GOD´S DREAM FOR THE MARIST BROTHERS OF BRAZIL AND THE SOUTHERN CONE OF AMERICA

If you would like to read the complete version, charts included, use the following link: http://www.champagnat.org/docs/EN31476_Bol076.doc

The General Council continues with its visits to the Brothers and works of the Institute. After the visitations of Africa and Asia, it just finished its visitation to Brazil and the Southern Cone of Latin America. Here we find the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. Following the previous models, the visits were made in three different stages: retreats, visits to the Brothers and Communities and a final meeting in Cochabamba, Bolivia, from the 27th to the 31st of May, with the enlarged General Council, which includes the Provincials and their Councils, District Superiors and one Councilor, and the Superior General and his Council.

MARIST PRESENCE IN BRAZIL AND THE SOUTH CONE OF LATIN AMERICA

a) Three basic points about the seven countries that make up these two Marist regions.

Synoptic table: Country, area, population and Marist foundation year.

b) Administrative Units
At the time of the meeting, the restructuring process was already completed in some Provinces: ?Santa Maria de los Andes? (Bolivia, Chile and Peru), Rio Grande do Sul (former Provinces of Santa Maria and Porto Alegre) with the District of Amazonia, Brazil Centro Sul (former Provinces of Santa Catarina and Sao Paulo). Matto Grosso do Sul is also incorporated in this new Province. Formerly it belonged to the Province of Porto Alegre. Another is soon to begin: Cruz del Sur, which will be made up from the 10th of August of the two Provinces of Argentina: Rio de la Plata (with Uruguay) and Cordoba, and the District of Paraguay. Finally two other Provinces of Brazil are now in the process of restructuring: Brazil Norte and Rio de Janeiro.

Synoptic table: Provinces, Countries, Brothers, Laypersons, Students.

Note.- The above data is of a global in character, except for the number of Brothers. For laypersons working with the Brothers, we mention here only those who have a contractual relationship. There are many more that have a relationship as volunteers or are steeped in Marist spirituality and Marist mission, such as: the members of the Marist fraternities, those who help with pastoral work, fathers and mothers of the students and former students. Speaking about students we can take as an example the Province Rio Grande do Sul, where we have precise data: 16.229 school students, 5.783 students in social work and 30.808 university students

1. – Province of Santa María de los Andes.
Countries Bolivia, Chile y Peru.
Provincial: Pedro Marcos.
Provincial Council: Antonio Peralta y Saturnino Alonso (Bolivia), Mariano Varona e Isidro Ezpeleta (Chili), Pablo González y Barsén García (Peru).
Provincial House: Cochabamba, Bolivia.

2. – Province of Río Grande do Sul.
Country: Brasil.
Provincial: Roque Ari Salet
Provincial Council: Acádio João Heck, Dionísio Roberto Rodriguez, Firmino Caetano Biazus, Gilberto Zimmermann Costa, Lauro Francisco Hochscheidt, Pedro Vilmar Ost y Solimar dos Santos Amaro.
Provincial House: Porto Alegre.

3. – District of Amazonia, it is dependent of the Province of Río Grande do Sul.
Country: Brazil.
Superior: João Gutemberg.
District Council Sebastião Antonio Ferrarini, Carlos Scottá y Normando Baima de Miranda.
District Center House: Porto Velho, Rondônia.

4. – Province of Brazil Centro Sul.
Country: Brazil.
Provincial: Tercílio Sevegnani
Provincial Council: Afonso Levis, Clemente Ivo Juliatto, Dario Bortolini, Delcio Afonso Balestrin, João Carlos de Prado, Luis Adriano Ribeiro, Lino Alfonso Jungbluth y Renato Guisleni.
Provincial House: Curitiba, Paraná.

5. – Province of Brazil Norte.
Country Brazil.
Provincial: José Artur da Cãmara Cardoso.
Provincial Council Inácio Dantas, José Milson de Souza, Pedro Ãngelo, Elizeudo y Barnabé da Silva
Provincial House: Recife, Pernambuco.

6. – Province of Río de Janeiro.
Country: Brazil.
Provincial: Afonso Murad.
Provincial Council: Raimundo Barbosa, José Augusto Alves, Aparecido Camelo, Vanderlei Soela
Provincial House: Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais.

7. – Province of Córdoba.
Country: Argentina.
Provincial: Demetrio Espinosa
Provincial Council: Gerardo Accastello, Carlos Huidobro, Hilario Schwab, Marcelino Buet, Sergio Castanetto, Eduardo Yapura.
Provincial House: Buenos Aires.

8. – Province of Río de la Plata.
Countries: Argentina y Uruguay.
Provincial: Gonzalo Santa Coloma.
Provincial Council: Horacio Magaldi, Agustín Martínez, Alberto Aparicio, Carmelo Maggioni y Juan Ignacio Fuentes.
Provincial House: Buenos Aires.

9. – District of Paraguay, up to now it depended on the Province of Catalonia and, from the month of August, it passes on to the Province of Cruz
Superior: Ángel Medina
District Council: Carlos Iglesias, Isabelino (Tony) Jara, Francisco Montori, Rubén Velázquez y Domingo Jiménez.
District Center House: Asunción.

c) Formation House of Brazil and of the South Cone of America. The data belongs to May 2003.

Synoptic table: Prenovices, Novices and Postnoviciates.

1.- Celebration of retreats
The aim of the retreats was to deepen the call of the 2Oth General Chapter, with special attention to making Jesus the center of our personal and community lives.
The following retreats were held:
– Córdoba, 1st to 8th of August 2002: Luis García Sobrado and Hilario Schwab
– Bolivia, 15th to21st of December of 2002: Pedro Herreros and Santiago Cisneros.
– Peru, 15th to 21st of December of 2002: Seán Sammon and Antonio Peralta
– Brazil Centro Sul, 16th to 22nd of December of 2002: Luis García Sobrado and Teófilo Minga
– Brazil Centro Sul, 26th to 31st of December of 2002: Teófilo Minga and Claudino Falchetto
– Chili, 27th of December to 2nd of January: Luis García Sobrado and Eduardo Navarro
– Río de la Plata, Argentina, 27th of December to 2ndof January: Antonio Ramalho and Antonio Peralta
– Brasil Norte and Río de Janeiro, 3rd to 8th of January: Seán Sammon, Antonio Ramalho and Pedro Herreros
– Paraguay, 4th to 10th of January: Luis García Sobrado and Eduardo Navarro
– Río Grande do Sul, 12th to 18th of January: Luis Garcia Sobrado and Carlos Wielganczuk
– Río Grande do Sul, 19th to 25th of January: Luis Garcia Sobrado
– Workshop Amazonia, 27th to 30th of January: Luis Garcia Sobrado

2. – VISIT OF THE BROTHERS AND ESTABLISHMENTS

Preparation of the visiting teams
From the 10th to the 14th of March those Brothers who were going to be the Superior General?s delegates teaming up with the General Councilors, met with the Superior General in Cochabamba. At this meeting, 15 ? 22 May, the objectives and the dynamics for the visits were agreed on.

Visiting teams
Six visiting teams were made up, five of which were meant for the Administrative Units and the sixth one for house of Formation (novitiates and post-novitiates).
1. – Brothers Emili Turú (General Councilor), Néstor Quiceno (Colombia) and Galo Rivera (Ecuador): Province of Santa María de los Andes.
2. – Brothers Luis García Sobrado (Vicar General), Vítor Preciado (Mexico) and Alberto Ortiz (Angola): Province of Brasil Centro Sul.
3. – Brothers Maurice Berquet (General Councilor), Antonio Leal (Portugal), Raúl Figuera (Spain) and Zeferino Zandonadi (Mozambique): Province of Rio Grande do Sul and the District of the Amazonia.
4. – Brothers Pedro Herreros (General Councilor), Landelino Ortego (Venezuela) and Antonio Rieu (Ivory Coast): Provinces of Córdoba and Rio de la Plata, and the District of Paraguay.
5. – Brothers Théoneste Kalisa (General Councilor), Manuel Villalobos (México) and Genuino Benini (Brazil): Provinces of Brazil Norte and de Rio de Janeiro.
6. – Brothers Antonio Ramalho (General Councilor) and Ernesto Sánchez (México Occidental, secretary general of the Religious Life and Vocational Pastoral Commission): novitiates, post novitiates and pre-novitiates

Final evaluation made by the visiting teams
The members of the different teams met in Cochabamba, under the chairmanship of Brother Seán Sammon from the 23rd to the 26th of May in order to write the synthesis and the conclusions around three points: the most evident strengths, challenges that require attention, and leadership. These conclusions were then given to the enlarged General Council for its study and analysis.

3. – FINAL MEETING IN COCHABAMBA, BOLIVIA
The meeting took place from the 27th to the 31st of May at the Salesian Fathers Don Bosco Retreat House
Participants
– Province of Brazil Norte: José Artur da Cãmara Cardoso, José Milson de Souza, Pedro Ãngelo, Elizeudo Barnabé da Silva and Orlando Cunha Lima
– Province of Rio de Janeiro: Afonso T. Murad, Raimundo Barbosa, José Augusto Alves, Aparecido Camelo and Vanderlei Soela
– Province of Brazil Centro Sul: Tercílio Sevegnani, Afonso Levis, Clemente Ivo Juliatto, Dario Bortolini, Delcio Afonso Balestrin, João Carlos de Prado, Luis Adriano Ribeiro, Lino Alfonso Jungbluth and Renato Guisleni
– Province of Rio Grande do Sul: Roque Ari Salet, Acádio João Heck, Dionísio Roberto Rodriguez, Firmino Caetano Biazus, Gilberto Zimmermann Costa, Lauro Francisco Hochscheidt, Pedro Vilmar Ost and Solimar dos Santos Amaro.
– Province of Córdoba, Argentina: Demetrio Espinosa, Carlos Huidobro, Hilario Schwab, Marcelino Buet and Eduardo Yapura
– Province of Rio de la Plata, Argentina: Gonzalo Santa Coloma, Horacio Magaldi, Agustín Martínez, Alberto Aparicio, Carmelo Maggioni and Juan Ignacio Fuentes
– Province of Santa Maria de los Andes: Pedro Marcos, Saturnino Alonso, Mariano Varona, Isidro Azpeleta and Barsén García.
– District of Paraguay: Ángel Medina and Isabelino (Tony) Jara.
– District of Amazonia: João Gutemberg and Sebastião Antonio Ferrarini.
– Members of the visiting teams: Landelino Ortego, Galo Rivera and Ernesto Sánchez.
– General Counsel: Seán Sammon, Luis G. Sobrado, Emili Turú, Antonio Ramalho, Pedro Herreros, Théoneste Kalisa, Peter Rodney y Maurice Berquet.
– Director of Publications: Lluis Serra.

AGENDA

27th of May, Tuesday:
Morning
– During the Morning Prayer each one placed at the feet of the Good Mother, his own written expectations.
– Brother Seán, Sammon, Superior General, said a few words of welcome and reflection.
(published in the 73 Marist Bulletin.)
– Each participant made a short presentation of himself.

– Brother Luis García Sobrado talked about the objectives of the meeting
1. – The visitations.
According to nº 628 of Canon Law the superiors´ visits are directed towards charity and truth. According to nº 130 of our Constitutions Brother Superior General , by his presence, builds greater union amongst the Brothers of the Institute. And according to nº 165 the quality of Marist and religious life is pursued.

2. – Enlarged General Council.
This kind of meeting aims to promote working as a community of leaders in the Institute. At the same time it is a preparation of the General Conference that will take place in 2005, in order to share with the General Council and to see together the problems that need a special attention and to find solutions for them.
3. – 20. º General Chapter
From the reading of article nº 165 of the Constitutions and nº 39 and nº 46 of the Chapter Document three lines of actions appear: the Provinces of the same region should get together to program some project ?ad gentes?; such Marist Mission projects should have their own structures and facilitate Brothers moving easily in order to develop such ministries.
4.- Restructuring.
Our restructuring process is a paradigm change of structures based on international, multicultural elements

– The week?s dynamic followed three steps: to see, judge and act.
– Personal interchange in small groups directed towards a mutual understanding of the participants.
Afternoon
– The first stage of SEEING is begun.
– The participants get together as Councils in order to analyze the rapports made by each visiting team and directed to the Council of each Administrative Unit.
– After a personal reading, each Council reflected and commented in group the contents of the report.
– The Eucharist, celebrated as in previous days by Fr. Javier Ortiz, a Salesian father in charge of postulants, pre-novices in Cochabamba, finished the day.

28th of May, Wednesday.
Morning
– The SEEING step continued, at this time with the report on formation, presented by Brothers Ramalho and Ernesto Sánchez. Four points were treated in this report: strengths, areas that need a special attention and improvement, areas that cause uneasiness and leadership. The input from the Provincial Councils contributed other practical aspects about the challenges and the strengths.
– The synthesis of the first step SEEING was completed in a plenary session.
Afternoon
– The second sep: TO DISCERN began
– Gathered as Provincial Councils, they tried to discern the dream of God for this Marist area, with the following questions: a) What is our dream? b) What do we have to get rid of? (What price must we pay? c) What must we do? (Actions, obstacle, opportunities, what must we do each one for the others); do we need any external help: on the Latin-American level or from the General Administration?

29th of May, Thursday
Morning
– Each Council presented, in a plenary session and in a climate of prayer and listening, the answers to the questions analyzed the day before. .
– There was an open forum so that people could comment what they felt when they listened to the report made by each group.
Afternoon
– The Brothers were divided in two groups. The first group remained at home in order to advance or finish some pending activities. The second one visited the city and the Marists works that are in it. The itinerary had the following points of interest: the main square where the cathedral is to be found: the Christ of harmony, a giant statue with its arms wide opened to embrace the city as a sign of welcome; the inter-provincial novitiate of the Southern Cone and the Provincial House of Santa Maria de los Andes; and, finally, the High school and College of Our Lady of the Pillar and another Marist school in the neighborhood
– The day ended, after the evening meal, with a family get-together where local songs could be heard. The folklore was varied and beautiful. Brother Seán, as well as the Councilors in charge of the visits, used this occasion to express their thanks for everything that had been done. Everybody present received, in person, a gift that had the Good Mother on one side and on the other a saying in the language of each participant.

30th of May, Friday
The third and final stage began: ACTION
Morning
– The participants met in mixed groups, Brothers coming from different areas and provinces, in order to answer the following question
Which are the lines of action in which Brazil and the Southern Cone could collaborate?
– At the end of the morning the reflections of the teams were put in common. Brothers Emili and Pedro Marcos (Coordinator of the Southern Cone) and with Tercilio Sevegnani (coordinator of the Brazilian region) worked out a synthesis that would be studied in the afternoon.
– Afternoon
– After the Marian Prayer, the participant Brothers met by regions to elaborate lines of action derived from the synthesis that was made.
– In the plenary sessions the results were shared.
– An open forum was held. The participants had the opportunity sharing the signs of vitality found in the Provinces. .
– The day ended with the celebration of the Eucharist.

31st of May, Saturday
– There was only a morning session, since the meeting ended at midday with the Eucharist celebrated by Mon. Tito Solari, Selesian, Archbishop of Cochabamba.
– The lines of action suggested were presented. They are not impositions but interregional orientations that, if the competent Councils agree, could become practical measures for action.

SUGGESTED LINES OF ACTION

MAS
1 ? Help and continuation of the network: formation of animators of the MAS; continue the 6 courses designed already. MAS Latin-American network and Com. Spirituality CG. (CLAP)

FORMATION
2 ? Formation of Formation Leaders. The Prov. of both regions in contact with the Commission for Formation of the CG
3 ?To promote common lines, to share experiences among formation leaders (meetings at each level) The Prov. of both regions and the formation teams, in contact with the Commission on Formation of the GC
4 ?Vocational Work: collaboration and interchange between Brazil and the South Cone. The Prov. of both regions and the team of Pastoral Work in contact with the Com. on Pastoral Work of the GC.
5 ? Formation of local Superiors: based on EAM, and in a systematic way. The Prov. of both regions in contact with the Government Commission of the GC
6 ? Formation for the services of direction and administration (Brothers and laypersons) The Prov. of both regions in contact with the Commission on the Mission of the GC. Provincial commissions.

MISSION
7 ? Study and propose of new models of carrying our apostolic works. Commission on the Mission of the GC in contact with Prov. Of both regions.
8 ? Facilitate the formation and the sharing of Brothers and laypersons committed in social action: not regulated education, social works. Commission on the Mission of the GC in contact with Prov. Of both regions.

LAYPERSONS
9 ? Formation of animators: interchange of experiences, to deepen identity and belonging, Champagnat Movement of the Marist Family. The Prov. of both regions and the regional teams for the formation of laypersons in contact with the Commission on Layperson of the GC:

BRAZIL
– To give urgent continuity to SIMAR and empower the new Inter-provincial Commissions
– Collaboration between Brazil and the South Cone. To participate in valid experiences that are already going on, interchange of Brothers and lay volunteers. ·

SOUTHERN CONE
– Joint structures of initial formation: novitiate and post novitiate.·
– To continue promoting the moving of communities and works with the accompaniment of the GC.
– To invite the other Provinces to share in activities already programmed (meetings, courses, workshops).

– Each participant was given a written questionnaire in order to evaluate the meeting at Cochabamba.
– Brother Seán Sammon closed the meeting with a short speech that will soon be published.

BROTHERS, THERE IS STILL A LOT TO BE DONE
In a centric square of the city of Lima is to be found a monument with a statue of the poet César Vallejo (1872-1939). At his feet there is an engraved sentence which reads ?Brothers, there is still a lot to do?. It seems to be a reminder that Saint Marcellin?s charism meant mainly for children and youth, remains urgent and real.. Once more, the Gospel words: ?The harvest is great, but the workers are few? (Mt 9, 37) are still echoing. The persons that participated in the meetings of Cochabamba, being conscious of their identity and of their mission, have renewed their option for life, a life that goes daily to the classroom or that is out and about looking for educators and catechists.

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