"All Marists of Champagnat"

In his letter of January 2nd, marking the 196th birthday of the Little Brothers of Mary, "To the Ends of the Earth", our Superior General, Br. Emili Turu, uses the salutation, "All Marists of Champagnat" for the first time.  He is serious about including the growing number of Marist Laity in our Marist Family correspondence and mission.  In particular, he, as we have mentioned already, is broadening and extending our already successful Mission Ad Gentes program, which was basically centered on Asia, to include other parts of the world, not yet touched by Marist presence, and to include Marist Laity in these new endeavors.  A commitment might be as short at three months, and as long as five years or more.  It is exciting to think that brothers and laity would be living in community and working side by side to evangelize a people who, like Jean-Baptiste Montagne, have never heard about God, Jesus, and the possibility of eternal life.  Such collaboration already exists in part in our Marist schools, where more and more our lay colleagues are taking up the Marist mission and bringing their youthful energy to it.  Witnessing the zeal and passion of young adults and even teens on the March for Life, I am convinced that a new generation is maturing and readying itself to accept the challenge of Jesus to bring the Gospel "to the ends of the earth." (Mt 28:19).  Br. Emili encourages those who might be interested in this project to contact the local provincial.  In our case, (for those who read this in America), it is: Br. Ben Consigli, Marist Provincial Office, 1241 Kennedy Boulevard, Bayonne, NJ 07002; phone 201-823-1115.  Let us all pray that many respond to Br. Emili's invitation as they did to Br. Sean Sammon's, who inititiated the Mission Ad Gentes program.
Bro. Rene