New relationship between brothers and laity

The members of the provincial teams for the animation of the lay Marists – new brother-lay relationship – of the regions of « Cono Sur » and Brasil, met in Curitiba from 21 to 27 October. The Provinces concerned were: Brasil Centro Norte, Brasil Centro Sul, Río Grande do Sul, Santa María de los Andes, Cruz del Sur and the District of Paraguay

There was plenty of matter for study: introduction and presentation of the situation in the provinces, a body of reflection based on the references of the General Chapter, module centred on the vocation of the lay Marist from the sharing of personal situations, a deeper acquaintance with the document Around the same table, study of the draft of the future international meeting on the lay Marist vocation and also the presentation of different lay groups enjoying a community experience within the fraternities of the ChMMF as well as in other groups. The module « Towards a new brother-lay relationship » gave us opportunity to share the joint formation experiences which have been held in the Provinces and also the knowledge of situations which are a source of vitality for the Marist charism. The last day was devoted to reviewing the topics discussed and seeing how to make them concrete in the Region and the Provinces. The gathering ended with a simple missioning prayer, very well prepared, during which we received a little lamp meant to symbolize the light we have to multiply in our various living places.

These meetings are aimed at promoting a creative animation of the processes affecting lay people, making familiar the new relationship of communion between brothers and laity and its implications in the life of the Provinces, and finally encouraging a solid bonding among the laity.

Among the most important fruits of the meeting, we can emphasize:

• We gained a better understanding of our respective situations concerning the
• animation of lay Marists: structures, experiences, resources…
• We reinforced the communication between the Administrative Units of the Region on this subject, and also with the Secretariat of the Laity.
• We defined some actions for travelling this road in the Provinces.
• And, above all, we listened to one another, offered one another mutual encouragement and tried to discover what we need to cultivate in order to create the future of the brother-lay communion.

As happens whenever we meet, the atmosphere was a very family one; we were able to take advantage of the different cultural sensibilities at the moments of celebration, prayer and feast.

We want especially to thank the Province of « Brasil Centro-Sul » for their welcome. Thanks too to each Province and District for the work realised in making us feel from close up the life that we are encouraging and the desire to move forward.