“The ministry of loving
service to each other in community is a primary apostolate. The
Marist community is a place of sharing. The common life grows from
searching the Scriptures and participating in the mystery of the
Eucharist. By its fraternal life the Marist community is a place for
continuous renewal and conversion. It can thus provide a sign of
what the Church is called to be in the world.”
Constitutions #127.
Marist
Mission Bulletin
This bulletin has been created to
coordinate ideas, sharing resources and communication in the area of
our Marist Mission. Thank you for your continued feedback. This
issue continues on the 2nd policy line , Social
Ministries , of the Third Circle entitled Mission of Fr. Jan’s
Circular Letter: With A More Lively Confidence.
News
Four Marist Superiors General
sent a joint letter in December 2007 to the members of their
congregations, entitled: Marist Life and Mission, Gifts of the
Spirit for Our Time. They invite us to reflect on mission
together. “As we, members of the four Marist religious
branches, continue to prepare for our Chapters, let us foster a true
spirit of collaboration among us that will nurture the ongoing life
and mission of the whole Marist Family. We encourage the members of
each of our congregations to enter into serious discussion with
other members of our Marist Family and read together the signs of
our times. Can we, with open minds and generosity of spirit listen
to the cries of our world and respond together?
As
we work together to build another century of Marist life and
mission, let us create strong bonds with those laywomen and men who,
inspired by the Marist charism long to share our common spirituality
and mission. With them, let us strive to bring to birth the Marian
Church. Let us pray too that God will give us the same generosity
of heart that he gave to Jean-Claude Colin, Jeanne-Marie Chavoin,
Marcellin Champagnat and Francoise Perroton and the other pioneers.”
If you haven’t received this letter,
or read it, check
www.maristsinternational.org
New
International English speaking novitiate:
The GA has announced that the new International
English speaking novitiate will be in Davao, Philippines, opening
its doors on April 1st, 2009. This decision will have
mission and missionary consequences and at different levels, and not
just the obvious challenge of First World novices living in a
developing country.
Ten
bishops of Oceania (including
Archbishops Adrian Smith and Michel Calvet) were in Rome 11- 17th
of February for meetings with the Vatican on follow-up of the
Oceania Synod of 1998. Part of the context of their visit was to
deepen the insights of the solid Document Eccelsia in Oceania
and its important section on mission. Pope John Paul II said: “The
Synod left no doubt that the Church, the communion of believers, is
now a vibrant reality among many people in Oceania”. The
document underlines that the Churches of Oceania have reached
maturity. “Local churches, founded by missionaries, are in turn
sending out missionaries, and that is an unmistakable sign of
maturity."
Fr. John Hannan, the first provincial of Europe:
One of his major tasks will be to focus the attention and the
activities of the European confreres upon the big missionary
challenges that present day Europe represents. Important
orientations for the new province are offered in the ‘Declaration on
the Mission of Marist in Europe’ with three Appendices. (Aspects of
present day Europe, our answer as Marists, concrete suggestions.)
Notre Dame Refugee Centre
of our Notre Dame de France parish in London, England sent us an
update. They are receiving an average of 65 people on the days the
drop-in centre is open, and amongst those, an average of 6 clients
are new to the centre. Their clients continue to be primarily
refugees from Sub-Saharan Africa who speak French as a 1st
and 2nd language. The Centre continues to provide
professional, up-to-date and personalized advice on health, welfare
and housing matters and they strive to provide a warm and welcoming
environment for all the people who use the centre.
The two USA provinces
continue in their meetings, discerning and
discussing on their pending merger which is due to happen in early
July. All these meetings for reconfiguration as in Europe, is to
give more emphasis on our common Marist life and mission.
St. Patrick’s parish, Sydney
has up-dated its web site:
www.stpatschurchhill.org. The parish continues in the shrine
tradition of the Society of Mary, and offers many opportunities for
Eucharist & Reconciliation (10 hours on Sunday, 8 hours during week
days. The pastoral team also offers a wonderful outreach program to
young adults, an often overlooked population in our parishes.
Resources
1. La Croix has published a most
interesting dossier on the future of Christianity in the Western
world: “Quel avenir pour le christianisme?’ (Bayard Presse 2008) 114
pages. The editorial has the title: ‘Evangile a de l 'avenir.’
2. Mirada Global (Jesuits of Latin
America): in English and Spanish.
Articles on the Church and events in Latin America in two
languages.
www.miradaglobal.com
3. What is H20news? It is a
Catholic news service (based in Rome) on a worldwide scale that
creates and distributes multimedia news, every day in 8 languages.
www.h2onews.org
4. Pope’s World Peace Day message: (www.vatican.com
) in 9 languages. This year
marks the 40th anniversary of the celebration of the
first World Day of Peace, 1968. Pope Benedict remarks: “Born of
a providential intuition of Pope Paul VI and carried forward with
great conviction by my beloved and venerable predecessor Pope John
Paul II, the celebration of this Day of Peace has made it possible
for the Church, over the course of the years, to present in these
Messages an instructive body of teaching regarding this fundamental
human good. In the light of these significant anniversaries, I
invite every man and woman to have a more lively sense of belonging
to the one human family, and to strive to make human coexistence
increasingly reflect this conviction, which is essential for the
establishment of true and lasting peace. I likewise invite believers
to implore tirelessly from God the great gift of peace.”
5. Climate Change: The Challenge to All
of Us
by Sean McDonagh (Dublin: Colomba Press, 2006)
200 pages, costs €12. Superb reference book on the topic. The last
chapter deals with the responses of the Churches until now.
We have a special treat later in this Bulletin to interview Fr.
Damien Diouf SM, the new Major Superior of the African district. He
is the first ordained Senegalese in the Society of Mary, and the
first African Major Superior.
In late October 2007, I was asked to preach the annual retreat for
our Marists in the Philippines, which was a joy. Afterwards I
traveled out of the city of Davao with Fr. Aliki Langi (Tongan) to
Cotabato city, the center of government for the Muslims in the
large southern Philippine island of Mindanao. We then continued
to the mountain mission station in Timanan, where Fr. Aliki is
pastor to the indigenous peoples, (and the Muslims in some ways!),
and the Catholics. Archbishop Orlando Quevedo omi
(executive secretary of the Federation of Asian Bishops’
Conference) is very fond of the Marists and told the people gathered
at an opening prayer service when the Marists were given the
responsibility of an Oblate parish, that the Marists stay close
to the people. This is a challenge to live up to! It is here I
saw closely different programs that Frs. Aliki and Fernando Ingente
(Filipino) and their lay leaders enable among the indigenous peoples
and Muslims: the diocese administers these programs and the Marists
execute them. They give a water buffalo to a group of families and
when that buffalo has a baby, the owners are to give the baby to a
nearby village, and so on. (They also give goats and pigs to poor
families, and ask them to do the same.) The bishop had to intervene
once when instead of giving the buffalo to a nearby village, the
families ate it! Frs. Aliki and Fernando and their lay leaders give
so much hope to some of the poorest people in the world and with so
much love.
In November, our whole Marist general administration attended
international meetings in Sydney, Australia (Sydney is one
of the most beautiful cities and harbor in the world!). This gave me
the opportunity to visit some of the very challenging and
inspirational ministries of Marists in Australia. There is a team
of three Marists living and working among the Aboriginal people:
Frs. Bernie Ryan and Paul Sullivan and Brother Micka Cilicewa. I
also spent a whole morning with Fr. Jim Carty who works at the
House of Welcome, which helps to place new immigrant families
in simple homes and work in Australia. We also concelebrated
Eucharist among some of the detained in a Detention Center, mostly
young Chinese, about 50 of them. My journey continued on to New
Zealand where I also had the opportunity to visit some of the
challenging ministries of our province of New Zealand, especially
among the Maori (indigenous people) and among the young.
Interview: Damien
Diouf SM
Society of Mary
