Today's Marists V.5 Issue 3 SPRING 2020
Today’s Spring 2020 Volume 5 | Issue 3 Marists Society of Mary in the U.S.
- Page 2 and 3: Today’s Marists Spring 2020 | Vol
- Page 4 and 5: A Primer for Marist Contemplation a
- Page 6 and 7: Discernment in Family Life by Eliza
- Page 8 and 9: IN THE SPIRIT OF MARY Building Up t
- Page 10 and 11: A Parish’s Response to Laudato Si
- Page 12 and 13: NOTRE DAME DE FRANCE A Marist Paris
- Page 14 and 15: Notre Dame de France, continued fro
- Page 16 and 17: MOVIE REVIEW Have a Great Knowledge
- Page 18 and 19: Compassion for the Forgotten Behind
- Page 20 and 21: MARIST LIFE: Balancing Spirit, Soul
- Page 22 and 23: News Brief In these rapidly changin
- Page 24: Society of Mary in the U.S. 815 Var
Today’s<br />
Spring <strong>2020</strong><br />
Volume 5 | <strong>Issue</strong> 3<br />
<strong>Marists</strong><br />
Society of Mary in the U.S.
Today’s<br />
<strong>Marists</strong><br />
Spring <strong>2020</strong> | Volume 5 | <strong>Issue</strong> 3<br />
Publisher<br />
Editor<br />
Editorial Assistants<br />
Archivist<br />
Editorial Board<br />
Paul Frechette, SM, Provincial<br />
Ted Keating, SM<br />
Elizabeth Ann Flens Avila<br />
Communications Coordinator<br />
Philip Gage, SM<br />
Randy Hoover, SM<br />
Susan Plews, SSND<br />
Susan Illis<br />
Ted Keating, SM, Editor<br />
Thomas Ellerman, SM<br />
Joseph Hindelang, SM<br />
Randy Hoover, SM<br />
Bishop Joel Konzen, SM<br />
Jack Ridout<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 />
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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 />
In this issue...<br />
3 from the Provincial<br />
by Paul Frechette, SM<br />
4 A Primer for Marist Contemplation and<br />
Discernment?<br />
by Ted Keating, SM<br />
6 Discernment in Family Life<br />
by Elizabeth Piper<br />
7 Making that Decision!<br />
by Jack Ridout<br />
Society of Mary of the USA<br />
8 In the Spirit of Mary - Building Up the Local<br />
Church in Bahia, Brazil<br />
by Patrick Francis O’Neil, SM<br />
10 A Parish’s Response to Laudato Si’<br />
by Mark Dannenfelser, et al.<br />
12 Notre Dame de France<br />
by Hubert Bonnet-Eymard, SM and Kevin Duffy, SM<br />
15 The Alumni Program at Marist School in<br />
Atlanta, Georgia<br />
by Mark Kenney, SM<br />
16 Movie Review: Jojo Rabbit<br />
by Brian Cummings, SM<br />
18 Compassion for the Forgotten Behind Bars<br />
by Lauro Arcede, SM<br />
19 Marist Lives: Fr. Stan Hosie, SM<br />
by Ted Keating, SM<br />
20 Marist Life: Balancing Spirit, Soul, Mind<br />
and Body<br />
by Tom Ellerman, SM<br />
21 A Star is Born!<br />
by Leon Olszamowski, SM<br />
22 News Brief<br />
22 Obituary<br />
23 Donor Thoughts: Why I Support the <strong>Marists</strong><br />
by Jack and Lynn Cogan<br />
Marist Center of the West<br />
625 Pine Street, San Francisco, CA 94108-3210<br />
Cover Explanation<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 />
“Descent of the Holy Spirit” by Jason Jenicke, www.jasonjenicke.com<br />
information of interest to friends of the <strong>Marists</strong>. It is refreshed<br />
The cover image is a painting by Jason Jenicke, a young Catholic American artist, who<br />
regularly.<br />
is a painter of New Testament scenes with a special interest in the human figure in<br />
the moment of participation in the scene. We imagine this painting portraying group<br />
discernment as the Holy Spirit descends upon Mary and the Apostles as the birth of<br />
© 2019 by Society of Mary in the U.S. All rights reserved.<br />
the Church. The image presents their response with such embodied vigor and power<br />
that we seem to be invited into the room. From this moment they are driven out to<br />
Printed on partially-recycled stock with a vegetable-based ink mixture.<br />
proclaim the Word to the crowds hearing them “each in his own language.”<br />
Design: 2 Beth Ponticello | CEDC | www.cedc.org<br />
Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
from the Provincial<br />
Fr. Paul Frechette, SM<br />
Reflections on a Challenging<br />
Ministerial Discernment Process<br />
In the Spring 2019 issue (Volume 5, <strong>Issue</strong> 1) of Today’s <strong>Marists</strong><br />
we focused on the theme of discernment. Thomas Green,<br />
SJ, in his classic on the topic, Weeds Among the Wheat (Ave<br />
Maria Press, 1984) defines discernment as “the meeting point<br />
of 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 />
The title of Green’s classic on discernment shows how<br />
challenging the work of sifting the “wheat and weeds” of inner<br />
experience can be, because false and destructive desires are<br />
often mixed together with our greatest hopes for purity. This<br />
sifting can only be done effectively when others are ready to<br />
help “keep us clear.” It involves a boundless humility in our<br />
path to God of which Ignatius himself spoke so frequently.<br />
The <strong>Marists</strong> have recently entered into this challenging<br />
discernment process with the prayerful decision to return Holy<br />
Rosary Parish in Buckhannon, West Virginia to the Diocese of<br />
Wheeling-Charleston in June <strong>2020</strong>. This decision did not come<br />
easily to us because of our rich missionary history serving the<br />
Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston for the past 118 years, and our<br />
love for the people of Holy Rosary Parish. We have reflected<br />
on the situation at Holy Rosary for the past five years. It was<br />
heart breaking for us <strong>Marists</strong> to make this decision since we<br />
have spent some years now threading the eye of the needle and<br />
staying on just as long as we were able, even making sacrifices<br />
elsewhere.<br />
An element considered in this discernment process included<br />
our awareness of the call of Vatican II. Vatican II called for<br />
opening the Church to the longings and call of the baptized to<br />
the Center of the Church and its ministries, even though that<br />
has led to a diminishment in the numbers of vocations to the<br />
religious life. The baptized do not have to become religious to<br />
exercise that role now. So, it is with gratitude to the Spirit for<br />
our long history of ministry and leadership in West Virginia<br />
and our own role in empowering the laity in our ministries<br />
there that we say farewell. We are happy to leave in our wake<br />
there a Vatican II Church with a laity ready and willing to<br />
take up their own challenge from Vatican II. In a sense, “as we<br />
diminish, they increase.” We are confident that the priestly<br />
diocesan leadership in Buckhannon will continue that path.<br />
I met with Bishop Mark Brennan and we discussed the reasons<br />
why the <strong>Marists</strong> needed to return Holy Rosary to the Diocese.<br />
Bishop Brennan expressed deep appreciation for the many<br />
years that the <strong>Marists</strong> have been in the Diocese and valued<br />
how instrumental we had been in the early establishment<br />
of the Diocese. He assured us that a diocesan pastor would<br />
be assigned to Holy Rosary to continue the ministries of the<br />
parish. We are confident that the parishioners will continue<br />
the Marist spirit of thinking, judging, feeling and acting as Mary<br />
in all things.<br />
So, in departing, we dedicate the future here in Buckhannon to<br />
the gracious Providence of God. The parishioners will always<br />
be in our hearts and our love of and closeness to the people will<br />
never end. Through our discernment process in making this<br />
decision, it is our prayer that the Marist Statement of Identity<br />
has become and continues to be a guiding influence for the<br />
parishioners of Holy Rosary.<br />
Spring <strong>2020</strong> 3
A Primer for Marist Contemplation<br />
and Discernment?<br />
Editorial Team<br />
You can say many things about our editorial choices in Today’s<br />
<strong>Marists</strong> but consistency to the point of persistency could be<br />
one of them. This current issue completes two volumes, six<br />
issues in all, unfolding one major theme that emerged from<br />
the September 2017 General Chapter (a world meeting of the<br />
<strong>Marists</strong> in Rome):<br />
“Contemplation as the energy source, the mystical heart<br />
of Marist mission, is intimately linked with our identity<br />
as Marist religious. To form a communion for mission,<br />
we need to deepen the contemplative dimension of<br />
our lives. With Jesus at the center we can, like Mary, be<br />
missionaries of hope.” (2017 General Chapter, 30)<br />
This was a significant moment at the General Chapter as we<br />
looked at the state of the Society of Mary in its Provinces and<br />
Districts throughout the world. The first Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> issue<br />
in Volume 4 (Spring 2018), published after the Chapter,<br />
began with a reflection on the topic of contemplation by<br />
John Larsen, SM, the Superior General. This was followed<br />
by an article by the 2017 Province Retreat Director, Michael<br />
Whelan, SM, of Australia. In his article, “The Marist Way, a<br />
Contemplative Way”, he developed the theme of contemplation<br />
from the writings of our Founder, Jean-Claude Colin. Another<br />
article in this issue, “Mary, Model of Contemplation in<br />
Action” by Ted Keating, SM made use of Fr. Colin’s view of<br />
the contemplative life of Mary as a model for mission and<br />
ministry. Marist Postulant Nik Rodewald, while preparing<br />
for the Novitiate was interviewed by the vocation director,<br />
Jack Ridout. He presented a fresh view of Marist spirituality<br />
that drew him to the <strong>Marists</strong> which was rooted in “breathing<br />
her spirt” – interpreted as what leads <strong>Marists</strong> to living her<br />
life, a contemplative life. Brian Cummings, SM, who treats<br />
us in each issue to a reflection on a current film for spiritual<br />
insight, saw Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri as<br />
a way of capturing Colin’s pastoral insight - that we are not<br />
called to “solve people’s problems” but to “relate to them at<br />
the level of the heart to enter into the mystery of their lives” – a<br />
contemplative path.<br />
The Fall 2018 issue (Volume 4, <strong>Issue</strong> 2) opened with<br />
“<strong>Marists</strong> and the Mysticism of Action” by Ted Keating, SM,<br />
a phrase (borrowed from Jesuit Studies and a favorite of<br />
Fr. Peter Hans Kolvenbach, SM, the Superior General of the<br />
Jesuits) reflecting the great work the Jesuits have done in<br />
renewing St. Ignatius’s original contemplative emphasis. It<br />
also captures Colin’s personal mysticism evident in his life now<br />
shared with us in the new biography of Colin by Justin Taylor,<br />
SM. The Centerspread article in this issue focused on three<br />
<strong>Marists</strong> working in prison ministry in the United States. The<br />
three <strong>Marists</strong> chose unusual ways of naming their ministry<br />
which conveyed a profound insight into what they were<br />
encountering in these locked cells secured by armed guards.<br />
Tony O’Connor, SM, working with imprisoned migrants and<br />
refugees at the United States border titled his ministry, “In My<br />
Prison There are No Criminals.” John Bolduc, SM described the<br />
Suffolk County House of Corrections in Boston, Massachusetts<br />
as “A Temple Where I Feel the Presence of Christ.” Réne Iturbe,<br />
SM, viewed his Marist ministry at numerous California prisons<br />
as being, “An Instrument of Mercy” with convicted inmates<br />
and immigrants, both of whom he befriended and with whom<br />
he formed healing relationships of mercy. Irony, upon irony,<br />
upon irony that reflects a mystical sense of life for these three<br />
men. They see what is there while at the same time see through<br />
what is there. Brian Cummings, SM, writing about the eerie<br />
film Loving Vincent, reflected on Colin’s sense of bringing<br />
about a “new Church” in our chaotic world – “Not as we know<br />
it” – moving beyond our “comfort zone” and drawn by the<br />
freshness of the Spirit into a new reality of a new creation.<br />
The third and final issue of Volume 4 (Winter 2019) took<br />
us into the “explosive power of surprising Hope and<br />
creativity” that a contemplative life brings to our sense<br />
of Mission. A reflection by Ted Keating, SM, “Of Refugees,<br />
Pilgrims, and Caravans” – each of these being journeys rooted<br />
in hope and only made possible by that hope as a discerned<br />
choice over despair and depression in the face of challenges<br />
– presented a keen insight into a central aspect of the identity<br />
of the United States as a nation of immigrants. Gerard Hall,<br />
SM, an Australian Marist theologian, explored the heart of the<br />
integration of contemplation and discernment in ministry<br />
and mission in his article, “Mysticism at the Heart of Marist<br />
Mission.” The dimension of pilgrimage was also demonstrated<br />
in the Centerspread article about the new ministry of the<br />
European Province on the Camino de Santiago, one of the most<br />
ancient and famous pilgrimage routes through France and<br />
Spain. The ministry there is one of hospitality, counsel, a coffee<br />
4 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
or a meal and accompaniment in prayer with “seekers on the<br />
road”. Brian Cummings’s movie reflection was on First Man,<br />
a movie about Neil Armstrong, one of the most famous and<br />
remarkable journeyers to set foot on the moon. Yet for all that,<br />
both Armstrong and his wife, Janet, come across as examples<br />
of people so close to the very heights of human destiny yet who<br />
end up deeply human and almost unaware of this “great step”<br />
for all humankind.<br />
In Volume 5 we took that natural step from contemplation/<br />
mysticism into discernment. If a life of contemplation<br />
in Christ gradually fills our hearts, our minds and our<br />
imaginations with the Presence of God, that presence<br />
drives us to it into the world of suffering humanity. “It is<br />
no longer I who live but Christ Who lives in me.” In the first<br />
issue of Volume 5 (Spring 2019) Ted Keating, SM wrote<br />
the theme article “Contemplation Meeting Action in<br />
Discernment.” He stated, “The world of mystery, prayer, and<br />
faith has to hit the ground in action.” Faithfulness to the God<br />
of our heart is the very meaning of discernment, of where<br />
the will of God leads us in the world. Mary Ghisolfo, former<br />
president of Marist Laity and former principal of École Notre<br />
Dame des Victoires, a school rooted in Marist values, wrote<br />
“Servant Leadership and Marist Values.” Her article showed the<br />
faithful move from prayer and contemplation to service. The<br />
Centerspread focused on the formation of our young <strong>Marists</strong><br />
at the Scholasticate in Rome, Italy, as they are prepared for<br />
Marist life and ministry. Brian Cumming’s reflection on the<br />
film Of Gods and Men described a whole movie of embodied<br />
discernment in the ordinariness of daily life - the true story<br />
of a Trappist monastery in Tiburtine, Algeria. Their life of<br />
contemplation, communal prayer, dialogue and service to the<br />
local Muslim community all factored into the very difficult<br />
group decision to remain in the monastery during the Algerian<br />
Civil War - arriving at the discerned truth that abandoning<br />
their surrounding Muslim community could not possibly<br />
be the right path. They knew they would likely be murdered<br />
by the military and they were. It was one long painful story<br />
of the heart of discernment. The seven Trappist monks were<br />
beatified in 2018. Finally, in this issue, Jack Ridout, the vocation<br />
director, shared the experience of helping many young men<br />
through their process of discernment in “Marist Vocational<br />
Discernment in Today’s World.”<br />
The Fall 2019 issue (Volume 5, <strong>Issue</strong> 2), in a striking<br />
article by Brendan Murphy, a Social Studies teacher at<br />
Marist School in Atlanta, Georgia, shared the critical<br />
role of experience in forming the soul for discernment<br />
in an article based on his Bearing Witness program at<br />
Marist School. He opened with a quote from Murray Linn, a<br />
holocaust survivor, that came from a letter Linn had written<br />
to the students of the program: “It is said that the greatest<br />
journey starts at the heart. In the years to come you will have<br />
a chance to clear the mirage clouding the views, lift the veil<br />
of misconception and serve as a beacon of enlightenment to<br />
humankind. You are a gift of history to our legacy.” Bearing<br />
Witness is a profound program that teaches the students<br />
about the Jewish Holocaust in Germany. Brian Cummings<br />
reflected upon the movie, The Children Act, an adaptation of<br />
an Ian McEwan novel. The movie presented a scandal of good<br />
intentions with painful results - attempting to let the oftenpainful<br />
role of logic and law, which tries to legislate the “good”<br />
for children, - come to be seen as an evil twin of discernment.<br />
Nik Rodewald, while in the Marist novitiate, shared aspects of<br />
his discernment about his decision to take vows as a Marist. He<br />
reflected upon the “power of narratives” - building a vision out<br />
of the stories of which our lives are made, and now looking for<br />
God’s ever-present voice for this next step in that story. Kevin<br />
Duggan, SM, a Campus Minister at Marist College in New York,<br />
reflected on his efforts to help college students make use of<br />
their faith for the important life decisions they face at their age<br />
combined with a culture that can only distort and confuse a<br />
faithful remembrance of what God calls them to in a particular<br />
“vocation.” Ted Keating, SM, in his article, tried to unravel the<br />
misuse of the word “method” when used with discernment.<br />
Discernment is not a method but the surprising finding of a gift<br />
of grace from God - unearned but discovered as a gift waiting<br />
for us in our lives and histories. “I once was blind but now I<br />
see.”<br />
In this issue of Volume 5, we conclude this collaborative effort<br />
of communal discernment to explore, develop and deeply<br />
reflect on one of the key emphases of the Marist General<br />
Chapter. You will find a piece by Elizabeth Piper, a member of<br />
Marist Laity, on the ordinariness of day by day discernment<br />
in families. The Centerspread looks at what discernment<br />
over the course of many years has creatively brought to the<br />
life in Leicester Square in London at Notre Dame de France,<br />
the French Church of London. Here numerous volunteers,<br />
especially many Marist Laity, serve refugees, the homeless,<br />
the hungry, and work with large numbers of youth. This was<br />
a carefully discerned ministerial effort making good use of<br />
one of our earliest parishes. Mark Dannenfelser, the adult<br />
education director for Our Lady of the Assumption parish in<br />
Atlanta, Georgia describes his work in helping adult Catholics<br />
better discern what it means to live in a world more and<br />
more in peril as Pope Francis reminds us in Laudato Sí. Brian<br />
Cummings, SM, brings his skills for faith reflection to the<br />
sometimes-controversial movie Jojo Rabbit, watching specific<br />
acts of love transform the lives of three people under the Nazi<br />
oppression. Can humor in the midst of tragedy be an element<br />
of discernment?<br />
As John Larsen, SM, said early in this collaborative effort: “One<br />
of the most remarkable (and perhaps unexpected) challenges<br />
that arose from our recent General Chapter (2017) was the<br />
clarion call for all <strong>Marists</strong> to live a life of contemplation.” We<br />
hope we can say that Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> in its own small way heard<br />
that the clarion call.<br />
Spring <strong>2020</strong> 5
Discernment in<br />
Family Life<br />
by Elizabeth Piper, World Lay Marist Co-Leader<br />
When I think about<br />
discernment, what<br />
comes to mind is<br />
the talks that we<br />
have with children<br />
about considering<br />
religious life. Such<br />
talks are usually<br />
directed to people<br />
who may be called to<br />
be a priest, brother<br />
or sister, but those of<br />
us that discern that<br />
we are not called to<br />
consecrated religious<br />
life are also called<br />
by God. God calls all<br />
of us. Our job is to<br />
discern God’s unique<br />
invitation to each one of us and how we are to answer this call.<br />
In my life, the form of religious life that I have discerned is one<br />
of laity in the family as a wife and mom. In family life we are<br />
able to pass on our faith to our children by being examples<br />
for them so that our children are able to discern their call. We<br />
continue to discern as lifelong learners in our faith growing<br />
and developing our spirituality.<br />
The first thing my birth mother asked me when we spoke for<br />
the first time in 56 years was “Are you Catholic?” I thought<br />
this was an interesting question since I was not raised in the<br />
Catholic church. My conversion to Catholicism came about<br />
when I started dating my husband, Steve, who regularly<br />
went to church before we went out on Saturday nights. As<br />
our relationship developed, I asked if I could go with him to<br />
church. While at church I would see people leaving for the<br />
RCIA class. RCIA became the way that God connected me to<br />
the church and to my husband. Through this discernment<br />
process of RCIA God called me to be a part of his church and to<br />
live as a married woman with Steve. Though my birth mother<br />
was not Catholic she wanted me to have a life centered in God<br />
and surrounded by community which is what she saw in the<br />
Catholic church. This is also what Steve and I wanted for our<br />
family.<br />
The process of discernment continued in our married life. Are<br />
we called to be parents? How does our work play a role in our<br />
family and faith life? When will we know the best time for our<br />
family to grow? We laid these questions in God’s hands. My<br />
work in a retail clothing store was very unrewarding and I felt<br />
that a change was needed. I tried working in the wholesale<br />
industry and then in childcare. Together Steve and I prayed for<br />
Top Left: Brian Piper’s Confirmation with Jeremy Carson as sponsor and Bishop Joel<br />
Konzen, SM<br />
Top Right: World Marist Laity group<br />
Bottom: Baptism of Miles Carson with his parents Jeremy and Mary Ann Carson and<br />
grandparents Elizabeth and Steve Piper with Rhonda and Dennis Carson<br />
guidance in searching for a vocation. I felt that I was called to<br />
be a teacher, but in college I was told that I could not pursue<br />
this career because I was dyslexic. Working in childcare<br />
allowed me to work with children in a way that gave me an<br />
opportunity to nurture and shape children. God gave me this<br />
gift which I was able to develop through a different path.<br />
Children soon came in God’s time, not our time. We were<br />
blessed with two girls three years apart then five years later<br />
we had two boys, also three years apart. In our growing family<br />
Steve and I chose to make sure that developing our faith was<br />
where we wanted to put our time and energy. Our children all<br />
received the gift of baptism almost as soon as they were born.<br />
6 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
Deciding to raise our children in the<br />
Catholic church has been a huge part of<br />
our lives. In order to provide a faith base<br />
for our children it was important for us<br />
to develop our own faith and to make<br />
sacrifices to make sure that our family<br />
attended Mass each Sunday. This meant<br />
that when we traveled to swim meets<br />
with our son we found a local church to<br />
attend Mass.<br />
Steve and I also became catechists<br />
using the program Catechesis of the<br />
Good Shepherd (CGS), a Montessori<br />
based program centered around the<br />
child building his/her own personal<br />
relationship with God. Each of the three<br />
levels of CGS required a minimum of 90<br />
hours of formation to be a catechist. This<br />
formation for me started off as a way that<br />
I as a parent could bring the faith to my<br />
child though what I discovered was how I<br />
learned from the children. The scriptural<br />
based program allowed the children to<br />
dive deeper into their faith focused on<br />
scripture and sacraments. It also allowed<br />
Steve and I to become lifelong learners of<br />
our faith.<br />
Now that all of our children have become<br />
master catechists and received the<br />
gift of Confirmation, Steve and I are<br />
continuing the development of our faith<br />
through retreats, studies and service.<br />
The Society of Mary (<strong>Marists</strong>) has played<br />
a significant role in our lives. Steve is<br />
an alum of Marist School in Atlanta,<br />
Georgia. When we were dating, we<br />
met other alumni friends at football<br />
games. When we decided to marry it<br />
was officiated by a Marist priest. Three<br />
of our four children also graduated<br />
from Marist School. When my daughter,<br />
Mary Ann, became a lay Marianist, I<br />
was drawn to lay orders. Because of<br />
our connection to the <strong>Marists</strong>, my first<br />
question was, “Could you tell me about<br />
the Lay branch of the <strong>Marists</strong>?” As my<br />
spirituality grew, I needed “more.” There<br />
were others that were also looking and<br />
we connected through Marist Way<br />
activities. This resulted in the growth of<br />
a new community of people with shared<br />
interests based on living the Marist Way.<br />
The thread of Marist values has been<br />
sewn through our family’s life. We as a<br />
Marist family live our faith and pass it on<br />
to our children so that we can all grow to<br />
be lifelong learners by thinking as Mary,<br />
judging as Mary, feeling and acting as<br />
Mary in all things.<br />
Making that<br />
Decision!<br />
by Jack Ridout<br />
When someone is trying to figure out what to do with their life, guidelines can<br />
be helpful.<br />
One possible method of finding one’s way in life can be found in the lyrics<br />
from a song sung by Mother Superior in the Sound of Music, “Climb every<br />
mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow, till you find your dream.”<br />
It might have worked for Maria, but not realistically for everyone.<br />
Making a lifelong decision demands work, and the word lifelong does not<br />
resonate with everyone in today’s world. A job that is lifelong sounds scary<br />
when “choice” is today’s buzz word, and making a choice requires work,<br />
and it can take some time. One needs to put every effort into making this<br />
decision. It’s called discernment, and it can take upwards of a year.<br />
One easy way to get started is called journaling. Whether you are considering<br />
a religious vocation or a secular path, keeping a journal can help in<br />
understanding what makes you think a certain way and can help you see<br />
what a possible path is all about. In a journal, you write down your thoughts<br />
about what you like and dislike and about what brings joy to your life.<br />
Each response will clarify your doubts about your future. Before you can<br />
say YES, you will end up by saying NO a thousand times to either yourself,<br />
others, or things around you in your life. Uncovering your likes and dislikes<br />
makes the final decision a bit easier as you are getting to know yourself and<br />
understanding what makes you tick.<br />
A next step in your discernment would be to talk with someone you trust<br />
about your thoughts. For example, a mentor or teacher can guide you, but<br />
it should be someone who knows you well enough to steer you in the right<br />
direction or answer your questions without being judgmental.<br />
These suggestions will hopefully bring you to better understand your path for<br />
the future. When doubts disappear, clarity can prevail. It will take work - but<br />
it will be worth it. Remember it’s your life. Live it well!<br />
Spring <strong>2020</strong> 7
IN THE SPIRIT OF MARY<br />
Building Up the Local<br />
Church in Bahia, Brazil<br />
by Patrick Francis O’Neil, SM, Member of Marist Mission Community in the District of Brazil<br />
The Mission of the Marist Fathers and<br />
Brothers in Bahia, Brazil began in 1987.<br />
The establishment of this mission came<br />
after time had been spent looking for a<br />
Diocese located in a poor area of Brazil<br />
where the <strong>Marists</strong> could offer support<br />
not only in parish ministry but also to<br />
the Diocese as a whole. The idea was to<br />
re-model our Marist origins in the Bugey<br />
region of southeastern France among the<br />
rural poor during the great absence of<br />
priests from 1825 to 1829. Eventually the<br />
Diocese of Caetité in the southwestern<br />
area of the state of Bahia was chosen.<br />
At the time, the Diocese, which is about<br />
the same size as Holland (about twice<br />
the size of the state of New Jersey), had<br />
35 parishes but only twelve priests.<br />
Today the Diocese has 38 parishes and<br />
40 priests, which includes the Marist<br />
community of four members.<br />
In the beginning of the mission, the<br />
<strong>Marists</strong> worked in the towns of Urandi,<br />
Pindaí, and Sebastião Laranjeiras.<br />
Over time these areas became more<br />
developed. The towns were able to<br />
support a local Brazilian diocesan priest<br />
and were equipped with the necessary<br />
parish infrastructure.<br />
So in 2000 the <strong>Marists</strong> decided to move<br />
120km (74.5 miles) farther west in<br />
the diocese to parishes in the towns<br />
of Palmas de Monte Alto, Iuiú, and<br />
Malhada, located on the banks of the<br />
São Francisco River. These parishes<br />
are among the poorest in the diocese.<br />
Together the three parishes cover an area<br />
of 6,000 square kilometers (2,316 miles)<br />
and have a population of 50,000 people,<br />
of whom 80% are Catholic. In addition to<br />
serving these three towns in the Sertão<br />
of Bahia, the <strong>Marists</strong> also attend to 80<br />
rural communities accessible only by<br />
dirt roads.<br />
The rural populations either have<br />
their own small farms, or they work as<br />
“vaqueiros” (similar to “cowboys”) on<br />
large cattle ranches owned by others.<br />
Many also pick cotton on these large<br />
farms. The agriculture activities center<br />
on yearly subsistence crops of beans,<br />
corn, or cotton. There is also milk<br />
production on some farms, and cattle<br />
raising on the big ranches. In the Sertão<br />
region the per capita income is around<br />
$150.00 (US) a month for those lucky<br />
enough to find work.<br />
Every year, the Sertão area, a semidesert<br />
region, experiences an 8-9 month<br />
period without rain. To help address this<br />
problem, one of the projects the <strong>Marists</strong><br />
began, together with other Catholic<br />
Top: Patrick O’Neil, SM leading Palm Sunday procession<br />
in Fundão, a community of the Iuiu Parish<br />
Bottom: Interior of the Church of Nossa Senhora, Mãe de<br />
Deus e dos Homens<br />
8 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
groups, was the construction of 16,000<br />
liter (4,220 gallon) water tanks to capture<br />
rainwater. One water tank was enough<br />
to provide a family of six with pure<br />
water for drinking and cooking for nine<br />
months. The local Secretary of Health<br />
informed the <strong>Marists</strong> that these water<br />
tanks made a huge difference improving<br />
infant mortality rates, since before this<br />
project families in the region had been<br />
sharing muddy and contaminated water<br />
with farm animals. The project was so<br />
successful that it was adopted by the<br />
Federal Government with the slogan:<br />
“One million water tanks for the people<br />
of the Northeast!”<br />
In addition to serving these three poor<br />
rural parishes, the <strong>Marists</strong> teach a<br />
theology course for laity in Caetité. The<br />
new Bishop, Dom José Roberto Silva<br />
Carvalho, has also entrusted the <strong>Marists</strong><br />
with coordinating Youth Ministry<br />
programs for the whole diocese, and<br />
<strong>Marists</strong> work with other religious and<br />
diocesan clergy to promote vocations.<br />
Over the years, the promotion of<br />
vocations has resulted in four of today’s<br />
eight Brazilian Marist priests coming<br />
from the Sertão region. There are<br />
currently five more young people from<br />
the area at our Marist Seminary in Belo<br />
Horizonte.<br />
Currently the Parish of Nossa Senhora<br />
Mãe de Deus e dos Homens (Our Lady,<br />
Mother of God and Men) in Palmas de<br />
Monte Alto is in the process of becoming<br />
a diocesan Shrine. The church was built<br />
in 1742, and a beautiful statue of Our<br />
Lady came from Portugal that same year,<br />
demonstrating that Marian devotion is<br />
very strong in the region.<br />
The story behind the church is<br />
interesting. The area surrounding<br />
Palmas de Monte Alto was a huge<br />
cattle farm covered in thorny caatinga<br />
vegetation. When it came time for the<br />
annual cattle round-up, the owner,<br />
Francisco Pereira de Barros, realized<br />
that a substantial portion of his herd<br />
was missing. As one strongly devoted<br />
to Our Lady, he made a promise that if<br />
he recovered his cattle, he would build<br />
a church in her honor. And that is what<br />
happened.<br />
In his Last Will and Testament, he<br />
donated his farm to Our Lady for her to<br />
watch over in perpetuity. Although his<br />
wishes were not respected and others<br />
acquired the property over the years,<br />
Mary continues to watch over the region,<br />
and it is fitting that the people here are<br />
now served by the <strong>Marists</strong>.<br />
In the same parish there is a strong<br />
Marist Laity group, and together with the<br />
Marist priests they have begun to form a<br />
support group for families dealing with<br />
the scourge of alcoholism. Due to the<br />
extreme poverty and the depression and<br />
despair that accompany it, alcoholism<br />
is a serious problem in the whole region.<br />
The <strong>Marists</strong> also work with local area<br />
schools in Drug and Alcohol Prevention<br />
programs.<br />
While there is still much to be done in<br />
order to serve the suffering poor of the<br />
Sertão, today’s <strong>Marists</strong>, in the spirit of<br />
Mary and the early pioneers in the Bugey<br />
region, continue working to build up the<br />
local Church and the Kingdom of God.<br />
Top: Church of Nossa Senhora, Mãe de Deus e dos<br />
Homens at a distance<br />
Middle: “Vaqueiros” (cowboys) of the region wearing<br />
typical leather clothing to protect them from the thorns<br />
of the Caatinga, a type of desert vegetation<br />
Bottom: A typical means of transportation in the region<br />
Spring <strong>2020</strong> 9
A Parish’s Response<br />
to Laudato Si’<br />
by Mark Dannenfelser, Jim Duffy, SM, Maria Massey, Suzanne Degnats, Suzanne Ernst, Chris Thompson,<br />
Cindy Thompson, Janis Niesse, and Lisa Cordell<br />
A Beginning<br />
In the Fall of 2012, fifteen parishioners<br />
from Our Lady of the Assumption Church<br />
(OLA) in Atlanta, Georgia gathered in the<br />
parish library to begin a comprehensive<br />
study and prayerful discussion of the<br />
Church’s rich body of teachings on<br />
social justice. The group used materials<br />
designed by JustFaith Ministries, an<br />
organization that provides resources to<br />
help people respond to the Gospel’s call<br />
to love, peace and justice for all. Over the<br />
course of 30 weeks the group read several<br />
books on Church teaching, engaged in<br />
lively discussion, and prayed together.<br />
As the weeks progressed discussions<br />
focused on social action and the question<br />
emerged: “What is mine to do?”<br />
Through prayerful and informed<br />
discernment, members moved into<br />
action. Some started teaching in<br />
the Dreamers Program, a ministry<br />
held nearby at Marist School, where<br />
immigrants take classes leading to GEDs<br />
and college credits. Others became<br />
involved in prison ministry. Eventually<br />
with the support of the pastor, Fr.<br />
Jim Duffy, SM, the Justice and Peace<br />
Ministry (JPM) was established at OLA.<br />
The ministry’s mission is to educate,<br />
advocate and live the seven principles<br />
of Catholic Social Teaching (Life and<br />
Dignity of the Human Person; Call to<br />
Family, Community, and Participation;<br />
Rights and Responsibilities; Option for the<br />
Poor and Vulnerable; Dignity of Work and<br />
Rights of Workers; Solidarity; Care for God’s<br />
Creation). The newly formed ministry<br />
team sponsored a weekend on capital<br />
punishment, which included showing a<br />
video presentation by Archbishop Wilton<br />
Gregory (former Archbishop of Atlanta)<br />
discussing capital punishment at all<br />
Sunday Masses. The deacons preached on<br />
it while the team shared literature after<br />
Mass clarifying the Church’s position.<br />
In 2014, the JPM began holding monthly<br />
Fair Trade sales, selling Catholic Relief<br />
Services (CRS) certified coffee, tea and<br />
chocolate. With the help of the JPM, the<br />
parish also supported small cooperatives,<br />
ensuring that farmers earned a fair wage.<br />
Using the profits from the Fair Trade sales,<br />
the JPM commissioned Food for the Poor<br />
to build 4 new homes in Central America.<br />
This program continues today with more<br />
homes scheduled to be built in the future.<br />
Additionally, the ministry holds an<br />
annual drive to support Stand Up for Kids,<br />
an organization that helps homeless and<br />
street kids in cities across America.<br />
Laudato Si’<br />
In June of 2015 Pope Francis released<br />
his environmental encyclical, Laudato<br />
Si’, or “Praised Be.” This important<br />
document inspired the OLA JPM ministry<br />
to increase and expand its effort to bring<br />
love, peace and justice for all; all people,<br />
all creatures and all of creation. As the<br />
ministry focused its vision around caring<br />
for our common home, it also deepened<br />
its reflection on what it means to love, and<br />
how this spiritual practice of caring for<br />
one another and caring for all of creation<br />
leads us to a deeper relationship with the<br />
One who is Creator of all.<br />
During this time Archbishop Gregory<br />
responded to Laudato Si’ with a letter<br />
to parishes in the Atlanta Archdiocese<br />
in which he wrote “There are no easy<br />
or facile solutions to the challenges we<br />
face to protect and preserve resources<br />
that belong to all of humanity.” The<br />
Archbishop asked that all of us “carefully<br />
review what Pope Francis said in the<br />
encyclical and more importantly to<br />
consider what each of us might do to<br />
respond to this concern which touches<br />
us all.” The Archbishop then engaged the<br />
University of Georgia in Athens (UGA) to<br />
help devise an action plan for Georgia.<br />
Top: JPM and the Creation Care Ministry members<br />
during contemplative Centering Prayer<br />
Bottom: OLA Just Faith garden<br />
The “Laudato Si’ Action Plan,” authored<br />
by UGA professors and staff, contains<br />
a variety of options for parishes to help<br />
reverse the threat of global climate<br />
change and environmental degradation,<br />
and to create a more sustainable world in<br />
harmony with God.<br />
This development inspired OLA’s JPM<br />
to conduct a class on Laudato Si’ for all<br />
parishioners. As a direct result of the<br />
course, OLA formed a Care for Creation<br />
team to implement the Archdiocesan<br />
action plan locally. As a first step the<br />
team is hoping to participate in an<br />
archdiocesan-sponsored energy, water,<br />
and waste audit conducted by Georgia<br />
10 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
Interfaith Power and Light (GIPL).<br />
Looking for ways to make the parish<br />
more environmentally friendly is already<br />
happening. Additionally, the Creation<br />
Care team intends to participate in<br />
a local annual effort to clean up the<br />
Chattahoochee River. During Lent the<br />
team organized a parish-wide prayer<br />
service, conducting the Stations of the<br />
Cross service in Light of Laudato Si’. The<br />
service invited participants to reflect on<br />
both the passion and the suffering of the<br />
entirety of creation. Increasing education<br />
is an important concern for the team. The<br />
Creation Care team members provide<br />
information on the implementation of<br />
Laudato Si’ and inform parishioners about<br />
opportunities for service at OLA and other<br />
environmental service organizations.<br />
Some of the members attended the Green<br />
Summit given by GIPL for interfaith<br />
inspiration and information.<br />
The OLA parish school has also made<br />
tremendous strides enacting the Laudato<br />
Si’ Action Plan. It began to incorporate<br />
the main themes of Laudato Si’ within the<br />
curriculum in April 2017 and held an inservice<br />
course for the teachers and staff.<br />
The school is engaging these themes in<br />
many ways throughout the curriculum.<br />
Students in science class work to calculate<br />
their carbon footprint. They then<br />
determine and promote ways to reduce it.<br />
Literature teachers have added the book<br />
“A Long Walk to Water” to the required<br />
summer reading list, exposing students<br />
to global environmental issues. The<br />
school recycles aluminum, plastic, and<br />
paper with the help of a student Recycling<br />
Club. Older students travel off-site to<br />
work in community gardens and prepare<br />
meal kits for clinics. Several students<br />
visit terminal cancer patients at nursing<br />
homes, while others visit and play with<br />
children with special needs.<br />
In 2018, OLA Catholic School built an<br />
addition, which includes a new cafeteria<br />
and kitchen. The cafeteria serves lunches<br />
on permanent plates and flatware,<br />
which are cleaned with a water-saving<br />
automatic dishwasher. The students<br />
planted a garden on school grounds, and<br />
the cafeteria incorporates the harvest<br />
in meal preparation. When designing a<br />
new addition, the school opted to install<br />
a variable refrigerant flow (VRF) heating<br />
and cooling system, which is expected to<br />
lower energy costs by fifty percent.<br />
Going Forth<br />
Alongside all of this important action and<br />
behavior change, there has also been an<br />
effort to learn and reflect; to change our<br />
hearts. Many members of the JPM and<br />
the Creation Care Ministry have been<br />
deepening their prayer lives, especially<br />
in the tradition of contemplative prayer.<br />
Community members are seeing the<br />
link between contemplation and action,<br />
experiencing the transformation that<br />
takes place while praying the prayer of the<br />
heart, and seeing more deeply our interrelatedness<br />
to the entirety of creation.<br />
During contemplative practices such<br />
as Centering Prayer, Adoration, Lectio<br />
Divina, we put on the mind of Christ and<br />
begin to experience our relationship with<br />
God and our concerns for equality, justice<br />
and the non-discrimination of people and<br />
the planet as intimately related.<br />
Increasing education and action<br />
regarding care for creation has been<br />
both inspiring and challenging. In a<br />
recent homily by Jim Duffy, SM, we were<br />
reminded about our core beliefs and the<br />
challenges associated with following<br />
them. Fr. Jim preached on the text,<br />
Matthew 5: 38-48, and said, “I believe<br />
this passage is one of the cornerstones of<br />
Christianity and it is difficult to live out,<br />
but that is precisely what we are to do. We<br />
are called to non-violence by word and<br />
deed. We are called to care for each other<br />
and for God’s creation. To work for justice<br />
and equality for all. This is difficult to do,<br />
but it marks us as Christians.”<br />
Spring <strong>2020</strong> 11
NOTRE DAME DE FRANCE<br />
A Marist Parish Committed to<br />
Evangelizing Through Word & Action<br />
by Hubert Bonnet-Eymard, SM and Kevin Duffy, SM<br />
Notre Dame de France (NDF) is a parish<br />
in Soho, London (Leicester Square) that<br />
will celebrate its 155th anniversary in<br />
<strong>2020</strong>. Known as the French Catholic<br />
Church in London, NDF began in 1865<br />
after Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman, the<br />
first Archbishop of Westminster, asked<br />
the Society of Mary (<strong>Marists</strong>) to create a<br />
mission parish for the French community<br />
in London. By 1868, the church mission<br />
focused on meeting the needs of poor<br />
French inhabitants of Leicester Square<br />
and grew to include a hospital, an<br />
orphanage, and two schools that were<br />
run by the Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul<br />
(Daughters of Charity).<br />
It has not been an easy road for the parish<br />
ever since its beginnings. The church<br />
was destroyed by two bombs during<br />
the Battle of Britain (the German Blitz)<br />
in 1940. After the war the church was<br />
rebuilt and decorated to be a showcase<br />
of contemporary French art. The fresco<br />
in the church, by French muralist Jean<br />
Cocteau, attracts many visitors each<br />
year. This fresco is mentioned in Dan<br />
Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. In addition to<br />
the art, the Cavaillé Coll organ, built by<br />
August Gern, attracts numerous tourists<br />
and music lovers to the church. NDF<br />
parish prospered in the years following<br />
its rebuilding as additional programs<br />
were created to meet the growing<br />
demands of parishioners. Over time the<br />
specifically French parish of NDF became<br />
predominantly a parish for French<br />
speakers, especially immigrants from<br />
Mauritius.<br />
Despite the growth of the parish, the<br />
<strong>Marists</strong> had to withdraw from NDF in<br />
1987 due to a shortage of personnel in the<br />
Society of Mary. Five years later, however,<br />
the <strong>Marists</strong> returned after the general<br />
administration of the Society of Mary<br />
established an international community<br />
for serving NDF. This community of<br />
<strong>Marists</strong> was composed then of Clive Birch<br />
(England), Walter Gaudreau (United<br />
States), and Paul Walsh (Ireland).<br />
Today NDF, under the authority of the<br />
Marist Province of Europe, is one of<br />
the primary projects of the province.<br />
The Marist community of the parish<br />
continues to be international, and is<br />
currently comprised of Pascal Boidin<br />
(France), Hubert Bonnet-Eymard<br />
(France), Damien Diouf (Senegal), Kevin<br />
Duffy (England), and Ivan Vodopivec<br />
(England). Moreover, since 2012 the<br />
Missionary Sisters of the Society of<br />
Mary (SMSM) have shared in the parish<br />
mission and currently supply two<br />
sisters, Emmanuelle Fuchs (France) and<br />
Anne Suman Lata (Fiji), to work in the<br />
ministries there.<br />
Over the years, the considerable growth of<br />
French-speaking immigrants in London<br />
has called for increased pastoral services<br />
at Notre Dame de France. This has led to<br />
the creation of new ministerial groups<br />
and programs in the parish. NDF is a<br />
12 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
unique parish in that the parishioners<br />
do not share a residential area where<br />
they live but a language. Together with<br />
various laypeople, the NDF community<br />
shares a mission that is complex, diverse,<br />
and in constant evolution as we attend<br />
to the various needs of the people, with<br />
a particular focus on the poor and the<br />
young.<br />
Notre Dame Refugee Centre<br />
The Notre Dame Refugee Centre (NDRC)<br />
(www.notredamerc.org.uk) has been<br />
working with refugees and asylum<br />
seekers for more than 20 years, thanks to<br />
the generosity of Londoners who share<br />
our goals and beliefs.<br />
The Refugee Centre was originally<br />
established by NDF in 1996 in response to<br />
changes in asylum and immigration law.<br />
In 2007 Notre Dame Refugee Centre was<br />
registered as an independent charity.<br />
While many visitors are French speaking,<br />
we have welcomed people from 98<br />
different countries over the five past<br />
years. The Centre is run by five parttime<br />
staff members and a team of 40<br />
volunteers. Four of our consultants are<br />
currently accredited by the Office of<br />
the Immigration Services Commission<br />
(OISC).<br />
One of our visitors who was aided by the<br />
services at NDRC previously spent years<br />
sleeping on London buses. Today he has<br />
shelter and works at the refugee Centre.<br />
He was recently featured in a BBC article<br />
that had over three million hits on one<br />
day. You can read the full article at:<br />
www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-50459821.<br />
It is because of the commitment of the<br />
staff, volunteers and donors, that we are<br />
able to offer emotional and practical<br />
support to people who often find the<br />
doors closed to them elsewhere.<br />
Sandwich Service<br />
The Sandwich service is open every<br />
Saturday from 12:30pm to 2:30pm.<br />
Volunteers arrive at 10:30am to set up<br />
tables and chairs and prepare sandwiches<br />
that will later be served with pizza,<br />
soup, tea, coffee, cakes and fruit. The<br />
volunteers work to make the area a<br />
welcoming place. Each Saturday we<br />
welcome between 100 to 140 guests from<br />
all different backgrounds - anyone with<br />
broken relationships and those who find<br />
life difficult.<br />
Cosme, one of the volunteers at the<br />
Sandwich service wrote: “The Sandwich<br />
service at Notre Dame de France is a<br />
special place. My friend Laure told me a<br />
continues on page 14<br />
Top p.12: Celebration of Mass at Notre Dame de France<br />
Top Left: Notre Dame de France Refugee Centre volunteers<br />
Top Right: Notre Dame de France parish<br />
Middle Left: Marist community at NDF: (Left to right) Kevin Duffy,<br />
SM, Pascal Boidin, SM, Damien Diouf, SM, Hubert Bonnet-Eymard,<br />
SM, Ivan Vodopivec, SM<br />
Middle Right: Spirit in the City attendees<br />
Bottom: Notre Dame de France volunteers<br />
Spring <strong>2020</strong> 13
Notre Dame de France, continued from page 13<br />
few years ago at a time when I was looking<br />
to give some of my time to help others.<br />
I had been somewhat reluctant to go as<br />
it meant waking up earlier than usual<br />
on a Saturday morning to go and meet<br />
homeless people. I feared it might make<br />
me feel uncomfortable: What would I say<br />
to them? How should I speak? How could<br />
I really help? One day I simply decided<br />
to go, and since then I have always<br />
wondered why I hadn’t joined the service<br />
earlier. This has been a blessing for me<br />
in so many ways. I soon realized that the<br />
sandwich service is not so much about<br />
the food. It is more about encounter. It is a<br />
means to renew relationships and create a<br />
nest, a familiar place for those who don’t<br />
have one. And, for all of us, this is a place<br />
to encounter the living God. When I tried<br />
to explain the needs of our guests to my<br />
eight-year-old niece, she summarized it<br />
beautifully: “in fact, they just need love.”<br />
When the Marist community organized<br />
a day of training for volunteers, I was<br />
struck by this sentence: “This is not a<br />
place to solve their problem; this is a<br />
place that creates the conditions for their<br />
problems to be solved.” Like a harbor for<br />
a distressed ship, this is a place where<br />
one finds the support, energy and light<br />
to go forward. This service, ostensibly for<br />
the purpose of distributing sandwiches,<br />
allows us to create a link, a connection,<br />
to reach out to the vulnerable. And, by<br />
so doing, it makes the ordinary become<br />
extraordinary. It just happens that one<br />
does not notice it immediately.” (Read<br />
more at: https://bit.ly/2xrGQgS)<br />
Youth Programs<br />
The Youth Chaplaincy is for students at<br />
the two French high schools in the city<br />
(Charles de Gaulle and Winston Churchill),<br />
as well as eight other schools in London<br />
for French speakers. A large team made<br />
up of parents, Marist religious and<br />
laypeople work with these young people.<br />
Catechesis and sacramental preparation<br />
are offered for the younger students.<br />
The older students can attend group<br />
discussions and participate in trips to<br />
the ecumenical monastery of Taizé, to<br />
Jambville (a youth center in a great forest<br />
near Paris with a focus on Scouting),<br />
to the shrine of Lourdes, and to youth<br />
gatherings run by the Parisian dioceses.<br />
Scout Groups<br />
Thanks to the work of numerous parents,<br />
there are flourishing scout groups<br />
with about 300 boys and girls involved.<br />
Although the two groups are distinct,<br />
they work well together.<br />
Young Adult Programs<br />
There is a significant number of young<br />
adults who attend NDF. The Gaudete<br />
group brings together students and young<br />
professionals who want to live, share<br />
and grow in their faith. The group meets<br />
twice a month and focuses on a particular<br />
theme for the year. This year the group is<br />
using Pope Francis’ document, Christus<br />
Vivit, published after the Synod on Young<br />
People, as they pursue their theme on<br />
prayer and friendship.<br />
Marriage Preparation<br />
Each year more than a hundred couples,<br />
where at least one of the partners<br />
is French-speaking, complete their<br />
preparation for marriage at NDF. While<br />
the wedding usually takes place in their<br />
countries of origin, the NDF team of<br />
laypeople and Marist priests accompany<br />
the couples in their preparation.<br />
West End Mission<br />
NDF is a city center mission. The West<br />
End Mission is made up of two programs,<br />
Spirit in the City and Night Church, and<br />
is part of NDF’s evangelizing ministries.<br />
The purpose of the Mission is to give<br />
witness to Christ and to the Gospel based<br />
on the belief that “only the Lord answers<br />
the deepest yearnings of the human<br />
heart.”<br />
Spirit in the City is the best-known<br />
initiative of the West End Mission. This<br />
is an annual summer festival of Catholic<br />
evangelization that takes place in<br />
Leicester Square, the heart of London’s<br />
entertainment district. The goal of the<br />
celebration is to share the Good News<br />
of God’s love with everyone. Different<br />
Catholic parishes and other Christian<br />
groups come together to evangelize in<br />
various ways. The festival, which will<br />
take place on June 6th this year, includes<br />
live music, workshops, adoration of the<br />
Blessed Sacrament, street evangelization,<br />
and opportunities for prayer. Visit<br />
www.spiritinthecity.org to learn more<br />
about the festival.<br />
Night Church is a simple form of<br />
evangelization following models from<br />
Lutheran churches in Copenhagen,<br />
Denmark. People from any religion, or<br />
no religion, are invited to light a candle<br />
in a church where there is live music and<br />
where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed.<br />
For many, it is a moving and unexpected<br />
experience and offers an opportunity for<br />
people to encounter God in a different<br />
way.<br />
To read more about the various ministries<br />
at Notre Dame de France, visit our website<br />
at: www.ndfchurch.org/en.<br />
We Appreciate Your Donation!<br />
We ask for your prayers for this ministry. If you are able to help<br />
financially, please use the envelope in this magazine to send your<br />
gift. Please write “Notre Dame de France” on the inner flap of the<br />
envelope. Thank you for your generosity!<br />
NDF volunteers making connections with those in need<br />
14 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
The Alumni Program<br />
at Marist School in Atlanta, Georgia<br />
by Mark Kenney, SM, Alumni Chaplain, Marist School<br />
My first assignment at Marist School took<br />
place while I was a seminarian. During my<br />
apostolic years, 1973-1975, I taught science<br />
to students in eighth and tenth grades.<br />
At that time the student body numbered<br />
around 800 students with a faculty/staff<br />
of about seventy, and there was no alumni<br />
program in existence. Today, forty-five<br />
years later, the student body numbers<br />
1100 with a faculty/staff around two<br />
hundred along with an alumni program<br />
that thrives. I currently have the enriching<br />
experience of serving as chaplain to the<br />
Marist School alumni community.<br />
In order to understand how this alumni<br />
ministry functions, it is necessary to<br />
understand the structure of the alumni<br />
program at Marist School. It is truly<br />
collaborative effort involving laity,<br />
clergy, and alumni members. The yearly<br />
alumni program is given shape in two<br />
ways: activities planned by the Alumni<br />
Board and a prearranged set of social<br />
activities that occur each year. The Board<br />
consists of fifty-seven members and<br />
nine emeritus members. The Board is<br />
governed by an Executive Committee<br />
composed of the President, four directors,<br />
and five Vice-Presidents that chair the<br />
five standing committees of the Alumni<br />
Board. These five committees are:<br />
Annual Fund, Membership, Leadership<br />
Development, Service and Spirituality,<br />
and Special Events. These committees<br />
represent those aspects that are deemed<br />
most important as on-going concerns of<br />
the Alumni Board. Each member of the<br />
Board is assigned to one of the standing<br />
committees. Membership on the Board is<br />
generally on a volunteer basis. This year<br />
so many alumni volunteered that those<br />
who were not appointed to the Board were<br />
named associate members.<br />
As mentioned above, the Alumni Office<br />
sponsors several social and spiritual<br />
events every year in order to provide<br />
opportunities for alumni to gather. The<br />
first event takes place in September,<br />
during one of the first home football<br />
games of the year, with a social involving<br />
the families of the alumni. Homecoming,<br />
an event that occurs in October, begins<br />
with the Half Century Club reception.<br />
This gathering includes all alumni who<br />
graduated from Marist School fifty or<br />
more years ago. The reception is followed<br />
by dinner and the homecoming football<br />
game. In December there is a luncheon<br />
for the newest alumni, those who<br />
graduated from Marist School within the<br />
last two or three years. Towards the end<br />
of January, the Service and Spirituality<br />
committee set aside time for some type<br />
of retreat experience, ranging from a day<br />
of reflection to an overnight experience<br />
at a local retreat house. This committee<br />
also plans a service project in which<br />
alumni can participate. A major alumni<br />
event in February is the annual Mass of<br />
Remembrance commemorating all the<br />
alumni who have died in the past year.<br />
During the month of April, the Alumni<br />
Awards Luncheon is held during which<br />
three awards are given to alumni. These<br />
awards include: The Distinguished<br />
Alumni Award, the Outstanding Young<br />
Alumni Award, and the Rev. James L.<br />
Hartnett, SM Service Award. All these<br />
awards are given to alumni who are<br />
recognized for their service to the local<br />
community and the Marist School<br />
community. The last weekend in April,<br />
Reunion Weekend, marks the highpoint of<br />
the year in terms of alumni activities, with<br />
certain class years designated to celebrate<br />
reunions. The weekend festivities<br />
span five days and include a barbeque,<br />
individual receptions for reunion classes,<br />
a golf tournament, and a Mass for the<br />
entire Marist School community.<br />
The final alumni event of the year occurs<br />
in June with a reunion of all the alumni<br />
who attended the Ivy Street campus<br />
of Marist School before it moved to its<br />
present location on Ashford Dunwoody<br />
Road in 1963. In addition to these major<br />
annual events, there are a variety of<br />
smaller prayer and discussion groups that<br />
meet on a monthly basis.<br />
Mass of Remembrance celebrated by Mark Kenney, SM<br />
I have found this alumni program to<br />
present one of the finest examples of<br />
collaborative ministry in the spirit of the<br />
Second Vatican Council. Clergy and laity<br />
work together on several levels. As the<br />
alumni chaplain I work with the two lay<br />
members of the alumni office. At weekly<br />
team meetings, we share what we have<br />
done during the week and present various<br />
ways we can help each other to be more<br />
effective in our common ministry to the<br />
alumni. I also work with the laity, the<br />
alumni, by developing and executing<br />
programs for them and pastorally through<br />
visiting sick alumni, offering support at<br />
the time of death of relatives and fellow<br />
alumni, and helping them grow in their<br />
individual spiritual lives. After teaching<br />
Scripture for the last thirteen years, being<br />
alumni chaplain at Marist School has<br />
helped me to develop and enrich another<br />
aspect of my ministry as a Marist priest.<br />
The alumni program at Marist School is<br />
well established and quite extensive. At<br />
present, there are about 10,000 Marist<br />
School alumni throughout the world with<br />
about 6,000 in Atlanta. A school that has<br />
been in existence for 118 years has a lot of<br />
alumni and Marist School takes good care<br />
of them.<br />
Spring <strong>2020</strong> 15
MOVIE REVIEW<br />
Have a Great Knowledge of the<br />
Human Heart<br />
Prayerful Reflection with the Movie Jojo Rabbit<br />
by Brian Cummings, SM, Director, Pā Maria Marist Spirituality Centre, Wellington, New Zealand<br />
Jojo Rabbit, directed<br />
by Taika Waititi, is a<br />
challenging film on<br />
many levels.<br />
Winner of the<br />
Academy Award this<br />
year for Best Adapted<br />
Screenplay (and<br />
nominated in five<br />
other categories), and<br />
winner of the People’s<br />
Choice Award at<br />
the 2019 Toronto<br />
International Film<br />
Festival, Jojo Rabbit has also been called<br />
“bland and misjudged” (Peter Bradshaw,<br />
The Guardian) – and that would be one<br />
of the milder criticisms. It is very much a<br />
movie that has divided critics around the<br />
world.<br />
Part of the challenge lies in the film’s<br />
subject matter – Hitler and the Nazis –<br />
and part of the challenge lies in the fact<br />
that it is a satire. Humor, in whatever<br />
format, is always divisive because<br />
appreciation of it lies in what the viewer<br />
considers to be funny (in this case,<br />
satirical) rather than objectively in the<br />
subject matter or the way it is treated.<br />
A significant challenge of the movie<br />
is that it doesn’t allow its audience to<br />
remain unengaged but rather demands<br />
responses on several levels including the<br />
intellectual and the emotional.<br />
Based loosely (and tonally very<br />
differently) on Christine Leunens’ 2008<br />
novel ‘Caging Skies’, Jojo Rabbit is set in<br />
the closing stages of World War II.<br />
It centers around a 10-year-old boy,<br />
Johannes (Jojo) Betzler, who struggles<br />
to participate enthusiastically in all<br />
aspects of “entertainment” at a Hitler<br />
Youth’s Special Training Weekend. The<br />
command that finally breaks Jojo’s<br />
resolve is to kill a rabbit – something he<br />
is unable to do - and so he is mockingly<br />
given the name Jojo Rabbit.<br />
He finds comfort in talking to his<br />
imaginary best friend, Adolf Hitler<br />
(played by Waititi). Strengthened in his<br />
desire to serve the Führer, he returns to<br />
the group and seizes a grenade – but the<br />
only damage done is to himself when it<br />
explodes.<br />
Effectively thrown out of the Camp, Jojo<br />
– at his mother’s (Scarlett Johansson)<br />
insistence - finds himself working for the<br />
Camp coordinator, Captain Klenzendorf<br />
(Sam Rockwell), doing such things as<br />
distributing propaganda pamphlets.<br />
Since he cannot join the others who<br />
are participating in the Hitler Youth<br />
in training, Jojo finds himself home<br />
alone more in his spare time. It is while<br />
at home one day that he discovers his<br />
mother’s secret – she is hiding a Jewish<br />
girl, Elsa, (Thomasin McKenzie) in a<br />
secret place in the house.<br />
His mother retains her faith in the<br />
essential goodness of her son – despite<br />
his apparent enthusiasms for fascist<br />
beliefs – and tells him “Love is the<br />
strongest thing in the world.”<br />
And so begins Jojo’s real growth.<br />
While this is the subject matter of the<br />
film – it is how Waititi deals with it that<br />
particularly presents challenges.<br />
Those familiar with his work (Thor:<br />
Ragnarok, Hunt for the Wilderpeople,<br />
Boy, What We Do in the Shadows) will<br />
be aware that his is a very personalized<br />
view of the world. They will also know<br />
that humor is his preferred form of<br />
expression.<br />
Possibly New Zealanders find Waititi’s<br />
sense of humor easier to relate to – but<br />
his artistic expression is much more<br />
than localized to the South Pacific. As<br />
well as being of Maori origin (indigenous<br />
Polynesian people of New Zealand),<br />
Waititi is also of Jewish descent -<br />
and that combination allows him a<br />
particularly unique approach to what<br />
is inevitably highly sensitive subject<br />
matter.<br />
Is it permissible – or acceptable – to treat<br />
Hitler as a complete idiot not to be taken<br />
seriously and to immediately ridicule the<br />
Nazis by beginning with the sounds of<br />
the Beatles singing a German cover of “I<br />
Wanna Hold Your Hand” as a backdrop<br />
to thousands of Nazis saluting the<br />
Führer?<br />
Waititi, of course, is not the first director<br />
to adopt a “different” approach to<br />
the horrors of Nazism. Mel Brooks<br />
(The Producers), Quentin Tarantino<br />
(Inglourious Basterds), Roberto Benigni<br />
(Life is Beautiful), to name a few, have<br />
all tried “alternative” portrayals with<br />
varying reactions amongst audiences<br />
and critics.<br />
We know of Hitler’s evil and that of the<br />
Nazis – but can we view them in any way<br />
other than with horror and revulsion?<br />
Waititi would suggest that not only can<br />
we, but we must: “We have to find new<br />
and inventive ways to tell the story and<br />
to move forward with love.” (cf. Stuff, 16<br />
September 2019)<br />
That is the core challenge put to the<br />
audience when viewing and reflecting<br />
on Jojo Rabbit and it is a challenge that<br />
we can approach in a particularly Marist<br />
way.<br />
16 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
A key concept for our Founder Jean-<br />
Claude Colin in forming his <strong>Marists</strong> was:<br />
“Have a great knowledge of the human<br />
heart and find the key to the human<br />
heart. You must win people’s esteem, and<br />
their heart, in order to win them over.”<br />
We are all aware of the truth of that<br />
admonition – we’ve seen it over the years<br />
in our ministries and in our experiences.<br />
In one way or another if we live long<br />
enough, we come to see the truth that<br />
more people are won over by love and<br />
understanding than they are by rational<br />
arguments alone.<br />
But there is a deeper truth behind what<br />
the Founder is saying than only what<br />
we have witnessed or experienced in<br />
our dealings with others. The first – and<br />
essential – heart that we must have a<br />
great knowledge of is our own.<br />
How open is our own heart to the “new?”<br />
How much are we willing to risk in order<br />
to move forward with love? How much<br />
have we closed off in our heart because<br />
of past hurts and losses? How defensive<br />
have we become in order to protect our<br />
heart from further pain or from our<br />
fears? How much do we live only out of<br />
our intellect rather than also out of our<br />
heart?<br />
In terms of the movie, this is where Jojo<br />
is taken as he interacts with his mother,<br />
his friend Yorki (Archie Yates), Elsa,<br />
Captain Klenzendorf, his “formator” in<br />
the Nazi youth camp and with Hitler, his<br />
imaginary friend.<br />
Over the course of movie, Jojo changes<br />
and grows in how he views his world and<br />
the people who inhabit it – “The parallel<br />
between the imaginary friend who is<br />
actually a monster and the girl he’s been<br />
told is a monster but is actually a friend<br />
….” (Brian Tallerico, Roger Ebert, 18<br />
October 2019)<br />
And so, amidst all the questions posed in<br />
Jojo Rabbit, a key question for <strong>Marists</strong> is:<br />
How willing are we to explore our own<br />
heart and to have a great knowledge of<br />
it? Like viewing and reflecting on Jojo<br />
Rabbit, it is challenging – perhaps even<br />
frightening – territory to venture into.<br />
However, it will also allow us to find new<br />
ways of telling the story of our life and to<br />
move forward in love.<br />
Spring <strong>2020</strong> 17
Compassion for the<br />
Forgotten Behind Bars<br />
by Lauro Arcede, SM, Advisor to Marist Laity Prison Volunteers<br />
The prison ministry in Davao City,<br />
Philippines had a long history before the<br />
<strong>Marists</strong> got involved. The Society of Jesus<br />
(Jesuits) first ministered in the Davao City<br />
jail as far back as 1975, visiting prisoners<br />
and celebrating Sunday Mass. The prison<br />
ministry, however, was suspended in<br />
1995 after a terrible incident involving the<br />
stabbing of a Jesuit priest.<br />
In September 1999, Fr. John Larsen, SM,<br />
began visiting the inmates at the Davao<br />
City jail and celebrating Sunday Mass<br />
as he customarily did at other detention<br />
centers in the city. At that time, 60 out of<br />
900 inmates were allowed to attend the<br />
Mass. Over time it became a monthly<br />
commitment of the <strong>Marists</strong> to celebrate<br />
the Eucharist at the Davao City jail.<br />
In November 2002 Christopher Thadeos<br />
Ganzon, SM was ordained a priest and<br />
soon after was appointed to develop<br />
the prison ministry in Davao. He was<br />
assisted by Denis Mabayao, a member of<br />
a Catholic charismatic community, and<br />
Sr. Analulu, SM. This team developed the<br />
prison ministry by creating structures<br />
that facilitated collaboration with jail<br />
personnel, inmates and other service<br />
providers. The Davao City jail was<br />
designed to hold 600 PDLs (Person<br />
Deprived of Liberty), but the actual<br />
prison population was around 1,700. The<br />
overcrowded conditions were harsh, and<br />
inmates had to take turns for the sleeping<br />
quarters and for using the bathrooms. The<br />
large number of PDLs, combined with the<br />
lack of bathroom facilities, led to severe<br />
health problems.<br />
Over time, to help address these<br />
conditions, the Marist Prison Ministry<br />
created health and dental care programs.<br />
Moreover, the prison ministry team<br />
developed other programs which<br />
offered paralegal support, educational<br />
opportunities (vocational and technical<br />
courses), livelihood, spiritual formation<br />
and sports. Additional services that have<br />
been established by the Marist Prison<br />
Ministry program include: orientation<br />
for newly admitted inmates, a computer<br />
literacy program, an alternative learning<br />
program, skills training, sanitation,<br />
alternative medicine orientation, prayer<br />
meetings, catechesis and Bible study.<br />
The large number of unheard court<br />
cases delays the release of some PDLs.<br />
The paralegal services offered through<br />
the Marist Prison Ministry facilitates the<br />
examination of documents and provides<br />
assistance to those PDLs whose families<br />
are not able to process their cases and<br />
papers in the courts.<br />
Some PDLs are young men who should<br />
be earning a university degree, but their<br />
circumstances prevent them from doing<br />
so. The alternative learning education<br />
program, called “the university behind<br />
bars,” fosters the education of those PDLs<br />
who want to pursue their schooling as they<br />
wait for their case to be heard in court or<br />
for the day of their release from jail.<br />
Some of the PDLs earn a little money<br />
through the Marist Prison Ministry<br />
livelihood and skills training program.<br />
In this program inmates make wood<br />
and bead crafts, do sculpting and make<br />
handbags. The small income they make<br />
doing this work enables them to support<br />
their basic needs (soap, toothpaste,<br />
detergent, etc.) while imprisoned. It also<br />
helps to lessen any financial burden they<br />
represent to their families.<br />
The <strong>Marists</strong>’ consistent presence in the<br />
Davao City jail has led to the inclusion of<br />
regularly scheduled liturgical services<br />
and Lenten retreats. The <strong>Marists</strong> have also<br />
assisted in the organization of National<br />
Correctional Consciousness Week, Jail<br />
Foundation Day festivities, Misa de Gallo<br />
(Christmas Midnight Mass) and Christmas<br />
gift-giving celebrations.<br />
The positive effects of the Marist presence<br />
in the jails has resulted in the expansion<br />
of the Marist Prison Ministry program<br />
in the Philippines. When Fr. Ganzon was<br />
transferred from Davao to Digos in 2005<br />
he began visiting the jail in Digos as well<br />
as the Bureau of Jail Management and<br />
Penology (BJMP) detention centers. With<br />
permission from the bishop, he started<br />
celebrating Mass with inmates at the<br />
BJMP centers. The Marist Laity in Digos<br />
became involved in Fr. Ganzon’s work<br />
and supported the ministry by running<br />
18 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
ible study sessions on Saturdays and<br />
organizing the music for the Sunday<br />
liturgies.<br />
Today the Marist Prison Ministry work<br />
continues to grow in Davao and Digos.<br />
The bishop of Digos appointed Patrick<br />
Muckian, SM as the priest in charge of the<br />
diocesan prison apostolate. In Davao the<br />
prison ministry program has expanded,<br />
and the team invites different volunteer<br />
lay groups and individuals to participate in<br />
their activities.<br />
Several <strong>Marists</strong> have contributed to the<br />
growth of the prison ministry program<br />
over the years, especially in Davao where<br />
the ministry began. These include: Aliki<br />
Langi, SM who established the Partners<br />
in Marist Mission program within the<br />
prison ministry; Hermes Sabud, SM<br />
who formalized the ministry when the<br />
Archdiocesan Commission on Prison<br />
Welfare (ACPW) was established by<br />
the archbishop of Davao; and Lionel<br />
Mechavez, SM and Sr. Sheila Manalo, SM<br />
who created the medical-dental program<br />
in the jail.<br />
When the ACPW was established, and<br />
as the involvement of the laity in prison<br />
ministry grew, the <strong>Marists</strong> began to step<br />
back to allow a change in leadership of<br />
the Davao City prison ministry in favor<br />
of laypeople. Currently, Marist Fathers<br />
and Marist Sisters continue to serve the<br />
Davao city jail in a more hidden capacity<br />
by being the support for the Marist Laity<br />
ministering in the jail. The MLPV (Marist<br />
Lay Prison Volunteers), which is led by<br />
four individuals, organizes, plans, and<br />
leads the Marist Prison Ministry program<br />
in the city jail. In Digos City, members of<br />
the Marist Laity lead the Marist Prison<br />
Ministry program along with Patrick<br />
Muckian, SM.<br />
Through the Marist Prison Ministry<br />
program, the <strong>Marists</strong> and Marist Laity<br />
try to embody how to be present in the<br />
Church just as Mary was present among<br />
the apostles. The Sunday liturgies,<br />
the celebrations of the Sacrament of<br />
Reconciliation, the simple conversations<br />
and regular visits keep the inmates<br />
in touch with religious and spiritual<br />
reality which the prison reality slowly<br />
extinguishes. Happily, one constant<br />
comment from former PDLs about the<br />
prison ministry is that “the <strong>Marists</strong><br />
constantly connect them to their genuine<br />
freedom.”<br />
Fr. Stan Hosie, SM – Marist Priest<br />
and an International Humanitarian<br />
by Ted Keating, SM<br />
Fr. Stan Hosie, SM, was born in Lismore, New South Wales,<br />
Australia on April 28, 1922, the date that later became the Feast<br />
of St. Peter Chanel, SM, the first Martyr of the Western Pacific<br />
(Oceania). He completed secondary school at St. John’s College<br />
in Woodlawn, New South Wales, Australia, and then entered<br />
the formation program for the Society of Mary. He professed<br />
on February 22, 1940 and after completing his studies at Marist<br />
College in Washington, DC he was ordained to the priesthood. He<br />
demonstrated great gifts early on in his Marist life. He wrote the<br />
first biography of the Founder, Father Jean-Claude Colin, entitled,<br />
Anonymous Apostle. The book was published in 1967 and<br />
included an introduction by his friend, the well-known novelist,<br />
Morris L. West.<br />
In the early 1960’s the Second Vatican Council was opening the Church’s mission to a stronger<br />
sense of involvement in the social issues of the contemporary world as John XXIII’s groundbreaking<br />
Encyclical (Pacem in Terris) had done. During this time the <strong>Marists</strong> were beginning to<br />
look at the socio-economic issues of the missions in Oceania. World War II had a devastating<br />
impact throughout the mission territories and there were still areas of the Western Pacific that<br />
needed re-building. In addition, the age of “development” had hit the Western World with large<br />
international organizations, including the United Nations, that were working with the wealth of<br />
the more developed nations to aid development in the poorer nations. The US Marshall Plan had<br />
helped rebuild Europe from the effects of World War II.<br />
The Superior General at that time, Joseph Buckley, SM, and others began looking at the large<br />
swath of mission territories where <strong>Marists</strong> had labored for more than 125 years and thought the<br />
time had come to do an analysis of their needs from this development viewpoint. Hosie and<br />
Gerald Arbuckle, SM (a Marist anthropologist with a degree in applied anthropology) were put<br />
to the task. They traveled throughout the South Pacific and issued a first major document on<br />
the development needs of the territories. Their work was also aided by excellent theological<br />
documents that had recently come out of the Second Vatican Council.<br />
Their document was brought before international Marist leadership and it was decided that<br />
taking this on as a Society would not be possible. Fr. Buckley commissioned Hosie to take the<br />
work of the study and form an international aid organization later called The Foundation for the<br />
Peoples of the South Pacific (FSP), which for the first time would bring the world of development<br />
to these territories. Hosie befriended some wealthy donors including the president of MGM,<br />
Maurice Silverstein, and his well-known wife, an Australian actress, Betty Silverstein, beginning a<br />
remarkable epoch for Oceania in 1965. The rest is history, as they say. The FSP, still in operation,<br />
is infused with Marist values of building development from below to help its clients become the<br />
agents of their own development. While a unique philosophy then, it is one that Hosie insisted be<br />
the Marist contribution to the development world - a sense of humility and partnership. Another<br />
successful development organization was spawned from FSP, the Counterpart International, with<br />
a similar philosophy but which brought the values of FSP across the face world.<br />
Hosie retired as executive director of Counterpart International in 2002 after a lifetime in<br />
international development work. He passed away at the age of 91 on June 24, 2013. He was buried<br />
in the Marist cemetery plots in San Francisco, California after a Mass of Resurrection at Notre<br />
Dame de Victoires, the Marist Church in San Francisco. Prior to his burial an inter-religious service<br />
was held for the many people in the development world who knew and had great respect for<br />
Stan. You can read more about the Foundation for the Peoples of the Pacific at http://fspi.org.fj/,<br />
and the Counterpart International at www.counterpart.org to view the legacy of this great Marist.<br />
Spring <strong>2020</strong> 19
MARIST LIFE:<br />
Balancing Spirit, Soul, Mind and Body<br />
by Tom Ellerman, SM<br />
The 1992 edition of Jean-Claude Colin’s<br />
1872 Constitutions of the Society of Mary<br />
contains three quasi-independent<br />
documents.<br />
A. Numbers 1 through 50 give the general<br />
principles of Marist life<br />
B. Numbers 51 through 450 give the<br />
concrete details of how these principles<br />
are put into practice in the daily life of<br />
the Marist Fathers and Brothers<br />
C. Numbers 451 through 465 give<br />
directions about Marist secondary<br />
schools<br />
From among the many things that Father<br />
Founder tells us, perhaps numbers 33 to<br />
36 and numbers 190 and 192 might seem<br />
the most bizarre to a contemporary reader.<br />
These numbers concern “Mortification<br />
and Penances.” But before we snicker<br />
and cast his thoughts aside as no longer<br />
applicable to us more enlightened<br />
Christians, let’s dust them off and see if<br />
they have anything of value to tell us.<br />
Father Colin bases his suggestions on two<br />
principles.<br />
1. “Internal and external mortifications<br />
naturally go with the interior and<br />
religious life and incline one to bodily<br />
penances: this twofold mortification is<br />
strongly recommended to all.” (#33)<br />
2. “Bodily mortification is important to<br />
achieving perfection and uprooting<br />
vices.” (#190)<br />
The first thing that we notice about these<br />
two principles is how incarnational they<br />
are in their approach to growth in holiness<br />
and the living of Marist life. Holiness and<br />
religious life are not simply about interior<br />
thoughts, feelings, motives, intentions, etc.<br />
Marist life is about ourselves. It is as much<br />
about how we deal with our bodies, live in<br />
our bodies, and how they react by trying<br />
to rule over us, just as it also involves the<br />
tyranny of our minds, wills, emotions,<br />
etc. How can order and peace reign in that<br />
rebellious kingdom we call “ourselves”?<br />
We can note two contradictory features of<br />
contemporary society. The first is the effort<br />
we all make to avoid, preventor numb<br />
every kind of pain of body and/or spirit.<br />
The number-one rule in our world is that<br />
everyone must be comfortable at all times.<br />
The second feature touches on the effort<br />
to endure, even to cause ourselves pain,<br />
in pursuit of our worldly goals. How many<br />
of us are willing to endure lack of sleep,<br />
poor nutrition and boring work to advance<br />
our careers? Think of all those who cause<br />
themselves physical pain to slim their<br />
bodies, build their muscles, or achieve<br />
some other athletic goal. When it comes to<br />
religious goals, however, we easily consider<br />
physical mortification and penance as a<br />
kind of obsession.<br />
Marist life is centered on Jesus Christ, and<br />
all our efforts, whether interior or corporal,<br />
aim at eliminating any obstacles to our<br />
union with Jesus Christ and to intensifying<br />
our identification with him. Father Colin<br />
knows that the pursuit of the spiritual<br />
life could easily become an ego trip. “Lest<br />
mortification become immoderate or<br />
imprudent, let it be tempered according<br />
to right reason, following the wise counsel<br />
of the superior or confessor.” (#190) No<br />
matter what they do or neglect to do,<br />
<strong>Marists</strong> are warned not “to injure their<br />
health or impede attainment of the<br />
greater good which, in view of the ends<br />
of the Institute, should be their primary<br />
concern.” (#190)<br />
Perhaps a greater problem for us today is to<br />
become too self-indulgent. “Should anyone<br />
be too self-indulgent, let the superior<br />
Cause for Canonization of Venerable<br />
Fr. Jean-Claude Colin, SM<br />
not be afraid to impose appropriate<br />
penances for his greater perfection. For<br />
the rest, let them take care to follow the<br />
accepted practices of the Society and avoid<br />
singularity.” (#191)<br />
From this cursory explanation of Father<br />
Colin’s thoughts on bodily mortification,<br />
we can see that Marist life is about both<br />
body and spirit, and it is Christ-centered<br />
and mission-oriented. Perhaps in our<br />
age of extremes and contradictions the<br />
greatest penance and discipline is to<br />
live a life that is balanced and healthy,<br />
spiritually, bodily, intellectually,<br />
psychologically and socially in order<br />
to strengthen the Body of Christ, the<br />
Church and to hasten the coming of God’s<br />
Kingdom.<br />
Please pray for the canonization of Venerable Jean-Claude Colin, Founder of the<br />
Marist Fathers and Brothers.<br />
Father Colin was friends with and admired by four canonized saints: St. Peter<br />
Chanel, St. Marcellin Champagnat, St. Peter-Julien Eymard, and St. John-Mary<br />
Vianney. If you can judge someone by the company they keep, Father Colin gets<br />
high marks. Please pray to these saints for the canonization of Father Colin. Pray<br />
to Venerable Jean-Claude Colin for your intentions and report any favors gained<br />
through his intercession to:<br />
The Marist Provincial House<br />
815 Varnum Street, N.E. | Washington, DC 20017 | USA<br />
20 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
A Star is Born!<br />
by Leon Olszamowski, SM, NDPMA Corporate President and Founding Principal<br />
Under the mantle of Mary, a child was<br />
born on July 1, 1994. We called it Notre<br />
Dame Preparatory School and Marist<br />
Academy.<br />
Schools are like people who grow and<br />
develop a sense of identity over time and,<br />
ultimately, stand on their own two feet.<br />
Our Notre Dame was nurtured, valued<br />
and loved along the way by Mary, the<br />
Mother of God’s “gracious choice” as<br />
mediated through the Marist Fathers<br />
and Brothers, Cardinal Adam Maida, the<br />
Pontiac Area Vicariate pastors, our Board<br />
of Trustees, generous parents, and caring<br />
staff members.<br />
Our journey of 25 years has turned a<br />
swaddling infant into a prosperous<br />
young adult. Along the way, our<br />
community has garnered a solid<br />
reputation as it has “worked with God to<br />
form Christian people, upright citizens<br />
and academic scholars.” Congratulations<br />
to our current student body and our<br />
alumni for making the Notre Dame<br />
schools what they are today.<br />
We are what we are today because we<br />
espouse valid educational assumptions<br />
that have bred powerful interior values<br />
and virtuous approaches to learning,<br />
living and doing. This “miracle school,”<br />
as Cardinal Adam Maida often calls it,<br />
has been recognized as the top Catholic<br />
school in the state of Michigan (Niche.<br />
com) four out of the last five years and<br />
the 57th best of nearly 1,200 Catholic<br />
high schools in the United States. It is a<br />
school that is internationally, nationally<br />
and locally recognized as a high<br />
performer in academics, the arts and<br />
athletics — an awesome track record for<br />
a relatively young school celebrating its<br />
silver anniversary this year. We firmly<br />
believe we will be even better when we<br />
celebrate our golden anniversary.<br />
Visitors to our Pontiac campus have<br />
often told us that they sense a palpable<br />
solidness and peace, and there is a<br />
powerful reason for that. From the<br />
beginning of this newest U.S. Marist<br />
school, the Venerable John-Claude<br />
Colin’s assumptions are interiorly<br />
espoused and externally lived out by our<br />
Notre Dame community.<br />
We Marist fathers and brothers believe<br />
and teach that God is a lover who desires<br />
a relationship with his creation of which<br />
we humans beings are stewards; that<br />
Jesus Christ suffered and died for our<br />
sins, modeling for us the perfect life of<br />
grace; and that Mary (Notre Dame), the<br />
icon of the Holy Spirit, by her “yes” to the<br />
angel Gabriel, is the Mother of God and<br />
Mother of the Church.<br />
Mary is the perfect disciple of Christ, and<br />
Notre Dame families are called to think,<br />
judge, act and feel as Mary, i.e., we are<br />
to nurture a healthy relationship with<br />
God, do the work of Mary by showing an<br />
ardent love of neighbor, and live a life<br />
that is simple and humble. Above all,<br />
we are to show merciful love to others<br />
as God has shown merciful love to us.<br />
The above values are, in a nutshell, why<br />
this school is so successful. We have a<br />
great Marist tradition: we use our limited<br />
resources wisely, and we have inspired<br />
students and staff.<br />
Often, parents and students come to our<br />
school for the academics, but soon they<br />
find out there is much more to be had<br />
here on Giddings Road. They discover<br />
that we are also working with God to<br />
create clean-living, Christ-like people<br />
and productive citizens.<br />
The philosopher Heraclitus said that<br />
“the only constant is change,” and we,<br />
as a school community, are embracing a<br />
rapidly changing world. Now, beginning<br />
our 26th year as a robust young adult<br />
community at Notre Dame, we have<br />
arrived at the point of our life to plan<br />
and build what I like to call “Notre<br />
Dame 2.0.” We began about 15 years ago<br />
when we embraced the International<br />
Baccalaureate (IB) programs to practice<br />
“best-in-class” student pedagogy.<br />
The IB and its “Approaches to Teaching<br />
and Learning” root our curriculae from<br />
Pre-K through 12th grade. More recently,<br />
we have made significant changes to<br />
our campus and our academic offerings.<br />
This year we even adopted a new rotating<br />
schedule. The new Easterwood Wing also<br />
perfectly models our embrace of change<br />
as we teach more strategic thinking<br />
and problem-solving in disciplines like<br />
robotics, computer science and food<br />
production.<br />
As an older generation of teachers<br />
and administrators moves toward<br />
retirement, they continue to serve as<br />
fine mentors to those who will perfect<br />
Notre Dame 2.0. And the future lies<br />
in the hands of younger, more vibrant<br />
administrators and staff members who<br />
must, as a matter of course, set out as<br />
good stewards “bringing out from the<br />
storehouse the best of the old and the<br />
new.”<br />
This new generation of Notre Dame<br />
leaders are slowly pouring old wine<br />
into new wineskins as they catch up<br />
to and reach out to a world of many<br />
new generational characteristics<br />
and personal needs. Those new<br />
characteristics and needs must first be<br />
learned and then applied to enhance our<br />
classroom teaching, athletics and arts.<br />
The look and feel of Notre Dame better<br />
matches Gen Z’s needs and we work hard<br />
to anticipate future student needs.<br />
As one of the original founders, I am<br />
proud to say that we’re hardly skipping<br />
a beat in the process of change and that<br />
our school is moving along “just fine” as<br />
we develop new tools to think through<br />
and answer tomorrow’s questions. I<br />
am happy to say that as I move into<br />
retirement over the next few years, I have<br />
left our school in very good hands!<br />
Spring <strong>2020</strong> 21
News Brief<br />
In these rapidly changing times that increase our anxiety, social distancing, and<br />
quarantine, the <strong>Marists</strong> invite you to reflect on the following poem to deepen our<br />
mystical vision of hope in these challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic.<br />
Lockdown<br />
by Fr Richard Hendrick, OFM Cap – Ireland (March 13, <strong>2020</strong>)<br />
Yes there is fear.<br />
Yes there is isolation.<br />
Yes there is panic buying.<br />
Yes there is sickness.<br />
Yes there is even death.<br />
But<br />
They say that in Wuhan after so many<br />
years of noise<br />
you can hear the birds sing again.<br />
They say that after just a few weeks of<br />
quiet<br />
the sky is no longer thick with fumes<br />
but blue and grey and clear.<br />
They say that in the streets of Assisi<br />
People are singing to each other across<br />
empty squares,<br />
keeping their windows open<br />
so that those who are alone may hear the<br />
sounds of family around them.<br />
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland<br />
is offering free meals on delivery to the<br />
housebound.<br />
Today a young woman I know is busy<br />
spreading fliers<br />
with her number through the<br />
neighbourhood<br />
so that the elders may have someone to<br />
call on.<br />
Today churches, synagogues, mosques<br />
and temples<br />
are preparing to welcome and shelter the<br />
homeless,<br />
the sick, the weary.<br />
All over the world people are slowing<br />
down and reflecting.<br />
All over the world people are looking at<br />
their neighbours in a new way.<br />
All over the world people are waking up to<br />
a new reality<br />
To how big we really are,<br />
To how little control we really have,<br />
To what really matters,<br />
To Love.<br />
So we pray and remember that<br />
Yes, there is fear<br />
but there does not have to be hate.<br />
Yes, there is isolation<br />
But there does not have to be loneliness.<br />
Yes, there is even death,<br />
but there can always be a rebirth of love.<br />
Wake to the choices you make as to how<br />
we live now.<br />
Today, breathe.<br />
Listen, behind the noises of your panic the<br />
birds are singing again.<br />
The sky is clearing, Spring is coming,<br />
and we are always encompassed by Love.<br />
Open the windows of your soul<br />
and though you may not be able to touch<br />
across the empty square,<br />
Sing.<br />
OBITUARY<br />
Father Normand J. Martin, SM<br />
1931-2019<br />
Father Normand<br />
J. Martin, SM<br />
entered eternal life<br />
on December 24,<br />
2019. He was born<br />
on September 22,<br />
1931 to Paul E. and<br />
Roseanna (Hevey)<br />
Martin in Haverhill,<br />
Massachusetts. He<br />
attended St. Joseph Elementary School<br />
in Haverhill and Marist Preparatory High<br />
School Seminary in Bedford, Massachusetts.<br />
After high school Fr. Martin entered Marist<br />
College and Seminary in Framingham,<br />
Massachusetts. He made his profession<br />
in the Society of Mary on September 8,<br />
1952 at the novitiate on Staten Island, New<br />
York and then attended Marist Seminary<br />
in Washington, D.C. On February 7, 1959<br />
Fr. Martin was ordained a Marist priest<br />
at the National Shrine of the Immaculate<br />
Conception in Washington, DC.<br />
Fr. Martin’s first assignment was as an<br />
educator at Notre Dame High School in<br />
Harper Woods. Here he taught Mathematics<br />
and Physical Education and coached<br />
basketball and baseball for 21 years. Beloved<br />
by faculty, students and parents, Father<br />
Martin became affectionately known as<br />
“Hap” due to his upbeat and positive<br />
outlook. For the next 25 years he served in<br />
parish ministry. Fr. Martin served as pastor of<br />
St. Anthony Parish in White River Junction,<br />
Vermont; Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish<br />
in Methuen, Massachusetts; St. Bruno<br />
Parish-St. Remi in Van Buren, Maine; and<br />
Sacred Heart Parish in South Lawrence,<br />
Massachusetts. He also served as a chaplain<br />
at Bon Secours Hospital in Methuen,<br />
Massachusetts. Fr. Martin’s final assignment<br />
was as assistant and then director of the<br />
Lourdes Center in Boston, Massachusetts. In<br />
2016 Fr. Martin retired to Mary Immaculate<br />
Nursing/Restorative Center in Lawrence,<br />
Massachusetts.<br />
Fr. Martin is survived by his sister-in-law,<br />
Marie Jeanne (Duchemin) Martin, and<br />
numerous nieces and nephews and their<br />
families. Memorial donations may be made<br />
to the Society of Mary (<strong>Marists</strong>).<br />
22 Today’s <strong>Marists</strong> Magazine
DONOR THOUGHTS<br />
Why I Support the <strong>Marists</strong><br />
by Jack and Lynn Cogan<br />
In high school I always found math to be my<br />
easiest subject and foreign language to be<br />
the hardest; English landed somewhere in the<br />
middle. So, on the first day of classes in my<br />
senior year I was not concerned that my class<br />
schedule had the name of an English teacher<br />
that I did not recognize. My English teacher was<br />
new to the school. The fact that he was a priest<br />
was not a big deal. I had had several priests and<br />
nuns as teachers at my Catholic high school.<br />
What was different about this teacher was<br />
the “SM” after his name. I did not know what<br />
that meant. The teacher introduced himself as<br />
Father Gene Harasyn. He told us that the SM<br />
meant that he was a religious (not diocesan)<br />
priest in the Society of Mary (<strong>Marists</strong>). That first<br />
day of English class so many years ago was the<br />
start of my affiliation with the <strong>Marists</strong>. On that<br />
day I had no idea what a profound effect that<br />
man and many more Marist priests would have<br />
on the rest of my life.<br />
Senior English went pretty much as you would expect for a subject that was for me<br />
“somewhere in the middle.” I didn’t suddenly become a great English student, but I really<br />
liked this teacher. As the year progressed, Fr. Harasyn took me under his wing. We talked a lot<br />
about what college I might attend and what I wanted to do with my life. To make a long story<br />
a bit shorter, I attended Catholic University as a Marist seminarian. For the next seven years I<br />
lived, studied, and prayed with these men who were <strong>Marists</strong>. And while I finally realized that<br />
the priesthood was not to be my vocation, their influence on me continues to this day.<br />
After my wife Lynn and I were married by Father Bill Seli, SM, the first thing we did was buy a<br />
house near Our Lady of the Assumption (OLA) parish in Atlanta, Georgia, a parish run by the<br />
Marist Fathers and Brothers. We started and raised our family in this parish. Our six children<br />
were all baptized by Marist priests: Fathers George Wallace, Mark Kenney, Ed Murray, Joe<br />
Caffrey, and John Ulrich. Our children attended OLA school, and we celebrated Mass every<br />
Sunday with Marist priests. Our grandchildren have attended OLA school. <strong>Marists</strong> have always<br />
been part of our family’s life. After teaching (math, of course) at an Atlanta private high<br />
school for a little over 25 years, Lynn and I decided it was time for a change. I didn’t want to<br />
stop teaching, but I needed a different school. There wasn’t really any decision as to where I<br />
wanted to go – it was Marist School. The <strong>Marists</strong> welcomed me back like I was the long-lost<br />
prodigal son. I felt as if I were back home. Indeed, I was back home! In addition to my teaching<br />
at Marist School, our children are also alumni of the school.<br />
Since retiring a few years ago from Marist School, Lynn and I have continued to be part of<br />
the Marist family. We attend the school’s family Masses each year. I often make it to the<br />
Friday morning community Masses where I continue praying with these wonderful men who<br />
mean so much to me. The whole family looks forward to celebrating Mass on Christmas eve<br />
with Fr. Ralph Olek, SM. He has officiated at our children’s weddings and has baptized our<br />
grandchildren. Father Ralph is our friend and a definite part of our family.<br />
With everything that the <strong>Marists</strong> have given me for the last fifty plus years and everything<br />
they have meant to Lynn and to all of our children and grandchildren, we are grateful to be<br />
able to support the mission of the Society of Mary. Lynn and I are honored to have these fine<br />
men in our lives and in the lives of our family.<br />
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Spring <strong>2020</strong> 23
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The University of Dayton’s Marian Library hosts a website called “All<br />
About Mary”. The website puts centuries of information about the<br />
world’s most famous mother at anyone’s fingertips. Checkout the<br />
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 />
Spirituality of the Society of Mary:<br />
Contemplatives in Action<br />
While the Church has always emphasized Marian devotion, “We<br />
(<strong>Marists</strong>) are called to something much deeper … we are called to<br />
become Mary’s devotion in the midst of the Church.”<br />
– Fr. Ed Keel, SM<br />
Checkout the website maristspirituality.org for featured<br />
articles and talks.<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 />
Are you a Marist?<br />
”In all things let us look to<br />
Mary, let us imitate her life<br />
at Nazareth ... Let us unite<br />
silence and prayer with<br />
action. The Society of Mary<br />
desires that we, her<br />
children, should be<br />
missionaries of action and<br />
missionaries of prayer.”<br />
Fr. Jean Claude Colin, SM,<br />
Founder<br />
Are you<br />
called to<br />
live the<br />
Gospel as<br />
Mary did?<br />
,t1Y or A .1<br />
0 "Vf<br />
V"jo<br />
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'?"<br />
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.L.<br />
IS IN ·\\",