One team, one house, one program

The 2017 General Chapter called Marists to be conscious in being a global charismatic family.  Two years later, the two ongoing formation teams of El Escorial and Manziana have awakened this call by forming one international formation community in Manziana, 50 mins from Rome.

For the past 26 years, Manziana has been the ongoing formation house for the English- speaking brothers.  The Spanish speaking brothers went to El Escorial, Spain. However, with recent successful intercultural programs in Rome (Gier-2015, Vocation Animators-2016, Current Formators-2018), the General Administration began to explore the possibility of having one main house of international ongoing formation for brothers so that they can have a truly intercultural experience as a global Marist family.

This new community consists of 5 brothers with extensive experiences in formation in each of their own provinces:  Ángel Medina (Brothers Today Secretariat), Antonio Peralta (Santa María de los Andes), Joaquim Sperandio (Brasil Centro Sul), Joe Walton (Southern Africa), Teofilo Minga (Compostela).

Since their arrival on 10 January, these brothers have worked hard in preparing the huge 30 bed-room house for the first intercultural group of Mid Life brothers (40 years +) who will begin 21 March.  However, more importantly, this group of brothers have formed a community who will welcome many more future groups into their home, a house of light and a place of brotherhood. One team, one house, one program.