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This page: Australia Day reflection guide | SM Bulletin | Calendars at Casa di Maria | SM Bulletin | Euroinfo | Africa News | SM Bulletin | Fr Cameron Mota SM | District Circular | 'An exhilarating speed' | Bicentenary of Bugey Missions | Renewal of Vows | Superior-General's Reflection | Trumpeting the New Year | New Year of Grace
Australia Day reflection guideThe National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council (NATSICC) has called for deep reflection and prayer as the nation marks Australia Day 2025, releasing the Australia Day 2025 Reflection and Discernment Guide to enable Catholics to explore the complexities and significance of the day. It also wants Australians to reflect on a nation where all feel included, respected, and valued, in a bid to inspire meaningful action and a commitment to reconciliation. 'NATSICC acknowledges and respects that many Australians hold a deep connection to this day and the pride they feel in our country,' the guide states. 'For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, however, January 26 is a day of mixed emotions - one that brings sadness, reflection, and a sense of unresolved history.' The guide is to be used by groups and individuals for prayerful reflection on Australia Day, which this year falls on a Sunday – our Holy Day in which the faithful come together to reflect, give thanks and seek God’s guidance.It includes prayers, scripture passages and questions for reflection. To download click here. [Jan 24] |
SM BulletinThis week's SM Bulletin reports on Fr General's visit to Cameroon and Burundi, vocations days in Peru and vocation ministry in New Zealand. To download, click here or go to Members' Page. [Jan 24] |
SM BulletinThe latest SM Bulletin reports on the appointment of Bishop Susitino Sionepoe SM as Archbishop of Nouméa, New Caledonia, ongoing formation programs for 2025 and Marist Holy Year pilgrims in Rome. To download, click here or go to Members' Page. [Jan 20] |
EuroinfoFrom Paris, the January issue of Euroinfo reports on vocation initiatives in London, Australian pilgrimage in France and Br Faustino's appointmernt to La Neylière. To download, click here or go to Members' Page. [Jan 15] |
Africa NewsFrom the Marist District of Africa comes their first bulletin for 2025. The 16-page bi-lingual newsletter includes articles (in English) from newly-ordained, Fr Clinton Kube, on vocation ministry in the district and the agricultural project at Nkoloman. To download, click here. [Jan 14] |
SM BulletinThe latest SM Bulletin reports on the death of Marist Brothers' Vicar-General, Br Luis Carlos Gutiérrez FMS, the ordination in Bougainville of Fr Cameron Mota SM, a spiritual direction workshop at Casa di Maria and Fr Jaime Pérez Martinez' book, 'The Remembrance of God'. To download, click here or go to Members' Page. [Jan 14] |
District CircularThe latest issue of the District Circular is available at the Members' Page. [Jan 10] |
Bicentenary of Bugey MissionsJan 09, 2025, marks the 200th anniversary of the first missions conducted by the pioneer Marist Fathers. On this day in 1825 Frs Jean-Claude Colin and Etienne Déclas climbed from the presbytery of Cerdon, high in the Bugey mountains of eastern France, to reach the village of La Balme. This was the first renewal mission to be preached by the infant Society of Mary. The mountains of the Bugey are part of the giant massif dividing France from Switzerland. Its Catholic parishes did not escape the assaults of the French Revolution. Missions needed to be preached only in winter when farmers and their families were confined to the village precincts. The La Balme mission, from Jan 09 to 25, was preached in the depths of a such a Bugey winter and was followed by many more in local parishes in subsequent decades. For a brief pictorial summary of the first twenty-seven missions, each involving Jean-Claude Colin, click here or go to the Colin website's Resources/Pilgrimage page. In 2021 the Colin calendar featured images of the Bugey in winter: click here. [Jan 08] |
Above: St Amand's church, La Balme, little changed since the 1825 mission. |
Superior-General's ReflectionIn his first monthly reflection for 2025 Fr John Larsen SM speaks of the place of Marists 'on the peripheries'. To download, click here or go to Superior-General's page. [Jan 03] |