Meeting of the International Commission of the Marist Spiritual Patrimony
The 2022 programming of the International Marist Spiritual Patrimony Commission began with a two-hour virtual meeting held on 27 January. All the members took part, as well as the coordinators of the Brothers Today Secretariat, Brothers Angel Medina and Lindley Sionosa, and the two reference General Councillors, Brothers Óscar Martín and João Carlos do Prado.
The coordinator of the Commission, Brother Antonio Ramalho, introduced the meeting with a brief prayer. He welcomed the new member of the Commission, Brother Rafael Ferreira, from Brasil Centro-Norte, appointed by the General Council to join the community of ND de l’Hermitage. On behalf of all, he congratulated Brother Allan de Castro, member of the Commission, recently appointed as the new Provincial of East Asia.
First, an evaluation was made of the progress made with the 40th edition of Marist Notebooks. The translations are well advanced and should be ready by 15 February for revision. Dyogenes Philippsen shared information about the ISSN for this publication and the steps to make access to it more dynamic.
Brother André Lanfrey has taken up the ideas of the reflection sent previously on the state of his work around the next edition of FMS Studia, dealing with the legal approval of the Institute. He proposes the introduction of updated and critical contributions, both his own and those of Brother Pierre Zind, to a central body of text prepared by Brother Gabriel Michel. The Commission gives its approval to this conception of a joint work, which would be ready for publication by the end of this year.
Brother Guillermo Villareal, Postulator General, presented an overview of all the causes for canonisation in the Institute and the progress. He added his concern for finding better ways of communicating and spreading these Marist causes.
On the proposal of a Patrimony Course, Brother Michael Green took up the project and took up several suggestions in the group’s comments. He will present all these observations in writing so that the Commission can move ahead with the realisation of the Course. There was a consensus in favour of considering the programme as essentially academic, for the formation of researchers, brothers, and laypeople, and not as a renewal or diffusion course.
The meeting ended with thanks to the participation of all and the support of the translator, Brother Teófilo Minga. The next meeting, already planned, will be on 6 April, in a virtual form.