and creating a vision of Marist formation for the future. Manuel de Jesús Gómez, one of the co-directors of the Secretariat of the Laity also joined the commission on the 5th and the 6th and his inputs from the side of Marist laity also proved helpful.
With a view of the future of Marist life and charism as oriented towards communion between Brothers and laity, the commission decided to focus its effort on the formation of brothers. Furthermore, the new formation guide is foreseen to be simple, relevant to the present time and written in contemporary language.
The next commission meeting will be in January next year; it will be online. A face-to-face meeting is intended for June or July 2022.
Below is a list of the brothers and lay Marists who helped the commission in reaching out to the inter-regional groups referred to above.
Americas (Arco Norte and America Sur): Br. Cesar Rojas, Br. Juan Carlos Bolaños, Br. Marcio Henrique, Br. Felix Roldan, Br. Albert Rivera and Br. Isidro Azpeleta.
Asia-Oceania: Br. Francisco Garcia, Br. Graham Neist, Br. Anselmo Kim, Br. Sefo Une, Br. Simon Serero, Br. Darren Burge and Br. Juan Castro.
Africa – Europe: Br. Fabien Bulaimo, Br. Pere Ferré, Br. Alphonse Tiamaro, Br. Ebel Muteveri, Br. Aureliano Garcia, Br. Teodorino Aller, Br. Nicolas Garcia and Mr. Fernando Ocaña