WEBINAR: Marist Educational Mission: In the Footsteps of Marcellin Champagnat

Together to look beyond

Once again, around the feast of Champagnat and as part of the activities of Champagnat Global’s Open Network, the meeting of the international Marist school community took place in online modality: ‘Together to look beyond’, on this occasion with the title: ‘Marist Educational Mission. In the footsteps of Marcellin Champagnat’.

Br. José Sánchez Bravo and Br. Niño Pizarro, directors of the Secretariat of Education and Evangelisation, opened the meeting: “We are delighted that there are people from all over the world”, said Br. Niño, who also said that the aim of the session was to inspire the participants with this document: “It is about learning from each other”.

During the afternoon session, Br José Sánchez Bravo affirmed that “to educate is to transmit life” and explained the seven priorities that emerged at MIMA “which God invites us to emphasise”:

• Quality Marist education.
• Promote and protect the rights of children and young people.
• Nurture Marist spirituality.
• Promote the participation of children and young people through active listening spaces.
• Care for family relationships to nurture the lives of children and young people.
• Care for our common home.
• Care for mental health and well-being.

Br. Ernesto Sanchez, Superior General, explained that the document seeks to “encourage the journey of Marists in mission by looking beyond, on a journey with many challenges, but also with hope” and thanked all those who have contributed to the drafting of the Educational Mission document.

The participants had a few minutes of prayer through a Philippine song that is used to commemorate the feast of Marcellin. It is a song with 15 years of history which, under the title ‘Start Living the Dream’, won an award in the Philippines.

Br. Luis Carlos, Vicar General, explained that this document “has been renewed and updated”. “We have gone through an intense process of reflection, drafting and validation”, he said.

It is an updated document, “25 years have passed since the first one and we felt that it was time to update it because there has been a lot of progress during these years” – the vicar explained – “We decided to update it because we considered that it was important to maintain the essence of the other one”.

The text was constructed, contemplating the present. It is a living document for us that pushes us into the future, that helps us to visualise what we want as Marists of Champagnat.

In the footsteps of Marcellin Champagnat,
Marists in mission, in the Church and in the world,
present among children and young people, especially the most neglected,
we are sowers of the Good News,
with a particular Marist style,
in our educational works.

It empowers us in our Marist way of mission, it is a horizon and a task for Marist spirituality, pastoral education and option for those most in need. The document in turn is re-organised. It is a document that updates the educational, evangelising and solidarity perspectives of the mission. It is a document for action, to help us to organise different days. Br. Luis Carlos concluded with an invitation to read, to deepen and to act.

Afterwards, the participants watched a video which summarised the different chapters of the document:

Br. Ben Consigli, General Councillor, began with a word of thanks: “each one has his mission as an educator”. “We all carry out the mission of Marcellin, we have a distinctive Marist style that unites us. As Marists we have to evangelise. This new edition serves as a valuable resource for Marists in a number of ways. It is a book that deepens Champagnat’s educational principles,” he said.

In addition, Br. Ben mentioned the document Stand Up, Speak Out and Act, which gives us strategies and calls us all to encourage the participation of young people in the Marist mission. It gives us guidance and tells us how to support the spiritual growth of our students.

The directors of the Secretariat for Education and Evangelisation ended the session with a word of thanks and invited all the participants to reflect on the points we had explored in depth in the webinar.

We warmly thank the more than 900 people who registered for the event and the 430 who had the opportunity to participate.

If for some reason you were unable to attend or would like to watch it recorded, you can follow it on Youtube.

If you are looking to interact on interesting topics with other members of the international Marist school community, we are waiting for you on the AGORÁ platform!