Province of Australia

Several schools in Australia will begin a new Marist Youth Ministry programme in 2019 for middle and high school students with other schools invited to join in 2020.

“Our initial goal for 2019 is the creation of a comprehensive and flexible Catholic youth ministry programme for students between grades 7 – 12, with consideration also given to primary schools in grades 5 and 6,” said the Marist Youth Ministry (MYM) national coordinator Brother Greg McDonald.

The decision was made after MYM reviewed REMAR and the country’s existing programmes. REMAR was first introduced in Australia in 1991, 16 years after it initiated in Colombia in 1975.

Until now, it has been the primary means through which the Gospel and youth ministry have been promoted to young people, but only for grades 10 to 12 – the last three years in the Australian school system.

The new programme aims to complement what is being taught in the curriculum of religious education.

But greater emphasis will be given on providing an authentic encounter with Jesus Christ through formation in: Christian leadership, Marist spirituality and charism, community and identity, prayer and worship, justice and solidarity, connection to diocesan and local parish and advocacy.

The MYM programme will have two distinctive moments – one for grades 7 – 9 and another for grades 10 – 12, with the latter movement retaining a formal three-year phase optional programme, like that of the current REMAR programme.

It will also embed the key principles of Anointed and Sent, the Australian Catholic Bishops document on youth ministry and its respective goals and focus areas.

It will draw on key contemporary Catholic and Marist Youth Ministry documents and pedagogy and offer flexible options for schools, rather than a one size fits all approach.

To read the letter of Br Greg to the brothers explaining the programme in greater detail, click here.