FEATURES OF LAY MARIST LIFE

Features of lay Marist life
tegrated in the group. And I remember my first
director’s attitude: total welcome. (Brazil)
My first experience as a Marist was at school.
Earlier I had spent three years at another
religious order school. There was a difference,
but what was it? On reflection of my school days
I can identify two: one, I experienced a greater
sense of community at the Marist school and
secondly, the presence of the Brothers was more
profound. (Australia)
The children of the district started to talk about
the brothers; they said that they were very
happy with them. Their house became theirs.
There they played, the brothers listened to them,
they animated groups, helped them to do their
homework..., sometimes they had to send them
back to their houses. It was the house for all, as
if they were going to their own family. When the
brothers left, they left a great void. Their house
was ours. It was the place of joy, of simplicity, of
welcome, of listening, of fraternity. (Colombia)
Fundamental to the experience of being a part
of the High School family is the indisputable
sense of unconditional support and of total acceptance
that I have found to be unique to our
school community. (United States)
Brothers capable of putting themselves at the
level of their students, to overcome barriers
of age and of interests. Some brothers gave
very little time to themselves; brothers who had
no fear of the foolishness of youth; brothers
who made the school, especially the final years,
into a house where we could enter and leave as
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Extended Bureau of the Laity
though it was our house; where we were at home.
(Spain)
Each order has its own special and specific
charism yet when I began teaching here I
was immediately struck by the wonderful sense
of family and community that underpins this
College. This is evident in the way the staff and
students relate to each other and the way staff,
students and their families work to achieve the
best for each and every boy at the College. This
sense of belonging to a community is quite tangible
and initially this had a definite appeal to me
personally! (Australia)
The future and my desire is that the Marist family
continues to grow, that all of us who work
with the brothers will remember the charism of
Marcellin, that will make it alive and widespread
not only in the schools but also in our environment,
that Jesus and Mary may be always present
in our lives and that those who see us might say:
“See how they love one another” and in seeing
the fraternity that exists amongst us, that they
arouse vocations of brothers and laypeople so
that the Kingdom of God expands, making the
Institute of the Marist Brothers arrive everywhere
in the world, accomplishing the dream of Champagnat:
“One Heart, One Mission”. (Mexico)
That atmosphere, the patience, closeness and
all the other virtues of the Brothers made me
feel at all times a family atmosphere, in work, in
the institution. (Brazil)