Meeting on the review of the Marist Education Document
A commission, since May 2021, is working in a new edition of the Marist Education Document, “In the Footsteps of Marcellin Champagnat”. After the initial work, the Commission appointed a small group to do a careful study on all the works done previously. The meeting of that team took place in the General House, from the 15th to 21st of February 2023.
Coordinated by the secretariat for Education and Evangelization, the team was comprised of Br. Luis Carlos Gutiérrez (Vicar General), Br. Ben Consigli (General Councillor), Br. Carlos Alberto Rojas (immediate past Director of the secretariat), Br. Mark Okolo Omede (the immediate past Assistant Director), Br. Ángel Diego Ortola (Director of the Secretariat of Solidarity), Mrs Adriana Kempft (Brazil Sul-Amazônia), Mrs Amaya Espuela (Ibérica), Mr John Robbinson (Star of the Sea) and Br. Joe McKee, the facilitator of the team. The new Director of the Secretariat for Education and Evangelization, Brother José Sánchez Bravo also attended some sessions of the meeting.
Divided into sessions, the first dedicated itself to the reading of the whole document based on the suggestions to maintain the structure of the old document, or the new suggestion to merge some chapters, and the transfer of some articles to appropriate headings.
The team unanimously agreed to work with the idea of merging some chapters and to put some articles under some subheadings.
The second part of the work centred on the organization of the document, and this was done in language groups, English and Spanish. The plenaries were dedicated to the reading of the document, taking note of the new suggestions, reformulation of some articles, comparison of translations, and the addition of a new part of the document on the Marist Institutions of Higher Education.
On the last day of the work together, the team welcomed the Superior General, Brother Ernesto Sánchez who appreciated them for the enormous task ongoing and stressed the importance of the document in the life and mission of the Institute.
It is hoped that the work will be subjected to a critical reading by some Marist Young people and educators before passing it on to the General council.