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Marianist Mission, Charism, and Ministries
Our mission is to lead
others through community to faith in Jesus Christ. Using Mary as our model, we
fulfill this mission within the Church, utilizing our Marianist Charism through
a variety of ministries. Father Chaminade strongly resisted all attempts to
define the mission of Marianists in terms of specific ministries. The notion of
universal service keeps Marianists and Marianist communities open to any need in
our Church.
The Society of Mary originated within lay communities of faith. An
essential part of
our Marianist life is our collaboration with lay communities in a common mission
for the Church. The role of religious communities within the larger Marianist
Family is one of animation, support, and mutual service. Together, religious and
lay Marianists understand our mission to be for the Church and to witness
gospel faith lived out in community.
Our style of Marianist ministry involves the realization that faith is best
communicated through personal relationships and is nurtured through lived
experiences of community and service.
The quality and depth of our own common life together has always been seen by
Marianists as the primary grounding and support for all our ministry; what
Marianist do as ministry is never quite as important as how they do it. The
hallmarks of Marianist ministry are a concern for promoting and developing faith
communities among those we serve, and among those with whom we serve; a belief
that faith formation is a life-long process of growth and development, "from the
cradle to the grave"; and the hope that faith and community formation will
energize all aspects of each person's baptismal commitment.
Traditionally, Marianists have understood education in schools to be a profound
opportunity for building communities of faith. Many communities surround a
school: the communities of students, of students' families, of staff and
faculty, and alumni. To draw these "communities of circumstance" toward the
development of faith communities has always been a privileged emphasis of
Marianist ministry.
In recent years, the Church has called religious to hear and respond in new ways
to the needs of God's people. Marianists have responded by bringing our gifts of
community formation to new arenas beyond the schools: the parish, family
ministry, and the arts, among others. A deeper sensitivity to the economically
poor, the marginalized, and the disenfranchised has marked our decisions about
where we choose to minister for the sake of the Gospel.
Our Founder, William Joseph Chaminade, was fond of the Latin expression "Nova
Bella Elegit Dominus" (The Lord has chosen new wars). Despite the
militaristic language of Father Chaminade's nineteenth century, he expresses in
this phrase the openness to communal discernment, courageous adaptation, and
decisive response which characterizes our Marianist mission of service to God's
people.
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