Columban Missionary, Fr Patrick McInerney ssc, recently gave a Presentation to the Marist Inter-religious Dialogue Commission. Patrick is the Director of the Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations, situated in the Paramatta Diocese, Sydney. He was ordained in 1978, ministered for many years in Pakistan, and since return worked in interfaith in Sydney for the past 20 years. A Summary of Pat's Presentation: Introduction: On the Positive side: Pat has been invited to address the Clergy Conference of Paramatta, as a way to get them onside with the ministry of IRD [Inter-religious Dialogue].He was also invited, as a consequence, to give a full day presentation to the students at the Dioce...

This blog anticipates the third week of the Season of Creation: beginning on Sunday 18th August:  We bow to the presence of God in all creation and we also bow to the presence of God in the heart of every person. Mantra: Holy Ground Monica Brown You are here, so this is holy ground. In all that is You are here. This is holy ground, the ground of my being now. My spirit bows to You upon this holy ground. Before each reading, the reader places a pair of shoes at the prayer focus. Reflection 1: Holy Ground is any place where we experience God: where we learn that we're not alone and where we discover that God provides us with what we need to be, who we're...

The Second Sunday in the Season of Creation will be on September 11th.  This Meditation and Prayer Exercise anticipates the 2nd Week:  Meditative exercise: I invite you to close your eyes and to be attentive to all that you hear. (allow 2 minutes) I now invite you to open your eyes. Remembering what you have heard, try to locate where the different sounds came from. Do you see anything unusual, extraordinary, or unexpected? Rejoice and thank God our Creator for what you have heard, seen, and discovered… and allow it all to draw you into the presence of God! Scripture Reading: Exodus 3:3-4 Then Moses said, "I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bu...

The Season of Creation begins on 01 September.  The Theme of Prayer for our first week is: Blazing yet not consumed "Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed". - Abraham Joshua Heschel … nature is a constant source of wonder and awe. It is also a continuing revelation of the divine. - Laudato Si 85 Scripture Reading: Exodus 3:1-2 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and c...

Fr Jim Carty sm, Aussie Marist, calls us, in our current world situation, to remember the tragedy of Nuclear Warfare The secretary general of the United Nations warned on Monday (1stAugust 2022) that humanity was "just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation," citing the war in Ukraine among the conflicts driving the risk to a level not seen since the height of the Cold War. "All this at a time when the risks of proliferation are growing and guardrails to prevent escalation are weakening," the official, António Guterres, said. "And when crises — with nuclear undertones — are festering from the Middle East and the Korean Peninsula to Russia's invasion of U...

Safeguarding… "seeks to create a culture of relational safety in persons and institutions of the Catholic Church …. It is a perspective and way of life that needs to become an intentional part of the daily life of every Catholic." (from the Ateneo University of Manila)  These words are quoted by Sr Catherine Jones smsm, for the Congregational Newsletter of the Mission Advancement Team.  The article in full follows:  Marie Francoise Perroton has set us an example of "hearing a call" and setting out in response to this call of the women of Ouvea in 1845. We SMSM have tried to follow in her footsteps by continually discerning the signs of the times, and responding to new cal...

Peter Healy sm, Kiwi Marist, gives us this reflection on a recently released documentary:  Carbon the Unauthorized Biography This documentary film made in Australia in 2022 is all at once a cosmology, a geology and an ecology of carbon. Our planet home's most ubiquitous element, it is everywhere, in our bodies, our food and what we wear. As we all know it is blanketing our collective airspace given the millions of combustion engines in most every country on earth. If you have ever wondered what the carbon cycle is, then this documentary is for you. The carbon atom is cleverly animated in this film and speaks in the first person about our current crisis of extraction, burn and overload. ...

Fr Arnold Garferio sm, current Director of MAF recently made this Report:  Burmese Migrant Secondary Education Program Thai Government Non-Formal Education (KOSONO) Preparation Program Marist Outreach Program A.   NUMBERS Student Population Towards the End of the School Year 2021-2022: 62    Students in Preparation Program 156   Students in Burmese Migrant Secondary Program 218  Total Number Students 25     Graduated from Burmese Migrant Secondary Program Examinations Passing Rate and Class Attendance Rate (End of School Year 2021-2022) 82 %    Preparation Program students class attendance rate 47 ...

Fr Hermes Larry Sabud sm, Superior of our Marist Community in Ranong, Thailand, recently sent this news to us:  Le P. Hermes Larry Sabud sm, supérieur de notre communauté mariste de Ranong, Thaïlande, nous a récemment envoyé cette nouvelle : Blessing of the Harmony Centre, Ranong, Thailand:    Bénédiction du Centre Harmony, Ranong, Thaïlande : During an interreligious and intercultural celebration on 10 June, the Marist Harmony Centre in Ranong was blessed in the presence of many faithful and their religious leaders, the Muslim Imam, Buddhist Monks and Catholic priests and also other civil authorities. The Centre envisions harmony in cultural and religious diversity in Ra...

 Mary Ghisolfo, Lay Marist serving with Notre Dame des Victoires, San Francisco, California, writes to answer the question:  "Why Does Ministry Among the Poor Awaken for Us the Critical Role of a Marist Vocation?"  "At our best, we are instruments of God's mercy working to help others taste the boundless love of the Lord, especially those who find themselves on the margins." (Statement of Identity, US Province of the Society of Mary – Assembly and Chapter June 2013 The parishioners at Notre Dame des Victoires Church (NDV) are committed to supporting the Gubbio Project, an organization which serves the homeless, hungry and those in need of various health services...

Marist Brother - Francis Lukong fms - a member of our Marist Family Laudato Si Group - wrote this article recently: The International Day for Biodiversity is observed every year on May 22 by the international community to draw the world's attention to the importance of biodiversity on the planet Earth. The theme for this year's Biodiversity Day celebration is "Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth". A shared future for all life represents the shared aspiration of mankind. Ecological challenges remind us that we are members of the same universal community. Our basic call to survival is best captured by the Chinese saying, "all beings flourish when they live in harmony and receiv...

Laudato Si Week, with the Theme – Journeying together – is on, you can register here Marist Asia Foundation works with 3 of the 7 goals of Laudato Si, in response to: Cry of the Poor; Community Engagement and Participation; and Ecological Education. Cry of the Poor: Education of Migrant Children The Marist Asia Foundation's migrant community education center happily welcomed two hundred eighty-five students to another exciting year of learning, on May 19. The Parents' support is very much appreciated as they accompany their children for registration. The first three days of school are set specifically to orient the students to MAF child protection policy, transportation safety, anti-bul...

Sr Catherine Jones - a Marist Missionary Sister from NZ - recently shared something of her life and work,  with our Marist Commission for Inter-religious Dialogue.  She began with the Batique, from India, in the cover photo - which she said was designed for one of the first Inter-Faith L'Arche communities in the world. Their symbol is the center piece of the Batique.   Catherine was professed in 1970 and applied for a Fiji Mission appointment, knowing that Fiji was both a multi-religious and multi-faith society.  She was no stranger to inter-faith encounters, since they began for her with the Buddhists in Shotover River Valley, Central Otago, NZ, where she grew ...

Sr Christiana Nshimiyimana smsm - Rawandan Marist Missionary Sister - gives us this news from Ngozi, Burundi:   GIRITEKA is a project set up to respond to the phenomenon of street children in the city of Ngozi which, in recent years, has experienced accelerated expansion with its corollary of new problems. One of the consequences of this reality is the sad situation of street children given their ever-increasing number. The Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary (Marists), called by the Bishop of Ngozi, sought ways to "recover" street children with a view to social reintegration. The reception Centre was set up in 2003. Since the beginning, we have been in contact with...

Easter Sunday 2022 - Peter Healy sm offers this reflection: He is not here, He has risen!  Kāhore ia i konei, engari kua ara! These words in the middle of today's gospel of Luke, come amidst puzzlement, disbelief and amazement and indicate perhaps a new stage of faith? On Good Friday at the last Station of the Cross on Pukekaraka Ann-Marie lead us in a final refrain: "Were you there when they sealed the tomb with stone?" Solid stone, almost immoveable, silent and deathly in shape and weight. We walked down the Puke , encouraged by Adi Leason to stay in the story, to stay with our desolation. On our Lenten journey this year we explored our relationship with God our Creator...

Phil Cody sm - Kiwi Marist - writes of - Takarangi -  the importance of Space in the Maori Tradition.  We are probably familiar with 'The Dash' poem by Linda Ellis.[1] It portrays the 'dash' which is the space between the dates of birth and death of a person, for example, 1944 – 2022. Linda relates how a person giving a eulogy on the death of a friend, referred to that 'dash' in their life. They argued that the years represented by the dash, the space between being born and dying, were what mattered most in his or her life. The space or dash marks the time they were alive. The challenge for them and for us is how much love and life they and we put into that space! In this refl...

The Marist Commission for Inter-religious Dialogue met, in December 2021, with Fr Paulin Batairwa Kubuya, a Congolese Xaverian Missionary. Paulin was professor at the Department for Religious Studies at Fu Jen Catholic University in Taipei and Executive Secretary of the Episcopal Commissions for Interreligious and Ecumenical Dialogue of the Regional Episcopal Conference of Taiwan, before being nominated, in November 2019 as undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue. [PCID]. This Pontifical Council was renamed by Pope Francis, on March 19th, as the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. The purpose of the meeting was to see what insights we may gain from Fr Paulin ...

 Pope Francis—united to all the Bishops and Catholic faithful around the world— consecrated Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Friday 25th March, the feast of the Annunciation. The Act of Consecration was prayed during the "24 Hours for the Lord" Lenten penitential service led from St. Peter's Basilica, which began at 5 PM Rome time. The official text is below - and offered for ongoing prayer and reflection:  O Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, in this time of trial we turn to you. As our Mother, you love us and know us: no concern of our hearts is hidden from you. Mother of mercy, how often we have experienced your watchful care a...

Classic texts are ever old, and ever new. They speak to the truth of life. These words from our Founder, whose cause for canonization has taken another small step this last week, speak to us on our Lenten Journey, in the complexities of the world we live in. 182:11 'And what other subjects? You should meditate above all upon the passion of Jesus Christ. You will find such meditations less taxing, and the subject matter more tangible, striking, and compelling. 182:12 'Meditate also on the Imitation of the blessed Virgin. We bear her name, and it should not be to no purpose. 182:15 'Confessors, know where your duty lies. Take a young confrere, for instance, who neglects his meditation. If by t...

Tony O'Connor, Kiwi Marist, writes from the USA-Mexico Border:    All is pretty quiet here in February. It is colder than normal which makes people sleepy perhaps? Or is there a weariness in the air? At first glance nothing seems to be happening. Lots of planes fly over without our knowing where they are going or who their passengers are. Unaccompanied Central American Minors protected by a US 2008 law are still being allowed to cross the river. But with COVID the centers for minors have them all grounded from coming to religious services here in San Felipe. Trump's Title 42 is perpetuated still by Biden because of OMICRON so they say, which means no to asylum seekers Many peo...