The Meeting of the Coordinators of Marist Youth Ministry and Evangelization

The 19th of July 2022 witnessed a historic gathering via zoom of the Coordinators of Marist Youth Ministry and Evangelization from all the provinces and districts of the Institute.

Organized by the Secretariat for Education and Evangelization, the gathering was divided into two sessions: the morning session for participants from Africa, Asia, and Oceania while the afternoon session of the same day for participants from America Sur, Arco Norte, and Europe.

This gathering aimed at continuing the sharing on the building of the global network of Marist Youth Ministry centered on three key questions:

• What are your expectations and feelings regarding a Global Network of MYM?
• How do you imagine belonging to a Global Network of MYM could help/support your ministry?
• How do you think the Global Network of MYM should work? for who?

The expectations and feeling from the two sessions showed that coordinators are Excited and would hope that it provides a space for building bridges and connections between young people and between the coordinators, it will help to build the global family and supports openness to diversity, an opportunities to expose this important area and to migrate from the local to the global, and  it will create enthusiasm with the possibility of creating new horizons; building new paths and  knowing how MYM is done in other places.

Belonging to this type of network will help the institute in many ways they said, for example, a connection to something bigger, a wider vision providing motivation and encouragement, it will encourage the Sharing of resources, programs and personnel and a place for young people and coordinators to gather.

Apart from the above, i twill offer a platform for sharing Marists best practices, an opportunity to bring to the fore what MYM is all about and to show that MYM is an enriching experience and to have input and sharing from other regions will only make the experience richer, it will help to develop  a Marist online MYM training course which offers a Certificate in MYM as this would aim to empower the coordinators with the course  focusing on the principles of MYM rather than the content.

For the young people themselves, it will offer them the possibility of belonging to a broad, global Marist community, to enrich their growth processes wherever they are (e.g., for young people who migrate). Sharing resources and experiences, with autonomy based on contacts with other pastoral coordinators (self-convening beyond waiting only for general meetings).

 On the question of the workings of the network and to who it should be addressed to, the general opinion of the coordinators is that it should aim at both young people and coordinators, probably separate areas as it would give a voice to young people.

It was clearly mentioned that while online platform is very helpful, participants may need to look at other ways of participation since connectivity in some places could be difficult and maybe the other networks, such as Champagnat Global, need to be interconnected with this new Network so that synergies can be built.

The gathering also shared information on the International Gathering of Marist Youth in Lisbon 2023 with the theme “INTO THE DEEP”