The vocation of the Marist laity
The international commission for the drafting of the document ?The vocation of the lay Marist? held its fourth and last meeting in Rome from 27 April to 1 May. Its work consisted mainly in revising the 4th draft of the document, which it arrived at after including the contributions received from the administrative units of the Institute on the previous draft.
It also decided on the title of the new document: ?Around the same table?, having an implicit reference to the ?table of La Valla? which, for all Marists (brothers, sisters, laity, priests?), is a symbol of the charism received from God through Marcellin and the first brothers. The subtitle explicitly summarizes the contents of the document: ?The vocation of the Champagnat Marist Laity?.
It is anticipated that the last steps of this document are that it will be presented to the General Council in its plenary sessions in the month of June for it to approve its publication for the whole Institute. We recall that, as I said previously, although the document concerns the lay Marist vocation, it is addressed to brothers as much as lay people.
As soon as the General Council approves it, a digital copy will be sent immediately to all the participants in the XXI General Chapter. The date anticipated is the end of June, so that the capitulants may have convenient time for reading and reflection. At the same time, the Publications Department will set in motion the usual procedures for its printing in the four official languages of the Institute. Given the summer holidays of the northern hemisphere, it is anticipated that the printed document will reach the administrative units at the beginning of December of the current year.
The drafting commission is very satisfied, as much with the work achieved as with the benefit it has meant for each one of us: a greater knowledge of the Institute, contact with many other brothers and lay persons, and a marvelous spiritual experience concerning one?s own Marist vocation.
Once more, after the Secretariate of the Laity, we are grateful for the enthusiastic and expert collaboration of the lay people, Anne Dooley (Melbourne), Annie Girka (L?Hermitage), Bernadette Ropa (Melanesia), Carlos Navajas (America Central), JosĂ© MarĂa PĂ©rez Soba (Iberica), Noel Dabrera (South Asia) and Sergio Schons (Rio Grande do Sul), and of the brothers, Afonso Murad (Brasil Centro-Norte) and RĂ©my Mbolipasiko (Afrique Centre-Est). Thanks, too, to Brothers Juan Miguel Anaya (Postulator General) and Pedro Herreros (General Council) for their valuable technical and pastoral contributions, as well as Br. Antonio MartĂnez EstaĂşn (Director of Communications) for his excellent ideas for the publication of the document. And, finally, a recognition of all the translators who, in the course of these three years, have helped us to transcend the different languages and cultures, to form a family with a single heart and the same spirit.
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Br. Pau Fornells
Secretariate of the Laity