The Provincial Chapter chooses the new Council

Brother Inácio Etges, new Provincial of the Province of « Rio Grande do Sul », took possession of his responsibilities on Tuesday, 8 December, in the presence of the members of the third Provincial Chapter gathered at « Recanto Medianeira », Veranópolis, Rio Grande do Sul, from 7 to 11 December 2009.

Brother Inácio succeeds Brother Lauro Hochscheidt. About 60 persons took part in the Chapter, including an important group of lay people. Brother Joseph McKee, Vicar General of the Institute, assisted at the ceremony on behalf of Brother Superior General and his Council.

Thanks to a work of dialogue and consensus, the Chapter was able to define the fundamental call of God for the Province: « To follow Jesus Christ, as Mary did, with courage and fidelity, in assuring a significant presence, especially among the poor: children and young people ». Starting with this call for 2010-2012, the principal objective and priorities of the new Provincial Council were defined for the three years.

As a result of the dialogue and group work of these last days, the following six priorities have been settled on for the period:

1. Animate the processes of personal and collective conversions of Brothers and laity.
2. Give depth to community life so that brotherhood, prayer, sharing, communion and pardon become witnesses of consecration.
3. Reinforce Marist apostolic spirituality and the spirit of discipleship of the Brothers and the laity.
4. Prophetic and significant presence first among the poor: children and young people.
5. Animation of vocations as an urgent matter for Brothers and laity.
6. Reformulation and gradual application of the structure of provincial organisation.

The members of the new Provincial Council are Brothers Corrent Arlindo, Gilberto Zimmermann Costa, Francisco Lauro Hochscheidt, Onorino Moresco, Pierre Vilmar Ost and Sandro André Bobrzyk