Second Assembly of the Provincial Volunteer Coordinators Network
The Second Assembly of the Network of Provincial Volunteer Coordinators was held from 17 to 21 April 2023 at Notre Dame de l’Hermitage in France.
The International Network of Provincial Volunteer Coordinators (CPV) of the Marist Institute responds to the need to pool efforts in the field of volunteering by sharing best practices, improving processes and fostering a common language and methodology for both sending and receiving volunteers.
A brief history of the CPV Network
- In 2012, the Secretariat for Collaboration for Mission International (CMI) was created to develop an interprovincial Marist volunteer service.
- The Provincials and District Superiors, in 2014, appointed the first Province Volunteer Coordinators (CPVs), who act as points of reference with the CMI. They coordinate international volunteering for their Province (in some cases volunteering within their own Province as well).
- In January 2016 the NEXUS system was put into operation. This is a management tool for interprovincial volunteering, developed in collaboration with the Marist Province of Brazil Centro-Sul.
- In 2017, the XXII General Chapter challenged the Institute to “journey together as a global family” and to build Marist mission networks.
- In 2018, when the General Administration was drawing up its strategic plan, the General Council approved the establishment of the Volunteers’ Network.
- In 2019, from 25 to 29 November, the first meeting of the CPVs was held, with the launching of the Network of Province Volunteer Coordinators. Its mission is “to work as a network to promote and encourage volunteering in the Marist Institute for the most needy and excluded. In this way, to contribute to the construction of a culture of solidarity in a spirit of global availability”.
Second Assembly of the CPV Network
The Network met for its Second Assembly at the Hermitage from 17 to 21 April 2023. It was attended by the Volunteer Coordinators of the Provinces and Districts, plus representatives of the General Administration, and had as guests the developers of the new NEXUS – Marist Volunteer Management System.
The Assembly was marked by a strong spirit of participation and collaboration in the search for new ways of volunteering. Lapping up the origins and springs of the Institute was certainly inspiring and moved the heart of each of the participants.
In his opening words, Brother Luis Carlos, Vicar General, emphasized: “Each one of us is a participant and collaborator in a greater mission, the mission of God in the world and for the world. Based on this conviction, we feel that the volunteer journey is as human as it is divine, as existential as it is spiritual, as immanent as it is transcendent. Every volunteer brings seeds of hope in his or her life, an existential journey and a spiritual path – there may be strong awareness of this or little or none at all, but it is nevertheless very real. Hence the importance of caring for volunteers, of working on and strengthening their sense of vocation, of opening doors so that those who want their time to be an experience of the Gospel and a spiritual experience can have it happen.”
Br Luis Carlos also highlighted the benefits of acting globally and networking in the field of volunteering:
- We want a prophetic network that is a platform for sharing content, experiences, projects and steps in volunteering.
- We want a fraternal network that helps us build bridges of collaboration between our various Marist, church and social contexts.
- We want an responsive network that encourages us to be connected to world problems related to solidarity, children, ecology, human rights, in order to strengthen awareness and advocacy.
- We want an open network that is a meeting point for local and provincial volunteers to connect with other Marist experiences.
- We want an international network that provides a setting to promote international volunteering.
- We want a stimulating network that activates our imagination, pools our collective knowledge and helps us develop global initiatives.
- We want an active Network that inspires volunteering locally and in the province.
The Assembly began its work with an analysis of the current situation and the impacts of the pandemic on Marist mission and more specifically on volunteering.
The PPCs had the opportunity to undergo training in the use of the new NEXUS system) which is characterized by facilitating the management of Marist volunteers and by being a platform for ideas and a space for sharing best practices.
Another important feature was training in Competences and Skills for Intercultural Living and Global Availability, which aims to “encourage and promote the development of initiatives, programs or training courses that include aspects of global availability, intercultural living and social skills for collaborative work at all levels of the Institute”. The CPVs, besides having a better global understanding of the topic, received suggestions and methodological tools to develop formation processes with volunteers and Host Communities.
The Assembly participants evaluated the priorities set for the Network in 2019, highlighting the progress made as well as the challenges for the future. The 5 Priorities of the Network for the years 2023-2024 were defined:
- Consolidate the Network through strategies of empowerment, communication, organization, and collaboration. This will require: holding regular regional meetings of CPVs; organizing our work as a global network; creating strategies for collaboration with other areas of Marist life and mission.
- Promote global volunteering and encourage Marist communities to host volunteers. To this end: have a plan for promoting volunteering at the network level; motivate and invite Marist communities to become host communities for volunteers; publicize, profile and give visibility to Marist volunteering.
- Provide training opportunities for Marist volunteers: For this purpose: provide information about volunteering for Marist communities; create a training program at global level for volunteers and host communities; prepare volunteers for the challenges of intercultural life.
- Ensure that the Host Communities are suitable to receive volunteers. For this: prepare at least one Host Community per AU; draw up a guide so that the CPVs can accompany the Communities throughout the volunteering cycle.
- Research and suggest possibilities for financing volunteering (create a centralized/ international/ shared fund). To this end, look for possibilities of financing Marist volunteering with: financial support from government agencies; from agencies that send volunteers; from Provinces; and through fundraising schemes.
According to Br Valdicer Fachi, Director of the CMI, “The Assembly was a special moment for seeing opportunities and possibilities for promoting and consolidating volunteering in the Marist Institute. Volunteers are a vital force and an expression of adherence to the Marist charism. Let us hope that in all the AUs there will be space for the promotion, training and accompaniment of volunteers for Marist mission”.
Consecration to Our Lady
On the last day of the Assembly, April 21, the participants went to Lyon and in the Basilica of Fourvière, as the first Marists, on 23 July 1816, made the Consecration to the Virgin of Fouvière, a prayer that is reproduced below.
Mary,
first disciple of the Lord,
we thank you for the Network of Volunteer Coordinators. We thank you for the service and generosity of so many volunteers, Brothers and Laity. Here, in your presence, we renew our commitment to act as a network, as servant leaders in building the Global Charismatic Family.
Thank you for the Marist family,
now spread throughout the earth,
heir to the dream of St. Marcellin Champagnat
and which desires to place itself at the service
of those who live
in situations of greater vulnerability, in frontier situations.
Aware that
You always do everything among us,
we thank you for so many generations
of Brothers and Lay people who, on the five continents,
gave their lives
in the evangelization and education of children and young people.
We trust and entrust into your hands, our Good Mother,
all the volunteers and missionaries of today and tomorrow (speak the names of specific people).
We offer to you every gesture of kindness, service and care for one another in building a better world and an active citizenship.
On this day, as we come to the end of our Assembly,
we entrust and consecrate ourselves to you,
good Mother of Fourvière,
pilgrim of faith,
so that, with audacity and generosity,
we may be signs of your tenderness and mercy
among the children and young people of today,
and faithful to our mission
to make Jesus Christ known and loved.
Amen.
