Provincial Meeting of Community Animators

A group of lay people and brothers from the Province of Central America were invited to deepen and reflect on the task of community animation. The meeting took place in El Salvador from February 9 to 12. Accompanied by Vicky Irigaray, a Spanish lay woman with extensive experience in the accompaniment of consecrated life, the group participated in the four-day meeting with great expectations.

The proposed objectives were: to reflect on the daily task; to know and better understand the reality of brothers and sisters in community; to present some clues for a competent helping relationship (that the communities may be spaces that allow growth); to reflect on attitudes and feelings as animators; to break away from the daily routine and share in fraternity; a time to reflect on being animators (from within).

The task of accompaniment that is carried out involves first of all “preparing my knapsack” to be able to help others, to reconcile “minimally” with oneself, and to accept one’s own reality. It became evident to the group the need to “reinvent” the community because society has changed…

A final question left the group with a big task: “As Marist, are you prepared to receive young people in the communities today?”