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Marist Education
Origins of Congregation
Towards the end of October 1816, Marcellin Champagnat was called to the bedside of the young John Baptist Montagne who, at the age of 17, was about to die without knowing how to express his knowledge of the God who created him and who was about to invite him to share eternal happiness. In the eyes of this adolescent, Marcellin Champagnat could perceive the distress of thousands of other young people, victims like him of tragic human and spiritual poverty. There were and would be countless other John Baptist Montagnes in the world. On 2 January, 1817, he brought together his first two disciples to begin the work of education which we are still carrying on today.
Partnership In Mission
Lay people bring to Marist partnership their own individual qualities but also the fruits of their personal commitments to gospel values, their professionalism and their experience of "the ordinary circumstances of family and social life". Christian lay people, especially, witness through their personal lives to the possibility of finding in Jesus Christ the ultimate meaning of life. Lay people, often bring new insights into the Marist charism itself, "encouraging a more spiritual interpretation of it and helping draw from it directions for new activities in the apostolate", besides being the main force in our existing ministries.
The partnership which we live out is characterised by equality and co-responsibility, mutual respect, and companionship. It is lived out in different degrees, ranging from those who collaborate in bringing their energies and talents to a particular Marist project, to those who consciously identify themselves as Marist educators, fully committed to the ideals of Marist education and its particular characteristics.
The Young To Whom We Are Sent
For the most part, we are no longer working in a totally Christian context - that is, a Catholic institution within and for a Catholic society. We live out our mission of the Christian education of youth in countries with centuries of experience of Christianity but which are markedly "dechristianised", and in which a "new evangelisation" is to be undertaken. Each of these contexts today is strongly pluralist. Our response, in our projects and works, is one of openness to all. In this, our works can be said to be missionary. We are at the service of all peoples, and of the world, in the name of the Church.
Our starting point in working with youth is, on the one hand, our respect for their conscience and convictions and on the other, a vision of the human person and the world, inspired by Gospel values. We help them to grow in humanity and to give sense to their lives. We lead them to be hopeful. We help them to find ways to play a part in building a more human world.
Thus the work of evangelisation is not restricted to specialists, to catechists or pastoral workers. Every teacher, every educator, every person involved at whatever level in a Marist project, be he or she a convinced Christian or not, has a role to play in this "humanising" dimension of our mission.
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