The morning meeting of the World Council of the Marianist Family consisted of reports from the four branches: Alliance Mariale, Marianist Lay Communities, Society of Mary, and Daughters of Mary. After the intense discussions of yesterday afternoon, it was good to catch up on family news. We shared the gifts of the past year, as well as the challenges that we face. Aging communities in our older foundations are struggling to support the growing numbers of members and communities in developing countries. We discussed how to collaborate in present projects and future visions, especially in the area of formation documents and initiatives. Communicating news among our branches has grown in past years, but it can be improved by the simple process of sharing and expanding our email directories. This will ensure that resources such as the Friday Magnificat and branch newsletters receive a wider distribution.

“Pranzo”, the mid-day meal, was a special feast today. We celebrated the birthday of Rajesh, one of our seminarians. Members of the Council begged for a siesta after the long dinner, so our meeting began a half hour later. We had a full agenda but – miracle of miracles – we still managed to complete it!

An exciting initiative was put forward by Fr. André Fétis (Assistant for Religious Life) for the upcoming 250^th Birthday of Blessed Chaminade in 2011. The proposal is to prepare a 13 month calendar (January 2011 – January 2012). Each month will have a specific theme relating to the life of Blessed Chaminade and the Marianist Family. Resources for community celebrations and reflections will be provided by different branches each month and posted online at www.marianist.org. It will be done in the spirit of a true jubilee year for the Marianist Family.

Tomorrow we will be finalizing our Objectives for 2009-2013, and writing the Christmas Message and Meeting Report. Now, as promised, here is a photo from our Indian cultural mass yesterday with our seminarians.

Cioa!

Celebrating Mass with our Indian Seminarians

We had a full table for the first day of the World Council meetings. Several new members were present including our new MLC team and Christiane Barbeux, the new Director of the Alliance Mariale. We began by sharing stories of our personal Marianist journeys, and what the Marianist Family and Council means to us. Common threads wove through our stories even with the diversity of age and geographical location – especially the strong family spirit experienced in the Marianist charism.

We reviewed the Who We Are as the World Council, as well as the Objectives for 2005-2008. It is time to formulate the World Council Objectives for 2009-2013. We will be listening carefully to the “signs of the times” in our discussions. This will help us discern our goals for the next three years.

Bro. Ed Violett, SM, Assistant for Temporalities, is leaving for San Antonio tomorrow so the Finance discussion took place today. Never an easy topic! All branches are experiencing difficulties from the global financial crisis of the past year. Our MLC branch is still struggling to meet the annual expenses of the international team as well as Family Council obligations. There is a consensus that we must discern carefully our expenditures as a Council.

After the meeting, we attended an Indian cultural Mass with our Seminarians. I hope to have a photo for you tomorrow. (I forgot my camera, but Domingo and Susan have photos.)

Again, I thank you for all the uplifting and inspiring emails and messages. They are keeping this tired woman energized!

Our Marianist “Three Offices” of Temporalities, Religious Life and Education are a wonderful organizational tool for a leadership team. The Society of Mary and the Daughters of Mary elect their leadership members to a specific Office. This ensures that qualified persons assume each role so the proper balance of skills for specific tasks may be maintained. Our international team is chosen by geographical region. When a team meets for the first time, we need time to recognize the gifts that each member brings. We can only hope and pray that there will be a good diversity of talents to work with.

Team at work

After a full day of meetings, it is clear that our present team is blessed with many talents that are needed to address the issues and challenges of the next four years. Ernest, a teacher by profession, is passionate about Marianist formation. Isabel’s back-ground in business administration was put to use today. She formulated a process to identify the main goals/vision for our next four years and how to plan a strategy to achieve them. Susan’s deep experience with social justice programs is an invaluable resource for us. Félix is modeling true Marianist collaboration and leadership by forming working teams in Europe to help him with his tasks as Regional Responsible.

We are planning to divide our team of six members into the “Three Offices” to provide a better focus to our work. It is a model that is faithful to our Marianist heritage. It is a model that works. We are in the middle of the process, but all the pieces seem to be falling into place. Stay tuned…..

Tomorrow we begin our meetings with the World Council of the Marianist Family. Thank you to all who have been sending greetings and prayers across the miles. We appreciate your support, and know that the prayers are working!

This morning we received a warm welcome at the Pontifical Council for the Laity. We met for one hour with Msgr. Miguel Delgado Galindo. He was interested in hearing about the reality within each of our Regions, and reminded us of the importance of balancing solid lay formation with social justice work. It is in our personal encounter with Jesus Christ that we find the truth of our lay vocation. We are called to sanctify the world by living our Christian faith in all aspects of our life, in the Church and in the world. His words affirmed the vision and challenges of our new document.

We ended our visit by greeting our old friend, Prof. Guzman Carriquiry. It was an opportunity to thank him for his help and support of our meeting in Nairobi.