Province of « México occidental »

The chapel of Loma Bonita was the scene for the opening of the Meeting of Marist Directors, guided by the call of the General Chapter which is the guiding light of every director in the works of the Province of « México Occidental ». The Provincial, Br. Eduardo Navarro, welcomed the participants, expressing his thanks for the successes of the school year just ended. At the same time, he invited us to place our whole lives and the occasion of meeting anew in the hands of God, Mary, and Marcellin.
First of all, we tried to uncover in ourselves the sentiments and dispositions we had at the beginning of the meeting. Br. Sean Sammon?s « New hearts for a new world », and the Letter of the XXI General Chapter, « A God who surprises us », helped to throw light on our reflection as well as our personal and community prayer.

Then each director received an individual report evaluating leadership with regard to the charism, taking people into account, intellectual motivations, inspiration and psychological tolerance. This instrument helped identify progress made in the previous school year and aspects to be improved on.
After this time of personal reflection, there was time for mutual enrichment, when the directors and those in positions of responsibility were able to share the most important aspects requiring particular attention in the next school year, all to strengthen the Marist Educational Community.

What can I do to improve?

The short film « The Butterfly Circus » invited reflection about the role and life of each one as director. It was a good moment of sharing in the educational community. Each began to clarify his ideas in the Improvement Plan for the Administration of Directors 2010-2011, making specific the aspects for improvement, specifying objectives, activities, as well as anticipating the time necessary for these initiatives to develop as so many possibilities of personal and professional growth.

In order to offer them supplementary elements and « recipes » for making practical their plan for improvement, the organizers proposed a three part formation process. The first was to identify the qualities having a bearing on the aspects of the plan which they hoped to put into action or improve. To do this, six special qualities were presented: the art of the interview, negotiation, public speaking, conducting meetings, self affirmation and attention to grievances and complaints.

Then time was spent on reading about the chosen subject of study. The directors indicated the ideas that had struck them, discovered questions raised by the proposed contents and identified the elements they would use for their own development. As a follow-up, the participants were asked to define an instrument or a tool with the help of the ideas their study document had provided them, in order to complete their improvement plan.
Having spent time in reading and personal work, the directors came together again in relation to the chosen theme, to share their impressions on the reading, and define an instrument or common tool which embraced the various initiatives of the members of each group.

Marist welcome for new directors

In order to reinforce proceedings for welcoming new co-workers into the works of the Province, it was agreed that a special workshop on this subject would be held on 11 and 12 June. The provincial proposal for welcoming the new people would be made known and tools provided for drawing up the main outlines of this welcome in the establishments, as well as the strategies for applying them. We believe that provincial support for welcoming new collaborators will bring numerous advantages, as much for the person beginning in our establishments as for the educational community itself.

Pastoral Evaluation

During the course of the school year, there was a provincial evaluation of ministry in the works. A report was given, emphasing the positive aspects as well as points for improvement. The final results will be communicated once the process of analyzing and interpreting the data is complete.

Management Report

Since the Provincial government has entrusted the direction of the works to the heads of establishment, an instrument has been provided to facilitate their task in the account rendered of successes, failures, and proposals for improvement. During this meeting, certain aspects of this instrument were clarified in view of its completion and subsequent sending to the Centre of Marist Animation.

At the end of the meeting, Br. Provincial thanked all those at the meeting for taking part; he invited everyone to return to their educational community with new strength, wishing all to depart in the best dispositions for putting into practice what they had learnt and experienced.

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Antonio Arellano Ramos