Today's Marists Volume 5, Issue 1 Spring 2019
Today’s Spring 2019 Volume 5 | Issue 1 Marists Society of Mary in the U.S.
- Page 2 and 3: Today’s Marists Spring 2019 | Vol
- Page 4 and 5: Contemplation Meeting Action in Dis
- Page 6 and 7: Nurturing Life in All Its Forms by
- Page 8 and 9: Servant Leadership and Marist Value
- Page 10 and 11: Oceania - Some Impacts of the‘Ant
- Page 12 and 13: Preparing for a Life of Compassion
- Page 14 and 15: Pastoral Experience, continued from
- Page 16 and 17: MOVIE REVIEW “Of One Heart and On
- Page 18 and 19: The 150th Anniversary of St. Louis
- Page 20 and 21: Being Marist: One School’s Vision
- Page 22 and 23: Society of Mary School Sponsorship
- Page 24: Society of Mary in the U.S. 815 Var
Today’s<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />
<strong>Volume</strong> 5 | <strong>Issue</strong> 1<br />
<strong>Marists</strong><br />
Society of Mary in the U.S.
Today’s<br />
<strong>Marists</strong><br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2019</strong> | <strong>Volume</strong> 5 | <strong>Issue</strong> 1<br />
Publisher<br />
Editor<br />
Editorial Assistants<br />
Archivist<br />
Editorial Board<br />
Paul Frechette, SM, Provincial<br />
Ted Keating, SM<br />
Elizabeth F. Avila<br />
Philip Gage, SM<br />
Randy Hoover, SM<br />
Susan Plews, SSND<br />
Susan Illis<br />
Ted Keating, SM, Editor<br />
Paul Carr, Director of Development<br />
Thomas Ellerman, SM<br />
Joseph Hindelang, SM<br />
Randy Hoover, SM<br />
Bishop Joel Konzen, SM<br />
Jack Ridout, Director of Vocations<br />
Bill Rowland, SM<br />
Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> is published three times a year by The Marist<br />
Fathers and Brothers of the United States Province. The contents<br />
of this magazine consist of copyrightable material and cannot<br />
be reproduced without the expressed written permission of<br />
the authors and publisher. We wish to provide a public forum<br />
for ideas and opinion. Letters may be sent to:<br />
todaysmarists@maristsociety.org<br />
Editorial Office<br />
Editor: 202-529-2821<br />
Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine<br />
Society of Mary in the U.S. (The <strong>Marists</strong>)<br />
Editorial Office<br />
815 Varnum St, NE<br />
Washington, DC 20017<br />
tel. 202-529-2821<br />
fax 202-635-4627<br />
todaysmarists@maristsociety.org<br />
www.societyofmaryusa.org<br />
Marist Provincial House<br />
815 Varnum Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017<br />
Marist Center<br />
4408 8th Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-2298<br />
Marist Center of the West<br />
625 Pine Street, San Francisco, CA 94108-3210<br />
Distributed freely by request to churches, schools and other<br />
organizations. Home delivery is available by free subscription.<br />
Contact our Editorial Office. Our website offers additional<br />
information of interest to friends of the <strong>Marists</strong>. It is refreshed<br />
regularly.<br />
In this issue...<br />
3 from the Provincial<br />
by Paul Frechette, SM<br />
4 Contemplation Meeting Action in Discernment<br />
by Ted Keating, SM<br />
5 Book Corner<br />
6 Nurturing Life in All Its Forms<br />
by John Larsen, SM<br />
7 The Marist in Solitude<br />
by Tom Ellerman, SM<br />
8 Servant Leadership and Marist Values<br />
by Mary Ghisolfo<br />
9 News Brief<br />
10 Oceania More than ‘Climate Change’<br />
by Ben McKenna, SM<br />
Society of Mary of the USA<br />
12 Preparing for a Life of Compassion and Mercy:<br />
Introduction<br />
by Tony Kennedy, SM<br />
13 Licentiate Program in Ecumenism<br />
by Floyd Gatana, SM<br />
13 Pastoral Experience in Ranong, Thailand<br />
by Gabriel Mukong, SM<br />
14 Final Profession and Diaconate<br />
by Josefo Amuri, SM<br />
15 Marist Vocational Discernment in Today’s World<br />
by Jack Ridout<br />
16 Movie Review: Of Gods and Men<br />
by Brian Cummings, SM<br />
18 The 150th Anniversary of St. Louis King of France<br />
by Ted Keating, SM<br />
19 Marist Lives: Rev. Arthur Duhamel, SM<br />
by Susan J. Illis<br />
20 One School’s Vision of “the Greatest Work”<br />
by Kevin Mullally<br />
21 A New Model of Vocation Accompaniment in<br />
the US Province<br />
by Ted Keating, SM<br />
22 Society of Mary School Sponsorship in the USA<br />
by Joseph Hindelang, SM<br />
23 Donor Thoughts: Why I Support the <strong>Marists</strong><br />
by Nedom Haley<br />
© <strong>2019</strong> by Society of Mary in the U.S. All rights reserved.<br />
Printed on partially-recycled stock with a vegetable-based ink mixture.<br />
Design: Beth Ponticello | CEDC | www.cedc.org<br />
2 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
from the Provincial<br />
Fr. Paul Frechette, SM<br />
Annual Meeting of Marist Family Provincials<br />
The provincials of the four branches<br />
of the Marist Family (Marist Brothers,<br />
Marist Sisters, Missionary Sisters of the<br />
Society of Mary, Marist Fathers and<br />
Brothers) met in Washington, DC from<br />
April 30-May 1, <strong>2019</strong> at the Provincial<br />
headquarters of the Marist Fathers and<br />
Brothers for our annual meeting. We<br />
shared ways of how to continue to build<br />
bridges between our Marist Family here<br />
in the USA. One example of this is our<br />
annual joint Marist Vocation directors’<br />
presentation to the students at Marist<br />
School in Atlanta, Georgia which occurs<br />
for one week every January. As always in<br />
our dialogue, we shared the successes<br />
and challenges that we face in each of<br />
our branches. New religious vocations to<br />
our way of life is always a challenge. In<br />
discussing these challenges our focus is<br />
always centered on the original dream<br />
of our founders to make ‘the whole world<br />
Marist.’<br />
The original dream in the 1800s for the<br />
Marist Family aimed at the formation<br />
of one religious congregation (both men<br />
and women under the leadership of one<br />
superior general) and a lay branch. That<br />
dream, however, was unrealizable. Today<br />
the Marist Family refers to four separate<br />
religious congregations as well as the laity<br />
branch. Each branch has its own founder<br />
“whose personality and temperament<br />
shaped and colored the original insight.”<br />
(Craig Larkin, A Certain Way)<br />
Cover Explanation<br />
Lord our God, the whole world tells the greatness of your name,<br />
Your Glory reaches beyond the stars<br />
I see Your handiwork in the heavens;<br />
the moon and the stars you set in place.<br />
What is humankind that You remember them,<br />
the human race that You care for them.<br />
You treat them like gods dressing them in glory and splendor<br />
You give them charge of the earth, laying all at their feet.<br />
(Ps. 8:2, 4-7)<br />
Marist Brothers (FMS)<br />
The Marist Brothers were founded in<br />
1817 by a young French Marist Father,<br />
Saint Marcellin Champagnat, in<br />
response to the spiritual, educational,<br />
and physical needs of the young and<br />
poor. Champagnat’s energy and spirit<br />
is present everywhere throughout the<br />
congregation’s dedication to preparing<br />
men to educate the young and exemplify<br />
in their lives the love of Jesus through<br />
Mary.<br />
Marist Sisters (SM)<br />
Establishing the Marist Sisters came<br />
about from the strength, humility,<br />
insight, and zeal of Jeanne-Marie<br />
Chavoin. She along with two others<br />
began the first community of Marist<br />
Sisters in 1823. This congregation of<br />
religious women is characterized “by<br />
the desire to make the mystery of Mary<br />
in the church the daily inspiration of its<br />
life and action, not by any special work<br />
nor by the promotion of any particular<br />
form of Marian devotion.” (Marist Sisters’<br />
Constitutions)<br />
Missionary Sisters of the Society of<br />
Mary (SMSM)<br />
The beginnings of the Missionary Sisters<br />
of the Society of Mary can be traced<br />
back to Marie Françoise Perroton along<br />
with ten other female pioneers who left<br />
France from 1845 to 1860 to respond<br />
to the request from the missions of<br />
Our cover presents a young person deep in discernment over where the boundless creation calls in<br />
the stark and awesome magnificence of what it means to be human.<br />
Oceania to “send us some devout women<br />
to teach the women.” The SMSM were<br />
approved as a religious congregation in<br />
1931. Despite the challenges they face,<br />
the Missionary Sisters “wish to respond<br />
to the calls of today with the daring and<br />
zeal of the pioneers. We want to keep<br />
alive this daring – simple, joyful, and<br />
prudent – based solely on the love and<br />
power of God in order to announce the<br />
Gospel in its force and integrity, learning<br />
to adapt ourselves to different cultures<br />
and conditions of life.” (Missionary<br />
Sisters’ Constitutions)<br />
Marist Fathers and Brothers (SM)<br />
The Society of Mary (Fathers and<br />
Brothers) was founded in 1836 by Fr.<br />
Jean-Claude Colin. The priests and<br />
brothers of this international religious<br />
congregation vow to live the spirit of<br />
Mary and serve the Church and world<br />
under her name. As Colin said, “Mary<br />
supported the Church as it came to birth;<br />
she will do so again at the end of time.”<br />
Marist Laity<br />
The lay branch of the Marist Family<br />
was canonically established in 1850 as<br />
the Third Order of Mary and has since<br />
developed into a variety of Marist lay<br />
groups, formal and informal, around the<br />
world. Together with consecrated Marist<br />
religious, the Marist laity work together<br />
to express the Marist spirit and mission<br />
of the Marian Church first envisioned by<br />
Fr. Colin.<br />
At our next annual meeting we hope to<br />
continue our Marist Family dialogue<br />
about the challenges we face in order to<br />
continue to share our Marist founders’<br />
dream of living the spirit of Mary in<br />
our communities, manifesting the one<br />
concern to think, judge, feel, and act in<br />
every way as Mary would.<br />
History Source:<br />
www.maristsm.org/en/marist-family.aspx<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2019</strong> 3
Contemplation Meeting<br />
Action in Discernment<br />
by Ted Keating, SM<br />
The theme of the past year’s Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> threaded and<br />
woven through several articles has been “the Marist Way,<br />
a Contemplative Way.” This theme emerged out of deep<br />
concerns from the 2017 Society of Mary General Chapter (an<br />
international meeting of the <strong>Marists</strong> that convenes every<br />
eight years) to deepen the contemplative dimension of our<br />
lives. It became even more relevant with the publication of<br />
Jean-Claude Colin: Reluctant Founder by Justin Taylor, SM,<br />
an exhaustively researched biography of our Founder. One of<br />
the book’s key areas of exploration is the spirituality of Father<br />
Colin − his principal spiritual influences, how he responded to<br />
them in his own life, and what he asked from <strong>Marists</strong> by way<br />
of a life of prayer and conversion as a foundation for and an<br />
exercise of mission and pastoral ministry. In this year’s Today’s<br />
<strong>Marists</strong> we will focus on the theme of discernment described<br />
by Thomas Green, SJ, in his classic on the topic, Weeds Among<br />
the Wheat (Ave Maria Press, 1984) as “the meeting point of<br />
prayer and action.” The title of Green’s book comes from<br />
the Gospel parable, as you will no doubt recognize, of the<br />
farmhand who asks the farmer what to do when he discovers<br />
that someone has sown destructive weeds abundantly in the<br />
field of good wheat. (Matthew 13:24)<br />
Before we move on to that theme, however, we have to note<br />
that it is not clear that Jean-Claude Colin actually used the<br />
word “contemplative” to describe his prayer and spirituality.<br />
But, now in recent decades of intense studies of two famous<br />
American Trappist authors, Thomas Merton, OCSO, and<br />
Thomas Keating, OCSO, we find many close connections<br />
between Colin’s way of seeing prayer and spirituality and<br />
the current use of the word “contemplation.” For example,<br />
contemporary Jesuits describe themselves these days as<br />
contemplatives in action, based on years of multiple new<br />
studies about the spirituality of their own founder, St. Ignatius<br />
of Loyola. Several of the approaches in this past year’s issues of<br />
Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> have similarly presented this spiritual reality as<br />
the “Marist Way, a Contemplative Way,” to follow the wording<br />
of Michael Whelan, SM, a Marist theologian from Australia.<br />
The General Chapter of 2017 placed deep prayer in this<br />
contemplative sense at the heart of mission for <strong>Marists</strong> The<br />
Catholic understanding of mission flows out of the Mission of<br />
God among us, especially the Missioning of Jesus, which refers<br />
to His being sent by the Father, as Jesus mentions frequently<br />
in the Gospels. This Mission of Jesus is none other than the<br />
mystery of the Incarnation, Jesus among us as both God<br />
and Human. Jesus, in turn, tells us that “he will not leave us<br />
orphans but will send us the Spirit” whose own Mission is to<br />
remind us of all that Jesus taught. Therefore, Mission is first<br />
the action of God among us, and our mission is only authentic<br />
when it is exercised in the God “in whom we live and move and<br />
have our being.” (Acts 17:28) It begins and ends as the grace<br />
of God. We can live out our ministry only as it comes from<br />
the grace of God in the light of the mystery of God. Prayer,<br />
contemplation, and dwelling in the mystery of God must<br />
somehow pour out into our ministries if they are not to become<br />
secularized activities of “good works” rather than the work of<br />
God among us in grace. Ideally, contemplation, mission, and<br />
ministry are one.<br />
Discernment is what unites all this. The world of mystery, faith,<br />
and prayer has to “hit the ground” in action. Decisions must<br />
be made using the best techniques involved in discernment.<br />
Our human decision-making faculties, however, have to be<br />
forged, tempered, and shaped by faith in the will of God for<br />
the world, ‘not just by our own best strategic analysis’ using<br />
only secular methods of decision-making. When ‘prayer meets<br />
action’, transformation of even the best secular decisionmaking<br />
methods help to shape our lives of prayer into actions<br />
that will deepen our contemplative Marist Way, whether we<br />
be vowed or lay <strong>Marists</strong>. We have to leave space for the Spirit<br />
in our understanding and practice of mission in a manner<br />
4 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
that infuses our decisions with the gifts and fruits of the Spirit<br />
as we “become Mary” for the Church and the world. Without<br />
Spirit’s prompting, we can gradually grow unconsciously<br />
“secularized” in our efforts to serve the Church. Therefore,<br />
discernment is inseparable from contemplation. It is where<br />
and how our contemplation truly becomes “the energy source,<br />
the mystical heart of Marist mission” as the General Chapter<br />
expresses it. (2017 General Chapter, 30) This is how the clarity<br />
of Colin’s vision of “thinking, judging, feeling, and acting as<br />
Mary” becomes a reality in our spiritual lives as well as in our<br />
everyday life and ministry, as individuals and as a group. As<br />
Mary, we too become more like “icons” of the Holy Spirit. We<br />
bring Mary as the Icon of the Spirit into the world through our<br />
pursuit of contemplation.<br />
The great gift St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits have<br />
given to the Church is this “gracious” work referred to as<br />
discernment. It is the principal focus of the book St. Ignatius<br />
wrote, Spiritual Exercises, a classic in Western spirituality. It is<br />
rooted deeply in the imagination, which was rather new at the<br />
time. The aim is to search in our hearts through prayer and in<br />
the midst of desires, consolations, and desolations, for clarity<br />
about where God is calling us (drawing us by desire), while<br />
also helping us to become conscious of the false desires that<br />
tend to lead us away from God.<br />
The very title of Thomas Green’s classic on discernment, Weeds<br />
Among the Wheat, (a book designed to be read and discussed<br />
with others in small groups) shows how challenging the work<br />
of sifting the “wheat and weeds” of inner experience can be,<br />
because false and destructive desires are often mixed together<br />
with our greatest hopes for purity. This sifting can only be<br />
done effectively when others are ready to help “keep us clear.”<br />
It involves a boundless humility in our path to God of which<br />
Ignatius himself spoke so frequently. Thus, we hope that you<br />
will appreciate this year’s theme of discernment as the natural<br />
next step flowing out of a life of contemplation moving into<br />
action and service to our world.<br />
Let me leave you with an excellent analogy used by Thomas<br />
Green, SJ, that helps us understand how loving knowledge<br />
shapes our way of making decisions even when we may not<br />
know we are doing so. Discernment may be much more<br />
common in our lives of love than we realize. Green imagines a<br />
woman married for fifty years to her husband. She is shopping<br />
for a necktie for his birthday. She looks at the neckwear<br />
selection in the men’s store and immediately dismisses whole<br />
racks of ties as not being what she is looking for. She zeroes in<br />
on another rack and perceives that these might provide the gift<br />
she wants. Finally, she spots the perfect tie for her husband.<br />
She has lived with him lovingly for fifty years and knows<br />
exactly what he likes. She goes home confident that he will love<br />
the tie she has chosen. Similarly, knowledge flowing from our<br />
love of God over many years gradually helps us to love what He<br />
loves and helps us know how to make choices based on that<br />
long relationship.<br />
You will probably also enjoy reading in this issue the movie<br />
review Brian Cummings, SM writes of the film Of Gods and<br />
Men. It helps concretize how “knowledge born of love” shows<br />
itself in action in community.<br />
BOOK<br />
CORNER<br />
by Ted Keating, SM<br />
As this issue of Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> was<br />
being assembled, the news reported<br />
the death of Jean Vanier on May 7,<br />
<strong>2019</strong> in Paris at the age of 90. He<br />
was one of the great lay voices of<br />
mysticism and prophetic action in<br />
the post-Vatican II era. His death<br />
was described as the death of a<br />
“living saint,” like that of Mother<br />
Teresa, a good friend of his.<br />
Vanier radiated a holiness<br />
manifest in profound and<br />
persistent love to the<br />
intellectually handicapped. His<br />
death came as the end of a<br />
long search to discern what<br />
God wanted him to do with his life.<br />
In his youth he had been a naval officer in the Canadian<br />
navy, earned a doctorate in Catholic philosophy, and finally<br />
his calling “found him” in the horrendous experience<br />
of witnessing how the intellectually handicapped were<br />
treated in in society. He saw his call, however, as not<br />
to serve them in any traditional sense, but to befriend<br />
them, to learn from them, and to discover Christ in these<br />
thoroughly marginalized people. Vanier began a significant<br />
lay movement called L’Arche (the Ark). He started with a<br />
small residence and two intellectually challenged men. The<br />
Arche Communities spread rapidly all over the world, even in<br />
Buddhist and Muslim nations. He attracted and still attracts<br />
large numbers of young people to these communities not to<br />
serve the people, but to live with them, “encounter” them,<br />
and learn from them the truth about the practice of love in<br />
Jesus’s final command to live His “new Commandment.”<br />
Jean Vanier published more than thirty books over the years,<br />
many of them still in print, calling forth a life of love rooted<br />
in engaging our own brokenness before and while we would<br />
dare move forward to “serve others.” Henri Nouwen, another<br />
great post-Vatican II mystical writer, lived several years in a<br />
L’Arche Community. Both men made enormous contributions<br />
to the nature of Christian ministry as “wounded healers”<br />
who move not out of power to serve others benevolently,<br />
but to bring one’s own “broken places” into ministries of<br />
compassion, recognizing one’s own limits while at the same<br />
time engaging the brokenness of others. Vanier wrote a<br />
testament of his spiritual search and the surprising growth<br />
of L’Arche in a book titled A Cry Is Heard: My Path to Peace,<br />
published by Twenty-Third Publications in 2018.<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2019</strong> 5
Nurturing Life in<br />
All Its Forms<br />
by John Larsen, SM, Superior General<br />
In February, the presidents of the Bishops’<br />
Conferences from around the Catholic<br />
world responded to Pope Francis’<br />
invitation to gather as shepherds in the<br />
Church to consider a more just and honest<br />
ecclesial response to the scandalous<br />
tragedy of sexual abuse. Our own Marist<br />
Bishop Paul Donoghue S.M., President of<br />
the Pacific Bishops’ Conference, (CEPAC),<br />
stayed with us here in Villa Santa Maria,<br />
Monteverde, Rome, while he attended the<br />
gathering.<br />
Now is an opportune time for all of us<br />
as <strong>Marists</strong> to examine our own lives<br />
searching out any form of abuse, however<br />
subtle they may be. We pray and discern<br />
with great honesty, confronting our own<br />
sinfulness, always aware of God’s grace.<br />
Our penance can be designed, either<br />
individually or as a community, as a way<br />
of repentance and conversion toward the<br />
true light of the Gospel and against the<br />
darkness of any abusive attitudes.<br />
The child abuse crisis is an abuse of<br />
power. Our Marist charism clearly<br />
opposes all over-reaching forms of power,<br />
challenging us to humble service of the<br />
poor. Sometimes our structures keep<br />
us far away from the dreary, grinding,<br />
anxious lives of the very poor. It is<br />
important for us to make a conscious<br />
effort to undertake some activity which<br />
brings us personally to encounter in<br />
friendship some of the poorest people<br />
around us and to share with them what<br />
they understand as “Good News.” Our<br />
penance may also involve employing<br />
our talents to confront unjust structures<br />
which oppress and abuse those who are<br />
powerless.<br />
The Gospel and the charism of Marist<br />
Religious Life, especially the vow of<br />
poverty, demand a simple lifestyle where<br />
everything is shared in common and<br />
in a transparent way. For <strong>Marists</strong>, there<br />
is no such thing as “my” money or car,<br />
“my” time or bank balance. We live very<br />
simply and share openly our lives and<br />
our possessions with each other and with<br />
the poor. We can consider a penance<br />
that leads us toward repentance and<br />
conversion to a more simple, transparent,<br />
and generous lifestyle, sharing all things<br />
in common. (Constitutions 106-113)<br />
By our way of life, we can easily abuse the<br />
created world around us. As Pope Francis<br />
writes: “What is needed is an ‘ecological<br />
conversion’ whereby the effects of our<br />
encounter with Jesus Christ become<br />
evident in our relationship with the<br />
world around us. Living our vocation as<br />
protectors of God’s handiwork is essential<br />
to the life of virtue.” (Laudato Si’, 217) The<br />
Marist General Chapter of 2017 echoes<br />
this: “An ecologically sustainable style<br />
of living is an intrinsic part of living the<br />
Gospel today.” (2017 General Chapter,<br />
44) In Fiji, <strong>Marists</strong> are developing an<br />
Ecological Center, while in New Zealand<br />
some <strong>Marists</strong> are calling for greater<br />
accountability for our harmful carbon<br />
footprint. 1 With these initiatives the work<br />
of the new Marist Ecological Commission<br />
is gaining momentum. A penance<br />
might involve for all of us some work of<br />
protection and healing of a particularly<br />
abused corner of the world where we live.<br />
The terrible story of abuse and coverup<br />
in the Church and elsewhere cries<br />
out for repentance and a profound<br />
conversion of heart and lifestyle. May<br />
each of us individually and all of us in<br />
our communities, undertake focused<br />
penances that affect a Gospel conversion<br />
from any form of abuse towards more<br />
just and compassionate communities,<br />
ministries and environments.<br />
The 2017 General Chapter gave us<br />
a direction for deciding upon an<br />
appropriate penance this year:<br />
From our communities, where we care for<br />
our Marist brothers as we care for all those<br />
who are struggling to be faithful disciples,<br />
Mary, the mother of the New Creation, calls<br />
us to nurture life in all its forms, especially<br />
among our most vulnerable brothers<br />
and sisters and in our damaged planet.<br />
(Declaration on Mission, 5)<br />
Endnote<br />
1 A new Marist justice and peace blog, well worth<br />
following!<br />
http://jpicblog.maristsm.org<br />
6 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
The Marist in Solitude<br />
by Tom Ellerman, SM<br />
Over the years much time and energy have been devoted to<br />
explaining the meaning of the expression, “unknown and<br />
indeed even hidden in this world,” used to describe the Marist.<br />
How can someone who spends a great deal of time in public<br />
ministry and community life be “unknown” and “hidden” even<br />
if they have combined “a love of solitude and silence … with<br />
works of zeal.” (Constitutions) The answer to this difficulty lies<br />
in the kind of solitary life that Father Colin expects the Marist<br />
to live in the solitude and silence of his room. There he is truly<br />
unknown and hidden.<br />
Unlike some religious who are expected to spend most of their<br />
day in the presence of others and use their rooms only for<br />
sleeping, the Marist is expected to spend a good amount of his<br />
day alone in his room. How do we know this?<br />
In numbers 231 and 232 of the 1872 Constitutions, Fr. Colin<br />
describes in some detail the bedroom of the Marist religious.<br />
It is not the tiny cell that many religious traditionally have<br />
inhabited. Its description, however, does sound as if Fr.<br />
Colin had anticipated by 150 years the Japanese minimalist<br />
movement of Marie Kondo and Fumio Sasaki. Although<br />
the Marist room is spacious, it is the essence of minimalist<br />
simplicity. Let us take inventory of the Marist room:<br />
• A bed<br />
• A straw mattress<br />
• A woolen quilt<br />
• Bed linens and blankets<br />
• One table topped with three bookshelves<br />
• Two chairs<br />
• A kneeler (Prie-Dieu)<br />
• One wardrobe<br />
• A few devout pictures<br />
• An armchair that gives evidence to poverty<br />
• No covering on the walls (referring to what at the time<br />
could be expensive elaborate wallpaper)<br />
This list of furnishings reveals to us what the founder wanted<br />
to take place in the Marist room. The room is a dormitory, a<br />
private chapel, and a study with a small library. The Marist<br />
sleeps, rests, reads, studies, and prays in his room. It is a place<br />
of peace and quiet, where the religious engages in spiritual<br />
reading, sermon or class preparation, ongoing professional<br />
education, letter writing, personal prayers, meditation, his<br />
examinations of conscience and God-consciousness. It is a<br />
place of inspiration, creativity, and spiritual struggle. It is the<br />
place where the Marist is alone with the Alone.<br />
While the Marist room has an air of poverty and simplicity,<br />
it provides for the necessities of its occupant. Father Colin<br />
presupposes that every Marist house has an adequate common<br />
library. Nevertheless, the Marist religious may keep up to three<br />
shelves of books in his room for his personal and immediate use.<br />
In number 42 of the Constitutions Colin writes: “To enable the<br />
Society to attain its goal, it is absolutely essential that those<br />
academic studies which can serve the salvation of souls be<br />
cultivated within it.”<br />
Even in the privacy of his bedroom, a Marist’s furnishings<br />
are a constant reminder to him to spend time developing his<br />
personal relationship with Jesus Christ and working for the<br />
salvation of his neighbor. He seeks to understand more deeply<br />
his Catholic Faith so that, with God’s grace, he may give an<br />
account of the hope that is within him and thus attain more<br />
fruitfully the purpose of the Society of Mary.<br />
Fr. Colin’s room in Lyons, France<br />
“The Marist sleeps, rests, reads,<br />
studies, and prays in his room.<br />
It is a place of peace and quiet...<br />
It is a place of inspiration, creativity,<br />
and spiritual struggle.”<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2019</strong> 7
Servant Leadership and Marist Values<br />
by Mary Ghisolfo, Former President of Marist Laity<br />
“Have one ambition. While doing great things for the Lord, be unknown and even hidden<br />
in the world. The aim is to make the school a family.” (Jean-Claude Colin)<br />
I served at École Notre Dame des Victoires<br />
(NDV), a Marist K-8 elementary school<br />
in downtown San Francisco, California<br />
for 37 years beginning as the sixthgrade<br />
teacher followed by 31 years as<br />
principal. For me, the concept of “servant<br />
leader” was always a way of being in the<br />
classroom or as principal. Responding<br />
to the needs of others was my focus,<br />
especially to those who struggled with<br />
life’s challenges whether they came from<br />
students, parents, or faculty and staff.<br />
Creating a sense of community was<br />
also a major goal for me in both of my<br />
roles. Listening to the needs of students,<br />
academic and social, or being present to<br />
the needs of the faculty, staff, and parent<br />
community, I considered of paramount<br />
importance. We are all in this together, I<br />
thought.<br />
Being Present<br />
“Let us show one another not only<br />
charity, but also respect and honor.”<br />
(Jean-Claude Colin)<br />
I have always considered presence to be<br />
significant. As a teacher, I was compelled<br />
to move around the classroom observing<br />
students as they worked, encouraging and<br />
praising them for thoughtful choices, or<br />
alerting them to an aspect of their work<br />
that may need to be reworked, all of this<br />
in an effort to help them succeed. Giving<br />
positive feedback, along with caring and<br />
constructive criticism was vital. With<br />
the staff, I made it a priority to be where<br />
the action was, which could range from<br />
informal classroom walkthroughs to<br />
being present in the hallways, on the<br />
playground, gym, or cafeteria. I wanted<br />
them to know that I was there with them<br />
to ensure that “all was well.” Formal<br />
teacher meetings were scheduled once<br />
a month to discuss curriculum, student<br />
needs, or other issues. It was a good<br />
opportunity for teachers to share with<br />
me what they were excited about that was<br />
working in the classroom, and what posed<br />
challenges to them. They also created a<br />
list of questions, concerns, and comments<br />
to share with me during these meetings.<br />
Service<br />
Embracing the spirit of service was<br />
not only reflected in working with the<br />
teachers in planning student service<br />
projects, but also working alongside them.<br />
One example of this was when the art<br />
department sponsored an “Empty Bowls<br />
Dinner” during the Lenten season. To<br />
prepare for this special dinner, the faculty<br />
painted bisque ware bowls which were<br />
later used for the simple soup-and-salad<br />
meal that the school and parish families<br />
attended. Local eateries donated the food<br />
and funds raised helped to support the<br />
Gubbio Project, a ministry at a nearby<br />
Franciscan church where the homeless<br />
slept in the pews during the day and then<br />
offered a meal as well as various support<br />
services. (www.thegubbioproject.org)<br />
Faith and Prayer<br />
Creating opportunities for teachers’<br />
personal growth in faith and prayer was<br />
continuous. All faculty meetings opened<br />
with a prayer, and during Advent and<br />
Lent teachers were called to pray together<br />
in the St. Peter Chanel Chapel on the<br />
first floor of the school before faculty<br />
meetings. These opportunities for prayer<br />
provided them time to reflect upon and<br />
hear more clearly the Good News of<br />
Jesus. Faculty and staff also participated<br />
in retreats each January prior to the<br />
start of school. This gave everyone an<br />
opportunity to learn more about Marist<br />
spirituality and to reflect on ways to<br />
implement it both within and outside<br />
of school. For parents, “Coffee with the<br />
Principal,” informal meetings, were held<br />
twice a year to enhance home & school<br />
communication. Each gathering opened<br />
with a prayer that focused on a theme<br />
(e.g., Peace, The Work of Mary, Patience<br />
and Parenting).<br />
Hospitality<br />
Hospitality is the welcoming spirit that<br />
makes people feel appreciated and<br />
included, indeed a part of a community.<br />
This spirit was extended to new students<br />
through the “buddy” program. New<br />
students were paired with a classmate<br />
who helped answer questions and<br />
who showed them around. A similar<br />
arrangement was made for the new<br />
parents whereby a “buddy family” was<br />
assigned to help them navigate school<br />
life and to provide guidance and support.<br />
Hospitality was also extended to staff<br />
members. Knowing that many mornings<br />
teachers arrived without eating breakfast,<br />
I would bring in bagels, cookies, fruit,<br />
8 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
etc. They were most grateful and felt<br />
appreciated. In addition, brief personal<br />
notes of gratitude to faculty and staff<br />
thanking them for their fine work<br />
encouraged and supported them.<br />
Compassion<br />
“Set aside their own interests and plans in<br />
favor of those of Jesus and Mary, and put<br />
themselves in the shoes of the other person.”<br />
(The Work of Mary: Marist Laity in the Society of Mary)<br />
As educators, we are called to be<br />
compassionate in our interactions<br />
with members of the community. One<br />
memorable situation occurred when a<br />
seventh grader was asked, in the third<br />
quarter, to leave the school due to poor<br />
behavioral choices coupled with low<br />
academic achievement. The student’s<br />
teachers and I got together to discuss the<br />
Marist value of “Being an Instrument<br />
of Divine Mercy.” Since it was too late<br />
in the school year for him to transfer<br />
to another Catholic school, this was a<br />
challenge for his family. The middle<br />
school teachers and I worked together to<br />
create a curriculum for the remaining<br />
10 weeks of seventh grade so that the<br />
student could complete that grade with a<br />
licensed learning specialist outside NDV.<br />
Additionally, after the school day, several<br />
middle school teachers volunteered<br />
to work with him on the assigned<br />
curriculum at a youth center near his<br />
home. I also worked with his parents<br />
to ensure he was enrolled in another<br />
Catholic school in the fall for eighth grade.<br />
Collaboration<br />
Collaborating with the faculty to<br />
problem-solve and to create new<br />
programs further enriched the learning<br />
program. Sharing ideas, identifying issues<br />
and concerns and working together to<br />
rectify a problem, or create something<br />
new helped to build community. At a<br />
faculty meeting near the end of one<br />
school year, many teachers were speaking<br />
negatively about the students and their<br />
poor behavior. The complaints concerned<br />
students’ excessively disparaging or<br />
insulting classmates, and it included<br />
bullying others. Out of that discussion<br />
came the idea to create a program that<br />
reminded the students that the Christian<br />
community we were a part of called us to<br />
be respectful and kind. The RISE Program<br />
(Respect, Include, Safety (emotional and<br />
physical), and Effective Communication)<br />
came about through the collaboration of<br />
several teachers who volunteered their<br />
time over the summer. We gave each<br />
letter in the title (R, I, S, E) a description<br />
of appropriate actions, and the program<br />
helped the entire school community to<br />
know what behaviors were appropriate<br />
and what they looked like when put<br />
into action. The program gave students<br />
new vocabulary to speak about their<br />
experiences, i.e., “I am not being included<br />
in the game, I am being excluded.” The<br />
program still helps students manage<br />
conflict they may encounter at school, at<br />
home, and in the community.<br />
Concluding Thoughts<br />
It took me a long time to grow comfortable<br />
in the leadership position at NDV. It was a<br />
slow process with many ups and downs.<br />
Keeping my ears and heart open to the<br />
call to serve was constant. Stepping back<br />
and reflecting on all aspects of school life<br />
was crucial. I frequently found myself in<br />
a state of prayer as I knew I would need<br />
the strength, courage, and guidance that<br />
God would provide me to keep moving<br />
forward in a positive and productive<br />
manner. Jean-Claude Colin certainly had<br />
his challenges with his work in education,<br />
and he accurately observed, “A tree that<br />
must bear much fruit over a long period<br />
must have good roots, whether it is tested<br />
by wind or by storm to ensure that its<br />
roots are deeply planted in the soil. See<br />
how slow it is to grow, to develop. Time<br />
strengthens it.” (A Founder Speaks 174,<br />
20) I was able to put down those roots in a<br />
Society of Mary elementary school over a<br />
period of time. It was a rich and life-giving<br />
experience in so many ways.<br />
News Briefs<br />
A Marist Lives Follow Up from Fall 2018<br />
On April 24, <strong>2019</strong> the cremated remains of Fr. Frank Brett, brother of Fr. Robert Brett, SM were borne to<br />
Chaplains’ Hill in a beautiful funeral cortege at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, DC. His<br />
remains were buried in the grave of our own Fr. Robert Brett, who was re-interred at Arlington in 1998.<br />
A significant crowd of the extended Brett family along with veterans and military officers attended,<br />
including veteran Larry McCarthy who drove in from Ohio. It is the first known instance of two Military<br />
Chaplain brothers buried together at the site. Randy Hoover, SM and Ted Keating, SM attended the<br />
service on behalf of the Marist U.S. Province.<br />
Bishop Konzen Elected Interim Administrator of Archdiocese of Atlanta, Georgia<br />
On May 24, <strong>2019</strong> Auxiliary Bishop Joel Konzen, SM was elected by the College of Consultors (group of<br />
priests who advise the archbishop) as the interim administrator for the Archdiocese of Atlanta, Georgia.<br />
He will fill the vacant role left by Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory who was installed on May 21, <strong>2019</strong> as<br />
leader of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC. The news concerning Bishop Konzen came via a letter<br />
that was sent to Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican ambassador to the United<br />
States. In response to his new role Bishop Konzen said, “I ask for your prayers and support as I carry out<br />
these responsibilities on behalf of the people of God in this local church.”<br />
Bishop Konzen has served as auxiliary bishop of the Atlanta Archdiocese since he was ordained a bishop<br />
on April 3, 2018. He will serve as administrator of the Archdiocese until Pope Francis appoints a new<br />
archbishop to this role.<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2019</strong> 9
Oceania - Some Impacts of the‘Anthropocene’<br />
– More Than ‘Climate Change’<br />
by Ben McKenna, SM, Assistant General to the Superior General<br />
“Anthropocene” is a widely proposed name for the geological epoch which refers to how human beings impact the planet<br />
earth. It is not synonymous with ‘climate change,’ nor does it simply mean ‘environmental problems.’ It is bigger and more<br />
shocking, because it encapsulates evidence that human pressures became so profound around the middle of the 20th century<br />
that we blew a planetary gasket. Hello, new Earth System. Hello, Anthropocene. 1<br />
The focus of this article is to describe<br />
some of the impacts of the changing<br />
Earth systems, which include land, fresh<br />
water, oceans, air, related food sources,<br />
and people, in Oceania. The Marist<br />
Province of Oceania is present in eight<br />
South Pacific countries: Bougainville-<br />
Papua New Guinea, Fiji, New Caledonia,<br />
Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga,<br />
Vanuatu, and Wallis & Futuna and has<br />
104 ordained members, 18 brothers, 29<br />
seminarians, and 2 novices.<br />
The fact that the Earth Systems are<br />
rapidly changing due to human impact,<br />
was significantly addressed by Pope<br />
Francis in Chapter One of the encyclical<br />
Laudato Si’ (2015) where, along with<br />
Climate Change, he also addresses<br />
Pollution, Water, Loss of Biodiversity,<br />
Decline in the Quality of Human Life and<br />
the Breakdown of Society, and Global<br />
Inequality. This is the world in which we<br />
are called to minister.<br />
The Marist General Chapter 2017<br />
acknowledged that we are in a time of<br />
global change, in a world all too often<br />
scarred by fragmentation and by the<br />
degradation of the poor and the earth -<br />
and that – Mary, the mother of the New<br />
Creation, calls us to nurture life in all<br />
its forms, especially among our most<br />
vulnerable brothers and sisters on our<br />
damaged planet. 2<br />
Caritas International is a confederation<br />
of over 160 members that work at the<br />
grassroots level with compassion<br />
and professionalism to respond to<br />
emergencies, promote development, and<br />
advocate for a fair and just world. The<br />
2018 Caritas State of the Environment<br />
for Oceania Report: Waters of Life,<br />
Oceans of Mercy 3 assesses the following<br />
five areas of impact on people and<br />
communities that are monitored by<br />
Caritas: Coastal erosion, flooding and<br />
sea level rise; Extreme weather; Food and<br />
water; Offshore mining and drilling; and<br />
Climate finance. This report also includes<br />
recommendations in response to its<br />
assessments. The following is a summary<br />
of the key findings in the report.<br />
1. Impact of coastal erosion, coastal<br />
flooding, and rising seas – HIGH<br />
ASSESSMENT<br />
This considers the number of people<br />
affected by relocation of houses, or<br />
displacement to other centers; loss of food<br />
or water sources; and scale and frequency<br />
of disruption from high tides and storm<br />
surges that flood roads, houses, or<br />
surroundings.<br />
Recommendations:<br />
• The global community must create<br />
legal protections for people who are<br />
forced to relocate because of climate<br />
change or other environmental<br />
degradation.<br />
• Oceania governments need to identify<br />
populations most at risk from sea level<br />
rise and identify options, strategies, and<br />
solutions with those populations.<br />
2. Impact of extreme weather –<br />
MODERATE ASSESSMENT<br />
This considers the number of deaths,<br />
displacement, and illness due to drought,<br />
heavy rain, floods, extreme winds, and<br />
cyclones.<br />
Recommendations:<br />
• Government and non-government<br />
agencies need to build resilience for<br />
extreme weather events through<br />
programs for food security, income<br />
generation, mapping areas most at risk,<br />
improved construction techniques,<br />
water management, and other<br />
preparedness measures.<br />
10 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
• Local, regional, and central<br />
government need to support local,<br />
village, and community-level groups<br />
who can provide immediate practical<br />
assistance in case of emergency.<br />
3. Impact on people’s access to<br />
safe food and drinking water – HIGH<br />
ASSESSMENT<br />
This includes factors such as forestry,<br />
palm oil production that results in<br />
deforestation, mining, and super-cyclones<br />
that affect access to safe and healthy<br />
locally sourced food and water.<br />
Recommendations:<br />
• Oceania governments must prioritize<br />
activities, policy, and budget to meet<br />
the United Nations’ Sustainable<br />
Development Goals.<br />
• Oceania governments and community<br />
organizations as well as all Pacific<br />
Island governments must continue to<br />
enhance food and water security for the<br />
most vulnerable.<br />
4. Offshore mining and drilling –<br />
MODERATE ASSESSMENT<br />
This considers the number of people<br />
and communities affected by offshore<br />
activities; the impact on food sources;<br />
the impact on traditional and cultural<br />
connection to the sea; and the indigenous<br />
peoples most likely to be affected by<br />
offshore activities.<br />
Recommendations:<br />
• The International Seabed Authority<br />
and national governments must stop<br />
issuing both mining and exploration<br />
licenses for seabed mining until more<br />
is known about the impacts.<br />
• Oceania governments and others<br />
implementing legislative frameworks<br />
for seabed mining need to ensure they<br />
give proper recognition to human and<br />
environmental rights.<br />
5. Climate finance – WOEFULLY<br />
INADEQUATE ASSESSMENT<br />
The primary focus of this area is the<br />
adequacy of support which includes the<br />
amount and quality of climate finance<br />
which offers tangible and practical<br />
support to those most affected, including<br />
women, children, indigenous peoples,<br />
and isolated communities.<br />
Recommendations:<br />
The global community, through the<br />
United Nations Framework Convention<br />
on Climate Change needs to:<br />
• increase nationally determined<br />
contributions and climate finance<br />
contributions to keep global warming<br />
below 1.5°C;<br />
• ensure sufficient finances and other<br />
resources to support adaptation and<br />
resilience-building for small island<br />
states and other vulnerable countries.<br />
A Marist Response:<br />
Communities as Living Parables<br />
Br. Roger of Taizé saw his mission as<br />
forming a ‘living parable of communion<br />
on earth.’ 4 In our new era of the<br />
Anthropocene we are called, as St Francis<br />
was, to see all creatures as our brothers<br />
and sisters in a vast web of life. ‘All is<br />
inter-related’ as Pope Francis spells out<br />
so clearly in Laudato Si’. We are called to<br />
move from steward-ship of creation to kinship<br />
with creation.<br />
In Oceania, one place the <strong>Marists</strong> are<br />
living this out is at Marist College,<br />
Pacific Regional Seminary, Fiji. Under<br />
the guidance of Fr. Donato Kivi, SM,<br />
who recently earned his Doctorate and<br />
wrote his doctoral dissertation Towards<br />
a Marian Ecological Spirituality for the<br />
Re-evangelization of the Vanua: The People<br />
and the Land of Fiji, our community is<br />
engaged in applying Marian Ecological<br />
Spirituality in practical and formative<br />
ways. 5<br />
Another living parable of Marian<br />
Ecological Living in Oceania is at Marist<br />
Tutu Rural Training Center, Fiji. Under the<br />
guidance of Fr. Michael McVerry, SM, this<br />
project has enabled subsistence farmers,<br />
young men and women, to learn skills<br />
for self-employment in farming, through<br />
time management, budgeting, planning,<br />
human development, and spiritual<br />
development for at least 40 years. The<br />
Director of Caritas NZ, Julianne Hickey,<br />
described this project as an “amazing<br />
example for the Pacific.” Tutu has been<br />
prioritized by the Oceania Province as a<br />
key Marist mission. 6<br />
Conclusion<br />
The work of Caritas enables us to see the<br />
factors at work in the changing face of life<br />
in Oceania. As Marist we can respond in<br />
small, but significant ‘living parable’ ways<br />
to provide hope and direction for the<br />
People of Oceania. Our confreres there<br />
are living out the Call of Jesus to read the<br />
‘signs of the times’, the Call of Laudato Si’,<br />
and the Call of our own Marist General<br />
Chapter of 2017. Many more ‘living<br />
parable’ stories remain to be told.<br />
Endnotes<br />
1 Thomas, Julia A. “Why the Anthropocene is<br />
not ‘climate change’ – and why that matters.”<br />
Climate and Capitalism, <strong>2019</strong>-01-31.<br />
2 SM 2017 General Chapter. Declaration on the<br />
Mission of the Society of Mary Today, nos. 3 & 5.<br />
3 https://caritas.org.nz/state-environment<br />
4 https://www.taize.fr/en_article19581.html<br />
5 https://jpicblog.maristsm.org/marianecological-centre-suva<br />
6 https://www.pacificfarmers.com/wp-content/<br />
uploads/2014/07/Tutu-Book.pdf<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2019</strong> 11
Preparing for a Life of<br />
Compassion and Mercy<br />
Introduction<br />
by Tony Kennedy, SM, Rector, International Major Marist Seminary, Rome, Italy<br />
A cold coming we had of it,<br />
Just the worst time of the year<br />
For a journey, and such a long journey:<br />
The ways deep and the weather sharp,<br />
The very dead of winter.<br />
(T.S. Eliot, Journey of the Magi)<br />
When I was a high school student many<br />
years ago in Australia, one of the poets<br />
that my English teacher, Gerard Hall,<br />
SM tried to teach my classmates and me<br />
about was T.S. Eliot. One of the poems<br />
we read was Journey of the Magi. Gerry<br />
would be surprised to know that I have<br />
been thinking about that poem recently.<br />
In reflecting on the poem, I thought<br />
about the similarities between the<br />
journey of the Magi and the journey of the<br />
seminarians in formation. At times the<br />
three Magi were together, and sometimes<br />
they were apart, going different places<br />
and sometimes different directions.<br />
This year our community of 19 religious<br />
at Casa di Maria (CDM), the Marist<br />
International Theologate in Rome, Italy,<br />
began in the fall when we gathered after<br />
our summer break. We spent time before<br />
university classes began by reflecting on<br />
the summer and the different pastoral<br />
activities we had experienced.<br />
The full journey of formation is a long<br />
one for our seminarians. It starts with<br />
an initial interest in the Society of Mary<br />
and their request to be accepted into<br />
formation house for a propaedeutic (or<br />
preparatory) period, studying philosophy,<br />
perhaps learning English, proceeding on<br />
to the novitiate, and the first profession<br />
of their vows. All this before they arrive at<br />
Casa di Maria. This whole process takes<br />
at least four years. They then stay in Rome<br />
for four years of theology before returning<br />
to their home units as perpetually<br />
professed members of the Society and as<br />
deacons.<br />
Learning to cope with a new climate,<br />
language, food, culture, and education<br />
system are some of the challenges we all<br />
face as we try to respond faithfully to the<br />
call we have heard.<br />
The long journey that the Magi undertook<br />
changed them. They did not return to<br />
their homes as the same people who<br />
had set out on that journey. They had<br />
witnessed a newly born Child and<br />
realized that the world had changed.<br />
Some things, in fact, had died. As the<br />
poem concludes:<br />
We returned to our places, these<br />
Kingdoms,<br />
But no longer at ease here, in the old<br />
dispensation,<br />
With an alien people clutching their gods.<br />
I should be glad of another death.<br />
Formation challenges us to be the best<br />
we can be. Some new attitudes and skills<br />
need to be born in us, and some old ones<br />
may need to be put aside to die, as it were.<br />
We pray that the experience of Marist<br />
formation provides each of us with the<br />
necessary skills and attitudes to enable<br />
our active participation in the mission of<br />
the Society. We pray that it prepare us well<br />
for the ministry of service which lies at<br />
the heart of the Gospel.<br />
Thank you for the support you give us in<br />
so many ways and the interest you have in<br />
our community. Your prayers are always<br />
greatly appreciated. The following are<br />
reflections from some of the seminarians<br />
on their time in formation as each one<br />
prepares for a life of compassion and<br />
mercy.<br />
12 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
Licentiate Program in Ecumenism<br />
by Floyd Gatana, SM, Seminarian<br />
As I reflect on my journey this year, I am<br />
grateful for a new academic program of<br />
study in Ecumenism. I thank the Society<br />
of Mary for giving me another opportunity<br />
to further my studies toward earning<br />
a Licentiate in Sacred Theology. I have<br />
come to appreciate and love the course<br />
in ecumenism. It has broadened my<br />
perspective on the whole curriculum of<br />
theology. It teaches me to look beyond our<br />
Catholic tradition and to reach out to other<br />
Christians who proclaim Jesus Christ.<br />
As I reflect on my experience, I can say that<br />
we cannot deny the fact that ecumenism<br />
has opened a new horizon in the Church.<br />
It allows us to reach out to other churches<br />
with openness and understanding. The<br />
program teaches us how to dialogue and<br />
share God’s word with other churches.<br />
Today the Catholic Church has moved<br />
into the new era of dialoguing with<br />
other Christian churches. As Catholics<br />
of today, we also need to adapt to the<br />
changes within our Church and be open<br />
to reaching out to other churches and<br />
religions. The course in ecumenism helps<br />
us find our common beliefs and makes us<br />
understand and accept others with mutual<br />
acceptance.<br />
One of the things that I enjoy is being able<br />
to study with my fellow classmates from<br />
different Christian churches and religions.<br />
I am also privileged to study alongside<br />
my Marist confrere Kevin Medilo, SM<br />
from the Philippines who is focusing<br />
on Inter-Religious Dialogue. Studying<br />
with Pentecostal, Muslim, and Eastern<br />
Orthodox students is a rich experience that<br />
I count as a privilege to have. It teaches<br />
me a lot about how to be open and share<br />
what we have in common. It is always<br />
enjoyable when we discuss and share in<br />
the classroom because we learn from each<br />
other. We all have one goal in common<br />
and that is to work for our salvation, but<br />
each of us in different ways. The ultimate<br />
end of God’s creative and saving action<br />
will be realized when all things have been<br />
made subject to the Son, “then the Son<br />
himself will also be subject to him who<br />
put all things under him, that God may be<br />
everything to everyone.” (1 Cor 15:28).<br />
The study of ecumenism has made<br />
me realize how important it is to be<br />
ecumenical in the Church. It is important<br />
in our mission today because we are<br />
surrounded by many different Christian<br />
churches and religions, and we need to<br />
have the skills to dialogue with them. The<br />
course has also helped me grow in my<br />
understanding of the Church and other<br />
religions, particularly in what we have in<br />
common.<br />
When the early <strong>Marists</strong> sailed to Oceania,<br />
they had no idea what was awaiting them.<br />
The local people had their own culture<br />
and ways of worshipping. Their lifestyle<br />
was naturally different from that of the<br />
arriving <strong>Marists</strong>. This makes me imagine<br />
the challenges those missionaries went<br />
through to evangelize the people. As a<br />
Marist, I have come to appreciate what<br />
this course has given me. It makes me<br />
see dimensions of what it means to be a<br />
missionary. We are called to be open and to<br />
share with others what we have. Taking up<br />
ecumenism prepares me to be more ready<br />
and better equipped for what lies ahead.<br />
Gabriel Mukong during pastoral experience in<br />
Ranong, Thailand<br />
Pastoral Experience in Ranong,<br />
Thailand<br />
by Gabriel Mukong, SM, Seminarian<br />
Soon after completing my first year of<br />
theological studies, I was asked by my<br />
superior, Tony Kennedy, SM, if I would go<br />
to the mission in Ranong, Thailand for a<br />
pastoral experience during the summer of<br />
2018. The mission, called the Marist Asia<br />
Foundation (M.A.F), is run by our Marist<br />
confreres from the district of Asia. It was<br />
time for me to experience missionary life<br />
in a completely different cultural context,<br />
predominantly Buddhist. The answer<br />
was YES, even though I had been giving<br />
thought to going somewhere else for a<br />
pastoral experience. Nevertheless, I knew<br />
that my superior is the one who sees<br />
best and knows to a greater degree my<br />
potential, and he also understands needs<br />
of the Society. So, therefore, my YES was<br />
sincere as to these two aspects: that others<br />
are there and have been there, and that<br />
my superior sees in me useful potential for<br />
this mission.<br />
My specific mission at M.A.F was to<br />
teach at the school and to assist the<br />
health committee that oversaw patients<br />
living with HIV/AIDS. This sounded<br />
interesting to me because teaching has<br />
always been my passion, and I feel quite<br />
compassionate when it comes to serving<br />
vulnerable people. So, I left for Thailand<br />
full of energy and enthusiasm for this<br />
mission.<br />
My experience at M.A.F as an assistant<br />
teacher and in serving the health<br />
committee was quite enriching and helped<br />
form me in several ways. First, I learned a<br />
lot about humility, especially through my<br />
daily interactions with the innocent kids I<br />
taught. Second, I learned how to become<br />
more spiritually altruistic by shifting the<br />
attention from me and focusing more on<br />
others, especially praying more for the<br />
sick that I served and for the future of<br />
continues on page 14<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2019</strong> 13
Pastoral Experience, continued from page 13<br />
the students I taught. Third, I learned to<br />
appreciate different cultural beliefs and<br />
religions. Learning some of the “Do’s” and<br />
“Don’ts” of this culture helped me in my<br />
growth as a future Marist missionary. I<br />
was advised always to show respect to the<br />
King and to Buddha, especially whenever<br />
I came across a Buddhist shrine, where<br />
the appropriate gesture is bowing low with<br />
hands clasped upright across the chest as<br />
a Christian might do when making a good<br />
sign of the cross. Most of all, my greatest<br />
learning was how to listen to people in<br />
pain and difficulty without using many<br />
words. It was at this moment that I came<br />
to a deeper understanding that the work I<br />
was doing was not mine but rather God’s<br />
and Mary’s.<br />
My feelings after this pastoral mission were<br />
that of great satisfaction and fulfilment. I<br />
am happy to have been sent there for this<br />
experience and, God willing, I hope one<br />
day to return to M.A.F for a longer period<br />
of service.<br />
My prayer is that God will continue to<br />
bless and use our confreres who dedicate<br />
themselves indefatigably to this daily<br />
mission, and that God will also replenish<br />
the resources of our benefactors and all<br />
those who support the mission in one<br />
way or another, by their prayers and good<br />
thoughts.<br />
All for the greater glory of God and<br />
for the honor of the Mother of God.<br />
Final Profession and Diaconate<br />
by Josefo Amuri, SM, Seminarian<br />
Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose<br />
herald you now are, Believe what you<br />
read, teach what you believe, and<br />
practice what you teach. (The Rite of<br />
Ordination of a Deacon)<br />
During my last four years in formation,<br />
I have witnessed many of my brothers<br />
profess their perpetual vows in the<br />
Society of Mary. This academic year I<br />
had the privilege of witnessing our only<br />
fourth-year student, Kenneth Akua,<br />
make his lifetime commitment to God<br />
as a Marist. This year, however, I feel<br />
that my experience has been a little<br />
different, a little more personal. This<br />
is because I have seen the progress of<br />
(Left to Right) Tony Kennedy, SM, Kenneth Akua, SM,<br />
Bishop Tom Burns, Cyprian Akua (Kenneth’s brother), and<br />
John Larsen, SM after the Diaconate Ordination<br />
true discernment, growth and sacrifice that Brother Kenneth has experienced during<br />
the past eight years of his formation. Being myself a Marist, I can imagine Mary smiling<br />
with great joy on that day as another new member joined her family. I am happy to say<br />
that the Society bearing her name is still growing. At this point in formation it is truly<br />
amazing that someone could give himself so completely and wholeheartedly to the<br />
Lord, that someone could have the confidence and assurance of publicly professing<br />
that he wants to dedicate himself to serve the Lord as a religious living the evangelical<br />
counsels.<br />
A month later, on November 3rd, the formation community at Casa di Maria along<br />
with other members of the Marist Family here in Rome, including our confreres,<br />
benefactors, and friends, gathered to attend Kenneth’s ordination to the Diaconate.<br />
On this wonderful occasion, the words of the prophet Jeremiah echoed in my mind:<br />
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I<br />
appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jer. 1:5) It also reminded me of a phrase<br />
from Pope Francis:<br />
“One who serves is not a slave to his own agenda, but ever ready to deal with the<br />
unexpected, ever available to his brothers and sisters, and ever open to God’s constant<br />
surprises.” (Mass for the Jubilee for Deacons, May 29, 2016)<br />
Moreover, these two great experiences celebrating Kenneth’s final profession and his<br />
diaconate ordination brought me humbly before God with confidence to say that my<br />
life is not totally known to me and is not even under my own control. It is only God<br />
who knows all and is in control of all.<br />
We Appreciate Your Donation!<br />
“Here I am Lord I come to do your will”<br />
We ask for your prayers for our seminarians and for Marist vocations. If you<br />
are able to help financially, please use the envelope in this magazine to<br />
send your gift. Please check the circle “Recruitment and Education of new<br />
<strong>Marists</strong>” on the inner flap of the envelope. Thank you for your generosity!<br />
Perpetual profession<br />
14 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
Marist Vocational<br />
Discernment<br />
in Today’s World<br />
by Jack Ridout<br />
When young people today talk about what they want to do<br />
with their life, the word forever does not easily appear in the<br />
conversation. Serious consideration about religion and living a life<br />
in a religious context does not have the same attraction as it did in<br />
times past. Thinking about what to do with one’s life crosses young<br />
minds today, but if the thoughts get too serious or a commitment<br />
seems too permanent, then the process can be quickly dropped.<br />
Many times the supports of family, school, parish life, teachers, and<br />
institutions have been diminished, and in spite of these positive<br />
influences, individuals can either increase their faith in other ways<br />
or move onto other arenas of living. Instead of loving support,<br />
people are left with a smattering of social media only to rely on that<br />
for social acceptance and conformity. This is not to say that our<br />
youth do not commit themselves to lofty motives, but the “noise” of<br />
the world tends to deafen the eternal call of what God wants one to<br />
do in life.<br />
Marist discernment begins with reflecting on the commitments<br />
made at Baptism, and how God continues to call a person to be a<br />
follower of Jesus and to live that life as a member of the Church as<br />
a married person, a single celibate, a consecrated Sister, Brother or<br />
Priest in a religious community or as a diocesan priest.<br />
How does one discern God’s call? What does this decision mean in<br />
one’s daily life? Why do this at all? Consider the consequences of the<br />
decision, but be happy about that decision. To make any decision<br />
a person will have to say “no” a thousand times before they can<br />
say a single “yes” to God! Taking time to discern is necessary, but it<br />
should not take forever.<br />
One needs to PRAY, both in silence and in the use of guided books<br />
and a trusted spiritual director, continue to receive the sacraments,<br />
and prayerfully read the Bible. Is this a call from God? People<br />
throughout the ages have responded to that call by joining a<br />
religious congregation, and have taken vows of poverty, chastity,<br />
and obedience, and they do this for the honor of God, and the<br />
salvation of the world.<br />
<strong>Marists</strong> believe themselves to be called by Mary to be instruments<br />
of her presence in the Church of today as she once was present and<br />
active in the church of the Apostles.<br />
Is God calling you?<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2019</strong> 15
MOVIE REVIEW<br />
“Of One Heart and One Mind”<br />
Prayerful Reflection with the Movie Of Gods and Men<br />
by Brian Cummings, SM, Director, Pā Maria Marist Spirituality Centre, Wellington, New Zealand<br />
The movie Of Gods and<br />
Men first appeared in 2010.<br />
It tells the story of the<br />
abduction and murder in<br />
1996 of seven monks of the<br />
Monastery Notre-Dame<br />
de l’Atlas of Tibhirine in<br />
Algeria.<br />
These Trappist monks<br />
lived a simple life serving<br />
the poor community<br />
surrounding the<br />
monastery. During the Algerian Civil<br />
War they are threatened by rebels but<br />
decide as a group to stay in the country,<br />
among the people they had chosen to live<br />
with, and not to seek safety by returning<br />
to France.<br />
One night the monastery is raided,<br />
and seven of the nine monks present<br />
are abducted and held as hostages for<br />
several months before being murdered,<br />
exactly by whom has never been clearly<br />
established.<br />
Earlier this year Pope Francis met the<br />
last surviving member of the Tibhirine<br />
community when visiting Morocco.<br />
Father Jean-Pierre Schumacher, OCSO<br />
is now 95 years old (the other survivor,<br />
Brother Amédée, died in 2008). Father<br />
Jean-Pierre continues to serve both as<br />
a reminder of the tragedy of Tibhirine<br />
and also as a witness of the Church’s<br />
commitment to seek a new and deeper<br />
relationship with Islam.<br />
As an important aside, Jean-Pierre<br />
Schumacher has a particular<br />
significance for the Marist Fathers and<br />
Brothers. Educated by the Marist Fathers<br />
in France, he later joined the Society of<br />
Mary and was ordained a Marist priest.<br />
He can claim a direct link with the US<br />
Province of the Society of Mary in that<br />
Fr. Etienne Siffert, SM, in San Francisco,<br />
California, was a contemporary of Jean-<br />
Pierre Schumacher in the seminary.<br />
After several years as a Marist priest,<br />
Jean-Pierre Schumacher sought<br />
and received permission to follow<br />
a contemplative vocation with the<br />
Trappists and eventually came to<br />
Tibhirine.<br />
Of Gods and Men (directed by Xavier<br />
Beauvois) is a dramatization rather than<br />
a documentary of the lives of the monks<br />
of Tibhirine. As such, one could wonder<br />
just how much of an appeal to general<br />
audiences the movie would have. That<br />
question was resoundingly answered<br />
when the film received a standing<br />
ovation upon its first release at the<br />
International Film Festival at Cannes.<br />
The motion picture focuses almost<br />
entirely on the monks wrestling - as<br />
individuals and as a community - with<br />
what their vows mean and the nature of<br />
their commitment to stay with the local<br />
people even though they knew that that<br />
it was likely (in fact, probable) that to<br />
remain at Tibhirine would result in their<br />
deaths.<br />
Naturally, not everyone agrees with their<br />
commitment to stay.<br />
For example, the late, highly regarded<br />
movie reviewer Roger Ebert said in 2011,<br />
“Did they make the right choice? In their<br />
own idealistic terms, yes. In realistic<br />
terms, I say no. They have the ability<br />
to help many who need it for years to<br />
come. It is egotism to believe that their<br />
help must take place in this specific<br />
monastery. Between the eight of them,<br />
they have perhaps a century of life of<br />
usefulness remaining. Do they have a<br />
right to deprive those who need it of their<br />
service? In doing so, are they committing<br />
the sin of pride?” (Review, March 10,<br />
2011)<br />
The responses to such questions depend,<br />
to a large extent, on how one views<br />
things.<br />
The movie directly confronts the<br />
question of discernment: how and why<br />
did the monks reach their decision.<br />
The Canadian Jesuit, Monty Williams,<br />
has said, “A decision is not necessarily<br />
a deliberate, self-conscious choice, and<br />
it does not necessarily occur in the<br />
context of prayer. Discernment does<br />
both. With discernment, we enter into a<br />
dialogue with God, after establishing a<br />
right relationship between ourselves and<br />
God. In that mutual sharing and trust,<br />
an answer emerges. Then we not only<br />
see as God sees, but we act as we believe<br />
God would want us to act.” (The Gift of<br />
Spiritual Intimacy, Novalis Books)<br />
Of Gods and Men is about a group<br />
discernment, but every group<br />
discernment necessarily involves<br />
the individuals who make up the<br />
group engaging in their own personal<br />
discernment.<br />
Some of the most powerful and moving<br />
scenes in the film depict individual<br />
monks wrestling with the question<br />
of whether they should seek safety or<br />
remain, and it becomes abundantly clear<br />
that there is no straightforward, obvious<br />
answer for any of them.<br />
The scenes depicting the Community<br />
Meetings show over time how<br />
individuals shifted in their position<br />
because of prayer, discussion, and<br />
listening to each other. When the final<br />
decision [to stay] is reached by all, it is<br />
the result of a right relationship having<br />
been established between the monks as<br />
a community and between each monk<br />
with God. There is mutual sharing<br />
and trust which is the only way such a<br />
consensus could have been achieved.<br />
It is that depiction of discernment in<br />
action that makes Of Gods and Men<br />
more than simply a story, albeit a very<br />
powerful and moving story, about the<br />
monks of Tibhirine.<br />
16 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
It shows audiences how and why it is<br />
possible to come to fundamental and<br />
far-reaching decisions in a way that<br />
avoids coercion, intimidation, and group<br />
pressure on individuals to conform to<br />
the majority opinion.<br />
And that is an approach to which we as<br />
<strong>Marists</strong> are called.<br />
In our Constitutions, we read: “When<br />
they make profession, <strong>Marists</strong> declare<br />
before the Church and one another their<br />
intention to live out their baptism more<br />
fully. They choose to follow Christ more<br />
closely by a radical commitment to the<br />
spirit of the Beatitudes in a community<br />
that has one heart and one mind.”<br />
(Constitutions 93) Our Founder, Fr.<br />
Colin, put it this way: “The Society began<br />
like the Church, so we must be like the<br />
apostles and those who joined them and<br />
were already numerous. One heart and<br />
one soul.” (A Founder Speaks)<br />
For <strong>Marists</strong>, discernment, both on an<br />
individual as well as on a group level, has<br />
to be a hallmark of the way in which we<br />
operate.<br />
We need to avoid the temptation to be<br />
expedient in reaching decisions on key<br />
matters, to avoid deciding our individual<br />
position on the grounds of self-interest,<br />
and to resist being guided only by what<br />
seems intellectually logical and prudent.<br />
Rather, we need to commit, as<br />
individuals and as a community, to<br />
“entering into a dialogue with God after<br />
establishing a right relationship so that<br />
in that mutual sharing and trust, an<br />
answer emerges.” (The Gift of Spiritual<br />
Intimacy, Novalis Books)<br />
Of course, that can be our desire, but<br />
how do we know if we are in fact living a<br />
discerning life?<br />
One way is to look at the effects of the<br />
decisions and choices we make. We can<br />
measure them against the fruits of the<br />
Spirit, which St Paul tells us are love, joy,<br />
peace, patience, kindness, generosity,<br />
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.<br />
(Galatians 5:22)<br />
We can ask who or what motivates us<br />
in the making of our decisions and<br />
choices?<br />
We can look at the lives of others who<br />
have engaged in discernment.<br />
And we can from time to time view again<br />
Of Gods and Men.<br />
Jean-Pierre Schumacher describes the<br />
film as “an icon, that is, it contains more<br />
than what it shows.” (The Last Monk of<br />
Tibhirine, Freddy Derwahl, Paraclete<br />
Press, 2013)<br />
As with all icons, one needs to sit with it<br />
and reflect on it to learn what it is saying<br />
to us today.<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2019</strong> 17
The 150th Anniversary of<br />
St. Louis King of France<br />
by Ted Keating, SM<br />
The church of St. Louis King of France,<br />
in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota,<br />
celebrated its 150th Anniversary on<br />
Sunday, November 4, last year. Originally<br />
a little wooden building intended for<br />
ministry to French-speaking Catholics<br />
was dedicated and blessed on December<br />
20, 1868, by Bishop Joseph Crétin, who<br />
became the first bishop of Saint Paul<br />
in 1850. By sheer coincidence, Bishop<br />
Crétin had done his priestly studies in<br />
France at the same seminary where<br />
future Marist St. Peter Chanel was also a<br />
student, and they knew each other well.<br />
The third bishop of Saint Paul was John<br />
Ireland, who came from Saint Paul, and<br />
who was sent by Bishop Crétin to France<br />
for his priestly studies at a seminary<br />
run by <strong>Marists</strong>. It seemed only logical,<br />
then, for Bishop Ireland to entrust the<br />
“the little French church” to the Frenchspeaking<br />
<strong>Marists</strong> during his term as<br />
shepherd in 1886.<br />
Through these many years, St. Louis,<br />
King of France parish has been known<br />
for both its devotion to the French<br />
language, and for gorgeously celebrated<br />
Liturgies. People come from all over the<br />
Twin Cities to appreciate the magnificent<br />
church, the parish organ<br />
(often in concert), and the<br />
many singers and musicians<br />
who lift their voices to God<br />
with their sweet music.<br />
Our Marist archives are<br />
full of letters from different<br />
archbishops thanking the<br />
<strong>Marists</strong> for the frequency with which<br />
the Sacrament of Reconciliation is<br />
offered every day, and for hearing<br />
the confessions of many priests in<br />
the diocese as well. The <strong>Marists</strong> hear<br />
confessions before the 6:45 a.m. and the<br />
noon Mass. It is an important ministry<br />
of the church, and it is obvious that the<br />
<strong>Marists</strong> have cultivated this ministry of<br />
Mercy over many years, and the parish<br />
has become well known for it.<br />
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet<br />
staffed the parish school from 1878-1962.<br />
The <strong>Marists</strong> were also chaplains to their<br />
large convent opposite the rectory which<br />
housed up to 90 sisters at its peak. Only<br />
four nuns at a time taught at the parish<br />
school, while the rest went by streetcar,<br />
bus, or on foot to teach at other nearby<br />
schools. Over the years, there were also<br />
several School Sisters of Notre Dame who<br />
LEFT: Congregation at 150th Anniversary Mass<br />
RIGHT: <strong>Marists</strong> Ron DesRosiers, Roland Lajoie, Ben<br />
McKenna, Paul Frechette, Paul Morrissey, Jim Duffy and<br />
Joe Hurtuk<br />
BOTTOM: Pastor John Sajdak, SM and Archbishop<br />
Hebda welcome the congregation<br />
lived near the church and were involved<br />
in the parish. The Christian Brothers,<br />
some of whom lived at Central Towers,<br />
also ministered at the parish.<br />
Among the over 100 <strong>Marists</strong> who served<br />
at St. Louis, King of France were: Fr.<br />
Alcime Cyr, SM, Provincial of the Boston<br />
Province of the <strong>Marists</strong> and later the<br />
first American Marist to be elected<br />
Superior General of the worldwide<br />
Marist community; Fr. Joseph Buckley,<br />
SM, who was born in St. Paul, became a<br />
provincial of the Washington Province<br />
and later also Superior General of the<br />
Society and a member of the Second<br />
Vatican council, delivering a key address<br />
continues bottom of page 19<br />
18 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
MARIST LIVES<br />
Rev. Arthur Duhamel, SM – A Marist Missionary Priest<br />
by Susan J. Illis, Archivist, Archives of the Society of Mary, US Province<br />
“But you need not worry for me no matter what happens here. We can never tell just how things will<br />
turn out and just what are Japan’s plans. So far it is peaceful and quiet and I hope it remains like this…”<br />
Reverend Arthur Duhamel, SM, thus reassured<br />
his brother from the Marist mission at Ruavatu,<br />
Guadalcanal on January 4, 1942. Eight months later<br />
he was dead - bayoneted by the Japanese.<br />
Born in Massachusetts, Duhamel (1908-1942) felt<br />
called to religious life at a young age. However,<br />
both his father’s disapproval and his personal<br />
concerns about his academic abilities delayed his<br />
studies for the priesthood. Ordained as a priest<br />
in 1937 in the Society of Mary, he celebrated his<br />
first Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in<br />
Methuen, Massachusetts where he had once served<br />
as an altar boy. Rev. John André, SM, who had<br />
encouraged his vocation, preached at the<br />
first Mass.<br />
Two years after ordination, Duhamel arrived at the Marist Ruavatu<br />
mission in the Solomon Islands. His insecurities returned as he<br />
struggled to learn the native language. However, his years spent<br />
working in the mills in Massachusetts paid off as his mastery of<br />
tools and mechanics earned the respect of the natives from the<br />
very beginning. They called him “wonder-worker.” He contracted<br />
malaria, but persevered, writing, “…when we work for God,<br />
difficulties become sweet. My one desire is that God will give me<br />
health and the necessary means to keep on marching forward<br />
for the salvation of these poor Solomonese, among whom His<br />
Providence has called me to work.”<br />
The escalating war in Europe created new challenges as his fellow<br />
Marist missionaries (Rev. Hendrik Oude Engberink, SM and Marist<br />
Missionary Sisters M. Odilia, M. Sylvia, and M. Edmée), all from<br />
Europe, had their funding from home cut off. Thus,<br />
the contributions that Duhamel solicited from the<br />
United States became their only source of support.<br />
The arrival of the Japanese on the island, however,<br />
signaled a far more imminent threat.<br />
The <strong>Marists</strong> refused to leave their mission,<br />
remaining there until the Japanese forced them<br />
to an internment camp. Sr. Edmée, SMSM was<br />
sick and stayed back with the children. There<br />
are several descriptions of what happened next.<br />
A contemporary account says that when the<br />
Japanese ordered Duhamel to carry a message<br />
to the U.S. Marines while they held the others<br />
hostage, he refused. Another version suggests<br />
Duhamel visited some Americans, attending to their spiritual<br />
needs, despite Japanese prohibition. Still another says that Japan’s<br />
secret headquarters were bombed, and Duhamel was accused<br />
of informing U.S. troops of its location. A final version, from Rev.<br />
Emery de Klerk, SM, claims that “he was killed by the Japanese for<br />
war reasons.”<br />
Although the precise cause for the Japanese executions may never<br />
be known, the four <strong>Marists</strong> were bayoneted by the Japanese in<br />
September 1942.<br />
A mere five years after Duhamel’s ordination, Fr. John André, SM<br />
preached again at a Mass for him, this time as the eulogist at his<br />
funeral Mass held, appropriately, at Mount Carmel. André declared<br />
it “a day of sadness, as well as glory, − glory because Mount Carmel<br />
has been selected to offer such a sacrifice for the faith…an apostle<br />
has fallen, and he is one of your own.”<br />
continued from page 18<br />
there on religious freedom; Fr. Leo Foley,<br />
SM, Ph.D., professor of philosophy at<br />
The Catholic University of America; and<br />
Fr. Thomas Dubay, SM, PhD, a native<br />
of Minneapolis, and a well-known<br />
national speaker and author in the U.S.<br />
Church. There are a host of other <strong>Marists</strong><br />
who are remembered by Mary and the<br />
generations of parishioners whose lives<br />
they so deeply touched.<br />
The 150th Anniversary of the church was<br />
celebrated with a special Mass followed<br />
by a dinner and silent auction at the<br />
Town and Country Club. “The Mass was<br />
just spectacular,” Fr. John<br />
Sajdak, SM, the pastor, said. The church<br />
was festooned with flowers with all the<br />
candles of the church lit, and the music<br />
by the dedicated choir was magnificent.<br />
An estimated 250 worshippers filled the<br />
nave. Special guests for the anniversary<br />
celebration included Archbishop Bernard<br />
Hebda and several visiting <strong>Marists</strong>,<br />
including Fr. Ben McKenna, Assistant<br />
General from Rome, Paul Frechette,<br />
Provincial, and Paul Morrissey, former<br />
pastor.<br />
Saint Louis, King of France parish in<br />
Minnesota, Notre Dame des Victoires<br />
in San Francisco (taken on in 1885), and<br />
Our Lady of Victories in Boston (taken on<br />
in 1886) are three great Marist centers of<br />
ministry for French speakers coming to<br />
the Unites States. Over the years, these<br />
parishes have served about a million<br />
French Canadians coming into the<br />
United States.<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2019</strong> 19
Being Marist:<br />
One School’s Vision of “the Greatest Work”<br />
by Kevin Mullally, Principal, Marist School<br />
I must be the exception, because I actually<br />
enjoy strategic planning, that laborious<br />
and time intensive process through which<br />
an institution sets forth a vision and<br />
roadmap for the future. There is great<br />
worth in the scholarly research and rich<br />
discussions that are the prerequisites of<br />
the process as well as the need to clarify<br />
the values and goals that are the sine qua<br />
non of the institution. It is important to<br />
step forward and say: “This is who we are,<br />
this is what we believe, and, therefore, this<br />
is where we are going.”<br />
Marist School, in Atlanta, Georgia, has<br />
spent the last 18 months in prayerful<br />
reflection and lively discussion producing<br />
its next strategic plan, which will take us<br />
to 2025 and beyond. The School identified<br />
five strategic priorities that will be the<br />
focus of growth. They are:<br />
• Be Unwaveringly Marist<br />
• Excel in Academics<br />
• Educate the Whole Child<br />
• Form Global-Ready Servant Leaders<br />
• Secure the Future<br />
The overarching essential question we<br />
worked on as we identified these five<br />
areas was: How do we capture, preserve,<br />
communicate, and demonstrate the Spirit<br />
of the Society of Mary to ensure that the<br />
charism of the <strong>Marists</strong> is still experienced<br />
by everyone in our school, and in local,<br />
and global communities? We see the value<br />
that a Marist School education makes in<br />
the lives of our students, guiding them<br />
to think, judge, feel and act as Mary in<br />
all things, so they can be Mary’s much<br />
needed presence in the world today.<br />
The first priority, to Be Unwaveringly<br />
Marist, responds especially to the<br />
challenge the school faces as the presence<br />
of vowed Marist religious diminishes. For<br />
almost two decades now, our Marist Way<br />
program has developed lay leadership,<br />
and over the next five years we will<br />
advance the Marist Way into a continuous<br />
and progressive program that meets the<br />
needs and readiness of all Marist School<br />
employees, wherever they are in their<br />
understanding and commitment to those<br />
qualities that make us Marist.<br />
The second priority, to Excel in<br />
Academics, is a prerequisite expectation<br />
of families today and represents<br />
the School’s commitment to one of<br />
Fr. Colin’s threefold duties towards<br />
students, “to teach them letters and the<br />
various sciences.” Here, we balance the<br />
tradition of excellence and the heritage<br />
of Catholic education with preparing an<br />
academic program that is contemporary<br />
and comprehensive, dynamic and<br />
personalized. Our goal is for students to<br />
learn all the things that are required for<br />
a superior education, while also learning<br />
as much as they possibly can about<br />
the things they personally love and are<br />
interested in.<br />
The third priority, to Educate the Whole<br />
Child, recognizes that an education<br />
does not just occur in the classroom, but<br />
includes opportunities for growth and<br />
experiences aimed at the whole human<br />
person. Said directly, the physical,<br />
emotional, spiritual, social, and aesthetic<br />
development of our students is just as<br />
important as an academic education. This<br />
aims at a second of Fr. Colin’s threefold<br />
duties, “to impart to [students] all solid<br />
virtues, so that they may grow up into<br />
honest and upright citizens.” Through<br />
the panoply of rich, comprehensive, and<br />
balanced programs, we graduate students<br />
of integrity, who are comfortable in their<br />
own skins, and who have cultivated a<br />
sense of purpose and meaning in life.<br />
To Form Global-Ready Servant Leaders,<br />
the School’s fourth priority, represents its<br />
commitment to the remaining duty that<br />
Fr. Colin outlines, “to form [students] into<br />
strong and faithful disciples of Christ.”<br />
As Catholic and as Marist educators, we<br />
are counter-cultural; we work against the<br />
strong and frequent voices of a permissive<br />
culture that is increasingly secularized<br />
and polarized. Because of that, it is more<br />
important than ever that graduates of<br />
Marist School be prepared to engage<br />
continues bottom of page 21<br />
20 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
A New Model of Vocation<br />
Accompaniment in the US Province<br />
by Ted Keating, SM<br />
Jack Ridout, in his parting comments<br />
about his work as vocation director in the<br />
US Province after eleven years (see page<br />
15), describes the cultural “noise” in the<br />
ears and heads of today’s young people<br />
attempting to make any serious decision<br />
about a meaningful “call” or choice of life<br />
and career in our world. Listening to the<br />
quiet voice of God in the heart (Ignatius<br />
describes it as “weak as a light breath<br />
which scarcely agitates the air”) requires<br />
guidance, encouragement, and time off by<br />
oneself. Offering such guidance has been<br />
Ridout’s role during these years while also<br />
drawing in vowed <strong>Marists</strong>. A major part<br />
of his work was “stirring up” concern for<br />
vocation work among the members of the<br />
Province.<br />
A recent study of groups that acquire<br />
vocations regularly found that prospects<br />
visit communities who: 1) are devoted<br />
to prayer and sharing faith; 2) show<br />
a stunningly clear sense of identity<br />
and values to the Church; 3) show a<br />
“culture of vocations” through the active<br />
participation of all members of the group.<br />
The US Province has been working on<br />
these three goals for many years. The<br />
third element is the most difficult one -<br />
widespread participation in the vocation<br />
work of the province.<br />
Building upon Ridout’s work, we are<br />
moving toward a widespread involvement<br />
of <strong>Marists</strong> in each of the geographic<br />
regions of the Province. With our new<br />
approach, all inquiries about joining<br />
the Society of Mary will initially come<br />
to Marist College in Washington, DC.<br />
Ted Keating, SM and Randy Hoover,<br />
SM will clear the names for probable<br />
contacts/candidates. If a Contact,<br />
being of proper age, seems viable after<br />
one thorough interview, and if he is<br />
clearly close to a region, the regional<br />
vocation coordinator(s) will meet<br />
with him, complete another general<br />
interview, and work toward a clearer<br />
sense of his viability as a future Marist.<br />
During this time the Contact would<br />
be in constant communication with<br />
the regional vocation coordinator and<br />
would be invited to community and<br />
regional celebrations. When the Contact<br />
is prepared to take the next step into<br />
candidacy, he would participate in a Live-<br />
In experience in a Province community in<br />
order to get to know the <strong>Marists</strong> better and<br />
for us to get a better look at the candidate.<br />
The candidate could then be called to<br />
Postulancy in Washington, DC where he<br />
may begin studies, if appropriate. While<br />
the regional coordinators have the lead<br />
role, they can include other local <strong>Marists</strong><br />
in the process at any time, allowing for<br />
active participation of all <strong>Marists</strong> in this<br />
vocation work.<br />
Please keep our new approach in your<br />
prayers.<br />
continued from page 20<br />
in constructive dialogue, community<br />
outreach, and spiritual practice. Like<br />
Mary and her Son, we want our students<br />
to be integrated as individuals and to<br />
understand those who have different and<br />
varied backgrounds or perspectives. Thus<br />
they will be well equipped as they seek to<br />
serve and to lead those in greatest need,<br />
the least favored among us.<br />
Finally, it’s important that we Secure<br />
the Future because we have seen the<br />
transformational power of a Marist<br />
education. We want to make sure that<br />
such an education is accessible as we<br />
continue to support programs and<br />
provide facilities that help us to live our<br />
mission to form the whole person in the<br />
image of Christ. We know that the work<br />
we do to achieve our mission is under the<br />
guidance and protection of our heavenly<br />
Patroness, and we see our mission as<br />
contributing to her work, and we seek to<br />
do it in her way, the Marist way.<br />
While my enjoyment of the strategic<br />
planning process might come as a<br />
surprise, I trust my love of my profession<br />
- education - does not. As Fr. Colin said,<br />
“What a great work education is. It is the<br />
greatest work.” We on school staffs are<br />
humbled to participate in this “second<br />
creation” of the young people who are<br />
entrusted to our care, and the good work<br />
we do at Marist School will continue<br />
and move greatly forward through our<br />
strategic plan.<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2019</strong> 21
Society of Mary School<br />
Sponsorship in the USA<br />
by Joseph Hindelang, SM<br />
Soon after the newly united Province of the Society of Mary<br />
in the U.S. began in 2009, a committee was formed to plan for<br />
the future of Marist educational ministry. The committee was<br />
responsible for looking at current schools of the Marist Fathers<br />
and Brothers as well as those schools which would like to form a<br />
partnership with the Society of Mary.<br />
Father Jean-Claude Colin, Marist founder, saw education of<br />
young people as an important ministry that the Society could<br />
do for the Church and for the world. He reluctantly took on<br />
leadership of the high school Seminary at Belley in France at<br />
the repeated request of his bishop. During the summer Fr. Colin<br />
wrote up educational instructions for the staff and then worked<br />
with them to bring the instructions to life as they interacted<br />
with the students. These brief “Instructions” contain a rich<br />
tradition which Marist Fathers and Brothers have drawn upon<br />
as they established schools in various parts of the world since<br />
the 1830s.<br />
Within two years of arriving in the United States (actually the<br />
Confederate States of America at the time), the Marist Fathers<br />
and Brothers established their first school at Jefferson College in<br />
Louisiana. From 1864 until today, education has been a primary<br />
ministry of the Society of Mary in this country. The philosophy<br />
of education begun by Fr. Colin has been shared with lay faculty<br />
and staff members to benefit the students at Marist schools.<br />
To preserve and build upon the Society of Mary’s philosophy of<br />
education, Ted Keating, SM (former Provincial of the Society of<br />
Mary U.S. Province), and Paul Frechette, SM (current Provincial<br />
of the Society of Mary U.S. Province), invited a group of<br />
educators within the Province to form a committee to work on<br />
the future of Marist education in the USA. With the help of Sean<br />
Sammon, member of the Marist Brothers of the Schools (FMS),<br />
who acted as facilitator and secretary, the committee developed<br />
the following vision and mission.<br />
(Left to Right) Paul Frechette, SM, Kevin Mullally (MS), Joe Hindelang, SM (NDPMA),<br />
Julie Pack (NDPMA), Mike Coveny (MS), Mary Ghisolfo (NDV), Jim Strasz SM<br />
(NDPMA), Bill Rowland, SM (MS)<br />
Vision: To preserve and renew Jean-Claude Colin’s vision for Marist<br />
education and to advance that unique mission into the future.<br />
Mission:<br />
• To provide a framework that will help to preserve and deepen<br />
the fundamental characteristics of our Marist schools;<br />
• To establish guidelines that govern what is to be expected from<br />
those involved with these communities of learning and faith;<br />
• To create a common language and set of actions that can<br />
be used to measure adherence to the larger mission of the<br />
Society of Mary;<br />
• To share our common understanding within the Province<br />
and wider Society of Mary about the spirit that guides and the<br />
principles that animate the programs and progress of schools<br />
within our Marist mission and ministry.<br />
The committee set goals and tasks, chose sub-committees, and<br />
began work. This will be an on-going project with documents<br />
that will evolve and grow as they are implemented by laity<br />
working with <strong>Marists</strong> in schools of the Society of Mary or<br />
sponsored by the Society: Marist School in Atlanta, Georgia<br />
(MS); Notre Dame Prep and Marist Academy in Pontiac,<br />
Michigan (NDPMA); Notre Dame des Victoires in San Francisco,<br />
California (NDV); and Notre Dame Academy in Duluth,<br />
Georgia. At our most recent meeting in March at Marist School,<br />
the committee finalized a document to be used at schools<br />
sponsored by the Society of Mary. The document is a reminder<br />
to these schools of the importance of preserving Catholic and<br />
Marist belief and practice in the daily lives of students and staff,<br />
in addition to all the other important aspects of school life.<br />
This document, “The Relationship Between Sponsored Schools<br />
and the Society of Mary” will be posted on the Province<br />
website, www.societyofmaryusa.org, along with other papers<br />
and documents prepared or gathered by members of the<br />
committee and by various working sub-committees. These<br />
materials can be helpful resources for all of those interested<br />
in the Marist philosophy of education. Since the committee’s<br />
inception, the following people have worked on various aspects<br />
of this project: Mike Coveny (MS); Paul Frechette, SM; Mary<br />
Ghisolfo (NDV); John Harhager, SM (current Vicar General<br />
in Rome); Joe Hindelang, SM (NDPMA); Ted Keating, SM; Ed<br />
Keel, SM (Our Lady of the Assumption, Atlanta, Georgia); Joel<br />
Konzen, SM (current Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of<br />
Atlanta); Kevin Mullaly (MS); Leon Olszamowski, SM (NDPMA);<br />
Julie Pack (NDPMA); Bill Rowland, SM (MS); Sean Sammon,<br />
FMS; John Sajdak, SM (St. Louis King of France, Saint Paul,<br />
Minnesota), and Jim Strasz, SM (NDPMA).<br />
The committee will meet again in September to discuss how to<br />
present materials to administrators and boards of schools that<br />
are currently operated by or sponsored by the Society of Mary.<br />
22 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
DONOR THOUGHTS<br />
Why I Support the <strong>Marists</strong><br />
by Nedom Haley<br />
When I was growing up, my family were members of Sacred<br />
Heart Church, in downtown Atlanta. At that time, the<br />
<strong>Marists</strong> had three parishes in Georgia: Sacred Heart in<br />
downtown Atlanta, Saint Joseph in Marietta, and Saint<br />
Francis Xavier in Brunswick, on the Atlantic coast. As<br />
many Catholic parishes, Sacred Heart had a grammar<br />
school, where I attended through eighth grade.<br />
At the time Sacred Heart Church was adjacent to<br />
Marist High School, then known as Marist College. My<br />
family had several contacts with the <strong>Marists</strong>, including<br />
my grandmother who ran the cafeteria that served both<br />
Sacred Heart grade school and Marist High School. For<br />
several years, my mother was the secretary for two<br />
Marist High School principals, first for Fr. Philip Dagneau,<br />
SM and then for Fr. Vincent Brennan, SM.<br />
My mother, brother, and I lived in a section of my<br />
grandmother’s house; there was no father in the picture. That role was shared by a close<br />
family friend as well as the Marist Fathers. The <strong>Marists</strong> were frequent guests at our house for<br />
Sunday dinner and holidays. They were treated, appropriately, like family.<br />
I belonged to the Scout troop sponsored by Sacred Heart Church, which enjoyed an annual<br />
camping trip to what was then a rural area. Fr. Valentine Becker, SM came to the campsite one<br />
Sunday morning to celebrate Mass and then joined us for a breakfast cooked over a campfire.<br />
The breakfast was hardly edible, but Fr. Becker ate it anyway.<br />
As noted above, the <strong>Marists</strong> had a parish in Brunswick, Georgia, on the coast. Several families,<br />
including mine, would camp at the state park on Jekyll Island, just off the coast at Brunswick.<br />
Fr. Jim Cummings, SM would come out to say Mass on Saturday afternoon, using a picnic table<br />
for the altar, and then joined us for supper (cooked, naturally, on a campfire).<br />
When I was a senior at Marist High School, I was sometimes responsible for answering the<br />
front door and telephone in the Rectory adjacent to the school. The priests would stop by to<br />
inquire how my family was doing. For several years, I served as president of the Sacred Heart<br />
Catholic Youth Organization (CYO).<br />
Next to my immediate family, the <strong>Marists</strong> had a profound influence on everything I did in high<br />
school. I’ll mention that I went to the Marist High School mostly on scholarship.<br />
In short, my life would have probably been much different (for the worse) had it not been<br />
for the presence of the Marist Fathers while I was growing up. I was aware of many others<br />
my age who grew up without a father at home; some never had constructive guidance and<br />
unfortunately had trouble later in life.<br />
My daughter (Marist School class of 1993) has the same affection for Marist School and the<br />
Marist Fathers. She spends her afternoons in the spring as a part-time community coach. Her<br />
daughter was baptized in the school chapel at Marist by Fr. Frank Kissel, SM.<br />
The <strong>Marists</strong> have a strong commitment to service to others as evidenced by such programs<br />
at Marist School as “Reach for Excellence.” The Marist tradition means that it is not enough to<br />
provide for one’s own needs. The Marist Way is to provide for others.<br />
I give to the <strong>Marists</strong> because I want them to continue to do what they do. I do not want the<br />
lack of financial resources to be an impediment to carrying on the Marist Way.<br />
Subscribe now...<br />
Today’s<br />
<strong>Marists</strong><br />
it’s free!<br />
Subscribe for yourself (if not subscribed now) and<br />
give a free gift subscription to someone who will<br />
enjoy receiving this magazine.<br />
You can receive Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine in the<br />
following ways...<br />
Subscription #1<br />
Print Edition by U.S. Mail<br />
Complete and return the subscription<br />
form below.<br />
Electronic PDF Edition by Email<br />
Email: todaysmarists@maristsociety.org and<br />
we will email you each new edition.<br />
Electronic PDF Edition Download<br />
Download the latest or archived edition<br />
from our website: societymaryusa.org<br />
________________________________<br />
NAME<br />
________________________________<br />
ADDRESS<br />
________________________________<br />
CITY STATE ZIP<br />
________________________________<br />
EMAIL<br />
Subscription #2<br />
________________________________<br />
NAME<br />
________________________________<br />
ADDRESS<br />
________________________________<br />
CITY STATE ZIP<br />
________________________________<br />
EMAIL<br />
Mail or Fax to:<br />
Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine<br />
Subscription Department<br />
815 Varnum Street, NE, Washington, DC 20017<br />
Fax: 202-635-4627<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2019</strong> 23
Society of Mary in the U.S.<br />
815 Varnum St, NE<br />
Washington, DC 20017<br />
Non-Profit<br />
U.S.Postage<br />
PAID<br />
Washington, DC<br />
Permit No. 3070<br />
From Scripture to papal documents to poetry to pop culture<br />
references – the” All About Mary” website of the Marianists at the<br />
University of Dayton is true to its name. “This website is the largest<br />
and most comprehensive site about Mother Mary,” says Marianist<br />
Father Johann Roten, SM, director of research, art and special<br />
projects for the Marian Library / International Marian Research<br />
Institute. “It is a wonderful way for people around the world to<br />
learn more about her.”<br />
The University of Dayton’s Marian Library recently launched the “All<br />
About Mary” website - an updated version of the Mary Page, a site<br />
that was initiated two decades ago by Father Roten. The website<br />
puts centuries of information about the world’s most famous<br />
mother at anyone’s fingertips. The intent was to make the site<br />
accessible to anyone with an interest in Mary - a graduate student<br />
researching a thesis, a priest looking for text to support a homily,<br />
a catechist completing a homework assignment, or someone who<br />
simply wants to know why marigolds are named after Mary.<br />
Checkout the website (https://udayton.edu/imri/mary) for :<br />
• Biblical references to Mary<br />
• Devotions, meditations, and liturgical celebrations<br />
• Miracles and apparitions<br />
• Artistic portrayals of Mary<br />
• Mary in film –from “Lord of the Rings” to “Pinocchio”<br />
• Shrines and Churches associated with Mary in the USA and<br />
worldwide<br />
• Information on Mary in popular culture, including Marian<br />
symbols in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”<br />
• Why a parrot is sometimes depicted in artistic works of Mary<br />
Are you or<br />
someone you<br />
know interested<br />
in discerning a call<br />
to priesthood or<br />
brotherhood?<br />
See contact information below.<br />
No commitment necessary.<br />
24 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine